The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 11

Staunton, Sunday News Leader, September 11, 1988 Section Sports 7" TT 7 enn Stcite rolls by U.V. By KEN BOSSERMAN Sports Writer CHARLOTTESVILLE The Penn State Nittany Lions turned a short kick, fumble and interception into three first-period touchdowns, and went on to defeat the Virginia Cavaliers 42-14 Saturday night at Scott Stadium. The matchup with the 18th nationally ranked Nittany Lions drew a record setting sellout crowd of 45,000 topping Virginia's previous high of 44,572 which attended a 1983 contest against Virginia Tech. But the psyched up gathering had little to cheer about as Penn State scored on its first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest, and had those points on the scoreboard before the Cavaliers could even manage a first down. Virginia finally got its offense in gear midway through the second period with a touchdown drive that cut the margin to 21-7.

But Penn State responded with touchdowns on its last possession of the first half and first drive following intermission to move ahead 35-7 and seal the win. All told, the Nittany Lions amassed 444 yards of total offense to 250 for Virginia. Penn State quarterback Tom Bill completed 15 of 22 attempts for 179 yards and two touchdowns, while Virginia Shawn Moore was 14 of 31 for 170 yards. Moore also rushed for Vir ginia's two touchdowns. Virginia's troubles began early.

After failing to move the ball on its initial possession, a short punt put Penn State in business at its 39. Seven plays and 61 yards later, Sam Gash went over from the one for the touchdown. Ray Tarasi then added the first of six successful conversions. Virginia immediately fumbled the kickoff with Penn State recovering at the Cavalier six. Two plays later, Gary Brown wove his way into the end zone to make it 14-0 less than five minutes into the game.

On Virginia's next possession, a pass interception put Penn State in business at the Cavalier 35. Early mistakes cost Cavaliers Eight plays later the Nittany Lions were in the Cavalier end zone again. This time the score came on a 5- yard pass over the middle from Bill to Michael Thompson. On its next two possessions, Virginia drove twice as far as the Penn St. 15-yard line before being turned back.

Field goal attempts of 37 and 44 yards by Mark Inder-lied failed; the first one being wide left and the other of 44 yards was blocked. Penn State took over on its 27, but two plays later fumbled the ball with Virginia's Kevin Cook recovering the bobble at the Nittany Lion 35. From there it took the Cavaliers seven plays to score their first touchdown of the game. The drive contained a key third down pass of 17 yards from Moore to Tim Finkleston which gave the Cavs a first down at the eight. From there, Moore scored on an option keeper to the right.

Inder-lied's conversion cut the Penn State lead to 21-7 with 5:07 left before intermission. Not to be outdone, Penn State retaliated with an 82-yard, eight play drive to move ahead 28-7 with just 19 seconds left before intermission with Brown scoring from the 19 on a run up the middle. A one-yard plunge by Gash culminated a 55-yard, 12-play drive by Penn State to open the second half, and on their next possession, the Nittany Lions went 82 yards on eight plays with Brown scoring his third touchdown of the game on a 19-yard pass play. That made it 42-7, and sent many of the record crowd to the exits. The Cavs responded with an 80-yard drive midway through the fourth quar-tmr with Moore scoring from the four to set the final tally at 42-14.

4 VV-' it By STEVE COX Sports Writer CHARLOTTESVILLE It was a game Virginia fans had been waiting for for months. And it was a game that was over in less than five minutes. Penn State scored on its first drive and U.Va. fumbled the ensuing kickoff deep in its own territory. Suddenly it was 14-0 and the Cavs were close to being out of the game.

Another turnover and another Penn State score and it was 21-0 before the first quarter was even over. "Virginia had some bad luck early and that had them doing things out of character," stated head coach Joe Paterno. "That was what made it look so easy. Our defense played hard and with a lot of intensity. We played ball like we wanted to." "Penn State is a team that you The Cavaliers are a young team, a team that is going to get better as the year progresses.

The play of one player, quarterback Shawn Moore, typifies the Virginia team. Against the Nittany Lions, Moore was 14 for 31 passing and rushed for both U.Va. scores. "Shawn is progressing well. He is under a lot of pressure and we are asking him to do a lot of things for this team.

Right now we just have to get him some more help," Welsh said. "We need to find a way to get the ball to John Ford more. Last year we got him the ball deep and we won some football games. That is the type of thing we are going to have to start doing again. "We still have a chance to be a good football team.

