The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 15

Monday, 12682 Page 15 The Lincoln Star McBride: Confidence key to defense making big plays guy (Todd Blackledge) from Penn Stale and he By Virgil Parker Our offense and our defense stayed together as a team. That was important." Defensive end coach George Darlington said he cauldn't remember a team ever overcoming so much adversity in the kicking game. "We missed a field goal at the end of the first half," Darlington said. "That didn't help our morale any. In addition, Hawaii got away with an onside kickoff and blocked a punt.

That's three kicking game errors. In addition, we had two really short punts which also hurt." Darlington said the Hawaii team is to be congratulated. "That was a courageous effort on their part. But our kids should be congratulated loo for keeping their poise the way they did when the world was falling down around them. They could have easily folded their tent, but they some good things would happen." Defensive captain Steve Damkroger felt Hawaii got a lot of lucky breaks early in the game.

"But finally their horseshoe fell on their foot" the senior linebacker said, "and we got rolling." "My responsibility was to keep the play inside," Lyday said of his fumble-causing tsrckle. "I made a move to the outside to draw the blocker, then got by him arid had a clear shot at the runner. When I saw the ball come loose, I crawled and scratched to get to it." Defensive end Tony Felici said the Rainbows "stunned us a little at the outset the way they came out passing. We got started on the wrong foot. I don't know if we had a letdown after our big game with Oklahoma or not.

But we didn't start off very well. "Hawaii played awfully well," Felici added, "but that's nothing new. Everybody gets up for us." McBride said another key play for the defense was Irving Fryar's 70-yard punt return for a touchdown. "That came off just like you draw it on the blackboard," McBride sail "Neil Harris made a great block on their contain man. Then the wall was set up and nobody got through." Harris said the noisy sellout crowd caused some of Nebraska's problems early in the game.

"We couldn't hear our checks on defense," he said. "And, even though we had seen most everything they did on the films of previous games, it's never the same in person. It takes a while to get used to their actual speed and the intensity with which they are playing." Harris said the Huskers "never lost our poise. of The Lincoln Star HONOLULU "I never lost confidence in our defensive players and they never lost confidence in themselves." That was the attitude Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said he took throughout Saturday night's clash here with Hawaii. "I know we weren't playing very well when we fell behind 13 0," McBride said, "but once we got organized, we came up with some big plays on defense." McBride said the Huskers' early problems came "when Uiey spread us out all over the field.

They'd have three receivers on one side and'two orilhei other. And that quarterback of theirs Quarles) was every bit as good as the had some great receivers." McBride said the turning point of the game came early in the third quarter when Hawaii blocked a Nebraska punt. "We were trailing 10 0. If they score a touchdown and go up 17-0, it would have been tough to come back. But, even though they recovered the ball at our 10, we held and made them settle for a field goal." Two other "big plays" on defense, McBride said, came when Allan Lyday caused and recovered a fumble with a tremendous tackle and when Bret Clark intercepted a Hawaii pass.

Both plays led to quick Husker touchdowns. "The key, when we were behind," McBride said, "was that nobody got excited or lost confidence. I told them to keep plugging away and. 4 i it. r-f i I N' I I 1 i -i As Sr i Atw-- Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne diagrams a play to the Nebraska offense in the second quarter.

Riled Rimington rips 'Noga' weapon PC? Wingback Irving Fryar breaks loose on his 70-yard punt return. Individual Statistics chant his name. I decided to clean up on him every chance I got." Two of RiminiUon's most ferocious blocks of the night paved the way to an 18-yard touchdown run by Turner Gill and a 10-yard audibled trap play touchdown by Doug Wilkening. Rimington's competitive temper helped him forget his physical pain. He had a severe cold all week and missed the bulk of most practices.

"The only fun I've had in Hawaii was the first night hen I missed dinner and ordered lobster in my room," he said. "My head was on fire. I figured since I was going to die, I might as well die with something good in my belly." Although Rimington was still hurting Saturday night, there was no letup in his schedule. He left Honolulu Sunday to tape a Bob Hope Christmas special in New York on Monday, on Thursday, he will fly from New York to Houston, where he is a finalist fur the Lombard Trophy. "I don't know if I'll win it," he said.

