The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 39

FIRST INSIDE Michigan upsets Ohio State PAGE C4 liawerchuk goal lifts Flyers PAGE C7 THE MORNING GALL (r.tA SPORTS UPDATE Call Infoel 610-821-8300, Category 8693. SPORTS SCORES 610-821-8300 Categories Page C-2 SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1996 Ihfcaira FINAL SCORE keeps his mind totally clear "to focus on the kick," and late yester PENN STATE 32 MICHIGAN ST. 29 crowd of 96,263 that was on the edge of its seat from start to finish. It was the kind of game that kept the crowd thinking that the team which had the ball last would be the winner. Penn State, with its 10-2 record (6-2 in the Big Ten), now awaits word from the bowl people, who attended yesterday's game en masse.

The con- Please See PENN STATE Page CIO State in a Great Escape because only four minutes earlier, Michigan State's normally reliable placekicker, Chris Gardner, missed a 33-yarder that would have broken the 29-29 tie. "I feel sorry for him," said Conway. "I'm just glad I wasn't on that end of the stick." Conway was Joe Paterno's hero, not to mention the partisans in the give the Nittany Lions a 32-29 win over vastly underrated Michigan State. "I couldn't have scripted it any better," said Conway, who leads the Big Ten in kick scoring. "I was hoping it would come down to this.

This is the best way to end my senior year." Conway was Houdini in disguise as he lifted seventh-ranked Penn Penn State's senior kicker hits from 30 yards out with 1 2 seconds left in the game. By JOHN KUNDA Morning Call Columnist UNIVERSITY PARK Brett Conway doesn't fall into the public perception of field goal kickers. He is not superstitious, and he is not "squirrelly." Conway is a cool young man, who day after- noon, the Penn State senior was dead right as he calmly kicked a 30-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the game to lehicth's comebac! lal second in the Lafayette topples After trailing 19-0, the Engineers rally for 23 points to win The Game. By TED MEIXELL Of The Morning Call Back during Lehigh's preseason football camp, neither fuzzy-cheeked freshman quarterback recruit Phil Stambaugh nor Engineers' head coach Kevin Higgins entertained the possibility of Stambaugh even playing in yesterday's 132nd Lehigh-Lafayette game, much less starring in it. But play, and star, he did in Lehigh's 23-19 win.

With sophomore split end Deron Braswell and a suddenly fired-up defensive unit serving as co-conspirators, Stambaugh, a rifle-armed 6-foot, 4-inch, 208-pounder out of tiny Pius in Rose-to, connected on 25 of 42 passes for 261 yards to hoist the Engineers from the depth of a 19-point abyss to the height of the stunning i. I i i 1 I. FINAL SCORE He also became the first freshman recipient of The Game's 23 LEHIGH 19 LAFAYETTE PETE SHAHEEN The Morning Call Lehigh wide receiver Deron Braswell cradles one of his 10 catches in front of Jay Urban of Lafayette. Braswell gained 135 yards on his receptions in the Engineer win. tomrolbaiuigjlh's stowomig Most Valu- able Player trophy since Lafayette tailback Tom Costello in 1988.

Wearing an "I can't believe this!" look on his still fuzzy face after the game, Stambaugh admitted that, as recently as five weeks ago, he couldn't have imagined what happened to him yesterday before 13,208 at Fisher Field and a Channel 69 TV audience. "No," he said, grinning. "We had a lot of adversity. A lot of things happened to our team. When I got the opportunity, I wanted to make the best of it.

And here I am." There he was, indeed. Please See LEHIGH Page C10 rowes Ihe's waiyalble a kL i PETE SHAHEEN The Morning Call Lehigh head coach Kevin Higgins jumps for joy after the fine! gun ended the Engineers' win over Lafayette in the 1 32nd version of The Game, the oldest rivalry in the U.S. Dverson's early return Id is 11 Sixers to wins over Elnicks ror most oi tne nrst half, it looked like that Wednesday date was a sure thing. Lafayette bolted out to a 19-0 lead with 2 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the half. Almost at the point of desperation, Higgins decided to let the offense run loose, and the response by the Engineers was unprecedented this season.

