Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 31

ilnndau; Jonrnal-5far FKS APRIL 28, 1987 yJ Reds battle win in Spring Ganie; pm just joareiy if a )l; iattMilMBtgtSil' 7'" i' x. 'v. i wwiw mwmumtm M''WHiiifcaiiiiji! I TED KIRKSUNOAY JOURNAL-STAR White team running back Ken Clark (32) dodges away from Red defender Jeff Tomjack (11) with the Reds' Lee Jones (98) and Whites' uemcKureeni4) in not pursuit. Rodgers comes ae By Mike Babcock As far as Marvin Sanders was con- cerned, the Whites should have won. And the sophomore comerback on the Nebraska football team was telling that to anyone who'd listen after the Reds defeated the Whites 33-28 in the annual Spring Game before an audience estimated at more than 22,000 in Memorial Stadium Saturday afternooa "I hate to lose," Sanders yelled as he and his teammates headed for a post-scrimmage meeting with Coach Tom Osborne in the north field house.

Saturday's loss was particularly disappointing for the Whites, coming the way it did. I-back Tyreese Knox scored the second of his two touchdowns from 1 yard out with 44 seconds remaining to give the Reds, comprised primarily of first-and fourth-team players, the victory. The touchdown capped an eight-play, 86-yard drive directed by freshman quarterback Gerry Gdowski. The series included a 39-yard run by Knox. Exciting finish It made for an exciting finish.

Exciting? Well, it was as exciting as an intrasquad scrimmage could be. The Whites scored three consecutive touchdowns during an eight-minute stretch that began late in the third quarter. The last touchdown, with 7:37 remaining, came on an 80-yard pass play from quarterback Jerry Dunlap to wing-back Jamie Worden The pass was a Spring Game record, breaking the record set with 55 seconds remaining in the first half when Gdowski hooked up with freshman Terry Rodgers on a 76-yard scoring toss. A two-point conversion pass from Dunlap to reserve tight end Corey Grobe put the Whites ahead 28-27. The closeness of the scrimmage didnt really surprise Osborne because "you can manipulate it a little bit" by creating opportunities, he said "Still, the Whites had to take advantage of them," said Osborne.

"The one, thing that was a little disconcerting was, the long touchdown pass to Worden came against the first defense." Right comerback Charles Fryar and safety Mark Blazek, both of whom figure to be starters in the fall, missed the game because of injuries. And tackle Neil Smith, the team's best pass rusher, wasnt in at the time. By Mike Babcock Even though Keith Jones rushed for a record 207 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Nebraska foot-- ball team's annual Spring Game Saturday afternoon, i Terry Rodgers seemed td draw most of the attention, Rodgers, the son of former Nebraska Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers and a freshman from San Diego, was the last Comhusker into the locker room after working his way through the autograph seekers and well-wishers who lingered in Memorial Stadium. People have come to expect the kind of performance 'Jones turned in Saturday. After an, he was All-Big Eight, and be did lead the conference in rushing and touchdowns last season.

But Rodgers had never shown the game-breaking ability that earned him All-American recognition at Sweetwater High in National Qty, Calif. He hadn't until Saturday Rodgers was a "one-man offense" for the White 'team, according to freshman defensive end Jeff Mills. -Maybe not But Rodgers had a productive afternoon, beginning with a 17-yard, first-quarter punt return. He and freshman quarterback Gerry Gdowski teamed on a 76-yard touchdown pass play, the longest In Spring Game history. The previous record was 71 'i yards, set in 1968, on a pass from Frank Patrick to Tom "fe When Saturday's game was over, neither pass was in the record book, however, because quarterback Jerry Dunlap, a freshman walk-on from Ventura, Calif, had passed to wingback Jamie Worden for 80 yards and a touchdown, By then, Rodgers had scored two more touchdowns, on runs of 45 and 11 yards, to finish with a Spring Game record-tying 18 points.

"Terry ran well today," Coach Tom Osborne said. "You've got to remember there's a lot of difference between going against the first defense and the fourth defense. But Terry's got talent And I've been pleased with him (this spring)." So has Frank Solich, who coaches the Cornhusker offensive backs. Rodgers has been hampered throughout the spring with injuries, "and yet he was always out there, and he'd get through the practices," Solich said. "I'm pleased to see he's starting to make the kind of runs everyone expects.

His quickness was really apparent" Rodgers enjoyed the attention. But Jones is the key reason Nebraska fans should be optimistic about the running attack next season, he said. "Keith's going to nave a great year, no doubt about that He's running better than in the past I could see that He's just running, not even thinking." Solich agreed with Rodgers. "I dont think you saw him (Jones) questioning his reads. And when you have the speed he's got if you operate that way, you're going to have an opportunity to make big plays," said Solich, Jones scored the afternoon's first touchdown late in the second quarter on an 84-yard run from scrimmage, which broke the Spring Game record of 64 yards set by Dave Koile in 1954.

