The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 17

THIRD Oireimclhiedl osd iredl, Pemum Stiatie Deaves ADabainma By JOHN KUNDA Morning Call Columnist Ah, yes, Derrick Thomas, billed as a fireseason All-American, but somewhat aid back in Alabama's first six games. But Thomas, a 6-4, 230-pounder from Miami, waited for the bright lights of television to cast himself into the picture for the Dick Butkus Award. Thomas left his No. 55 imprinted on Sacca's front and back, not to mention the linemen he pushed around to get to the Please See RED Page C10 Disaster came in bunches, and, to add insult to injury, young Sacca was sacked in the end zone for a safety with 10:50 left in the game. The sack was one of five allowed by a paper-thin offensive line.

Penn State's All-American offensive guard Steve Wisniewski made no excuses. We were just fooled out there," he said. "Alabama had some alignments that had us confused. They lined up in five or six different sets. They gave us trouble all day.

Derrick Thomas made a lot of things happen." Sacco was 8 for 28, 1 for 12 in the nightmarish second half. All of this no-production in front of a national TV audience and a live, vocal crowd of 75,808 in a showcase of a place. Legion Field. The third quarter alone was enough to turn Penn State's inside upside down. On four series in the third quarter, the Nittany Lions had minus yardage.

Minus seven, to be exact They didn't get their first first down of the second half until the 7:47 mark of the final period. they would do," said Joe Paterno, who watched helplessly as the Crimson Tide sacked, stuffed and stumbled over the punchless Lions. "We got the ball batted down in our face and we got beat on pass protection, and if that wasn't happening, the young quarterback Tony Sacca didn't throw quick enough or he picked the wrong guy. Just a whole mess of things." The "mess" shows up in the statistics. Penn State managed just 71 yards of rushing offense; just 98 yards of passing offense and a horrendous zero for 14 on third-down conversions.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Penn State left this "football capital of the South" late yesterday afternoon drenched in red following a pitiful 8-3 loss to Alabama. Red, as in embarrassment; and red, as in the color of the Alabama jerseys that swarmed the Penn State offense so often that the Nittany Lions must have thought they were in a parking lot fight "Alabama did exactly what we thought THE MORNING CALL SECTION OCTOBER 23, 1988 Mules getting into good habit with Bullets By GARY R. BLOCKUS Of The Morning Call I' 1 r4 vi 1 Mi fey Habits die hard, and Muhlenberg is getting into a very good habit with Gettysburg. Muhlenberg thrilled a Homecoming audience of 3,200 yesterday by coming from behind in the fourth quarter for a 13-7 victory over Centennial Conference foe Gettysburg.

Bob Powers kicked a pair of field goals, including a career-long 44-yarder, and Tony Concordia scored on a 14-yard pass to lead the Mules past previously unbeaten-in-the-conference Gettysburg for the third straight year. Muhlenberg is 4-0 at home against the Bullets since the series revived in 1981. "We don't have their number," denied Muhlenberg coach Ralph Kirchenheiter. "Nobody knew who was going to win this game until it was over." CHAD DeSHAZO The Morning Call We don't have their number. Nobody knew who was going to win this game until it was oven Ralph KhctHHihettw Muhlenberg coach Kirchenheiter may be the only person to believe that statement The Muhlenberg defense put forth a great effort in the second half, limiting the Bullets to just four first downs.

The Mules recovered three fumbles in the second half and the offense used ball control balance to keep the Gettysburg offense off Muhlenberg's Eric Slaton (23) races past a trio of Gettysburg defenders in the first half. LycdDuTTDuimg) Dim 7- mciBVY By KEITH GROLLER Of The Morning Call tneneia "I can't deny I like to run the ball," smiled feisty Jeff PotkuL Muhlenberg's 5-foot-9, 180-pound tailback. "When you get in that groove, you just want it" Potkul ran 27 times for 135 yards, including 20 carries for 113 yards in the second half. It was the senior's fifth 100-yard rushing day and his fourth consecutive centennial effort He is the conference's leading rusher with 698 yards on 142 carries. "You've got to get into the feel of the game," Potkul said of his second-half efforts.

"It seems this year that the passing game is a complement to the running game. Muhlenberg's formation into a ball control team is a switch from last season, when the Mules used big plays to score almost at will against the opposition. This season, things are going much slower, but the big plays are ever-present The Mules lost one touchdown, a 30-yard pass to Concordia, on a holding penalty in the second quarter and lost a third-quarter TD when Rob Paessler fumbled into the end zone. The ball was recovered by Gettysburg's Tom Donegan, a senior captain out of Notre Dame High School. "There was a lot of good sticking," Donegan said of the contest, which turned very physical as the game progressed.

