The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 29

fg)(0)nInJMoney, 12 Sunday Journal-filar NOVEMBER 13, 1988 imiiisjfcers By Ken Hambleton A funny thing happened to Colorado's J. Flannigan on the way to the end zone Saturday in Memorial Stadium. And it allowed No. 7 Nebraska to post a 7-0 victory before 76,359 fans in the Corn- fumble. Nebraska couldn't gain a first down and punted.

The Buffaloes then drove to the NU 30 but on the last play of the first half, CU kicker Ken Culbertson missed a 47-yard field goal attempt that would have broken a scoreless tie. After that, the Nebraska defense kept x-xz- -r LO otl hx This second quarter play epitomizes Saturday's bruising defensive (47) swarm under Colorado fullback Erich Klsslck (33). battle, as NU's Kent Wells (91), randy hamptonsunday journal-star Lawrence Pete and LeRoy Etlehne NU can finally turn attention to OU ff -V- the Cornhuskers in the game. And the of- touchdown run with 4:35 left in the third quarter. Only points scored Those were an the points in Nebraska's lowest-scoring game since a 6-0 victory over, Missouri in 1981.

It also was the lowest point total in Memorial Stadium since Colorado beat Nebraska 7-0 in 1961. "I think we played wen," Osborne said. "I'm hoping we've got a better game in us next week I don't think we played badly, but I don't think we were necessarily at the emotional pitch that 'Colorado may have been at" He said that will not be a problem this week. Nebraska wffl finish the regular season in a battle for the Big Eight cham pionship against Oklahoma at Norman on Saturday. The 10-1 Cornhuskers win advance to tne orange bowi a wey can oeai me Sooners.

If they lose, the Cornhuskers win probably meet Clemson in the Florida Citrus Bowl "We've been through 11 games and this is not the time to choke up," Clark said. "We didn't choke up today, and I "cant see it happening next week." Clark showed a calmness on the scoring drive despite the fact he didn't know where a key fourth-down play was going, he said. hesaid. The Cornhuskers faced fourth-and-2 at the Colorado 17 with 5:58 left in the third quarter. "We had the audible pitch called, where Steve (Taylor) calls which side SeeHUSKERSonpage7D Quote of the game Colorado Coach Bill McCartney: "It was a case of us shooting ourselves in the foot.

We had our opportunities, but we fumbled the ball Jn the open field and fumbled a snap on fourth-and-one." Scoring, team stats Colorado 0 0 OO Nebraska 0 0 7 07 NU Clark 2 run (Barrios kick) A 76,359 CU NU 13 16 51-193 55-278 43 18 236 296 35 10 1-11-0 2-9-0 6-1 3-2 3-30 7-65 29:33 30:27, 4-15 2-12 1-1 First downs Rushes-yards Passing yards Total yards Return yards Punts Fumbles-lost Penalties-yards Time of possession Third-down conversions Fourth-down conversion On the inside NU outside linebacker Broderick Thomas keeps his promise. Page 7D. Elizabeth Boatman, Nlkkl Strieker i Mike Babcock Columnist evidence most recently in their last two victories over Nebraska. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better explanation for Oklahoma's 20-17 victory in Memorial Stadium in 1986. Ten points in the final 1 :22 of the game.

That defied reason. A lot of people began beUeving in the Sooners' magic then. And they're already trying to conjure some up again. After Oklahoma's dramatic 31-28 victory over Oklahoma State two weeks ago, "their (the Sooners') offensive line was making some comment about that But I don't think it's magic or whatever they caU it" Glaser said Jackson was more adamant "They talk about 'Sooner The magic comes from wins," he said. "You can give a lot of explanations for wins.

People use different labels, nusKers'iinai home game of the season. Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne called 4 it weird. Cornhusker safety Mark Blazek said it was freakish. I NU I-back Ken Clark said he was glad it didn't happen to him. Nebraska quarterback Steve Taylor said he knows the helpless feeling of losing control of the ball on the way to the end Midway through the second quarter, Flannigan took the ball from quarterback Sal Aunese and burst through the line.

As the speedy Colorado halfback streaked toward the Nebraska goal line, nobody was within 10 yards of him. ban slipped. Flannigan tried to shift the ban from his left hand to his -right Suddenly, it was rolling on the ground. He recovered. But 19th-ranked Colo-radoMn't A close game "That was a tight one," Osborne said.