With Stambaugh calling the shots at the line of scrimmage, he drove the Engineers 67 yards in 11 plays on 9-for-10 passing four of them to sophomore Deron Braswell before hooking up with backup tailback Tahron Person for a 13-yard score. That was the spark the Engineers needed. "We went to the attack offense, and that's what it's designed to do," said Stambaugh, who graduated from Pius High School in Roseto last June. "You can't really open the game with it. It worked for us when we needed Stambaugh ended The Game Please See VALUABLE Page CIO Lehigh's freshman QB from Pius is named the MVP of The Game.

By GARY R. BLOCKUS Of The Morning Call Phil Stambaugh plans on playing baseball for Lehigh University this coming spring. It's a safe bet Lehigh head football coach Kevin Higgins would rather have him at spring practice. Yesterday, Stambaugh became the first freshman in Lehigh history to win the Most Valuable Player trophy in The Game as he spearheaded an almost unbelievable comeback to rally the Engineers for 23 straight points and a 23-19 win in the 132nd renewal of college football's most-played rivalry. As the 6-foot-4 quarterback went yesterday, so went the Engineers, who finished the season 5-6, 3-2 in the Patriot League, while eliminating Lafayette from a possible championship tie with Bucknell.

FINAL SCORE at the Co-reStates Center as the catalyst. Rookie 109 SIXERS 92 KNICKS Derrick Coleman added 25 points, nine boards and six assists for Philly and Jerry Stackhouse had 23 points and six boards. Patrick Ewing finished with 19 points and nine boards for the visitors and Chris Childs added 17 points while John Starks had 20. Starks sank a 3-pointer to give New York a 70-69 lead with 1:05 left in the third quarter. Please See SIXERS Page C10 The rookie guard, out with a separated shoulder, has 26 points, 9 assists.

By ERNIE LONG Of The Morning Call PHILADELPHIA If the Philadelphia 76ers make the playoffs this season, they could look back to last night's enthralling 109-92 victory over the New York Knicks Lehigh's Phil Stambaugh shows off his trophy. Stambaugh may not have known it going into the game, but his performance ensured that Lafayette would end its season in a game against Lehigh for the 74th straight season. Had the Leopards won, they would have had a Wednesday date against Fordham. guard Allen Iverson made an unexpectedly quick return from a shoulder separation and provided 26 points, nine assists, nine rebounds and 100 units of inspiration. mm locQimg to Ifessrfc tih Ih By TERRY LARIMER Of The Morning Call a wake-up call, but one additional side benefit may be getting bis team more acclimated for the hot, dry weather expected today.

Detmer said of going with pads, "It will wake up guys. We can realize we've got to work harder." The Cardinals' turnaround has been mostly due to an improved offense. The defense has been fairly steady all season although some people have had success on the ground. What's odd about that is the Cardinals' secondary is very inexperienced except for Ae neas Williams, a Pro Bowl cornerback. 'They haven't been together before," Please See EAGLES Page C14 a two-game winning streak, have a 5-6 record and are thinking playoffs.

The Eagles, on the other hand, are 7-4, have a two-game losing streak and are worried about playoff elimination or at least losing critical home field advantage for the playoffs. "There's more of a sense of urgency," Eagles quarterback Ty Detmer said of today's game as compared to the last two weeks. But Detmer said the Eagles need to avoid getting into a panic situation. "The idea is not to try to force things. We've got to get back to the basics." Eagles coach Ray Rhodes had his team put its pads back on in practice this week as sort of weather before," defensive tackle Rhett Hall said.

"It's just that we haven't done it in a while." Temperatures have been in the 80s recently and, with a 2 p.m. Mountain Time 4 p.m. EST game time, the Eagles will be playing in the hottest part of the day. But because the air is so dry, it's easy to get lulled into feeling the heat's not so bad while bodies have the moisture drained out of them. "It's an issue you need to bring up," Hall said.

"You have to remind people they need to take in liquids." The-pame promises to be hotter than the weather since the Arizona Cardinals are ridi Against a resurgent Cardinal team, Ty Detmer and Co. will need to regain the form they had against the Cowboys. TEMPE, Ari2. Signs were plastered all over the Philadelphia Eagles' locker room this week reminding the players to load up on all the water and other liquids they could handle. Teams coming from the Northeast to this desert city are advised to hydrate themselves in advance because out here, it's not just the heat, but the humidity, or lack thereof, that will get you.

But the Eagles won't mind if they come up dry, as long as it's the win column. "It's not like we haven't played in hot.