The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 19

Staunton, Sunday News Leader, September 33, 1984 Section NFL roundup Payton-Harris matchup highlights action Late scores: Red Sox 4, Orioles 2 Pirates 2, Phillies 1 Wl I IJU The 49ers, 3-0, may go into Philadelphia without quarterback Joe Montana, who bruised his ribs last Sunday, giving way to Matt Cava-naugh, who rallied San Francisco to a 30-20 triumph over New Orleans. The 1-2 Eagles, 23-17 losers to Dallas last Sunday, will be trying to establish consistency after playing well for only segments of the game in losses to the Cowboys and the New York Giants. Washington, trying to become the first NFC team to go to three straight Super Bowls, finally won its first game last Sunday by beating the Giants 30-14 on the strength of a revived defense that turned two New York turnovers into Instant touchdowns. The Patriots, 2-1, will start at quarterback with Tony Eason, who relieved Steve Grogan last week against Seattle and engineered that comeback that produced a 38-23 win from a 23-0 deficit. The Super Bowl champion Raiders, who have managed to go 3-0 without mustering much offense, will be trying to keep their Monday night magic a mark of 21-2 in Monday night games.

The Chargers, 2-1, lead the NFL in total offense with 472 yards a game, most on the arm of Dan Fouts, whose 336 yards in a 31-14 win over Houston last week was his second 300- By DAVE GOLDBERG AP Sports Writer 1 To most of the country, the big vent in the Seattle Kingdome Sunday is the head-to-head meeting between Franco Harris and Walter Payton en route to Jim Brown's career-rushing record. But to the Chicago Bears, trying to maintain momentum and the Seattle Seahawks, trying to regain it, that's a sideshow. While the spotlight is on Harris and Payton, only 34 yards apart and a little more than 300 from Brown, the other 96 players on two of the National Football League's Up-and-coming teams will be fighting their own war. Even Payton and Harris are worried that their meeting, only the second in nine years, will detract from the rest of the game. "The race is on, but that's not bigger than the whole thing," says Harris, released by the Pittsburgh Steelers after a preseason holdout and signed by the Seahawks after Curt Warner was lost for the season with a knee injury.

"I hope it happens real soon," says Payton, the favorite to reach Brown's mark first. "Then we can get back to the basics concentrating on winning the division and getting into the playoffs." So far the Bears have been concentrating just fine, with a 3-0 mark that makes them one of the NFL's four remaining unbeaten teams. With apologies to factor, the main ingredient for the Bears has been a defense that's tops in the NFL, having allowed Just 538 total yards and 21 points in three games. Already off to their best start since 1978 and two games in front of the rest of the NFC Central, the Bears hope to avoid what happened in that year a final mark of 7-9. For the Seahawks, it's a matter of regaining the momentum of their first 2V4 games easy wins over Cleveland and San Diego and a first half against New England in which they built a 23-0 lead.

But that third game fell apart quickly a New England touchdown late in the first half and 31 second-half points that gave the Patriots a 38-23 victory. "That's history," says Seattle Coach Chuck Knox. "Now we have to worry about this week." In other games Sunday, Houston is at Atlanta, the Los Angeles Rams at Cincinnati, Minnesota at Detroit, the New York Jets at Buffalo, Pittsburgh at Cleveland, St. Louis at New Orleans, San Francisco at Philadelphia, Washington at New England, Indianapolis at Miami, Green Bay at Dallas, Kansas City at Denver, and Tampa Bay at the New York Giants. San Diego will visit the Los Angeles Raiders Monday night.

Harris, who joined the Seahawks the second week of the season after being released by the Pittsburgh Steelers following a preseason holdout, goes into the confrontation with Payton with 12,009 career yards, 34 ahead of Payton and 303 yards behind Brown's all-time mark of 12,312. Payton, the NFL's second leading rusher with 350 yards this season has already picked up 291 yards on Harris, who has gained 59 in 24 carries in his two games with the Seahawks, who are one of four 2-1 teams in the AFC West, a game behind the unbeaten Raiders. Pittsburgh goes into Cleveland in the same position as Chicago already holding a two-game lead in the AFC Central, which harbors three of the NFL's four winless teams. In fact, the Steelers' 2-1 record makes them the only team in the division with a win this year. "We've put ourselves into a hole and we've got a mountain to climb," says Browns' Coach Sam Rutigliano, whose team built a 14-0 lead, only to lose 24-14 to the Denver Broncos last Sunday night.

"Our defense is playing well enough for us to win, but we haven't been able to get untracked on offense." The Steelers, who have won four of the five meetings between the two, hope to have Jack Lambert back after missing two games with a broken toe. Lambert has never missed a Cleveland game in 11 years in the NFL. my" 1 si -K V.A 'J fc- 4 (See NFL, page B7) END ZONE INTERCEPTION Navy saftey Vince Mcbeth intercepts a pass from Virginia quarterback Don Majkowski in the end zone to halt a Cavalier scoring drive Saturday at Annapolis, Md. (AP Laserphoto) U.Va. Cavaliers deck Midshipmen, 21-9 Virginia Tech turns back Spiders Hokies a lead they would never relinquish, tailback Maurice Williams added an insurance touchdown with 35 seconds left in the half.

