Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 21

Tallahassee Oct. 7, 1990 Pro football, 10 Scoreboard, 12 Auto racing, 13 It uu Hurricanes hit quickly, then hold off FSU 31-22 't 1 -f 'V 5P01RTS 1 (in By Bill McGrotha Democrat sports editor 4 ti i 1 i. But, ah, it would have taken one of the major football miracles to have won it after Miami struck for a 24-0 lead in the first half. "I'd like to play 'em again," said Bowden, wistfully, hours after the end. But, ah, it would be well if his team were in better health than it was on this day.

Injuries, truth be known, cramped the Seminoles' style more than a little, and notably on defense. "FSU did not practice in pads the whole week," noted Miami runner Leonard Conley. "We knew they would get tired We knew we had to establish a running game to beat these guys." And Miami did establish a running game against Florida State, as perhaps never before in the history of this series. As the Hurricanes got Please see MIAMI, 14B MIAMI Simply put, Miami ran Florida State's good thing into the ground. Bumper stickers proclaimed: "Ain't Noles Way!" And for the longest time, it seemed there was not.

In the end, the nation's second-ranked team left: with a what-might-have-been scenario one altogether beyond the realm of the probable as Florida State fell to Miami 31-22 here Saturday afternoon. The Hurricanes just ran and ran and ran. It was the 34th straight Orange Bowl success for Miami, and it severed college football's longest winning streak at 14. "We could have won this dad-gum game," said a disappointed Bobby Bowden. Stanford knocks off the Irish with a last-minute touchdown v1 Associated Press two coming after Notre Dame (3-1) fumbles on punts.

"We ran the same play over and over again," Vardell said. "We figured they would shift over and tighten up." "We call number 44 (Vardell) Touchdown Tommy," Stanford coach Dennis Green said. "We know he's going to get the ball, you know he's going to get the ball, and we want to see you try to stop him." The final Cardinal drive was kept alive by Palumbis' 2-yard gain on a fourth-down play. He completed 26 of 34 passes for 256 yards. "It didn't work too well until we started throwing downfield," Palumbis said.

"Their two-deep zone Please see STANFORD, 7B SOUTH BEND, Ind. Rick Mirer reached deep for one more Notre Dame miracle, only to find the well of dazzling tricks had run dry. Stanford quarterback Jason Pa-lumbis, disappointed by three close losses, found luck finally playing on his side. With 36 seconds left, Tommy Vardell plunged for his fourth 1-yard touchdown to give Stanford a comeback 36-31 victory over No. 1 Notre Dame on Saturday.

"I don't know if I've ever been in a loss this difficult," Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said. Stanford (2-3) trailed 24-7 at 6:30 of the first half before stringing together Vardell's touchdowns series, M0 1S Phil SearsDemocrat Miami's first TD came on Leonard Conley's 8-yard run; he scored once more in the half and finished the game with 144 yards on 16 carries Rattlers surge past Aggies to end their losing streak Miles made popular by recent book A. ft' By David Lee Simmons Democrat staff writer I i yr- Florida scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and held off a late Aggie rally for a 17-15 win Saturday night before 11,379 at Bragg Stadium. The Rattlers snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to 2-3, winning in their first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game of the season. The Aggies lost their first game of the season in falling to 5-1 and 1-1, respectively.

Craig Hall intercepted two Connell Maynor passes to spark the defense, the second returned 76 yards to set up a 35-yard field goal by Jimmy Vertuno. The Rattlers took the lead earlier in the quarter when Terry Mickens pulled in Tony Ezell tipped pass for an 8-yard touchdown. As difficult as it was trying to contain Maynor, the Aggie quarterback, FAMU could have done a lot worse than the 7-7 tie it had at halftime. Maynor, who is tied with FAMU's Ezell for preseason MEAC honors, was as dangerous as advertised. In the first half alone, Maynor gained 43 yards on 12 carries including a 1-yard keeper for a touchdown.

He also completed 5 of 10 passes for 69 yards with an interception. But when it came time for the visitors to score, the Rattler defense rose to the occasion. The seven first-half points allowed were the fewest since the three spotted to Tennessee State on Sept. 29. The Aggies looked good on their second drive, moving 85 yards in 12 plays.

