Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 32

"y'T'-T" 4 C4 Sunday, Nov. 6, 1994 wuueuc rwu i dmll it. 'V it. Clemson cornerback Andre Humphrey, right, slips a hand in to break up a pass intended for North Carolina receiv- er Marcus Wall. Clemson upset No.

19 UNC, 28-17. ap Tigers shock Tar Heels with 28-17victory If you're still wondering what's wrong with Clem" son football, don't approach North Carolina looking for an answer. The Tar Heels don't have one. Stung all season by a puny, inexperienced attack, the Tigers went back to an old well and again came away fit and refreshed Saturday, this time with a 28- 17 ACC victory. Their performance in a 12-point underdog role was Duke running back Robert Baldwin slips past a tackle of U.Va.

linebacker James Farrior (42). Baldwin rushed for 67 yards Saturday, ap 10 0 I 14 14 UVa 17 34-108 294 12 16-35-3 7-30 40 Virginia Duk A 33,941. First downs Rushes-yards Passing Return Yards Comp-Att-Int Punts Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards 8 25 28 Duke 17 43-79 234 14 18-33-1 8-42 2-1 8-62 31:30 opportunistic on offense and down 1W6 28:30 Time ot Possession INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS U.Va. 8. Cochran PAT.

Five plays, 60 yards. Time of possession: 1:21. Virginia 17-14. THIRD QUARTER UVA: Fischer passes 9 yards to Matt DeOrio. Key play: Fischer's 21 -yard pass to Jon Jensen on third-and-nine and a 15-yard personal-foul penalty for first down at U.Va.

14. Cochran PAT. Nine plays, 90 yards. Time of possession: 3:05. Duke 21-17.

DUKE: Fischer sneaks 1 yard. Key play: Roughing the passer penalty for first down at U.Va. 1 1 Cochran PAT. Eight plays, 56 yards. Time ot possession: 2:38.

Duke 28-17. FOURTH QUARTER UVA: Symmion Willis passes 69 yards to Pete Allen. Willis runs for two-point conversion. Two plays, 70 yards. Time of possession: :48.

Duke 28-25. to Tyrone Davis. Rafael Garcia PAT. Three plays, 66 yards. Time of possession: 1:31.

Virginia 7-0. SECOND QUARTER DUKE: Spence Fischer sneaks 1 yard. Key play: Fischer's 23-yard pass to Bill Khayat on third-and-22 from the 24-yard line. Tom Cochran PAT. Fourteen plays, 70 yards.

Time of possession: 5:48. Tied 7-7. UVA: Groh passes 6 yards to Davis. Key play: Groh's 36-yard pass to Davis. Garcia PAT.

Six plays, 77 yards. Time of possession: 2:31. Virginia 14-7. UVA: Garcia kicks 25-yard field goal. Key play: Groh's 27-yard pass to Derick Byrd for first down at Duke 1 5.

Twelve plays, 53 yards. Time of possession: 6:26. Virginia 17-7. DUKE: Rob Baldwin runs 2 yards. Key play: Fischer's 44-yard pass to Corey Thomas for first down at ACC Overall Florida State 7 0 7 1 Duke 5 1 8 1 N.C.

State 4 16 2 Virginia 4 2 6 2 North Carolina 3 3 6 3 Clemson 3 4 4 5. Maryland 2 5 4 5 Georgia Tech 0 6 17 Wake Forest 0 6 2 7 right dominating on defense. It also was pivotal, putting the Tigers (4-5, 3-4) in position to salvage a winning season if they can win their last two games against Georgia Tech and South Carolina. "Like that tiger says on the Frosted Flakes box, it RUSHING Virginia, Brooks 15-71, Way 8-37. T.Barber 3-14, Groh 8-(-14).

Duke, Baldwin 28-67, Lowman 2-1 0, Fischer 1 3-2. PASSING Virginia, Groh 14-26-1-217, Willis 2-8-2-77, Davis 0-1-00. Duke, Fischer 18-35-1-234. RECEMNG-Virginla, Allen 5-85, Way 4-32, T. Davis 3-107, Byrd 2-37, Jeflers 2-33.

Duke, Farquahar 5-51, Jensen 4-53, Thomas 3-61 Khayat 2-26, Opelenick 2-16, DeOrio 1-9, Baldwin 1-18. HOW THEY SCORED FIRST QUARTER UVA: Mike Groh passes 65 yards David Teel Duke's story is happier DURHAM, N.C. Two of college football's most confounding stories continued Saturday Duke's 1994 magic, and Virginia's November incompetence. The charming tale is Duke. It's last winning season was 1989, and prospects for 1994 were bleak, i Enter Fred Goldsmith.

