The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 43

INSIDE THE MORNING GALL Lafayette edged by Bucknell 23-21 (N SPORTS ') UPDATE Call Info-tel 610421 8300. Category 8693. SPORTS SCORES 610421-8300 Categories PageC-2 PAGE C3 Despite loss. Cooper keeps belt PAGE C8 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1997 mm if oiinilb I FINAL SCORE By KEITH GR0LLER Of The Morning Call CENTRAL CATHOLIC 13 Cupples' return of an interception for a TD in the 4th quarter beats Zephyrs. WHITEHALL ney Crum Stadium.

Cupples' pickoff and return was the decisive blow in the East Penn Conference's "Battle of Unbeatens." It came on the first play of the fourth quarter and all but settled the hard-fought, hard-hitting contest between rivals that was played in a variety of weather conditions. "We called it a broken arrow pattern and No. 41 Cupples was the 205-pound junior who is in his firit season as a starter. "I just read the play and the ball came to me. Once; I got it, I was taking off.

I knew the touchdown was there. I was just go- ing into the end zone. It was un be lievable." Cupples' play was the biggest of a bunch of defensive gems. The Zephs and Vikings, ranked No. 1 and Nu '2 Please See CCHS Page CK make a play but Cupples picked it and then got the touchdown." Cupples' first career interception and return, along with Eric Eisen-hard's extra-point kick, gave CCHS the 10-point edge it held until the final horn.

Cupples later added a second interception that all but sealed Central's fourth win without a defeat this season. "We knew we had to step it up that series," said Cupples, a 5-foot-ll, The broken arrow pierced Whitehall hearts Saturday night. Central Catholic High middle linebacker John Cupples stepped in front of a Zephyr pass and returned it 25 yards for the game-breaking score in the Vikings' 13-3 win over Whitehall before 5,000 drenched fans in J. Bir- spy," said Whitehall head coach Tony Cocca. "He sat back in the middle and our quarterback Chris Hu-dak tried to force the ball inside.

I can't blame him he was trying to Loot Gators swamp Manning we swolte (Q)dQD 4 V-'-' ft JPUtt" rs a ft once more Florida beats Tennessee for the fifth straight time and is 44-2 at home under Spurrier. By RICHARD ROSENBLATT Of The Associated Press GAINESVILLE, Fla. Peyton's place, it isn't. Doug Johnson threw for three touchdowns and safety Tony George picked off one of Peyton Manning's many hurried passes and returned it 89 yards for a touch down as No. 3 No.

1 Penn State scores 36 points in the second quarter in a romp over the Cardinals: By JOHN KUNDA Morning Call Columnist LOUISVILLE, Ky. On a day when college football was focused on games played in Florida and in the State of Washington, No. 1-ranked Penn State marched into the land of horses and bourbon and did what it had to do to keep the at-ten tion of the national pollsters. The Nittany Lions went to the more attention-grabbing big play and FINAL SCORE FINAL SCORE Florida continued its dominance over No. 4 Tennessee with a 33-20 victory on 33 FLORIDA "7'- N- cyy 20 TENNESSEE piled up 50 pomts the first half en route to a 57-21 rout over dazed Lou- PENN STATE 57 isville.

They scored 36 points in the second quarter alone, with 15 of them LO I SVI LLE 21 coming in the last 56 seconds of the 7 half. "We can do that kind of thing," said wide receiver Joe Jurevicius, who caught touchdown passes of 57, 67 and 8 yards. "We've got the passing game and we have the runners. We put the points on the board, so we'll just wait and s-e what happens in the polls." Please See PENN STATE Pace C14 The Gators, playing before a raucous record crowd of 85,714 at Florida Field, beat the Volunteers for the fifth straight time and improved their record at "The Swamp" to 44-2 under coach Steve Spurrier. Johnson, making his third start, handled the pressure of a big-game situation just like his predecessor, Danny Wuerffel.

Johnson, a 6-foot-2, sophomore, completed 14 of 32 passes for 261 yards, with two of his TDs coming in the first half as the Gators built a 20-7 lead. He led them on two second-half drives that resulted in field goals of 37 and 42 yards by Collins Cooper before hooking up with Taras Ross on a 30-yard TD pass with 6 minutes, 23 seconds left that put the Gators ahead 33-14. In the first half, Johnson had TD passes of 11 yards to Jamie Richardson and 19 yards to Jacquez Green. Fred Taylor chipped in with 134 yards, including 111 in the third quarter. Please See GATORS Page C14 Meanwhile, No.

