The Morning Call du lieu suivant : Allentown, Pennsylvania • 33

FIRST 7 THE MORNING CALL SEPT 12, 1993 SECTION Gts Ji4t if Giants' loss shoves Braves into first C8- rase swl4 C2 TSP 25 FOOTBALL C5 gE2AU STATS Cll CI 3 Phillies By DON BOSTROM Of The Morning Call Faulty control hurt Portugal in the first inning after Lenny Dykstra led off with a single. Portugal issued one-out walks to John Kruk, Hollins and Daulton to force in a run. It was Dykstra's 131st run scored and Daulton's 98th RBI. might be sipping champagne right now. Instead, their N.L.

East lead over Montreal is six games and the magic number remains 15 with 20 games to go. Portugal has always been a virus to the healthy Philadelphia attack that has not been shut out in a National League record 158 games and is on a pace to score 900 runs this season. i He's 3-1 lifetime with a 1.54 ERA after a slick outing that featured seven strikeouts, Too bad, because Portugal (15-4) com- pletely muzzled the Phillies last night dur- ing a 4-1 triumph. Portugal has reeled off nine consecutive victories, which ties him with teammate Darryl Kyle for the longest winning streak hi the majors this season. Portugal almost joined Pittsburgh's Steve Cooke in the exclusive lodge of pitchers who have gone the distance against this offensive juggernaut this season.

Portugal carried a three-hitter into the ninth when he walked Dave Hollins. Shortstop Andujar Cedeneo, who sparked the Houston attack with three hits and three runs scored, made a throwing error while trying to complete a double play on a Darren Daulton grounder. Jim Eisenreich also walked, so Houston skipper Art Howe summoned Todd Jones to seal the deal. With the sizzling Portugal in their rota-' tion the past six weeks, the Phillies (87-55) PHILADELPHIA Unheralded but mighty effective Astro pitcher Mark Portugal almost became a Phillie on August Philadelphia general manager Lee Thomas balked at Houston's asking price, however, and the waiver deal wasn't Please See PHILS Page C10 By JOHN KUNDA Morning Call Columnist gotten itself into the predicament. The Lions scored 21 points in the second quarter with a balanced attack that had to please even the normally pessimistic Joe Paterno.

If John Sacca wasn't doing it with his passing, the tailbacks were doing it with their ninning all three of them but mainly Mike Archie, the most compact of them all. The defense, which got burned a week ago in the Minnesota victory, did a complete turnaround yesterday, and even in Southern Cal's comeback, it was more of some spectacular pass-catching that almost doomed the Nittany Lions. Please See PSU Page C10 put the Trojans in the position to go for the upset win, didn't have much of a chance. Quarterback Rob Johnson short-hopped the pass, and the Penn State defense high-hopped in celebration, knowing right well that it pulled a Houdini which had a crowd of 95,992 in shock with the sudden developments. "We dominated them on the line of scrimmage most of the game," said defensive tackle Lou Benfatti, who had a monster game that surely had to boost his All-American hopes; "We were playing so -well on both sides of the ball, but in this game you can't lay down for a second, not against a team like Southern Cal." Penn State should have never UNIVERSITY PARK Penn State seemed all too comfortable yesterday with a two-touchdown edge going into the fourth quarter in its intersectional clash with Southern California.

However, hefore you could say, "Look out, the Trojans are coming," the Nittany Lions had to fight for their lives to save a 21-20 victory. It all came down to a missed two-point try after Southern Cal scored its third touchdown with only 37 seconds left. The pass play to tight end Johnny McWilliams, the sophomore who caught the touchdown pass which i 4 0 v. I I 'j I I ynn'" )'iJf llllillliilltlllllill Leni raps 1st win Associated Press Steffi Graf gives the No. 1 sign after winning the women's singles championship over Helena Sukova in the U.

S. Open. arf: i 1 i ri Attn' 1WriTnilteiimai Ammh.tt..iWTiiirlrTirf lifc.r nn 1 1 mm- rftnm iiiiratlj El By GARY R. BLOCKUS Of The Morning Call BRONX, N.Y. Lehigh's big play offense didn't arrive until the fourth quarter yesterday, but the Engineer defense, maligned at Delaware last week, proved itself in a big way against Fordham in the Patriot League opener for both schools.

