The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 15

Sunday News Leader, September 12, 1993 C3 PORT Uncle Swam! back! tv vr -J iin V. -W" tit 1 i i Vs, i 17- I the next series as the Middies threatened just before the end of the half. A 31-yard run by tailback by Jason Van Matre gave Navy a first-and-goal at the Virginia 2, but the Middies would get no closer to the end zone. On first down, fullback Cleavon Smith lost 2 yards and a fumbled snap on the next play left the Middies at the 4. A swing pass from Jim Kubiak to Smith lost another 4 yards and Kubiak's fourth down pass into the end zone was picked off by Percy Ellsworth to thwart the Middies drive.

Navy had another golden opportunity in the third quarter when a Willis pass was picked off at the Virginia 34. Navy moved to the 3 before the drive stalled and kicker Dave Gwinn missed a 21 -yard field goal attempt, leaving the score at 17-0. The Cavs then put the game away on the next series when Willis capped an 80-yard drive with a 48-yard run. "I thought our defense played well," Virginia coach George Welsh stated. "We made a goal line stand, we tackled well, we hustled and we hit pretty good.

It doesn't matter who you shut out, when you keep the other team off the scoreboard, your defense has played well. "I'm not sure what was wrong with the offense. We had too many penalties and missed assignments. If not for three big plays, that's still a close ballgame into the fourth quarter. I'm sure Navy screwed up a coverage on the long pass to Jeffers and I'm not sure what happened on the other touchdown (to Jeffers).

"I'm telling you, there wasn't that much difference in the two teams, at least not today." Virginia now has a short work week as the Cavs travel to Atlanta for a Thursday night matchup against ACC foe Georgia Tech which is televised by ESPN. By STEVE COX Sports Editor CHARLOTTESVILLE Quarterback Symion Willis passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third and the Virginia defense kept Navy out of the end zone Saturday afternoon as the Cavaliers rolled to a 38-0 win at Scott Stadium. Willis accounted for 268 yards of total offense, including a 10-of-20 passing performance for 205 yards. The Cavs also received a solid effort from senior tailback Jerrod Washington who gained 71 yards on 17 carries. Virginia scored on its first possession when Kyle Kirkeide booted a 33-yard field goal to put the Cavs up 3-0.

The Midshipmen defense then kept Navy close until a pair of big plays in the second quarter put the Cavs in control. Midway through the second period, U.Va. began its first touchdown march from its own 23. A 16-yard scamper by Kevin Brooks moved the ball to the 39 and a 12-yard scramble by Willis gave the Cavs a first down in Navy territory at the 46. After a procedure penalty cost the Cavs 5 yards, Brooks picked up 5 and a late hit by the Middies moved the ball to the Navy 31.

Willis then hit wideout Patrick Jeffers in the left flat and Jeffers juked past the defender and scampered into the end zone for the score. Kirkeide's PAT gave Virginia a 10-0 lead with 8:56 left in the half. After three Navy plays and a punt, U.Va. started its next possession on its own 32. On the third-and-7, Willis and Jeffers hooked up again, this time for 65 yards and a TD.

Kirkeide added the extra point and Virginia led 17-0. Virginia's defense came up big on r- mm i Mtgff. i A '3 mm i 1 By By UNCLE SWAMI Special to the News Leader Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. Uncle Swami is back. My editor want to thank you for all the cards and letters concerning this column and to let you know that we're going to do it again anyway.

Swami was not seen in your particular area last week due to computer difficulties. As for Uncle Swami's won-loss record last season, it is my duty to report that it was Sorry, I'm afraid our transmission is breaking up again. WASHINGTON 24, Phoenix 14: Redskins favored by 9. Kelly Good-b'ilrn's abbreviated 1993 season with the Redskins makes Dennis Miller lbok like Walter Alston Brian Mitchell has been forbidden to kneel for the remainder of the season, even during the team prayer. HOUSTON 24, Kansas City 2h Even.

Buddy Ryan's debut with the Houston Oilers last Sunday being compared to the opening week of ''Howard the Duck." New Orleans 24, ATLANTA 23: Saints favored by 3. Andre Rison returns home to lead assault, uh, to lead attack, er, to lead oh, forget it. GREEN BAY 27, Philadelphia 17: Packers favored by 4. Although Reggie White is now with the Packers, all of his quarterback sacks remain the "intellectual" property of the Philadelphia Eagles. MINNESOTA 24, Da Bears 13: Vikings favored by 8.

One possible shag in plot to kidnap Richard Nixon why would anyone bargain for his return? Detroit 19, NEW ENGLAND 17: Lions favored by 7. Fashion-conscious Patriots thinking of switching to" bell-bottoms for future home games. Indianapolis 17, CINCINNATI 14: Colts favored by 2. QB Jeff George further alienated Colts teammates this week by announcing J'l'm a Jay Leno guy" during a pavid Letterman monologue. NEW JERSEY GIANTS 20, iampa Bay 6: Giants favored by 10.

