Tulare Advance-Register from Tulare, California • 13

Monday, December 9, 2002 ft www.TulareAdvanceRegisterom Kevin McCusker, Interim Sports Editor 735-3288 Tulare Advance-Register COUIGE FOOTBALL IN BRIEF Orange Bowl rosy look this year kvK An- Los Angeles Times USC and Iowa are going to meet in the Orange Bowl because of a trick play the bowl pulled out of the bowl championship series play book. Perfectly legal mind you, a variation of the old end-around. Taking advantage of a onetime option provision in the BCS contract, the Orange Bowl was able to trump the Sugar Bowl's bid and match No. 5 USC against No. 3 Iowa in the Orange Bowl, bringing a merciful end to one of the most bizarre weeks in the history of bowl bidding.

Up until Oklahoma defeated Colorado in the Big 12 championship game Saturday night, it appeared USC was headed to the Sugar Bowl to play Georgia. But the Orange Bowl switched gears and took USC to play against Iowa in a game that, for about 55 years, would have made a mouth-watering Rose BowL The Rose Bowl lobbied against pairing the co-champions of the Pacific 10 and Big Ten conferences in the Orange Bowl but had no legal recourse to stop the move. "We learned a lot about the BCS this year and the way it operates," Rose Bowl CEO Mitch Dorger said Sunday. "We did not anticipate all the subtleties of the system. Everything was conducted this year in accordance with the 01168." The Rose Bowl understood that, as perceptions go, an Iowa-USC game in the Orange Bowl simply did not look good.

There were even questions Sunday as to whether the Rose Bowl, out of frustration, might pull out of the BCS when the contract expires after the2O05 season, but Dorger gave no indica- TWgrad given reins to summer league team Tulare Western graduate Estevan Valencia was named the manager for the La posse Loggers in the North-woods League, a collegiate-level baseball league which features some of the best players from NCAA Division 1 colleges. Valencia, who graduated from Tulare Western in 199L and played under long-time coach Norm Warren while with the Mustangs, is an assistant baseball coach at the University of California, Riverside. "I love baseball. Nobody can love baseball more than me. You can maybe tie me, but you can't love it more," Valencia told the La Crosse Tribune.

Tm excited about the roster we have and what we have a chance to do here. This is as close to minor league baseball that you can get without signing a minor league contract" Giants sign Durham and Grissom SAN FRANCISCO Jeff Kent was offered arbitration on Saturday by the San Francisco Giants but just in case things don't work out with the former MVP, they also signed two players who might help replace him. Second baseman Ray Durham and outfielder Marquis Grissom joined the NL champions and in a surprising move, the Giants agreed to keep negotiating with Kent, their star second baseman and Barry Bonds' most dependable teammate. Durham crossed the Bay from Oakland to sign a $20.1 million, three-year contract with a $7 million player option for a fourth seasoa Miami running back Willis McGahee (2) runs in for a touch down after breaking away from Virginia Techs line backer Vargas Robinson (6) Saturday. McGar ran for six touc canes' 56-45 win to send them to the Fiesta Bowl has a BCS Bowls Fiesta: No.

1 Miami vs. No. 2 Ohio State Orange: No. 5 Southern California vs. No.

3 Iowa Rose: No. 8 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Washington State Sugar No. 4 Georgia vs.

No. 16 Florida State tion that would happen. "We are committed in the BCS system," he said, "we have no position with regard of where we might go or if any changes are needed or not" When asked if he was worried about whether the Rose Bowl might pull out, BCS Coordinator Michael Tranghese was emphatic "No, absolutely not," he said. "I think we've invested a great deal into this. I think at the end of day, measuring NFL: WEEK 14 mm gd tefi Raiders trounce Chargers to take lead in AFC West everything it's done, the high side clearly outweighs the downside." When the Orange Bowl made its final chess move, the fractious BCS bowl picture was at last finalized.

Miami (12-0) and Ohio State (13-0), which finished fust and second in the BCS standings, will play in the Jan. 3 Fiesta Bowl for the undisputed national title. The Rose Bowl will pair Pac-10 champion Washington State (10-2) against Big 12 champion Oklahoma (11-2), while the Sugar Bowl will host Florida State (9-4) against Georgia (12-1). The irony is that for all the confusion and controversy surrounding this year's BCS, the system will pair the nation's two undefeated schools in a title game that could not have been made under the old format SeeBCS2B run to give the Raiders some breathing room at 20-7 with 212 left in the third quarter, "The way the defense 77S -fit, A IN The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Jerry Rice wasn't having a good day, a 40-year-old receiver losing the battle to a rookie corner-back. With one catch by the future Hall of Famer, it all changed.