We need to work on the little things. Sometimes, it is the little things that can make you look bad." STEFFI'S PRIZE West Germany's Steffi Graf holds the U.S. Open women's singles trophy high after her victory Saturday over Gabriela Sabatini to win the Grand Slam. (AP Laserphoto) Graf completes Virginia Tech rolls Sam win Davey Allison wins Miller 400 pole by East Carolina RICHMOND (AP) Davey Allison, leading a contingent of Ford drivers who made successful runs, turned a fast lap of 122.850 mph Saturday to grab the pole for the Miller 400, the first Winston Cup event at the new Richmond International Raceway. "I'm psyched up, pumped up, anxious.

I want to go racing," Allison said after his effort on the only three-quarter-mile track on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit. Allison, the 1987 rookie of the year, edged out Alan Kulwicki for the top spot. Kulwicki, who took both poles in 1987 at the old Richmond half-mile oval, posted a speed of 122.338. Starting in the second row in Sunday's 400-lap race will be Bill Elliott, the leader in this year's season points race, and Mark Martin. The top four starters all drive Ford Thunderbirds.

"I guess we were all just lucky," Allison said. Darrell Waltrip, in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, was the only other driver to break the 122-mph mark and will start fifth. Rounding out the top 10 will be Mike Alexander, Rick Wilson, Ken Schrader, Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip. BLACKSBURG (AP) For the first time in two years at Virginia Tech, football Coach Frank Beamer does not have a losing record after the Hokies defeated East Carolina 27-16 on Saturday. Beamer evened his season record at 1-1 as the Hokie offense overpowered the Pirates behind the 101 yards rushing from Jon Jeffries and 158 yards passing from Will Furrer and the Hokie defense came up with four interceptions.

"Probably the most pleasing thing was the way out defense performed," Beamer said after the Hokies got two touchdowns from Jeffries, one from Rich Fox and two field goals from Chris Kinzer. "We got run over at Clemson (40-7) and our players were determined that it wasn't going to happen again. We made an awful lot of big plays out there defensively and came up with four interceptions." Art Baker's Pirates were plagued by three interceptions thrown by starting quarterback Travis Hunter and a fourth thrown by backup Charlie Libretto. "Travis didn't have an effective day," Baker said. "It was obvious that we needed to make a change, and I thought Charlie did a good job.

I thought we came back and played much better in the second half. We moved the ball well, but don't want to make crucial early mistakes against. I don't know if it changes the outcome of the ball-game, but it makes it that much tougher to play when you are behind 21-0." The matchup with Penn State was supposed to serve as a measuring stick for the Cavalier program. Was Virginia ready to challenge the nation's elite? Judging from the final score, the answer would obviously be no. Yet, according to Cavalier coach George Welsh, it is too early to judge this year's team.

"We are not as good as we should be. We didn't play defense very well and we didn't tackle very well," Welsh stated. "But I am not ready to judge this team just yet." Frankly, Virginia isn't that far away from being a good team. Two-time defending Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt will start 19th after a fast lap of only 120.622. The entire 36-car field was set in Saturday's time trials.

The rain that washed out Friday's scheduled first round of qualifying gave way Saturday to sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. Richmond's new track was built after the Pontiac 400 in February. Minutes after that race ended, workers began tearing up the surface, and less than seven months later, the new layout was ready for racing. The new track is in the shape of a rounded-off and is 60 feet wide, has an 860-foot-long backstretch and is banked 14 degrees in the turns. Allison said he planned to stay at the track Saturday afternoon and watch a 200-lap Grand National race to see how those drivers run the first race on the new layout.

"I feel like it will be an advantage to see what's going on," said Allison, who needs to win $5,015 on Sunday to surpass the $1 million mark in career winnings faster than has ever been done before. The race will be his 52nd. Brad Muster, a fine receiver out of the backfield, a healthy Dennis McKinnon plus two young wide receivers, Wendell Davis and Ron Morris, who more than make up for the traded Willie Gault. Davis and Muster, the two first-round picks, are among 11 rookies on the roster. This week they face Jack Tru-deau, hardly a Marino, who will replace Gary Hogeboom, who against Houston was 15 of 20 for 219 yards but was sacked five times and threw an interception that was returned 44 yards for a touchdown.

The main concern, of course, is Eric Dickerson, who ran for 109 yards, caught six passes for 98 more but also fumbled to set up the deciding field goal in the 17-14 overtime loss. They also face a team that's wants to avoid two straight home losses. Meyer prefers to look at the positive side. "I told this team it's a long season," he says. "We started last year with a loss and still made the playoffs." In other games Sunday, Miami is at Buffalo; New Orleans at Atlanta; Pittsburgh at Washington; San Francisco at the New York Giants; Tampa Bay at Green Bay; San Diego at Denver; the New York Jets at Cleveland; New England at Minnesota; the Los Angeles Raiders at Houston; Detroit at the Los Angeles Rams; Kansas City at Seattle and Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 4 p.m.