New Chevy Chase talk show has already outlasted tenure of Steve De-Berg as Bucs starting QB Giants attribute more aggressive attitude to daily skull sessions in the "Rush (Limbaugh) Room." Buffalo 41, DALLAS 35; Cowboys favored by 4. Cowboys defense on pace to give up 560 points this season. MIAMI 23, N.Y. Jets 20: Fish favored by 9. In a rare baseball-football trade, Jets acquire Vince Cole-jnan from the Mets to generate 'offensive fireworks." DENVER 20, San Diego 16: tironcos favored by 3.

Chargers eek 2 offensive goal: Score more louchdowns than Seahawks NT Joe jMash. Pittsburgh 21, L.A. RAMS 13: Steelers favored by 3. Coach Chuck iKnox has brought balance to the JRams offense, with equal inability to un or pass. L.A.

Raiders 17, SEATTLE 9: Raiders favored by 3. If you're not Sliving in an ESPN home, don't move Jinto One before Sunday night, San Francisco 31, CLEVELAND 20: favored by 7. Based on moral convictions, Niners have threatened to boycott all Monday "night games unless San Francisco's lABC affiliate refuses to air "NYPD TOUCHDOWN-BOUND University of Virginia quarterback Symmion Willis nears the end of a 48-yard touchdown romp in the third quarter at Scott Stadium Saturday afternoon. Willis also passed for two touchdowns as the Cavaliers routed Navy 38-0. (Photo by Ken Bosserman) eassBy captures tiftB; Sampras.

JPioBoBi ion fSimals 11 myself. When I realize how well I'm playing, it's really difficult to do something against me." From the first point in the final, when Graf drilled a forehand into the corner, to the last, when Graf whacked a backhand volley that Sukova barely touched and slapped wide, the only element in question was exactly how long the inevitable result would take. The answer on this chilly, blustery afternoon was 66 minutes, a brief interlude between the two men's semifinals. Pete Sampras, reigning Wimbledon and 1990 U.S. Open champion, regained his No.

1 ranking by reaching the final with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alexander Volkov. Sampras will face No. 15 Cedric Pioline, the first French player in 61 years to reach the men's final. Pioline beat unseeded Wally Masur 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-1. Graf simply picked her spots to send winners screaming past Sukova.

Graf would run around the ball to hit forehands down the line or across the court, and the net-charging Sukova would watch them go by like speeding cars on an expressway. Sukova hadn't beaten Graf in 10 years, when Graf was 14. Graf has now won all 20 of their matches since then. Just as she did before Seles came along, Graf is ruling women's tennis with utter authority. Everyone knew she could have been handed the trophy and check at the start of the tournament, so certain was her eventual victory.

Graf swept the Grand Slams in 1988, won the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the French Open the following year and held the No. 1 ranking for a record 186 weeks until Seles took over the top spot for more than two years. This was Grafs 14th Grand Slam title, but there was a certain hollow-ness to her latest string of championships the French Open, Wimbledon and now the U.S. Open.

In the past dozen Grand Slam events, either Graf or Seles has won every one. Not since the 1990 U.S. Open victory by Gabriela Sabatini has someone other than Graf or Seles won a Grand Slam title. And that doesn't appear to be about to change. CHAMPION Germany's Steffi Graf signals she is No.

1 after winning the women's singles title at the U.S. Open Saturday in New York. (AP Photo) i 1 Mfmm' time ran out in the third quarter. It was that point when Cawley reentered the game and he promptly directed the Dukes' offense 69 yards in nine plays, capped by his 4-yard scoring toss to Steve Agee for JMU's first touchdown. Trey Weis added the PAT to narrow the gap to 13-10 early in the final stanza.

Following linebacker Tony Per-ret's interception of tipped Lilly pass, the Dukes got the ball right back at the Spiders' 27. JMU drove to the 5 and had first-and-goal before two illegal procedure penalties ended the drive and the Dukes had to settle for Weis' game-tying 33-yard field goal with 5:44 left. "We squandered a way too many opportunities and you can't do that against a good football team," Scherer said. "We had 13 penalties and that will kill anybody." Richmond got out to fast start leading 13-0 in the second quarter. Uly Scott scored on a 1-yard plunge late in the opening period and Longacre added two second-quarter field goals before the Dukes marched down the field late in the first half.

Wies put JMU on the board with 42-yard field goal with 40 ticks left until halflimc. The Dukes hit the road for the first time next week when they travel to Connecticut. Vt if If I A II II k. I. irj'l ii i NEW YORK (AP) In her most sublime moments, Steffi Graf slammed shots as perfectly as she ever did to win a third U.S.