Richmond opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run by tailback Greg Grooms with 7:31 remaining in the first quarter. Grooms, the game's leading rush- the second quarter came after Tech defensive tackle Morgan Roane intercepted a Richmond pass at the Spiders' 31-yard line. The Hokies' other two touchdowns also came in the second period. Terrence Howell knotted the score at 7-7 on a 4-yard run with 12:46 left in the half. After Becton's TD run gave the BLACKSBURG, Va.

(AP) Virginia Tech tailback Desmar Becton, playing his first game of the season, scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 14-yard scamper as the Hokies dumped Richmond 21- 13 in college football Saturday. The win raised Tech's record to 2-1 while Richmond fell to 2-2. Becton's score with 2:23 left in Riverheads wins first HARRISONBURG The River-heads girls' basketball team picked up its first victory of the season with a 44-40 non-district triumph over Eastern Mennonite High School The Lady Gladiators used an 18-point second-quarter spree to go up 27-20 at the half and then went on to post the victory. Pacing the winners was Lori Armstrong with 17 points and Deann Houseknecht with eight rebounds. Riverheads, now 1-8, will travel to Wilson on Tuesday for a Skyline game.

The Baby Gladiators made the night a complete success with a 22- 19 win. Pam Coffey had seven markers for the winners. RIVERHEADS (44) Seniabaugh 4 0-2 Wright 0 1-4 1, Howell 0 2-4 2, Hipea 2 2-3 6, Houseknecht 1 0-2 6, Miller 1 0-0 2, Amutrong 7 2-0 17, Umond 0 2-2 2. TOTAI.S 17 10-23 44 EMHS (40) Boyera 4 0-0 Good 2 0-11 13, King 1 7-13 0, Showalter 2 0-0 4, Driver 2 0-0 4, er, gained 104 yards in the contest. The Spiders threatened repeatedly in the second half to catch the Hokies, whose offense had gone cold.

Brendan Toibin kicked a 34-yard field goal in the third period and booted a 24-yarder in the fourth period. Another attempt by Toibin, early in the third quarter, was wide to the right. But the Tech defense always managed to stop the Spiders short of a touchdown. Three plays after all-Amerlcan defensive tackle Bruce Smith was ejected from the game because of a personal foul, Tech defensive tackle Mark Webb batted down a third-down pass by Danny Kees to force the Spiders to kick a field goal with 8:27 left in the game. The Spiders got the ball again at their own 42 with 5:26 remaining but the Hokies stopped the tie-threatening drive on the Tech 47-yard line when defensive end Jesse Penn intercepted a Kees pass to tight end John Henry.

Tech, held scoreless In the second half, was plagued by turnovers and penalties. Two long pass completions for the Hokies were nullified by flags. With less than five minutes left In the first half, a 45-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mark Cox to tight end Joe Jones was cancelled because of an ineligible receiver downfield. Late in the game, a 37-yard pass from Cox to Howell, which put Tech on the Richmond 12-yard line, was called back because of offensive Interference. with an ankle injury.

There was no immediate word on the extent of the Injury to McCallum, who was the leading all-purpose rusher in the nation last year and sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting. The Cavaliers also avoided costly mistakes, giving up the ball just once, on a pass intere-ception in the end zone which stopped a second-quarter scoring threat. Navy was hurt throughout the game by poor field position and offensive mistakes. The Midshipmen lost the ball five times on four fumbles and a pass interception, with two of those mistakes leading to Virginia touchdowns. Eleven of the Midshipmen's 13 drives started inside their own 30-yard line.

They got the ball in Virginia territory only twice. Navy Coach Gary Tranquill said the Midshipmen were flat offensively. "We didn't sustain anything, and we had horrible field he said. George Welsh, who left Navy three years ago to coach at Virginia, said the Cavaliers "didn't have a good offensive day." "We got some breaks that gave us good field position, we got one run out of Petty and after that we struggled," he said. ANNAPOLIS, Md.

(AP) -Quarterback Kevin Ferguson scored twice on 1-yard plunges in the first quarter and hit tight end Geno Zimmerlink with a 1-yard touchdown pass In the fourth quarter as Virginia capitalized on Navy mistakes for a 21-9 victory over the Midshipmen Saturday. The first Virginia scoring drive came after a fumble recovery at the Navy 26 on the second play of the game. Ferguson plunged over the middle of the line for the score from 1 yard out seven plays later. The Cavaliers took a 14-0 lead less than three minutes later following a 58-yard drive, with tailback Howard Petty getting 54 yards on a sweep around right end. Navy cut the lead to 14-9 in the third period following field goals of 38, 42 and 41 yards by Todd Solomon.