The Cardinals play their first ecars look for on encore dooinst NEW YORK (AP) Steffi Graf, overcoming a shaky second set, won the first Grand Slam in 18 years by beating Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the U.S. Open women's final Saturday. The West German became the first player to sweep the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. championships in the same year since Margaret Court in 1970. "I'm very thrilled.

It's a very happy feeling at this moment," said Graf, who ran over to the stands to hug her parents and her coach, Pavel Slozil, after the match. "Everybody had been telling me how tough the last tournament would be. I wasn't nervous, but I was tight." Graf, 19, is the second youngest player to win the Grand Slam. Maureen Connolly was 18 when she won the four major titles in 1953. The only other Slam winners were Don Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969.

Budge, 73, attended Saturday's match and kissed Graf during the awards ceremony. Graf, the top seed, is the second-youngest woman to win the U.S. title since the tournament was opened to professionals in 1968. Tracy Austin was 16 when she won the Open in 1979 and 18 when she won it again in 1981. The fifth-seeded Sabatini, 18, had handed Graf her only two defeats this year in 61 matches.

But the first Argentine to play in a Grand Slam final couldn't stop skins' more formidable front, the plodding is likely to resume. Dallas (0-1) at Phoenix (0-1) (Monday night) Two stats for the NFL's first regular-season game in the desert: The temperature is liable to be 105 degrees at game time and there are may be a few empty $38 seats at Sun Devil Stadium as of midweek, about 15,000 were unsold. The game could turn on who blows the fewest scoring chances. The Cards were unable to score despite a first and goal at the one in the closing minutes of their 21-14 loss in Cincinnati. The Cowboys lost their chance in a 24-21 loss in Pittsburgh when Steve Pelluer said "36" when he meant to say "37," rolled out right instead of left and threw the ball to Steelers linebacker David Little in the end zone.

Los Angeles Raiders (1-0) at Houston (1-0) A tale of two quarterbacks. As Houston's Warren Moon sits with a shoulder injury, Jay Schroeder arrives as the Raiders' savior. But Steve Beuerlein, who was fair in the 24-13 win over San Diego, is still the starter for the time being. With Jim Lachey gone in the Schroeder deal, Beuerlein is liable to spend his time dodging a suddenly ferocious pass rush featuring Ray Childress. Cody Carlson, who replaces Moon, is more likely to spend his day handing off to Mike Rozier, Colts Graf from winning her 34th straight match and her ninth tournament of the year.

After losing the match, Sabatini hailed Graf's achievement. "I think it's great," she said. "Not too many people win the Grand Slam. She won it with great confidence." Graf earned $275,000 for the victory, pushing her over the $3 million mark in career earnings and placing her fourth on the all-time women's list behind Martina Nav-ratilova, Chris Evert and Pam Shriver. Sabatini received $137,500.

After each player held serve in the first three games, Graf broke to take a 3-1 lead when Sabatini netted two straight backhands. However, Sabatini broke right back when Graf double-faulted at 30-15 and then made two unforced errors. Graf broke again to move ahead 5-3 and then closed out the set on her third set point with a forehand blast that Sabatini barely got her racket on. Sabatini had saved the first two set points with a backhand winner and a beautiful backhand lob. Sabatini, who has lost 13 of 15 matches against Graf, had three break points in the second game of the second set.

But she allowed Graf to escape by making four straight backhand errors. Graf started to misfire on her groundstrokes as Sabatini won the next three games to take a 4-1 lead. Allen Pinkett and Alonzo High-smith, who ran up 174 yards in the 17-14 overtime win in Indianapolis. Cincinnati (1-0) at Philadelphia (1-0) Boomer Esiason and Vinny Tes-taverde have one thing in common they both grew up in the Long Island suburbs of New York City. But Esiason can read zone defenses, something Testaverde couldn't do when he threw five interceptions into the Eagles' suspect secondary in Philadelphia's 41-14 rout of Tampa Bay last week.

In fact, the erratic but talented Bengals may provide the answer to this question: is Philadelphia a legitimate contender or was it the Bucs that made them look like one? New York Jets (0-1) at Cleveland (1-0) The Jets could be for the Browns what the Bucs were for the Eagles when it was disclosed that Bernie Kosar could miss eight weeks, the betting line dropped just half-a-point to 9. In fact, Gary Danielson, who will replace Kosar, isn't very different from Steve Grogan, who sliced up the young Jets in the 28-3 win last week. Kevin Mack should be back, so it's unlikely the Browns, who edged Kansas City 6-3, will have to rely again on Matt Bahr's toe for all their scoring. Detroit (1-0) at Los Angeles Rams (1-0) The Lions' 31-17 win over Atlanta probably proves that they're (See NFL, page B6) did not score any points." Jeffries put the Hokies on the board first with his 3-yard touchdown at 8:32 in the first period. East Carolina tied the score with Hunter's 17-yard pass to Walter Wilson at 8:55 in the second period before Jeffries ran five yards for a score at 4:27 in the period to put Virginia Tech ahead for good.