Open and third straight Grand Slam title. Yet, something, someone, was missing. No tension, no throb of excitement ever intruded upon Grafs 6-3, 6-3 victory Saturday over Helena Sukova. This was the day, more than any other in the two-week tournament, when 1991 and 1992 Open champion Monica Seles was missed dearly by the fans and by Graf. "It was an incredible year, and I'm very happy about it," Graf told the crowd of 20,000 after receiving the trophy and $535,000 winners check.

"But one player who has not been around for the last three Grand Slams that's Monica I hope she'll be back soon." The top-ranked Graf thrives on a challenge, wants the competition, but there's no one out there close to her level. She's won six straight tournaments, hardly breaking a sweat along the way. "Sure it helps to have a player who pushes me more," Graf said. "But I'm not necessarily a person who needs it, because I like to push tle for being one of six Winston Cup drivers in NASCAR's modern era from 1972 on to win four consecutive races. Both Bobby Allison and Richard Petty won five in a row in 1971, before NASCAR trimmed the circuit to no more than 31 races per year.

Martin still has a streak going: he's won his" last three Busch Grand National races. Wallace, widely regarded as having one of the fastest pit crews on stock car racing's top circuit, dealt Martin what proved to be a decisive blow during a caution brought out on lap 302 by a tangle between Sterling Marlin and Brett Bodine. Wallace went into the pits in first place and his Grand Prix was easily the fastest car out. But Martin, who went in second, stayed in for 28 seconds, dropping him to fourth. He got no closer the rest of the way, often getting stuck in lapped traffic while Wallace zipped clear of the field on restarts.

WaBBace pyts emc3 to Martin's streak fense (and its question marks). Not only that, I think our defense will get better as the season goes along." The offense, on the other hand was a different story. The Dukes started Gary Lyons at quarterback but he was ineffective. In came Cawley, who recovered from his shoulder injury, but he got off to a slow start as well. "Our offense was out of sync all day." Scherer stated.

"Both quarterbacks didn't play well early, but Mike began to do a nice job until he lost his poise late in the game." Richmond led 13-3 heading into the second half and had the ball deep in JMU territory three times in the third quarter; however, the Dukes' defense turned them away all three times. Linebacker Clint Dunn intercepted a Lilly pass in the end zone to thwart the first threat of the period. After Richmond drove back down the field again, the JMU defense stiffened and stopped Spiders fullback Michael Henderson on four straight running plays from the inside the two to take over on downs. Later in the quarter, the Spiders reached the JMU 28 before the drive stalled and when Bobby St. Pierre's pooch punt traveled only two yards, the Dukes finally had some breathing room at the 31 as By MARIO RETROSI Sports Writer HARRISONBURG During the week James Madison University coach Rip Scherer stated that he was hoping for a lower scoring game Saturday when his Dukes battled in-tra-state rival Richmond.

Although the game was not a shootout like the previous two More college football See page CSfor roundups of ACC, Top 25 and state football action front Saturday. years, the 14th-ranked Spiders got a touchdown with six seconds showing on the clock to escape from Bridge-forth Stadium with a hard-fought 20-13 triumph over the Dukes in the first-ever conference game for JMU. Richmond improved to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Yankee Conference while the Dukes fell to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play. After battling back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 13-all, JMU had the ball at the Richmond 39 with a chance to go ahead late in the game. But a 15-yard personal foul penalty backed the Dukes up and JMU quarterback Mike Cawley, who came off the bench to have a big second half, was intercepted by lineman Matt Cornwell to give the Spiders new life on the JMU 43 with 1:55 remaining.

"We just didn't play with poise late in the game," Scherer stated. "Poise is so much a part of football that you have to have it to be successful. We had our chance to win the football game but we didn't make the plays at the end." Aided by a 29-yard pass from Richmond quarterback Greg Lilly to flanker Jason Rydalch, the Spiders moved the ball to the 1-yard line before Lilly scored on a quarterback sneak to put Richmond in front. Kevin Longacre added the extra point for the final margin. After surrendering over 600 passing yards and 91 points to Lilly the past two meetings, the JMU defense was determined not let the All-America candidate pick them apart again.

For the most part, the Dukes did the job holding Lilly to just 11-of-19 passing with three interceptions and only 1 19 yards. "Our defense did the job. They had their backs to the wall all day with Richmond not having to drive very far down the field," Scherer said. "We have a good defense and I'm tired of talking about the de- i RICHMOND (AP) Rusty Wallace threw a Pontiac and a fast pit crew in front of Mark Martin's bid for a record fifth consecutive Winston Cup victory Saturday night. Wallace overcame a penalty for deceptive driving and charged back to win the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

He held off Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt through a series of mini-sprints caused by three cautions over the final 18 laps. Wallace led three times for 206 laps, including the final 134 on Richmond's D-shaped layout. It gave Wallace four victories and two second-place finishes in the six races run this season on tracks of less than 1 mile in length. Martin was strong early but was plagued by inferior pit stops late in the race. He wound up sixth, behind Ricky Rudd and Brett Bodine.

The finish meant he had to set.