He had polio as a child, but still earned a football scholarship to college. His two head coaching positions twere at tiny Slippery Rock and Rice, Ihardly football factories. So don't tell Goldsmith about bleak. He preached that commitment hard work make anything pos- sible. He called Duke "a sleeping giant," and he wasn't talking about Cherokee Parks.

i But not even Goldsmith envisioned this. After Saturday's 28-25 victory against Virginia, Duke is and in line for a major bowl bid. "Ain't no probably about it," Goldsmith said. This is our greatest victory." Certainly the most legitimate. The Blue Devils' first seven victims ranged from minor-league (East 'Carolina and Maryland) to (Navy, Wake Forest).

Conversely, Virginia strutted into town 6-1 and ranked 13th nationally by the Associated Press. The had beaten the Blue Devils five consecutive years by a combined 232-59. None of the games was closer than 21 points. But this Duke team is different. The defense is more aggressive, blitzing at every turn.

The offense is more physical, able to run the ball -when necessary. The players are no different from past. Goldsmith is simply a better coach than the deposed Barry Wilson. Wilson's predecessor, Steve 'Spurrier, coached Duke to a bowl "game in 1989. But Spurrier's ego and smart mouth made his program difficult to embrace.

I Goldsmith's team is a dream. It has kids such as Damon Wallace, the Bethel High grad who's excelling on the offensive line after Vfour non-descript seasons. It has Itids such as safety Zaid Abdul-Aleem, who escaped the ghettos of Chicago, learned five foreign languages, won a Fulbright Scholarship to study the history of Islam in Brazil, and established a summer-school curriculum for inner-city teen-agers in Washington, D.C. These Blue Devils know a tad about life and and now they're on a roll. t's hard to overlook the destiny factor," Duke quarterback Spence Fischer said.

"We've been riding this wave for nine games now, and we'll keep riding it as long as we can." Three times in the past four sea-ions, Virginia has ridden a wave into November, only to crash face-iirst into the beach. Saturday portended a rerun in 1994. The Cavaliers broke down in every area: offense, defense, special teams and coaching. It didn't start that way. Virginia scored on its third play from scrimmage and held Duke to minus-1 yard total offense on its first three possessions.

But then The defense went soft, allowing Fischer plenty of time to pick apart a passive secondary. The offense went goofy with poor clock management and odd play calls. The most inept sequence came early in the fourth quarter when a Mike Frederick fumble recovery gave Virginia possession at Duke's 5. Mike Groh threw incomplete on first down, was sacked for a 7-yard loss on second down, then threw incomplete again. Rafael Garcia missed a 30-yard field goal, and the Cavaliers still trailed 28-17.

With Groh finally resembling the pedestrian quarterback that he is, Virginia would have been better advised to run on first and second down. This was, after all, Duke, not Tlorida State. 'f The miscue was magnified a series later when Symmion Willis replaced Groh and heaved a 69-yard scoring pass to Demetrius Allen that was more fluke than anything. Now the Cavaliers face an intriguing crossroads. Do they salvage their season against Maryland, Virginia Tech and North Carolina State? Or do they repeat past collapses? "I don't know what's going on," Virginia coach George Welsh said, i On this wacky Saturday, he was not alone.

Virginia Continued from C1 any polite words to describe it." "We screwed it up," Welsh said. "And we have to go back to the drawing board, maybe." It was the same old scenario: The Cavaliers were in position for something good like a major bowl game only to be derailed. Last year, it was North Carolina State that stopped Virginia's roll right at this point of the season, in fact. The Cavs went from 6-1 to 7-5. This time, Welsh is doing damage control, trying to convince his team that a loss to 23rd-ranked Duke (8-1, 5-1) isn't a disgrace anymore.

"Just because we lost this game doesn't mean an end to our season," Welsh said. "We still have three more to play, and they are crucial to our season." The Cavaliers' offense fizzled three turnovers, only 147 total yards after half-time but it was the defensive breakdown that proved costly. After its first three possessions, Duke had no first downs and minus-1 yard in total offense. But after that, the Blue Devils looked unstoppable. Baldwin was never a factor, but quarterback Spence Fischer completed 18 of 35 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown.