Kinzer, a senior, became Virginia Tech's second all-time scorer with his field goals of 28 and 22 yards and three extra points that brought his total to 188 points. Place kicker Don Wade holds the school record of 224 points scored from 1981-84. Virginia Tech took a 2-1 lead in the series as Jock Jones intercepted both of the Pirate quarterbacks, with one of his two interceptions leading to Fox's 2-yard touchdown that completed the Hokies' scoring with 8:06 to play. Hunter was also picked off by Scott Rice and Will Gowin. The Pirates got their other points on Libretto's 12-yard touchdown pass to BoJack Davenport and Robb Imperato's 29-yard field goal.

The Pirates tried a conversion pass from Libretto to Denell Harper after their final touchdown made the score 27-16 but Harper's catch did not count because of offensive interference. New England (1-0) at Minnesota (0-1) A critical early test for the Vikings, who are supposed to challenge the Bears in the NFC Central. They were able to muster 300 yards but only 10 points in a 13-10 loss in Buffalo last week as Wade Wilson was sacked six times. Part of the problem was an offensive line beset by inexperience and holdouts by Gary Zimmerman and Keith Lowdermilk. Nonetheless, Wilson will be replaced by Tommy Kramer this week in the Vikes' game of musical quarterbacks.

The Patriots looked good beating the Jets 28-3. Or maybe the Jets just looked bad. But they need help for a running game that got only 98 yards in 34 carries. Pittsburgh (1-0) at Washington (0-1) The Redskins' loss to the Giants was a montage of mistakes, which seems to happen to Super Bowl defenders. There were four turnovers, 13 penalties and several dropped passes.

The scapegoat was Mike Scully, who was cut the day after his low snap led to the blocked kick that gave the Giants their go-ahead touchdown. The Steelers' plodding ground game showed some zest in the 24-21 win over Dallas, getting 142 yards, including a 29-yard TD scamper by Earnest Jackson, of whom Buddy Ryan once said: "Anyone can rush for 1,000 yards in 1,000 carries." Against the Red home game in Phoenix when they host Dallas Monday night. San Francisco (1-0) at New York Giants (1-0) This is the fourth time in three seasons the Giants play the Redskins and 49ers twice in a row. They beat both consecutively in both the regular season and playoffs two years ago, then lost to both with strike replacements last year. Does that mean the Giants' 27-20 win over Washington Monday night is an omen? Joe Montana, who threw three third-quarter touchdown passes in San Francisco's 34-33 win over New Orleans with a sore right elbow will probably start, although he doesn't have very fond memories of Giants Stadium.

That's where he was knocked cold by Jim Burt in the Giants' 49-3 playoff win two years ago. The 49ers relief pitcher would be Steve Young, whose mobility could cause more problems for the Giants than Montana. Burt, the stumpy nose tackle, was one of the offensive stars for the Giants last week, waddling 39 yards with a Doug Williams fumble for his first NFL TD in eight years as the Giants overcame a 13-0 deficit after 18 minutes. "It looked like the game started about 9:30 instead of 8 o'clock," said Coach Bill Parcells of the Giants, who will still be without the suspended Lawrence Taylor but may get defensive end Leonard Marshall back. "Maybe we were on the old Monday night schedule." By DAVE GOLDBERG AP Football Writer Chicago controlled the ball for 45 minutes and rushed for 262 yards against Miami last week.

Indianapolis gave up 174 yards rushing to Houston and allowed the Oilers the ball for 38 minutes of their 64-minute overtime loss. If there's an encore this weekend, the Colts will be run out of the Hoosier Dome by the Bears, who are trying to reprise their 1985 Super Bowl as an offensive power rather than a defensive one. "It's obvious," says Indianapolis Coach Ron Meyer, "that they have their offense back in gear." The main gear seems to be Neal Anderson, who prepped last year at fullback, waiting for Walter Payton to retire. With Payton gone, he started the season with 123 yards in 24 carries in last week's 34-7 win. But there's more to Chicago than legs.

The Bears ran the ball 54 times against Miami because the Dolphins haven't stopped the run in four years. They also wanted to keep the ball away from Dan Marino, who had three TD passes in the game that kept the Bears from an undefeated 1985. "We don't have to face Marino anymore, we had to control the ball against Miami and our running game was working," says Jim McMahon, as healthy now as ever. "We have a lot of weapons and we can throw the ball 40 times If we have to." The weapons include fullback.