Virginia jumped on another Navy mistake, a fumble at the Middies's 38-yard line, to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Ferguson found Zimmerlink all alone in the end zone for a 1-yard scoring pass. Virginia pretty much succeeded in neutralizing Navy tailback Napoleon McCallum, who picked up Just 74 yards on 21 carries before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter hi FULL SPEED AHEAD Virginia Tech tailback Desmar Becton picks up yardage In the first half against Richmond. Tech won, 21-13. (AP Laserphoto) Wener 1 04 2, TOTALS 12 18-25 40.

Riverheads 11 I 11 44 12 11 -j 40 EMHS Jim Brown finds satisfaction in his career W- Steelers wound up placing him on waivers. The Seahawks signed him after their star running back, Curt Warner, suffered a season-ending knee injury in their first game. "Franco right now is a myth that's being made up by the media," Brown says. Payton, though, evokes a more positive reaction. "I think Walter's legitimate," Brown says.

"I think unfortunately that after the first few years, Walter hasn't been able to dominate. With 16 games you're always going to be able to get yards. "I think he's an all-time great. I think Franco's an all-time great from the viewpoint of his contributions to the Steelers' winning four Super Bowls. I don't think he's an all-time great from the standpoint of carrying the ball.

"Earl Campbell Is one of my all-time greats even though he only had those three years. I'm not dealing with his numbers, I'm dealing with his greatness. There are a lot of great runners; there aren't many who can sustain." Brown notes that in two games for the Seahawks this season, Harris gained 46 yards on 14 carries against San Diego and 13 yards on 10 carries against New England. "Franco went into Seattle without any practice and did that," Brown, now 48, said. "No practice and then ran out and ran the ball.

If they give me the same circumstances, I could do the same thing. "You tell me I couldn't have produced that now? I'm still alive, I'm in shape. I play tennis, I run, I play racquetball. I'm 233 pounds," which is close to his weight during his playing days. Brown has his own list of the best runners ever, and it doesn't include Harris or even Payton.

He ranks Gale Sayers, O.J. Simpson, Ollie Matson and Jim Taylor ahead of them. each team has played 16 games a year. Looking back, did he retire too soon? "What would be the purpose of playing longer?" he answers. "If you do a little research and you check the numbers and the level of performance, the numbers speak for themselves." Here's what they say: Brown set his record in nine seasons with the Cleveland Browns.

In 118 games, he averaged 104 yards per game and 5.2 yards per carry. Harris has appeared in 167 games, averaging 72 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry. Payton, in his 10th season, has played in 133 games, averaging 90 yards per outing and 4.4 yards per carry. "There's no one that's ever been able to keep that pace or that intensity," Brown says. "I dominated my era.

Nobody's ever been able to do that. These things are very obvious. (Eric) Dlckerson (of the Los Angeles Rams) was a dominant player last year, Earl (Campbell of the Houston Oilers) had a couple of dominant years. "There's no one that deals with it on a day-to-day level, an intense level, like I did. Any of those guys, if they can go nine or 10 strong years without missing practice, without missing games, with a 5.2 average, that would speak for itself." Brown was particularly upset last year because Harris was approaching his record.

Among other things, he said a player like Harris could add a lot of years to his career by running out of bounds. That opinion hasn't changed. "Franco has been a great player over the years," he says. "I'm saying that he's at the end of his career. (Pittsburgh Coach Chuck) Noll said it, the Steelers said it, and so did 27 other teams when they passed on him." Brown referred to what happened this summer, when Harris was a holdout and the LOS ANGELES AP) Indignation has given way to self-satisfaction for Jim Brown.

With his career rushing record destined to live only a few more weeks, he says his place in National Football League history if not the record books is secure. "I think things speak for themselves," says Brown, whose 12,312 yards has been the NFL standard since he retired at age 29 after the 1965 season. "You don't need confirmation of it. Greatness is greatness. I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

I have no record of failure. I don't relate to newspapers or players." Newspapers and players at least two of them are certainly relating to Brown these days. Franco Harris, now with the Seattle Seahawks after 12 years with Pittsburgh, is just 303 yards behind Brown. Chicago's Walter Payton is just 337 yards short. Last year, Brown sounded Indignant about the whole thing, even talking about a comeback, possibly with the Los Angeles Raiders.

Now, he sounds above it all. "This is the media's job, this is what's going on right now," Brown said by telephone from his Hollywood Hills home. "It really doesn't involve me. I don't understand what I'm supposed to talk about now and why." Brown retired after one of his best seasons, a year in which he gained 1,544 yards on 289 carries, averaging 110.3 yards per game and 5.34 yards per rush. "You don't have to be a great back to break a record like mine," Brown says.

"You only have to be good and last a while. Every good back playing 10 or 11 years could break the record. I don't think any of them could break it playing nine years and 12 or 14 games a year." During Brown's first four years, each NFL team played 12 games. During his last five, each club played 14 games. Since 1978, A JIM BROWN in his heyday against the Dallas Cowboys (AP Laserphoto).