Rice beat Quentin Jammer for a 56-yard gain and the momentum was all Oakland's en route to a 27-7 win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday that gave the Raiders sole possession of first place in the AFC West. The Raiders may be getting old, and people keep waiting for them to wear down, but boy can they can still play. "In a game of this magnitude, you want to do something big," Rice said. "I think Iwaspressingtoomuch.That one really jump-started us." The Raiders and Chargers came in tied for the division lead, and the Raiders (9-4) turned the showdown into a knockdown, thanks to Rice, quarterback Rich Gannon and a defense that bottled up LaDainian Tomlinson and handed San Diego's Drew Brees his first career three-interception game. Gannon, who turns 37 on Dec.

20, set an NFL record with his 10th 300-yard game of the season, throwing for 328 yards and breaking a tie with Dan Marino, Warren Moon and Kurt Warner. He was 26-of-41, with no touchdowns and no interceptions, and crossed the 300-yard Th Associated Press SANCERTOUHNEY Redskins edge Sierra Staff reports The Tulare Union Redskins won the consolation championship of the 37th annual Sanger Kiwanis boys basketball tournament with a 48-39 win over the Sierra Chieftains in the consolation final Saturday at Sanger. After falling to Edison in the tourney opener on Wednesday, the Redskins (3-1) won three straight games, and they had to play two of those contests on Saturday. "We're very Union coach Mark Hatton said. "What we were really trying to do was control the basketball, and limit our fast-break opportunities which we never do.

We played an old-fashion basketball game." Senior point guard Carlos Gomez led the Redskins with 11 points, and Jimmy Barnett added 1L The biggest travail that Tulare Union had to endure Saturday was having to play two games in one day. The Redskins were slated to play Parlier at 1230 pm Friday in the consolation semifinals, but because of a school district-policy that strongly discourages playing games during school hours, Tulare Union rescheduled that game for 930 am Saturday. The Redskins defeated Parlier 60-47 behind Jimmy Barnett's career-high 26 points. Ira Watley also turned in a career-best performance with 10 points. Western foils The Tulare Western Mustangs squandered a 33-15 halftime lead and lost 51-50 to Clovis East in the tourney's seventh-place game Saturday.

"I was really disappointed with the performance in the second half. The persever ance of Clovis East eight seniors really game through Their seniors really put the pressure on," TAilare Western coach Don Chandler said. "We stopped moving as a basketball team, and as a team with a motion offense, we kind of got dead in the water. We let them back in the game with sloppy ball-handling. Overall though, Tm really proud of how the kids played in this tournament" Nick Aguila led the way for the Mustangs (1-3) with a career-high 21 points.

David Trobaugh added 10. Hilare Western was without the services of junior point guard Marcey Caballero who sprained his ankle Thursday. Caballero led the Mustangs to a tourney-opening victory over McLane on Wednesday. In Friday's game, Tulare Western fell 7049 to Victor Valley. Justin Boggs paced the Mustangs with 15 points.

Oakland Raiders' Jerry Rice drags San Diego Chargers' Ryan McNeil after one of his seven catches in the Raiders 27-7 victory Sunday in San Diego. The catch was good for nine yards and Rice's receptions went for 113 yards on the day. What's next Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins Where 10 am. Sunday TV: Channel 47, Broadband cable ch. 7.

mark with a 9-yard pass to Rice midway through the fourth quarter. The two-time division champion Raiders won their fifth straight game and won for the sixth time in seven years in San Diego, where half the crowd of 67,968 was dressed in Raiders silver and black. "This was definitely one of our best games because no matter what they did out there, no matter what running play, no matter what passing play, we always felt like we were in control," linebacker Bill Romanowski said. San Diego (8-5) has lost four of six since its 6-1 start The Raiders led just 13-7 midway through the third quarter but the game began to change when Brees threw behind Tim Dwight, and Tory James intercepted at the Raiders 13. Two plays later, on third-and-six, Rice burned Jammer by turning a short pass from Gannon into a 56-yard gain.

