Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 19

Fort Lauderdale News Section Wednesday, December 24, 1986 I 3, li Halloran flings BG by Georgia I 1y one that was returned for a touchdown in the second half. He left the game for one play after being shaken up in the third quarter. "I second-guessed myself for putting Shawn right back in," Bicknell said. "He's such a tough kid. Nothing comes easy for him, but everything turned out right." Halloran had completed only one pass in the fourth quarter before BC made its last-ditch drive.

Starting from the BC 24, Halloran drove the Eagles downfield with the confidence he displayed in the first half. He hit Peter Casparriello on his first pass for 11 yards. On third and 6 from the BC 39, he found Casparriello again for a big first down at the Georgia 47. After hooking up with Darren Flutie to the Georgia 35, Halloran rifled a pass for Waddle. BC celebrated but the referees called the play back.

Down 20-7 at the half, Georgia roared back with 17 points to pull ahead 24-20 three minutes into the fourth quarter. Davis Jacobs started the comeback with a 28-yard field goal, and Gary Moss picked off a Halloran pass and returned it 81 SEE EAGLES 6C Georgia coach Vince Dooley said. "Give Boston College credit. They came down the field when they had to and made the big play to win the game. "Our second half comeback was a traditional Georgia comeback and that pleased me." Williams gave BC a second chance when he interfered with Martin on a fourth-down play with 55 seconds left The Eagles thought they had won the game three plays earlier when Halloran connected with Tom Waddle on a 35-yard touchdown pass with 1:27 left.

But Waddle was ruled out of bounds. Replays showed that he had one foot in. After the interference penalty gave BC a first down at the Georgia 17, Halloran connected with Troy Stradford to the Georgia 6, then hung up his prayer for Martin, his ninth catch of the game and his only reception of the second half. "Shawn Halloran was better than expected," Dooley said. "Boston College had a good football team." Halloran, the fourth-ranked passer in the country, had an up-and-down-and-up game, completing 31 of 52 passes for 316 yards.

He passed for 242 yards in the first half, then threw up two interceptions 'J' .1. i r7. 1 A BC lineman sacrifices his head to block for Troy Stradford (23, on ground). Bolphins9 holes call lor stockiei By JIM SARNI Staff Writer TAMPA- Hail Halloran. It wasn't exactly Doug Flutie's miracle against the University of Miami at the Orange Bowl two years ago, but it was pretty exciting just the same.

Shawn Halloran, the man who replaced Flutie at quarterback for Boston College, gained a little bit of immortality Tuesday night in the Hall of Fame Bowl when he lifted the Eagles (9-3) to a thrilling 27-24 victory over Georgia (8-4) before 25,368 in the rain at Tampa Stadium. Halloran hit Kelvin Martin with a 6-yard pass with 32 seconds left to complete a 74-yard drive in the final two minutes and rescue BC, which blew a 20-7 halftime lead. Martin, from Jacksonville, caught the ball over his shoulder, beating Greg Williams, as BC won its eighth consecutive game. "I have good memories of last-minute finishes in Florida," BC coach Jack Bick-nell said. "The Hail Mary was just luck, I never got too excited about it.

This touchdown was a good throw on inside coverage and a great catch." "It was a very difficult game to lose," A MATTER OF DEGREE At Notre Dame, Paddock gets the best of both worlds. By ROBBIE ANDREU Staff Writer PLANTATION Overweight. Slow. Methodical. To a player who enjoys streaking up and down the court in transition, this was ugly basketball.

Notre Dame basketball. Scott Paddock so despised the manner in which the Fighting Irish played the game that the television set went off when their games came on. "I hated Notre Dame," Paddock said. "I couldn't even stand watching them play. They were so big, so slow, so boring.

They played the most boring games I'd ever seen." Paddock, a 6-foot-9 freshman from South Plantation High School, is now a starting forward at Notre Dame, 4 He is so pleased with the academic and social environment, and so happy with coach Digger Phelps and the basketball program, that he can't imagine how he ever considered going anywhere else. For a 17-year-old with ambition to succeed in basketball andor business upon graduation, Notre Dame seems to be the ideal training ground. "I'm getting the best of both worlds up there," said Paddock, who is spending a four-day Christmas break with his parents and brother Brad, an ACC All-Academic offensive tackle at Duke. "I think about pro basketball once in a while. If a career in basketball comes about, fine.

If not, 111 have a good salary and be happy in business. only thing Digger Phelps promised me if I went to Notre Dame is that I'd get a degree. That impressed me more than anything." Fulfilling that promise should not be too difficult. Paddock graduated from South Plantation with a grade-point average above 4.0 in advanced curriculum, and everyone who has played foi.tr years for Phelps has graduated. In his 15 years at Notre Dame, Phelps is a perfect 57 for 57.

"He stresses academics every day," Paddock said. "I haven't missed a class yet. If you cut one class, you'll end up on the bench. It doesn't matter who you are. "Academics are always first We didn't even practice during exam week.

As far as I'm concerned, I picked the ideal school" Two things sold Paddock on Notre Dame: David Rivers and a recruiting visit to the South Bend, campus last fall Rivers, a junior guard from Jersey City, N.J., has changed the image of Notre Dame basketball since arriving two years ago. With his speed, quickness and considerable skills as a passer and shooter. Rivers has SEE PADDOCK 3C INSIDE COMING HOME Reggie Jackson, who began his major league career with the A's, is expected to sign with Oakland today. 2C By ANDY COHEN Staff Writer MIAMI Perhaps, in the long run, the Miami Dolphins were better off losing Monday night's game against the New England Patriots. This way, the problems of a long, frustrating season won't be hidden beneath a winning record or a triumphant finish.