Jones gave the credit for that run, to his offensive line, which was playing without starting tackle Keven Lightner, who's been sidelined by a knee strain. "The offensive line did a great job. Things just opened up real well," Jones said. "This team is so well-balanced, offensively and defensively. "Next season is going to be phenomenal I'm definitely excited." The excitement produced by the record-setting running of Jones and Rodgers overshadowed the play of Tyreese Knox, another I-back who rushed for 100 yards and scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner.

The other top I-backs on the depth chart are Ken Clark, a redshirt sophomore, and Jon Kelley, who will be a senior in the fall Clark gained 18 yards on eight carries Saturday. "He was playing hurt," Osborne said. Kelley was injured earlier this spring and didnt play in the game. Vault spells doom for NUJ Given those limitations, though, "basically, that was the best secondary we could put on the field," Osborne said. Still, "overall, I thought it was a good Spring Game," said Osborne, who had plenty about which to be pleased.

Jones had 207 yards rushing Keith Jones, the No. 1 I-back, rushed for a Spring Game-record 207 yards on 13 carries and scored two the first on a record-breaking 84-yard run with 4:50 left in the first half. Rodgers tied a Spring Game record by scoring 18 points, on three touchdowns. In addition to turning a short swing pass into the 76-yard touchdown play, the son of former Nebraska Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers scored on runs of 45 and 11 yards. With Jones and Knox, who gained 103 yards, the Reds rushed for a Spring Game-record 407 yards.

Rodgers was the Whites' leading rusher, finishing with 80 yards on 11 "All of our I-backs looked good today," Osborne said. No serious injuries There were other good things Saturday, perhaps the best being that no one was seriously injured, Osborne said. The injury report was "excellent," ao cording to George Sullivan, Nebraska's head trainer and physical therapist Clete Blakeman, the No. 2 quarterback, left the game with a sore shoulder, which wasnt considered serious. With the exception of a knee injury that will sideline comerback John Custard next season, the Cornhuskers came through 20 days of spring drills "in pretty good shape," Osborne suid.

Linebacker Dante Wiley showed his skill as a punter Saturday, finishing with a 46.2-yard average on five punts. His longest kick was 60 yards. "Wiley punted well I was glad to see that" said Osborne. "I've seen him do it in practice, but I wanted to see it in a game. He could be exceptional." John Kroeker punted five times and averaged 44.6 yards per punt for the Reds.

His longest was 51 yards. The fourth-quarter excitement jeft the Neil Smith "a little shook up. "We never won when I was on jDie White team," he said with a smile. "They were scoring right and left, and before we knew it we were behind." See SPRING on page BD Huskers i drop two: to-OSU-l By Ken Hambleton STILLWATER, Okla. There are different degrees of discontent For the Nebraska baseball team, there was a little discontent after the Cornhuskers lost to Oklahoma State 8-3 and 13-7 Saturday at AUie Reynolds Field.

There was little else for Nebraska to accept after Oklahoma State counted on seven home runs to take the second and third games of a four-game series and dropped the Cornhuskers to 8-3 hi the conference. Oklahoma State, ranked No. 1 in the country, sewed the seeds of discontent in the opening game of the series with a 21-5 decision over Nebraska. In that game, NU pitchers, who had led the Big Eight in fewest walks and lowest earned run average, gave up 16 walks and hit. two batters.

"You can play poorly and win and play weU and lose. You can also play poorly and lose," Nebraska Coach John Sanders said. "Last night (Friday) we played poorly and got beat "Today we played much better, actually pretty well, and we lost" he said. "That's still not good, but it's a better feeling with a game left here," he said. The two teams win play in a single nine-inning game Sunday.

"We showed concentration and we were in the game," Sanders said' of Saturday's doubleheader. Nebraska up five runs in the first inning of the second game, including two-run home runs by Ray Ortiz and Jim If-land, but the Cornhuskers tallied five runs in the second inning with the help of a two-run home run by John Franklin! The Cornhuskers added a run with three singles and a groundout in the third to take a 7-6 leal Oklahoma State bounced back quickly with five runs on three hits, including a two-run home runs by Jimmy Barragan and Brad Beanblossom in the fourth inning to take an 11-7 lead and coast to the win. In the first game Saturday, the Cowboys, now 11-1 and in the lead in the Big Eight took a lead on Monty Fariss' three-run home run in the first inning. Nebraska battled back to tie the game. Mark Kister and Ron Crowe opened the NU second Inning with singles and Tim PettengQl walked to load the bases.

After OSU starter Steve Leinhard struck out the next batter, NU right fielder Ken Ramos smashed a triple off the center-field wan to tie the game. See BASEBALL on page 60 en's gym finals Schlesinger, Davis tie for title LOS ANGELES Nebraska's Tom Schlesinger and Kevin Davis tied for the parallel bars individual event championships Saturday night at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion before a crowd of nearly 4,000. The Huskers, both juniors, scored 9.75 in the event Schlesinger won the all-around title Friday with Davis finishing second in that competition. Davis also finished sixth in the pommel horse. Schlesinger also tied for second in the horizontal bar.

