The News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana • Page 23

Sports Saints: The News-Star New Orleans trims its roster to 53 players 6C www.thenewsstar.com Sunday, September 3, 2006 Baseball, 2C Golf, 3C Scorecard, 6C West Monroe 19, Longvlew 15 iLr- Rebs turn it on just in time Inside Get In the game W.M. scores winner in last minute of game RECAP: Don Brown reached the end zone from 6 yards out with 29 seconds left in the game for the winning score. LOWDOWN: Sophomore RB LaDarius Abrams had 22 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown for the Rebels. West Monroe has now won 14 straight games. NEXT: West Monroe (1-0) will play Carencro (1-0) at home next week.

Carencro opened the season with a 26-6 win over St. Thomas More. WM game box score 3C Late Friday box scores 3C border battle. Longview, which topped West Monroe in the 2005 season opener, is the last team to beat the defending Class 5A state champs. Longview had won 20 consecutive regular-season games.

"Last year, they beat us 14-0 in the second half," Carter said. "This year the defense did a great job on the line, the linebackers and in the secondary. We put all our heart into it." Before West Monroe's final See REBELS 3C By Paul J. Letlow pletlowthenewsstar.com SHREVEPORT An unproductive second half for the West Monroe offense finally took a turn when it counted most Saturday night at Independence Stadium. Trailing Longview by two points with 6:42 remaining in the game, the Rebels marched 82 yards in 14 plays to score the go-ahead touchdown in a -T -ffSl i pushing." Longview's last drive took it to the West Monroe 38 with 1.5 seconds left, but cornerback Terry Carter's interception sealed the 14th win in a row for the Rebels.

An estimated crowd of 8,500 watched the 19-15 victory. Fullback Don Brown barreled in for a 6-yard score to end the pivotal drive with 29 seconds to go. "It was hard out there," West Monroe offensive lineman Will Norris said. "But every play, we kept pushing and Michael DunlapThe News-Star West Monroe quarterback Jordan Pleasant, right, ran for 73 yards and passed for 35 more Saturday. Nebraska 49, Louisiana Tech 10 LSU 45, Louisiana-Lafayette 3 Cajuns cooked again by LSU A Inside Champion picks up confidence despite defeat GET IN THE ZP GAME Scott By Glenn Guilbeau Louisiana Gannett News BATON ROUGE -Shaquille O'Neal was in the house Saturday night, but LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell played just as big.

Russell added to his early lead in what was once called a "quarterback derby" by throwing for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone, and the backup quarterbacks finished the race for a 45-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in front of 92362 at Tiger Stadium. O'Neal, a dominating, four-time NBA champion and former LSU star, was announced LSU notes, stats 5C SEC standings, scores 5C at halftime as he was in town for his annual golf tournament Like Shaq, the 6-foot-6 Russell could not be stopped in traffic. His second pass of the night traveled nearly 50 yards in the air, and the righthander threw it off his left foot just as he was hit by a Cajun defender after rolling left. The ball still hit redshirt freshman wide receiver Brandon LaFell in stride for a See LSU 5C i Beder sbederthe newsstar.com 4t) to1" III 1 1 4 COLLEGE SCOREBOARD TOP 25 (1) Ohio State 35 Northern winn 12 (2) Notre Dame 14 Georgia Tech 10 (3) Texat 56 North Texas 7 (4) Washington State 14 (5) West Virginia. 42 Marshall 10 (6) Southern ....50 Arkansas ..................14 (7) Florida 34 Southern Miss 7 (8) LSU 45 Louisiana- (23) ....35 (9) California 18 (10) Oklahoma 24 UAB 17 (14) Michigan 27 7 (15) Georgia .48 Western Kentucky .......................12 (16) Iowa 41 (17) Virginia Tech 38 Northeastern (18) Florida Atlantic (19) Penn State 34 16 (20) 49 Louisiana 10 (21) Oregon .....48 Stanford ...10 (25) Texas Tech 35 SMU 3 Top 25 roundup, 5C National scores, 3C AROUND THE STATE South Florida ......41 McNeese State 10 Southern ..30 49 Northwestern State 18 Sportsline U.S.

men settle for bronze medal Dwyane Wade made sure the United States didn't leave the world championships empty-handed. Wade scored 18 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Americans pull away for a 96-81 victory over Argentina on Saturday night in the bronze medal game in Saitama, Japan. LeBron James added 20 points for the US. (8-1), which could only match the bronze it won two years ago in Athens, Wade made his first start of the tournament, joining James, Anthony, Dwight Howard and Kirk Hinrich. Greece and Spain will play for the gold medal today.