Jammer, San Diego's first-round draft pick, went for the ball and missed. Rice caught it turned and raced down-field until safety Rodney What's next Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers When: 115 p.m. Sunday TV. Channel 26, Broadband cable ch. 6.

come back in the fourth quarter," Garcia said. "It was an amazing finish for this team. It was a struggle." It sure didn't seem that way at the end. Garcia completed 36 of 55 passes for 276 yards including 14 of 21 for 129 in the fourth. He also had a team-best 50 yards rushing, including a 21-yard TD in the second quarter and two third-down keepers for first downs on the game-winning drive.

Running back Garrison Hearst left the game with a hyperextended knee. "No. 5 (Garcia) was the difference in the game," Dallas coach Dave Campo said. "No. 5 made plays all day." At the end, so did Owens, who had half of his 12 catch Grissom left the Los Angeles Dodgers for a $4.25 million, two-year contract with a club option for 2005.

Bulldogs will face Georgia Tech ATLANTA Georgia Tech accepted a bid to the Silicon Valley Football Classic on Sunday, securing a bowl appearance for the sixth consecutive year. The Yellow Jackets (7-5) will play Fresno State (8-5) on New Year's Eve in San Jose, Calif, and the game will be televised on ESPN2. 1 Georgia Tech, which ended the regular season with a 51-7 loss to No. 4 Georgia, appeared destined for a second straight trip to the Seattle Bowl as the representative from the Atlantic Coast Conference. But the Pac-10 got two spots in the Bowl Championship Series, with Washington State and Southern California, and that opened a spot in the Silicon Valley Football Classic.

Michigan St wants Redskins' Lewis WASHINGTON Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis is expected to interview for the head coaching job at Michigan State University as soon as this week, and team officials were resigned Sunday to entering next season with a new defensive coordinator for the fourth straight year. Check ski report at online site Starting today, look for a more extensive ski report online at The ski report will also continue to run regularly on the Scoreboard page. Brains receive Las Vegas Bowl bid LAS VEGAS UCLA will face New Mexico in the 11th annual Las Vegas Bowl on QiristmasDay.bowlofficials announced Sunday. UCLA, the fifth-place team from the Pac-10 Conference, accepted the bowl bid a day after a 48-27 loss to No. 7 Washington State.

Staff, wire reports 49ers clinch NFC West with comeback win over Dallas v. The Associated Press played today, I felt we had to takeadvantageofsomeofthe opportunities, and that was one of them," Gannon said. Thi Associated Press Harrison tackled him at the San Diego 27. Five plays later, Zack Crockett scored on a 1-yard es, 61 ofhis 123 yards andboth of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He leads the NFC with 12 TD catches, including five two-TD games.

Unlike two years ago, when he punctuated both of his scores at Texas Stadium with dances on the midfield logo, Owens' celebrations were relatively tame. On the first he struck a statue-like pose, then pounded the ball on a wooden box behind the end zone. He followed the second by bumping chests with Garcia after ordy a slight pause on the smaller Cowboys' star logo in the end zone. "I wasn't going to do anything unless you were going to pay my fine," said Owens, who after the game sported a leather jacket, leather pants and shoes all colored Cowboys blue. "It's nice to have the last laugh." Owens made a juggling catch in the back of the end zone early in the fourth, on a 3-yard play that Garcia completed while being hit to put the 49ers up 17-13.

The Associated Press JeffGar-cia has shown he can rally like Joe Montana and run like Steve Young. Now, just as his San Francisco predecessors did so often, Garcia has also led the 49ers to an NFC West title. Garcia threw his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter Sunday, the game-winner an 8-yarder to Terrell Owens with 12 seconds left, as the 49ers overcame a 10-point deficit for a 31-27 win over the Dallas Cowboys (5-8). San Francisco (9-4) won its first division tide since 1997, two years before Garcia followed in line behind Young and Montana, both two-time NFL MVPs and Super Bowl MVPs who won 13 division crowns in 17 years. The 49ers clinched the title after Garcia rallied San Francisco to win in the fourth quarter for the fourth time this season, and eighth in his career, and St Louis lost 49-10 at Kansas City.

That's not something you want to keep doing, havingto San Francisco 49ers Terrell Owens (81) dances in the end zone as Back Judge Steve Freeman, back, signals touchdown Sunday in the 49ers' 31-27 win..