His deep throws constantly burned the Cavs' secondary. Two were particularly huge: a 23-yard strike to tight end Bill Khayat on third-and-24 to set up the Blue Devils' first touchdown; a 44-yarder to Corey Thomas to set up their second. Still, Virginia led 17-14 at halftime. But on its first possession of the third quarter, Duke went 90 yards in nine plays to take the lead. The big play as usual, it seemed came on third down.

Needing nine for a first down, Fischer hit flanker Jon Jensen for 21 yards. Safety Percy Ellsworth threw Jensen to the ground out of bounds and was flagged, giving the Blue Devils a first down at the Virginia 14. Three plays later, Fischer hit Matt DeOrio on a corner route to make it 21-17. Virginia never regained the lead. "At the start of the third quarter, we looked like one of Will Brice's poorer punts.

But it got the Cavs back in it. Allen waited and, as cornerback Brandon Pollock became turned around, caught Willis' throw at the Duke 26-yard line, He sprinted past Pollock and scored on a 69-yard pass that cut the lead, after Willis' two-point conversion run, to 28-25 with 7:07 remaining. But the Cavs never threatened again. Willis was intercepted by linebacker LeV-ance McQueen on the next series with 3:20 remaining, which basically sealed it. Afterward, the sellout crowd tore down a goal post.

Duke, with North Carolina State and North Carolina remaining on its schedule, now has a chance for something nice. For Virginia, it's time to regroup. "We need to rededicate ourselves," defensive tackle Ryan Kuehl said. "The leaders on this team have to come out in meetings and get the young guys going. We need to rededicate ourselves in the film room, rededicate ourselves to do what we have to do to win.

"It's positive thinking. You can see it in (Duke). It's the same team as a year ago, but they have confidence now. They know what to do, and they took it to us. We need to get that." saw they were ready to quit," Thqmas said.

'We knew they were through." They were. Fischer's sneak from a yard out made it 28-17 with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter. Virginia's offense was doing nothing, picking up only 65 yards on its first six possessions. The Cavs needed a spark, and defensive end Mike Frederick provided it. On third-and-15, Fischer tried to hit Jensen on a quick throw.

Frederick batted it away and since Jensen was behind Fischer, the throw was ruled a lateral. Frederick recovered at the Duke 5-yard line with 10:27 remaining. Back in business. But not for long. Quarterback Mike Groh threw incomplete on first down, then was sacked by Tom Locklin for a 7-yard loss.

On third down, Groh threw incomplete to Tyrone Davis. Virginia had to settle for a 30-yard field-goal attempt by Rafael Garcia, which he missed wide right. "We've got to get something out of that," Heath said. On Virginia's next series, quarterback Symmion Willis who had not played since Oct. 8 because of a pulled hamstring replaced Groh (14-of-26, 217 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions).

His first pass, a deep throw for Pete Allen, feels grrrrrrreat!" exclaimed defensive end Marvin': CrOSS. "That looked like Clemson football from where was standing," said Tommy West, struggling to rebuild in his first season as head coach. "I don't know we've come of age. I know we've come a hundred miles." The No. 19 Tar Heels (6-3, 3-3) didn't have nearly as much to talk about, not that they'd want to talk', about, anyway.

The loss was their eighth in the past nine games in this series. They were smothered, first by their own mistakes as Clemson carved out an early lead, then by a Tiger defense that shut down the ACC's top rushing North Carolina, averaging 241.5 rushing yards per game, scratched out 1 1 and had to be thankful for that. Clemson's defenders had eight tackles for es and four quarterback sacks. .1 The Tar Heels were forced quickly to the air. Starting quarterback Jason Stanicek completed seven of 1 1 passes for 70 yards before going out with a sprained ankle and backup Mike Thomas hit 11 of 24 for 177...

yards and two touchdowns. But the Tigers kept them under pressure, getting one interception and two sacks of each quarterback. "They did all the things that you have to do to win and they didn't have a turnover," North Carolina coach Mack Brown said. "I was very proud that our team-kept trying after we dug ourselves a hole but the team that can rush the ball usually wins and the team that turns the ball over least usually wins." The Tigers cranked out 162 yards rushing and, mixed with 104 yards passing, did enough to keep possession for 34 minutes nine seconds. While maintaining its own pattern of near-spotless play Clemson has had just one turnover in the past four games and nine for the season West's team-took advantage of three by the Tar Heels.