Lehigh's secondary picked off a school-record five passes including one by Jason Mack in the fourth quarter which led to a big touchdown as the Engineers scored their first victory of the season, defeating the Rams 24-6 at Jack Coffey Field. Dave Cecchini, Lehigh's top receiver, was limited to just two catches on the day, but they were incredibly big. Cecchini hauled in fourth-quarter touchdown strikess of 43 yards and 63 yards from slin-gin' Scott Semptimphelter to power the offense while breaking open a tight 10-0 lead. The defense came up with some impressive stands and stopped Fordham on fourth-and-one and 1 fourth-and-goal from inside the 10 twice in the second half despite being on the field for almost the entire third quarter. "Delaware and Fordham are two different offenses and Fordham is a lot easier to read," explained Mack, a junior from Southern Lehigh High who led the Engineers with nine tackles.

Mack's interception of Fordham quarterback John Pohlman with 10:56 left in the game turned the tables on Fordham. The Engineers Easily tops Sukova 6-3, 6-3 for title right out of the chute and gunned them past Suko-va's bull-rushes to the net. "When I am playing well, as I have been the last few weeks, and when I realize how well I am playing, then it is really difficult to do something against me, because I know when I go for my shots, it will happen," Graf said. She wasn't bragging. She was just laying it out.

If anything, she was being a tad modest about playing well "the last few weeks." This was her 35th consecutive tour victory. This was her sixth straight tournament title, including the French Open and Wimbledon. This ran her 1993 record to 634. Graf earned $535,000. Sukova made $267,500, By CHARLES BRICKER Of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel NEW YORK Helena Sukova was on the same court, but nowhere near the same ball park.

One hour and six minutes, about the time it takes to pop corn and watch "Murder, She Wrote." That's all it took yesterday for Steffi Graf to put away another Grand Slam singles victory No. 14 in an 11-year career which is close to mythic proportions, if it hasn't reached Mt. Olympus already. The score was 6-3, 6-3. There was no drama this time, as there was for the semifinal Friday, when Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere smoked her badly in the first set before going down one and love in the final two.

This time Graf revved up her passing shots Lafayette's Erik Marsh follows a blocker through the line to gain yardage against Bucknell during action at Easton's Fisher Field. Story on C4. held a precarious 10-0 lead at the when they went to their nickel time, but Fordham proved relent- package," explained Fordham less in the third quarter with some coach Larry Glueck, whose squad ball control that kept the Engi- lost a season-opening game for the neers offense on the bench. Please See LEHIGH Page C10 "We wanted to take advantage Please See U.S. OPEN Page CIO tiTW Cuhnin ghanri returns to sit of nigh plenty of attention because of his matchup with his former team, what worries the Eagles most is the Packers offense, not the defense.

"I expect us to be underdogs and we should be," Eagles coach Rich Kotite said this week. Packers coach Mike Holmgren expressed the same, but didn't get it. His team is a four-point favorite to win. The Packers are expected to be a playoff team and, with the acquisition of White, their fans are looking forward to seeing their team play on the last Sunday Please See CUNNINGHAM Page C3 erable Milwaukee County Stadium, venerable being another word for "even worse than Veterans Stadium." And although Packers linebacker Bryce Paup, the guy who "pauped" Cunningham, did see some action, he didn't start. Today, when Cunningham lines up behind center Dave Alexander on the turf of Lambeau Field, he can look across the line and see Paup looking back, since he's filling in for contract holdout Tony Bennett at outside linebacker.

Does it bother Cunningham that the worst dav of his athletic career is poing to the real problem may not be who the Eagles don't have up front, but who the Packers do have. In the offseason, the Packers not only signed Reggie White away from the Eagles as a free agent, but they also went out and got nose tackle Bill Maas from the Kansas City Chiefs to bolster their 3-4 defense. The defense may be better and it did hold the Los Angeles Rams to six points in its season opener. But, then again, it was playing against the Rams, not one of the juggernauts. But even White is poirtsr to pet be recreated? "Naaaaaahhh," he said this week.

"I've got confidence in my offensive line." Under normal circumstances that confidence would be justified, but even if his two starting guards play and that's probably not going to happen one will be playing with an arm and a half (Mike Schad, torn tendon in right bicep) and the other will be playing with a leg and a half (Eric Floyd, pulled right hamstring). Everybody else up front including key backup Brian Baldinger is hurting except for lpft tek' Thomoson. but By TERRY LARIMER Of The Morning Call GREEN BAY Although Randall Cunningham played against the Green Bay Packers last season, he didn't return to the exact scene of the crime. When the Packers put him out of action with a severe knee injury on the first play of the second quarter on opening day of 1991, things were different. In fact, things were almost exactly what they'll be today when Cunningham takes his first snap.

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