"I'm glad it's over with. Our defense" played awfuUy well. At times, we gave them some yards and then we were able to stiffen. It seemed like every time they got inside our 30-or 35-yard line, "we were able to hold and not let them get in good scoring range." After forcing Colorado to punt when its drive was stymied by Flannigan's fumble, the Cornhuskers then fumbled the ball away at their 39-yard line. But Nebraska comerback Charles Fryar halted another Colorado scoring threat when he knocked the ball loose from running back Eric Bieniemy and NU safety Tim Jackson recovered at the Nebraska 12.

Bieniemy, who had suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the game, didn't return to action after the Gun 'em down plan backfires on Buffaloes By Ryly Jane Hambleton Colorado wanted to gun Nebraska down, but Coach Bill McCartney said the Buffaloes' aim wasn't good. "It was a case of us shooting ourselves in the foot," McCartney said after the 7-0 loss to the Cornhuskers. "We had our opportunities, but we fumbled the ban in the open field and fumbled a snap onfourth-and-1. 1 "I feel real proud of these kids. We had opportunities, but Nebraska is a heck of a team." The open-field fumble was perhaps the most costly.

Second-team halfback J. Flannigan, who was playing because starter Eric Bieniemy pulled a hamstring muscle, went off right tackle from the Nebraska 43-yard line midway through the second quarter. Flannigan broke into the and was at least five yards ahead of any Husker defender and headed for an apparent touchdown when the ball popped loose and he had to come back to cover the fumble at the 19. "He said he tried to switch the ball See MCCARTNEY on page 6D East's Kerri Thomsen (from left), Southeast's By Ryly Jane Hambleton The Lincoln Southeast passing attack isnt a change in philosophy. It's just a case of short memories.

lot of times, people look at us and say we dont pass," Southeast Coach Chuck Mizerski said. "But that's just because they don't choose to remember the years we have passed. When Craig Sundberg was our quarterback, we were second in the state in passing and we led the state in passing another year. chose to remember what they want" Mizerstd has chosen to use the Knights' passing game a bit more often this year. That trend will probably continue Mondawhen 9 Spujheast meets Ixjr Oklahoma? Tim Jackson didnt begin thinking seriously about the Sooners until late Saturday afternoon, after the seventh-ranked Nebraska football team's 7-0 victory over Colorado.

At least, Jackson says he didn't And Nebraska's senior safety has always been a man of his word. offensive tackle Doug Glaser, another Cornhusker who can be taken at his word, admitted Oklahoma was in the back of his mind during last week's preparations for Colorado. "But I pretty much blocked it out," Glaser said of this Saturday's Nebraska-Oklahoma game at Norman. Even though the Big Eight championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl wUl be on the line, even though fans of both teams expected this from the beginning of the season, none of the Cornhuskers have given the Oklahoma game much thought until now, said Glaser. And Jackson agreed.

This team doesn't look ahead," he said. "We take care of the present, then look toward the future." The past doesn't figure in the equation at all, according to Glaser. Each season about this time, Oklahoma players start talking about their "magic," which, they say, was in IAN DOflEMUS SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR and Tina Alpperspach celebrate. East's tradition continues with record volleyball win "But it's just a term. It's something that blows with the wind." This Nebraska team has something much more substantial than magic, according to Jackson.

"It's that old need factor, the offense and defense coming through at the right time," he said, explaining his recovery of a Colorado fumble at the Cornhusker 12-yard line late in the first half. In the official statistics, comerback Charles Fryar was credited with causing the fumble by Eric Bieniemy. But "I took the ball. I just reached in and took it" Jackson said. The need "When it's time to do something, someone comes through," he said.

A few minutes eariier, quarterback Steve Taylor expressed the same attitude in a different way. If the Nebraska Blackshirts hadn't shut out Colorado, "we probably could have scored some more points," said Taylor. "We knew we could do whatever we had to do to win the game." The Cornhuskers have known that in previous seasons, of course, untU it came time to play Oklahoma. Then they seemed to forget But this year could be different if Class A Wells said of the Spartans' tradition. "You never saw their heads hang.