Maynor did the most damage, keeping on an option run to the right for 23 Phil CoaleDemocrat Beth Daniel's 68 Saturday gave her a commanding lead Daniel pulls past Sheehan and takes a 4-stroke lead By Tim Madigan Fort Worth Star-Telegram ODESSA, Texas His fame grows daily. Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" was by just last week. Reporters are calling from Sports Illustrated and People and newspapers all over. It's almost as if those childhood dreams actually came true and he won the Heisman Trophy or something. James "Boobie" Miles sits in his small, wood frame home in a rundown neighborhood of this West Texas oil town and smiles his luminous smile.

"It's OK, I guess," he says of all the recent attention. "It's just like I was playing again." But he's not, of course. There's no college football for Miles now, no Heisman. Every weekday, in- stead, the strapping 20-year-old 5 trudges off to Odessa College, struggling to find himself after flunking out of the school where he played ball last year, struggling to resurrect his fading gridiron dreams. Something else entirely is the source of his new-found notoriety.

i It is that book "Friday Night Lights," the spellbinding chronicle of the 1988 football season at Odes- sa Permian High School in which Boobie Miles is a central character. He was ordained for stardom 1 that year, Miles was, but he wrecked a knee, and his athletic dreams evaporated in an instant. And instead of a star, he became a symbol. He became author H.G. r- "Buzz" Bissinger's metaphor for racism in the town, for exploitation 2 of athletes in the state's most fam-l ous high school football program.

Miles' fame increases now with each mounting sale of Bissinger's book, which last week made its de-l but as a New York Times best-: seller, a book largely defined by biting passages from the chapter i titled "Boobie." By Gerald Ensley Democrat staff writer Phil CoaleDemocrat FAMU's Craig Hall (top) and Keith Austin collar North Carolina Barry Turner THE LEADER Please see FAMU, 7B Beth Daniel 71-63-68202 SOME FOLLOWERS Florida dominates LSU 34-8 to stay unbeaten Patty Sheehan Nancy Lopez Cathy Gerring Missie McGeorge Pat Bradley Judy Dickinson Colleen Walker Jane Geddes Lisa Walters 67-65-74206 70- 67-69206 63-78-67208 69-68-72209 74-70-66--210 72-70-68210 71- 70-71212 72- 70-74216 72-74-77223 By Jeannie Roberts Democrat staff writer It is, after all, the Year of Beth Daniel. So it makes perfect sense that Daniel heads into today's final round of the $l-million Centel Classic with a 4-shot lead. Trailing Patty Sheehan by two shots when she began Saturday, Daniel rang up a 4-under-par 68 Saturday while Sheehan skied to a 2-over 74 with that 6-stroke swing putting Daniel at 14-under for the tournament and in the driver's seat for the Centel winner's check of $150,000. Sheehan is at 10-under, as is Nancy Lopez, who shot a 3-under 69 Saturday. Daniel, who currently is the tour's leading money winner, and Sheehan are waging a battle for Player of the Year.

Daniel leads that race by a single point in this third-to-last tournament of the Complete scores, page 8B ries ended in punts, the dam brokel LSU quarterback Chad Loup handed off to tailback Harvey WiK liams. Gator defensive end Mark Murray delivered a hit that jarred the ball loose. Dexter Smith recovered for Florida at LSU's 5-yard line. One play later, Dexter McNabb scored. At 6:32 of the first quarter, Gators 6, Tigers 0.

But then Arden Czyzewski's extra-point attempt was blocked by Scott Wharton and returned 98 yards by Please see GATORS, 7B beat LSU 34-8. LSU coach Mike Archer can only, preserve his job by producing a winner. Because of an NCAA bowl ban, the Gators' only post-season celebration will be counting their number of victories during the regular season. So far this season, they're a perfect 5 for 5. The Gators are 3-0 in the Southeastern Conference; LSU is 3-2 and 1-2.

Saturday's will be one to talk about for a long time. This one was truly bizarre, and a big-play enthusiast's dream. After each team's first two se GAINESVILLE A coach fighting for his job and a team fighting to preserve its dignity in a season shortened by NCAA penalties proved Saturday night to make for interesting football opponents. From the beginning of the game at Florida Field, which packed in the fourth-largest crowd in its history 75,039 it seemed as if neither team brought enough offense to win, but Florida brought its defense and special teams to Nancy Lopez plans to cut back her schedule, page 8B year. Lopez is gunning for her second consecutive victory.

As they were Saturday when Please see CENTEL, 8B.