Premature optimism can be dangerous for a team in need of major repair. "Ending the way we did doesn't give you any false illusions," coach Don Shula said Monday. "Eight-and-eight is about as good as we played. And we wouldn't have gotten that far if not for some great individual efforts by Dan Marino." So now Shula can approach the offseason in the proper frame of mind. The Dolphins need a lot of help.

On the defensive line. At linebacker. In the secondary. The breakeven finish assures them of the 14th tion in next spring's draft. Shula indicated he would like to use the pick for a big, dominating, quarterback-devouring defensive lineman.

But, if anything is clear to Shula with the season now behind him, it is that one player can't provide all the answers. The Dolphins need a van full. "A lot of holes have to be filled and a lot of work has to be done," Shula said after digesting the tapes of New England's 34-27 victory. "We're going to have to make some significant changes. We're picking up four NFC East teams on our schedule next year Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia and the New York Giants and we have to get stronger in a hurry if we're going to compete against those teams.

"What we really need is one or two players who can make us a better team in each of the defensive areas." SEE DOLPHINS 5C United Press International HELP FOR THE NEEDY Coach Don Shula's wish list: TOP PRIORITY: Defensive line, defensive backfield. Overhaul of each especially secondary is not out of the question. HELP WANTED: Linebacker, running backs. Hugh Green's health is key at LB. Running game may be a liability, but with Dan Marino at QB, they can make do.

Special teams. A season of bleeps and blunders that Shula hopes was just a one-year fluke. WAIT AND SEE: Receivers, offensive line. Backup help needed for Marks Brothers Duper and Clayton. Improvement from rookie James Pruitt would ease worries here.

Injuries hid offensive line's potential. JUST BEING PICKY: Quarterback. With Don Strock's future uncertain. Dolphins could use backup for Marino. ley as opposed to anyone else on the coach- ing staff.

I'm not going to answer any ru-: mors, just like when I was rumored to be here or there as a coach." Asked specifically to evaluate Studley's coaching performance this season, Shula responded, "I'm not going to get into an evaluation of Chuck Studley at this time." Studley, the man behind the in Dol-: phins, refuses to even consider turning his back on a job that remains far from fin-ished. The Miami defense wound up tied for 26th with the New York Jets out of 28 teams. It gave up an average of 378.1 yards 1 and 25.3 points a game. SEE STUDLEY 5C vv- I St Shula's silence casts doubt on Studley's Dolphin future 1 -k Jf! Staff prtotoROBERT MAYER to the NBA, but as one of Digger least he will graduate. courtship with tennis grounded again By ANDY COHEN Staff Writer MIAMI Despite season-long criticism from fans and media and a defense that never stopped struggling, Chuck Studley says he still likes his job and wants to come back.

The question remains: Does Don Shula want him back? Shula wouldn't answer that Monday, which in itself is enough to cast some doubt "If and when there's anything to say about it, 111 say it," Shula said. "But I don't intend to get into a discussion about Stud- ment was "postponed" but there is little likelihood that they can find time on the 1987 calendar to reschedule it Narvin said there was no consideration to switching the tournament to another surface. "To change the surface would be to change the concept," he said. The news of the tournament cancellation was met with skepticism in some tennis circles. The Avis Grasscourts has been a troubled event with two public relations firms resigning from the account in the last two months, amid speculation that Gleneagles has cash-flow problems.

Tournament officials deny any problems, claiming that ticket sales were good and they were anticipating a successful event. "Everyone wanted the event to happen," Scott Paddock may not graduate Phelps' players at Notre Dame, at Gleneagles' By JIM SARNI Staff Writer The Avis Grasscourts tennis tournament, scheduled for Jan. 2-4 at Gleneagles Country Club in Delray Beach, was canceled Tuesday. The reason bad grass. The eight-man tournament, the first professional grasscourt event ever planned in Florida, was to have featured Ivan Lendl, Gleneagles' touring pro, and possibly John McEnroe as a late replacement Gleneagles began growing a grass court six months ago but the court has not met world-class standards for a tournament that was conceived as a tuneup to the Australian Open in January.

"The courts are fine for the club player, but not adequate for the world-class player," said Gleneagles' director of tennis Chuck Narvin. "It wouldn't be a pleasant said Land from his Washington office. "The only problem was the court" Meanwhile, calls to the tournament office at Gleneagles netted a terse announce ment on a message machine about the de- mise of the tournament and information about ticket refunds. The Avis Grasscourts is the second tour-' nament scheduled at Gleneagles that has fallen through. Gleneagles planned a women's professional tournament last October, to replace the Lynda CarterMaybelline Classic which was moving from Bonaventure to Palm Springs.

The women's tournament appeared on' schedules for months before it was official-' ly cancelled. Gleneagles said that it wanted to have a men's event instead since Lendl was its touring pro. Now it has nothing. experience to play this tournament" Narvin said that recent bad weather contributed to the problems. "We planned everything well on paper but we were in the hands of Mother Nature," he said.

ProServ, the tournament director, had signed an eight-man field that included, in addition to Lendl, Tim Mayotte, Paul An-nacone, Brad Gilbert and Robert Seguso. John Lloyd, originally scheduled to play, pulled out Friday (after his separation with his wife Chris Evert Lloyd was made public), leaving a spot in the draw. "John McEnroe had expressed an interest in playing two weeks ago when the field was full," said Peter Land of ProServ. "When Lloyd pulled out, we were in contact with him. Then we had to postpone the event" Tournament officials said the tourna Pacers 111 Suns 120 Pistons 98 Mavs 119 Nets 119 Warriors 112 Jazz 96 Blazers 111 Rockets 121 Lakers 127 Clippers 96 Kings 117 Bulls 108 Sonics 127 Cavs 92 Nuggets 116 Bucks 110 NBA 3C Spurs 108 For scores call 761-4500..