He scored a 9.9 but received a perfect 10 from one judge, as did Alfonso Rodriguez of Houston Baptist with whom he tied. David Moriel of UCLA won the title with a 9.95 after receiving two 10s for his routine. One-time world pommel horse champion Xiao Ping of Cal State-Fullerton won the NCAA title in that event Li, who was a member of China's 1984 silver-medal Olympic team, won his world title in 198L In the NCAA competition, he scored a 9.95, receiving perfect 10s from two of the four judges. Chad Fox of New Mexico won the floor exercise title with a 9.9 performance. Fox, who was the 1986 NCAA vault champion, also added that championship with a 9.7.

Paul O'Neill of Houston Baptist won the rings title with a 9.9 score. The parallel bars and horizontal bar competition were contested later in the evening. i wrts liiiiim By Ryly JaneHambleton LOS ANGELES The vault came back to haunt the University of Nebraska gymnastics team for the second time in three years. Cornhusker Coach Francis Allen 'said he knew the vault and floor exercise would be critical for Nebraska in the NCAA gymnastics team championships; the Huskers had just five gymnasts to compete instead of six, so all five scores counted. UCLA capitalized on that and the Bruins turned in a sterling performance on their last three events to earn the NCAA title with a 285.30 score Saturday at Pauley Pavfflion before a crowd 'of approximately 2,000.

Nebraska was second at 284.75, followed by Penn State at 28450. "We gave it away in vault and by that I mean that we knew we were vulnerable in floor exercise and vault," said Allen. "Those were very critical spots. Our guys did a good job on floor exercise, but in vault, we gave away the pressure we had. "We didnt do very well after that especially in an event that is good for us tiie parallel bars." The Huskers held a 142.40-141.90 lead over UCLA after the first three events floor exercise, pommel horse and rings.

But in vaulting, Nebraska scored 46.75 while UCLA took charge with a 47.70 on the parallel bars. Husker freshman Patrick Kirksey fell on his vault and received an 8.7. So Allen had Terry Gillispie attempt a vault his first competition in the NCAA meet The sophomore scored an 8.8. "Terry could hardly walk. But he gave it a try and you can't ask much more of a guy than that" Allen said.

"This is the second one (title) I've lost because I only had five guys in vaulting. "Two years ago, I lost because one of my top gymnasts sprained his ankle and couldn't vault" After winning five straight national titles from 1979 through 1983, the Huskers have finished second in the NCAA championships the past three years. Last year, Nebraska lost when three-tenths of a point was deducted from its score for lodging too many protests that werent upheld Arizona State won that title, 283.90-283.60. See GYM on page 6D APWIREPHOTO Nebraska's Tom Schlesinger works the high bar at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships Saturday afternoon at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion. mm Nebraska's Wilson sets table for King's record-setting run Rick Miller and Jennifer Wilson have been selected as Lincoln's top junior bowlers this season.

Page 5D. The 10th annual Lincoln Marathon promises to be bigger, different and better than ever, and it will follow a new route entirely within the City limits. Page 8D. City coed fields will be marked with a "coed arc" this year; giving women a chance for more hits in coed leagues. Page iid.

SL Louis Cardinals Manager Whltey Herzog gets his win courtesy of rookie Jbe Magrane's fine pitching. Page 2D. i a Nebraska nose tackle Danny Noonan won't be hanging around to see the NFL draft, telecast on Tuesday. Page 3D. Ak-Sar-Ben opens Its thoroughbred horse racing season Wednesday with a week-long series of promotions' and a cautiously optimistic outlook.

Page 4D. in ii 3 .1 set a year ago. Wilson finished fourth with a personal-best time of :51.97 and teammate Michelle Milling was fifth in a personal-best "It's tradition to come and do wen at the Drake Relays," Leatherwood-King said. "It feels great" Leatherwood-King came back later to anchor Alabama to a Relays-record 3:31.00 docking in the 1,600 relay. As in the 400, she had to overcome Wilson, who anchored the Cornhuskers to a second-place finish in a school-record time of 3:31.41.

Despite being beaten twice, "it felt good," Wilson said. "It feels good to know I can at least run with her. By Curt McKeever DES MOINES, Iowa Nebraska sophomore Linetta Wilson set the pace, and world indoor champion LfQie Leath-erwood-King found it to her liking. The Alabama star blazed past Wilson in the final 85 meters to win the women's invitational 400-meter dash in record time Saturday at the 78th Annual Drake Relays. Wilson, the NCAA indoor champion in the 500 meters, took the lead at the start and led until Leatberwood-King burst past her in the straightaway.

Leather-wood-King, who won the event for the third time in four years, was clocked in 50.64, breaking her own Relays record "(I took the open to her) too much. I think I shouldVe maintained like they did because I didnt have anything at the end. But I PR'ed (ran a personal record) and Fm happy with that These were my first two outdoor 400s another two or three more times and rn be OK." Four other Relays records were set Saturday, bringing the total number of records at this year's meet to nine. Texas sprinter Floyd Heard continued what Leatherwood-King began, establishing a Relays record of in the invitational 200. Heard, ranked No.

1 in the world by Track and Field News, kept Calvin Smith, No. in See RELAYS on page 9D E3.