2 Huskies fall to Husker No. 7 Nebraska, a rare underdog, io No. 2 Washington behind quarterback Free l. ED REINKE Associated Press Penn State linebacker Brandon Short sacks Louisville's Chris Redman during the first half of Saturday's game. Redman passed for 315 yards but he was no match for the top-ranked Nittany Lions.

By JIM COUR Of The Associated Press SEATTLE Nebraska's fans booed Scott Frost in Un-" coin last week. On Saturday, the few thousand fans woarinK-red in the sellout crowd of 74,023 wildly cheered the Comlms Lehigh gets its Phil in win over Towson kers quarterback at Husky Stadium. Frost scored on runs of 34 and 30 FINAL SCORE strike and the winning touchdown yards in the first quarter as the No. 7 Huskers, underdogs for the first time NEB ASKA By GARY R. BLOCKUS Of The Morning Call late the fourth quarter as Lehigh 27 FINAL SCORE in four years, beat No.

2 Washington 27-14. WASHINGTON 14 stung Towson Un- versity 16-14 on LEHIGH 16 Stambaugh enters the game late and finds Braswell for the winning TD. with just 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the game. The winning drive took two plays and a total of 31 seconds after Lehigh freshman Jason Pinkney returned a punt to the Towson 34-yard line, but was filled with the roller coaster of emotions that Lehigh has experienced in its first two games as it evened its record (overall and Patriot Please See LEHIGH Page C14 Saturday. Braswell.

who TOWSON STATE 14 Washington lost its starting quarterback, sophomore Brock Huard, with a sprained left an kle in the first quarter and replaced him with freshman Marques Tuiasosopo, son of former NFL defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo. TOWSON, Md. Phil Stambaugh needed just 31 seconds to prove that he deserves to be Lehigh's starting quarterback on Saturday and had 2,765 witnesses on hand at Minnegan Stadium to back him up. Stambaugh scrambled to the right and found receiver Deron Braswell on the right side of the end zone for a 15-yard scoring pulled in five passes for 63 yards and both Lehigh touchdowns, had to reach over and pull the ball off the shoulder of defender Mike Smith to make the catch Please See HUSKERS Page C14 iiwfe. Aussies live to play amiotheir day att Bawis CypF thanks to Wccdoes "We are going to fight and claw and do anything we need to do to get back into the tie," Australian captain John Newcombe said.

"We are here to leave our guts on the court." Sampras and Martin were 6-1 lifetime as a pair entering Saturday, including a victory in the 1995 Davis Cup finals in Russia and a win over the Woodies in London that same year. But neither has a mastery of the subtle tactics demanded of doubles play. "Our objective was just to go out and fire away and see if we couldn't Please See DAVIS Page C14 Mark Philippoussis. The winner will face Italy or Sweden in the finals Nov. 28-30.

Sweden, last year's runner-up to France, leads Italy 2-1 after capturing Saturday's doubles. "Just the simple mathematics really puts the odds in our favor," U.S. captain Tom Gullikson said. "It is not out of the question that they can win two matches, but we have got the top two players in the world going at them, so I feel pretty good about our chances." With good reason. On Friday, Sampras overwhelmed Philippous-sis and Chang handled Rafter in four sets.

The world's best doubles team helps Australia get to within 2-1. By JOSEPH WHITE Of The Associated Press WASHINGTON Serenaded by fans singing "Waltzing Matilda," Australia stayed alive in the Davis Cup on Saturday behind the savvy of the world's best doubles team. Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge drew on their sublime teamwork to beat Pete Sampras and Todd Martin, two power-serving singles players who haven't been paired since 1995. "The vital points, we seem to blend more naturally, and that is part of our strength," said Woodforde, who is 10-2 with Woodbridge in Davis Cup play. The 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 victory narrowed the U.S.

lead to 2-1 In the best-of-5 semifinal. Australia, attempting to become only the seventh team in Davis Cup history to rally from a 2-0 deficit to win in the World Group, must sweep the reverse singles to advance to the final. Today, Sampras will play U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter, followed by Michael Chang against BRIAN K. DIGGS Associated Ptess Mark Woodforde (right) hugs doubles partner Todd Woodbridge after beating Pete Sampras and Michael Chang i.