"Right now, I don't even care." was guilty of delivering a forearm to the head of Noga. He just insisted it retaliation for a cheap shot. "It was totally unnecessary," Rimington said. "I'm on offense. I'm supposed to be blocking him.

The play was about 15 yards downfield. I was getting ready to walk back to the huddle and he came at me like a kamikaze pilot. "It looked like he was going right for my knees. I wasn't going to let a guy wipe out my career in the last game of the season. Knough is enough.

If that guy is crazy enough to turn a game into a war, then I'm going to protect myself." Rimington surmises that Noga's "secret weapon" was a 5-3 stack defense that moved a big tackle to nose-guard and Noga to linebacker. Although Noga finished with a game-leading 13 tackles, including six solos, almost all of them came at linebacker when Rimington was not assigned to block him. "He's a good player and he gives it everything he's got," Rimington said. "But I was tired of hearing the crowd By Randy York of The Lincoln Star HONOLULU Nebraska's most decorated lineman in history was the maddest player on the field here Saturday night and Hawaii paid dearly for riling up Dave Riminglon. "I got sick of this crowd yelling 'Noga, Noga, Rimington said, referring to Falaniko Noga, Hawaii's junior noseguard, who sounded like a professional wrestler in a pie-game television interview.

Noga, a lalenled and quick 230-pound juiuor, said he had a secret weapon for Rimington and was going to "kill" Nebraska's two-time Outland Award-winning center. After the game, Rimington didn't know what the weapon was, but it was Noga who had suffered. "It asn't even a match," said Milt Tenopir, Nebraska's offensive line coach, "lie gave Rimington a couple of belly shots early, but Dave domi-naled every play after that." Rimington dominated with a physical force that is almost certain to fascinate even those who just watch the backs. "He was blowing that guy 10 yards off the ball," Roger Craig said. "I couldn't believe it.

He was just killing him." Although films of Rimington in action will earn him rave reviews, he knows he also will receive some criticism for drawing a 15-yard personal foul penally on Nebraska's first touchdown in the third quarter. For a minute, there was confusion hether Irving Fryar's 31-yard touchdown on a counter sweep was going to count. But officials ruled a dead ball foul and assessed the penalty on the ensuing kickoff. Rimington did not deny that he Weber 2 1 3 Praeuner 2 0 2 Stuckev 4 3 7 Merrell 2 3 5 Herrmann 0 2 2 Felici 5 1 6 Linebackers Evans 5 0 5 McWhirter 6 1 7 Damkroger 6 0 6 Backs Van Norman 1 0 1 Burke 3 1 4 Holbrook 2 1 3 Lvday 4 1 5 Clark 4 0 4 McCashland 2 0 2 Hawaii Offense Rushing No. Yds.

Ave. Quarles 16 37 2.3 Edgar 8 30 3.8 Young 5 12 2.4 Fletcher 3 11 3.7 Cherry 1 6 6.0 Murray 1 0 0.0 Passing No. Co. Yds PI Quarles 33 14 169 1 8 3 -34 0 Pass receiving No. Yds.

Coleman 4 53 Butler 2 39 Murray 2 38 Edgar 2 16 2 16 Ku. Kofentzis 2 14 Nobles 1 19 Young 1 13 Fletcher .1 2 Punting No. Yds. Ave. Natividad 6 235 39.2 Punt returns No.

Yds. Ke. Kofentzis 1 18 Kickoff returns No. Yds. Kofentzis 4 51 Interception returns No.

Yds. Hemphill 1 0 Defense Linemen UTATTT 6 7 13 Goeas 1 2 3 Afalava 2 1 3 Tuinel 6 4 10 Sims 0 1 1 Kahoano 6 3 9 Linebackers Lehor 4 4 8 Fletcher 7 2 9 Woodson 3 2 5 Kenneybrew 3 5 8 Alexander 3 4 7 Taylor 5 1 6 Satele 1 0 1 Backs Gearring 2 2 4 Ke. Kofentzis 5 0 5 Williams 6 3 9 Hemphill 4 0 4 Miano 3 3 6 Santiago 1 0 1 Nebraska Offense Rushing No. Yds. Ave.