The experience helps. They remind me of (Grand Island) Central Catholic. They're very calm and keep doing the job they have to do. "Our girls, if we keep corning down it's going to come." For now, the Islanders win have to settle for their runner-up status. East simply had too much going for it.

Lighting the fire under the Spartans' attack was junior Nikki Strieker, who entered the two-day tournament unsure how much her right shoulder slightly Wf: Jackson is representative of the team. If that's the case, his teammates havent spent the season looking ahead to the Oklahoma game. They haven't concerned themselves about beating the Sooners until it was time. AU of which means, as Broderick Thomas said, "there's no psychological problem" playing the Sooners. PhysicaUy, Nebraska may be a better team.

At work, the two are even. But ability hasnt always been the deterniining factor in the series. "No doubt I feel we can beat Oklahoma," Glaser said. "We just need to play a whole game. It seems we come out pumped up every year, and they take control as the game goes on.

"But this isn't a typical Nebraska team, always blowing people out Others always started real quick This one seems not to, offensively. We play good in the fourth quarter. Tlu i's what it's going to take to beat Oklahoma." That and the need factor, making plays at the right time. "Like no wine before its time," said Jackson. "That's the way with this game.

"I knew, in time, it would come up. This is the way it should be." separated in last week's district championship would limit her performance. By Saturdayevening, everyone knew the answer to that: She had 19 kills and four blocks. "The first game was hard to get up for because of what happened against Northeast" Strieker said, "but at the end of it I was starting to get my emotions in it And the second and third games everyone was just mentally there." Evidence of that is clear when one considers that East made nine unforced errors in the opening game and just seven the rest of the way. "They're a very tough team to play," East Coach Myron Oehlerking said of the Islanders.

"They're so big and strong at the net if you dont do something to stop their net game theyH kUl you. See EAST on page 80 Sooners hold off Missouri Page 2D a 1 rill By Curt McKeever Chalk another one up to Spartan tradition. Lincoln East looking more like a team of multi-year veterans than one that in reality had just one regular varsity player from a year ago, etched its name in state volleyball history Saturday by winning a sixth Class A state championship. After beating No. 3 Lincoln Northeast in a 15-13, 15-13 semifinal, the top-ranked Spartans defeated No.

5 Grand Island 11-. 15, 15-3, 154 for the title. The outcome gave East a 30-3 record making the Spartans the first team in state history to have a 30-win season and was its third title in the last four years. East has never lost in six championship appearances. "It helps," Grand Island Coach Cindy zone for the Knights' second touchdown.

"But Prep comes at you reany hard, so he may not be able to do that" Mizerski said. "Well probably have to throw quick stuff because we wont have time for longer plays to develop. Their defense isnt similar to anyone's. They use a four-man or five-man, or even six-, seven- or eighfeman fronts, and they blitz from everywhere. "When they do get through, we cant; panic." The Southeast defense remained calm all season and was the stingiest in Class A.

In 11 games, the Knights have allowed an average of 5.5 points a game See KNIGHTS on oaae 9D '0 offensive plan is no passing fancy three-time defending champion Creigh-ton Prep, also 9-2, in the Class A cham-' pionship game of the Nebraska High School Footban Playoffs. The game starts at 7 p.m. at Seacrest Field. last few years, we've had a lot of big, strong guys up front and so we've run the ban," MizersW said. "This year, we have agile people so we've tried to get them open.

If that's the way we can move the ban, then that's what well do." The Knights haven't exactly lit up the airways. Quarterbacks Brad McClatchey and Brad Blumenstock combined for 41 completions in 105 attempts during the regular season. LSE had 706 yards passing, a little less than half the yardage the Knjhts gained on the ground. But against Omaha Central in the semifinals of the playoffs, McClatchey and the Knights turned to the pass. McClatchey completed lO-of-19 passes for 126 yards and both LSE touchdowns.

"We work on both (run and pass) equally, and we block the same way because our passing is usually from a sprint-out or play-action or something like that" Mizerski said. "Brad does that well, and he's best when he has time to look over the field." He proved that against Central when he rolled to his left on a third-and-6 play, scanned the field and finally found Shawn Gfflispie, his secondary receiver, coming back across the back of the end 0 Houston defense sacks Vyomlng -l Page 3D Muddy roads hamper deer hunters Page 11 a 0.