Florida State 41, Georgia Tech 10 Seldom challenged during three seasons in the con- ference, the Seminoles extended their ACC record to 23-0 in Atlanta. Danny Kanell hit Melvin Pearsall with two short scoring passes and Warrick Dunn scored on a 63-yard run for the Seminoles, who held Tech to only 5 yards-rushing, thanks mainly to five quarterback sacks. The Seminoles (7-1, 7-0 ACQ clinched at least a share of a third conference championship in their three years of membership. "I don't think there is any question they're the class of our conference," Tech coach Bill Lewis said. "They are an awfully good football team, and when you don't play well for 60 minutes, they will find ways to beat you." N.C.

State 47, Maryland 45 Steve Videtich atoned for a crucial missed con-, version by kicking a 35-yard field goal with six seconds -left, giving N.C. State a wild victory over host Maryland. Carlos King scored three touchdowns for N.C State (6-2, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which scored on every possession except one cut short by the end of the first half. But the Wolfpack offense could barely keep up. with an uncharacteristic showing by the which hardly looked like the ninth-best in the Scott Milanovich threw five touchdown passes for the Terrapins (4-5, 2-5), including the eo-ahead score with 2:19 left.

6 In a game that featured two kickoff returns for" touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards in offense, the difference came down to the team whose offense was on the field last That was N.C. State, which moved from its own 35 to set up Videtich's game-winner, his fourth field goal of the night. From wire reports Cavs second-guess their play-calling Despite everything a sluggish offense, horrific defense against the pass Virginia had a shot to win Saturday. Defensive end Mike Frederick's batted-down lateral and recovery at the Blue Devils' 5-yard line should have been a spark. It couldn't have come at a better time, with the Cavaliers trailing 28-17 with 10:27 remaining.

And in desperate need of a jump start. But Virginia got nothing. Quarterback Mike Groh missed Pete Allen, was sacked for a 7-yard loss and threw incomplete into triple coverage to Tyrone Davis. That left a 30-yard field-goal attempt for Rafael Garcia, who was 1 1-for-l 1 from 40 yards-and-in this season. He missed it wide right.

Virginia still trailed 28-17, and offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien could only do what everybody else undoubtedly did. "I second-guessed myself on that first call," O'Brien said. "That was the same play we scored on earlier, and they should have know it was coming and they did. After that, we missed a couple of blocks." The sack proved fataL "You've got to throw it away in that situation," coach George Welsh said. "Never take a sack," O'Brien admitted that maybe he should have let fullback Charles Way take a shot or two at Duke's line.

Way way to get it. Maybe in a week or so, I'll be happy about it." TALKING. Not surprisingly, there was talking in this Duke-Virginia game. Blue Devils quarterback Spence Fischer: "I think we've silenced some of the talkers over there." Wideout Corey Thomas: "Once we wore them down, their mouths started closing." But this from linebacker Billy Granville: "It's not about verbal arguments. That's petty.

I came here to play football." BOWLS. With its eighth victory Saturday, Duke clinched a bowl of some sort. And the Blue Devils are in line for a major one. "We're going to a bowl, no doubt about that," Duke coach Fred Goldsmith said. "And when you've been at Rice for five years, they're all major bowls." Asked where he wants to go, Goldsmith said, "You know where I want to go." Let's assume he means the Cotton, where the Southwest Conference has an automatic bid.

NOTABLES. Duke linebacker LeVance McQueen on his interception of Symmion Willis with 3:20 remaining, basically sealing the Blue Devils victory: "The quarterback threw behind him, and I was playing behind him." Welsh said Groh will start at quarterback next week against Maryland. By Dave Johnson Jeff Hodrick hugs Corey Thomas after Thomas' 44-yard catch that set up Duke's second touchdown. ap averaged almost 5 yards a carry. The lateral, by the way, was supposed to result in flanker Jon Jensen throwing a pass.

TOUCHDOWN TYRONE. Davis had three catches Saturday for 107 yards and two touchdowns, but all of that came in the game's first 20 minutes. Duke sealed him off after that. "They started bringing their safety over," Davis said. "And a couple of times, they brought their linebacker over to jam me.

After that second touchdown catch, they double teamed me almost every play." Davis' second touchdown catch gave him 28 for his career, breaking Herman Moore's school record. His reaction? "Who Davis said. "It's a rotten Teel is a sports columnist for the Daily Press..