Associated Press Former OCS star cut by Cardinals Ex-Ouachita Christian and LSU tight end Eric Edwards was among 20 players cut by the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday. Edwards started nine games last season, but lost out to second-year pro Adam Bergen and 6-8 rookie Leonard Pope, a third-round draft pick out of Georgia. Edwards caught 12 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown last season. Also on Saturday, former ULM running back Alan Ricard was released by the Buffalo Bills, while ex-ULM punter Joel Stelly was cut by the Chicago Bears. Former GSU player Randy Hymes was released by the Jaguars, while safety Jack Hunt, who played at Ruston High and LSU, was cut by the Miami Dolphins.

Former LSU kick returner and receiver Skyler Green was released by the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL has suspended Cowboys safety Marcus Coleman for the first four games of the season for violating the league's substance abuse Associated Press to "fijtm ''r; k. e(lJ If A AP If LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell finished Saturday's game 13-of-17 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Hampton 27, Grambling St. 26 (OT) Season debut goes from dandy to dud LINCOLN, Neb.

Earlier this summer a question was posed to senior receiver Eric Newman. How did he think Zac Champion was handling his new role as Louisiana Tech's starting quarterback? Newman minced few words. He said until he saw Champion in the heat of a real game, he was withholding judgement. Newman wanted to see how Champion would respond after getting knocked on his keester a few times. How would he respond to "pain?" Newman wondered.

Following Saturday's 49-10 loss at Nebraska, Newman and the rest of the Bulldogs got their answer. One of the positives to flow from the lopsided season-opening setback was indeed Champion's performance. On the surface it might be hard to get fired up over a 12-for-27 passing day, gaining 231 yards with one touchdown and one inter-ceptioa But considering the circumstances, it's safe to say that Champion emerged from his first collegiate start in a positive light, and definitely feeling some pain. "I thought he did a nice job," Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "For his first start, this environment isn't easy." The environment Champion and the rest of the Bulldogs found themselves in was hostile, 85,181 screaming fans fueling one of the best pass rushes in the country.

A loud sea of red. And early on, Champion was thrown into the cauldron. On his second pass attempt of the game, 6-6, 290-pound defensive end Adam Carriker an All-American candidate rpared in and sacked See BEDER 4C 5 "Jjf 'J iff -WI. Tfcfi "AX" Landers' day Comp-Att: 21-41 Yards: 273 TDINT: 41 5 7 1 If 1 i Inside By Nick Deriso nderisothenewsstar.com BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Grambling State lost a thrilling season opener against Hampton by a one-point margin, 27-26, in the first-ever overtime game for Coach Melvin Spears.

The Legion Field contest, televised on ESPN2, marked redshirt sophomore Brandon Landers' first start since 2004, and first game action since his brother was murdered two weeks ago. "I played in tribute to him," said Landers, a Carroll High product. "I felt like I had him looking down on me." Landers was 21-for-41 with four touchdowns and one interception, but the GSU running game suffered with fullback Ruben Mayes out with a reaggravated knee injury. Senior Ab Kuuan ran for just 37 yards on 17 carries. Hampton scored the day's first points.

Then, as Landers gained confidence, he hit three TD passes only to see the Pirates score 10 unanswered points to force the extra period. Hampton hadn't led since AP Nick Deriso: Plenty of chances for GSU in loss 4C GSU game recapstats 4C SWAC standings, scores 4C early in the third quarter when it surged ahead in overtime. "We had our chances to put them away, but we didn't," Spears said. "When you play great teams, you've got to capitalize when you can. The best team won." The Pirates won the game when kicker Andrew Paterini nailed the extra point after T.J.

Mitchell's second touchdown pass of the day. Grambling answered with Landers' final score, a 12-yard pass from Landers to Neville product Tim Abney, but the point-after attempt by junior Tim Manuel was blocked by Hampton's Derius Swinton. Tech quarterback Zac Champion (10) completed 12-of-27 passes for 231 yards and a touchdown, with one interception in Saturday's loss. Inside 105 584 85,181 Total offensive Attendance yards for Huskers. at Memorial Tech finished Stadium, a Husker with 305.

school record. 50-48-4 Tech's all-time record in season openers. Tech is now 0-2 vs. Nebraska. Tech game recapstats 4C WAC standings, scores 4C Next Sept.

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