Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 39

Tallahassee Dec. 20, 1992 Football, 3 Basketball, 34 Classified ads, 9 ft AM a Bill McGrotha Renegade bridled for the Orange Bowl After a bit of horsing around, it was finally determined that Renegade will be going to the Orange Bowl, after all. Accompanied, of course, by rider Chief Osceola and flaming spear. For a time, it looked shaky. Not until Friday afternoon was it resolved.

Because of the bowl's pre-game pageantry and NBC-TV stipulations involving the entry and introduction of the two teams just before the kickoff, FSU was told Renegade could not, at that time, lead the Seminoles onto the field, with Osceola throwing the challenging spear. The bowl, however, seemed more than eager for Renegade to come. A compromise was achieved. Renegade will be on the field, with Osceola and the spear routine, at some yet-to-be-determined point say, a half hour before the kickoff. "We can understand the bowl's position," said Bill Durham, owner of the horse, "and we're happy it's been worked out." So, this becomes Renegade's third Orange Bowl, too.

He was there with the Seminoles following 79 and '80 seasons. Shorting the circuits: THAT rjww- k- CJr-SJh -'(k" If1' -fr )m- LI" nuhjc jr Vt I tj I 4J' nil i-i" 4t: r. rf 1 V'- 7 NO. 13 you see making the big hit on a receiver in TV commercial of Sports Illustrated is Ken Riley. Such don't-come-my-way-again tackling was characteristic of Florida head football coach during vintage 15-year run as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback.

Phil CoaleDemocrat Riley Leon's Sylvester Jones draws a crowd of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas players during Saturday's AAAA state championship game in Gainesville. Lions stopped 24-9 by St. Thomas Aquinas in AAAA final He was a hit as a Bengal. -il IP Leon's improbable attempt at the state championship ends as the Fort Lauderdale team scores twice in the final five minutes.

"I'm real proud of the athletes," coach Jim Sauls says. 1 I It's not Gene Cox's or Jim Sauls' team. "It's our team," says Sauls, Leon's coach. David Lee Simmons column. Turnovers cost the Lions.

"We're shocked we tost," says Leon receiver Maurice Thomas. "We didn't think they were the best team in the state, but they did the right things at the right time to win the game," Notebook, statistics. By Mark Anderson Democrat staff writer 1. GAINESVILLE For Leon, Saturday's game against Fort Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas was for more than the Class AAAA state championship. It was another 48-minute mission of trying to show it could play high-school football with the state's best teams.

In the end, Leon had to take solace in the fact it gave the Raiders a hard-fought game before succumbing 24-9 at Florida Field. "I'm real proud of the athletes," Leon coach Jim Sauls said. "I think they took the commitment and went with it. They did a tremendous job, and I'm proud of that" The Lions were in the game until late in the fourth quarter when St. Thomas scored on a 59-yard touchdown run on a reverse to make the score 17-3.

Leon fumbled the ensuing kickoff, leading to St. Thomas' final touchdown. "We knew we could win," Leon lineman Mike Holmes said. "I think they thought they had the state championship won. That made us pumped to play." The loss put the close on a Leon season that went beyond the expectations of nearly everyone.

The Lions, although unranked all season, advanced to the state final for the first time since 1975. Leon entered the game against a St. Thomas team that seemingly had everything. The Raiders were undefeated (now 14-0), ranked No. 1 in the state since preseason and listed at No.

14 nationally by USA TODAY. The potential for a mismatch St. Thomas had out-scored opponents by an average of 38-10 appeared likely. Instead, Leon's defense gave the Raiders everything it had. "They did a lot of talking at the beginning of the game," Holmes said.

"After a while, it was kind of funny, I stopped hearing it. They didn't talk as much as they were. They didn't respect us at all coming into the game." Leon's defense played one of its finest games of the season. That defense, despite facing poor field position most of the afternoon, kept the offense alive until late in the game. "We try not to pay a lot of attention to that," Leon defensive coordinator Paul Lambert said of the bad field position.