"We knew it would be a good battle and that it would be a nasty game." Donegan led the Bullets coming into the game with 55 tackles, three fumble recoveries and three interceptions. "They Lycoming came into the game with the reputation and we came in here with a team effort and outplayed them," said Moravian head coach Scot Dapp. "We moved Russ around quite a bit so that they didn't know where be would be and he was all over the place. He's one helluva football player, but I'll tell you one thing, it takes more than just one guy in our scheme of things. "It wouldn't work if they didn't have to worry about people like Scott Stanilious, Kurt Poling, Reinhard or Paneque.

If they were only looking for Russ Parsons, somebody else was there to make the play." The Hounds came up with all the big defensive plays in what was correctly billed as a defensive showdown. The Warriors came into the game allowing just 144.3 yards per game and Please See 'HOUNDS Page CIO "We're definitely on a roll," said Parsons, who seemed to be a man among boys most of the afternoon. "We're on our way. I don't think there's anyone who can take us now." Certainly, there was no one on the Lycoming roster who could take care of Parsons. The Eas-ton High product recorded 12 tackles (10 solos), five stops for losses, four quarterback sacks, caused three fumbles and recovered one of them.

At times, he seemed to be a one-man wrecking crew. And when he wasn't in the Lycoming backfield, pals like Mike Reinhard, Rob Paneque and Mike Melsky were. It added up to an eye-popping minus-23 yards in net rushing for Lycoming. The Warriors (5-2 overall, 3-2 MAC) were limited to just 112 Sards in total offense. Moravian may have come ito the game with the MACs No.

2 defense behind Lycoming, but they certainly left the field with with everyone knowing who truly is No. 1 WILLIAMSPORT It was cold and rainy in the hills of northern Pennsylvania yesterday, and not so far away from Williamsport snow flurries were blowing in the air. But for the Moravian College football team, Lycoming's College Field felt like balmy Miami Beach after the Greyhounds posted a most important and impressive 17-6 win here before a few hundred freezing fans. Thanks to an all-world performance by linebacker Russ Parsons and the 'Hounds defense, Moravian was able to take a giant step toward a share of its first Middle Atlantic Conference crown since 1970. With Delaware Valley and Albright the only MAC foes left to play, Moravian is now 5-1 in the MAC and 6-1 overall and tied for first with Widener, a winner over Susquehanna yesterday.

Please See MULES Page C10 defensively Lehigh refuses to get rattled Jim Harris directs come-from-behind 27-22 victory --I rim -w By JOHN JAY FOX Of The Morning Call gained 11 yards on a completion and Dan Sawyer rushed to the Lehigh 26 after the Brown and White were flagged for pass interference. The Tigers called timeout for a skull session that went for naught and signaled for another respite at 129 after two passes fell incomplete. On 4th-and-6, Goetz found Mike Smith all alone in the end zone and Towson went up 22-21 with to play. Chris Hite later grabbed Sawyer to prevent any two-point conversion. Please See LEHIGH Page CIO tempted to regain control of the game with an eight play, 74-yard drive that chewed 2:19 from the clock.

Chris Goetz started the march with a 14 yard completion to Dewey Barnes and finished up on a 29-yard scoring completion as the Tigers closed to 21-16 with 3:48 left to play after Ernie Davis stopped the attempted two point conversion run. Lehigh couldn't rekindle the fire that burned so fiercely during the three scoring drives and Towson was swinging the contest back in its favor. From the Tigers' 44, Goetz That was the most exciting half of football that I have ever been involved in," Jim Harris said after shaking off a slow start and passing Lehigh to a hard-to-believe come-from-behind 27-22 victory over Towson State yesterday at Goodman Stadium "I don't have words to describe it" Trailing 10-0, Lehigh cashed in for 21 points on its first three possessions of the second stanza to take an 11 point lead, but Towson at- jit 4 Laffayeitlfce roinrops 50-118 Leopards score on first five possessions to up mark to 6-1 By TED MEIXELL Of The Morning Call 1 lowing last week's tough, disappointing 24-17 loss to Division 1-A Army. The essence of the victory and this is in no way intended to be demeaning to the Division 3 Lakers (now 5-2) is that it was every bit as easy as the score makes it sound. The game was only 3:07 old and the Leopards were in possession of the ball for a mere 32 seconds by the time they already enjoyed a 15-0 lead.

Here's how that happened; After Maurice Caldwell returned the opening kick- Some football games are a little more difficult to describe accurately particularly in terms of capturing the essence of the game as well as merely the bare bones represented by the numerical outcome. Others are easy and Lafayette's 50-18 romp over outmanned Mercyhurst before a sparse, chilled crowd at Fisher Field yesterday provided a case in point The outcome gave the Leopards their sixth victory seven starts and put them back go the right track fol tJBKE BARNAK The Morning CaJ Please See LAFAYETTE PageXIO Lehigh fuHback Rich Curtis (33) is stopped at the fine of scrimmage..