Craig 18 127 8.1 Rozier 14 111 7.9 Fryar 6 69 11.5 Smith 4 66 16.5 Gill 6 56 9.3 Wilkening 9 39 4.3 Mason 2 11 5.5 1 6 6.0 Mathison 6 -6 Passing No. Co. Yds PI 7 4 49 1 Mason 3 1 11 0 Gill 5 1 36 0 Pass receiving No. Yds. Brown 3 54 Wiltiams 2 23 1 19 Punting No.

Yds. Ave. Cdrripbell 3 70 23.3 Team 1 0 0 Punt returns No. Yds. Frvar 1 70 Smith 1 0 Interception returns No.

Yds. Clark 1 19 Defense Linemen UTATTT Gdowskl 1 0 1 Strasburger 3 1 4 Scoring Story How scored NU-HU Time left Star photos by Randy Hampton II JIMLWIIHI1I .11 FIRST QUARTER 0-7 Quarles 4 run 7:05 Drive: 71 yards in eight plays. Highlighted by four Quarles pass completions to four different receivers for gains of 13, 18, 13 and 19 yards. Conversion: Larsen kick. SECOND QUARTER 0-10 Larsen 40 field goal 11:07 Drive: 43 yards in 10 plavs.

Set up by Woodson recovery of Mathison fumble. Highlighted by two Quarles passes of 19 and 13 yards. THIRDQUARTER 0-13 Larsen 27 field goal 9:12 Drive: Zero yards on three plavs following recovery of blocked punt at the Nebraska 10-yard line. 7-13 Frvar 31 run 6:06 Drive: 80 yards In eight plavs. Highlighted by scoring run, five runs by Roger Craig for total of 35 yards and Gill run for 12 yards.

Conversion: Seibel kick. 7-16 Larsen 42 field goal 1:58 Drive: 35 yards in 10 plays. Highlighted by Quarles posses for 16 and 21 yards. Tomey displeased despite fight game HONOLULU You might expect the coach of a 28-potnt underdog to be pleased after a game In which his ball club led the No. 3 team in the nation going into the fourth quarter.

But not Hawaii's Dick Tomey. "We take no consolation in the way we played," Tomey said after his Rainbows lost to Nebraska, 37-16, at Aloha Stadium here Saturday night, "because we expected to win and we didn't. "We thought we could win," Tomey added. "I'm really proud of these guys. But that doesn't mean we feel good about the game," Center Jess Sapolu Insisted that the Rainbows "didn't come into this game to play close.

We came to win, but we weren't quite good enough. But if Nebraska wants to play us again next week, we'll play them." Hawaii linebacker Steve Lehor said that "all of us knew deep down that we had a chance to beat them. We came into the game thinking we were just as good as Nebraska." Hawaii led 167 going into the fourth quarter and trailed by just eight points with less than five minutes left in the game and had the ball at the Nebraska 15-yard line, "I certainly think the final score Is deceiving," Tomey said. "The game was still in doubt with about four minutes left. But I think their strength their physical strength Just wore us out." Although Tomey continued to Insist he wasn't satisfied with the outcome, he said he was satisfied With the play of his team.

"Those kids of ours played their guts out," he said. "They are winners in their own right. I wouldn't trade them for all the tea in China." Sapolu, one of 20 seniors to play his final game in a Rainbow uniform, added "We have a great team and it was an honor to play a team like Nebraska. We had them where we wanted them for a while, But they showed their superiority, But we showed that our program is good enough to play the powerhouses anytime." I 11:51 11:27 FOURTH QUARTER 10-11 Seibel 23 field goal Drive: 74 yards In 12 plays. Highlighted by Gill runs for 1 1 and 20 yards.

17-H Gill 18 run Drive: 18 yards In one play. Set up by Lvday recovery of a fumble at Hawaii 18-yard line. Conversion: Seibel kick. 24-16 Craig 6 run Drive: 50 yards In 3 ploys following Clark pass Interception. Highlighted by Craig run for 34 yards.

Conversion: Seibel kick. 31-16 Wilkening 10 run Drive: 80 vords In five plavs. Hlahllohted 10:14 3:06 1:33 by two Smith runs for 28 yards each. Conversion: Seibel kick. 37-U Fryar 70 punt return Punt return for touchdown Is third of Fryar's career.

Conversion: kick failed. Nebraska 0 0 7 30 Hawaii 7 3 6 0 Attendance 46,876. 37 16 Grant Campbell (24) has his punt blocked by Hawaii's Kent Kafentzis (9)..