"We try to stop them where they get it It shows the kids we're dealing with have character. I thought they did a good job of hanging in there." Please see LEON, 5C Phil CoaleDemocrat Leon's Frank Pondexter (15) tries to hide his emotions in the locker room after the Lions' loss to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. It was Leon 's first appearance in the state final since 1975. wayne Mcduffie, the Georgia offensive coordinator, put it this way after a disappointment or two: "I've been coaching like a coward." Remark recalls memorable 1987 McDuffie words when he served FSU as offensive coordinator and favored Seminoles lost 31-0 at Miami.

"I should be arrested for impersonating a football coach," he said. CHARLEY REED, our state university chancellor, played football at George Washington when Bill Dooley was young talent like Charley as a player and talent like me as a coach," said Dooley, "well, after we left, they dropped football." Dooley will coach his last game for Wake Forest against Oregon in the Dec. 31 Independence Bowl "the Deacs versus the Ducks," quips Dooley. He resigned before season started, but he's not retiring. "I would think about coaching in the event of a great opportunity," he said on recent visit here.

"Otherwise, I will change my course whether to athletic administration, business, or whatever." LONGEST WEEK he ever had, says Jim Brock, selection chairman of Cotton Bowl, started when bowl passed up FSU for Notre Dame as foe for host Texas The calls and letters never stopped. "I don't think we realized the level of disagreement we would get," he said. Blackie Sherrod, the Dallas Morning News sage, called it a "grevious boner," and wondered if Texas may not be so riled its desire may be fueled to leave Southwest Conference for SEC. DARREL MUDRA, who once coached the Seminoles, will now coach the Apaches. Which is to say, this winner of 200 games at the college level will for six months, starting in January, forsake his Wakulla County abode for Florence, Italy, where he'll coach a team named the Apaches.

While he's about it, you may be sure he'll wet a line or two over there. DICK BUTKUS, the lineback-ing great after whom the award is named, sometimes talked a little like FSU's Marvin Jones, latest winner of the award. "I never deliberately tried to hurt anybody," Butkus once said. "Unless it was important Like a league game, or something." SOMEWHAT INSPIRED by Renegade, his son-in-law opened a riding academy, reports Ole Dad, but business just kept falling off. Seminoles work hard, defeat UNCC Guards Bob Sura and Sam Cassell play every minute of the Seminoles' 63-59 victory in the Milk Challenge.

By Steve Ellis Democrat staff writer i 4: AJ -MS FSU women snap Miami's wiii streak at 32 The Lady Seminoles the only team to defeat the Lady Hurricanes last season get 25 points from Tia Paschal in a 64-61 victory. Democrat staff report MIAMI Tia Paschal led the charge with 25 points as the Florida State Lady Seminoles upset 16th-ranked Miami 64-61 on Saturday to snap the Hurricanes' 32-game, regular-season winning streak. FSU was the only team to defeat Miami last season, doing so in the season-opener. "I think our defense really kept us in the game," said FSU coach Marynell Meadors, "It was a team effort and a great team win." After two foul shots by Danielle Ryan gave Florida State a 62-58 lead, Miami's Delia Wilson hit a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds to cut the lead to 1. But the Lady Hurricanes' calls for timeout were unnoticed as Please see WOMEN, 5C ORLANDO From Florida State's perspective, this might as well be called the Slim Milk Challenge.

4C Florida loses to Temple In employing a lineup devoid of any fat, the lOth-ranked Seminoles edged North Carolina Charlotte 63-59 on Saturday in the opening day of the Milk Challenge. FSU will play Temple today at 4 p.m. By improving to 4-3, FSU avoided a drop below .500 for the first time in three seasons. Chns Meara' Associated Press Please see MEN, 5C FSU's Sam Cassell battles UNC Charlotte's Martin Dottin for a loose ball..