The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 31

I INSIDE iLQRTSJCCLlU SUNDAY PORTS Scoreboard TV Sports MissouUan September 15, 1991 mi OS By KIM BRIGGEMAN of the Missoulian NFL stars help guide Tech DATELINES Tech grinds out 21-11 win Receiver Billy Cockhill dropped quarterback Brad Lebo's fourth-down bomb in the end zone late in the second quarter. And Lebo threw a third-and-goal interception in the end zone early in the third quarter. After the latter play, made by linebacker Lorenza Baker, Louisiana Tech marched 80 yards in eight plays to score its final touchdown and go up 21-3. "Those things will all come back to haunt us (all year)," com- mcnted UM coach Don Read, who said it was a game the Grizzlies could have "Credit Louisiana They're a talented bunch and they played hard," 1 he said. "But, yeah, I'd say we had a chance and we didn't do it." Safety Sean Dorris, who had 12 tackles, said it was a moral victory "in a way." "We played our hearts out," he said.

"We did everything we could in giving purselves. But we didn't execute out, there. We had plenty of chanew'to capitalize on their Ajfi I 'TIVt son spent an hour at a downtown pep rally signing their names. Both are revered figures in the area from long and stellar careers in the NFL. Tilley, the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator and receivers coach, is in his fourth year at his alma mater after an 1 1-year career as a receiver for the St.

Louis Cardinals. He finished his tenure at St. Louis as the club's No. 2 (See NFL STARS, Page D-2) RUSTON, La. Parts of Louisiana will come back to haunt the Montana Grizzlies.

But not in the way most people thought. The Grizzlies gave Division I-A Louisiana Tech a fright Saturday night, falling 21-11 to the Bulldogs in front of a docile crowd of 17,800 in Joe Aillct Stadium. "I tell you what," and admiring Bulldog coach Joe Raymond Peace said, "those guys played their hearts out." But for two plays, the Grizzlies of I-AA might have won. Bozeman blisters Big Sky By RIAL CUMMINGS of the Missoulian Question: how do you defend the post, the 3-pointer, the quick cut, the breakaway steal, the penetrating dribble and the offensive rebound all at the same time? Simple you don't. And if you run into a basketball team that can do all those things, you're looking at the kind of night the Big Sky Eagles endured Saturday against visiting Bozeman.

The young Hawks, who took third at the state Class AA tournament last season with four sophomore starters, clobbered the young Eagles 59-43 in a non-conference girls' clash that showed just how far Big Sky (1-2) has to develop if it hopes to compete with the state's elite. With interchangeable juniors Bridget White and Ashley Ogle hammering away inside, and junior guard Misty Fillbach filling it up from the perimeter, Bozeman (3-1) showed why it is favored to repeat its Eastern AA conference championship. The 5-foot-9 White and 5-11 Ogle, easily the strongest players on the floor, bulled past Western AA Big Sky for 22 points and 14 rebounds, eight off the offensive glass. White finished with 15 points, including 7 of 11 foul shots. Fillbach scored all 16 of her points in the first half, stretching Big Sky's defense with four 3-pointers.

"Those inside girls are so strong," Big Sky coach Ben DeMers said. "When they get the ball down low, it's all over. They just overpowered our kids. That guard (Fillbach) got away from us a couple of times, and she hurt us too." Big Sky hung in for one quarter, using a high-post offense and some nicely timed backdoor cuts to burn Boze-man's man-to-man defense. Big Sky took its only lead, 12-11, on sophomore Holly McMaster's 3-pointer, but Bozeman responded with six quick points, then gradually pulled away.

Bozeman shook off Big Sky for good in the last 1 :45 of the first half, splicing together a 9-0 run that made it 43-24. The Eagles had four turnovers and a missed shot on their final five possessions. '-I vra vf Canada whips U.S. In opener ONTREAL Canada shook off an injury to Wayne Gret- zky and defeated the United States 4-1 Saturday night in the opening game of the Canada Cup. Eric Desjardins, Steve Larmer, Mark Messier and Brent Sutter each scored for Canada.

Gretzky, hockey's best player, was hurt midway through the second period while chasing a loose puck in the U.S. zone. He outmaneu-vered defenseman Chris Chelios for the puck, but Gary Suter followed up on the play and checked Gretzky hard into the boards in the right corner. Gretzky, stunned momentarily after sprawling face-first into the boards, retreated to the locker room with back spasms. Gretzky, the tournament's leading scorer with four goals and 8 assists, never returned, but it didn't matter.

He departed after having set up Larmer's eventual winning goal at 5:20 of the second period. U.S. goalie Mike Rich-ter stopped defenseman Al Maclnnis's hard drive from the blue line, but Gretzky slid the rebound past Richter to Larmer at the side of the net and he redirected it in for a 2-0 Canada lead. TRIVIA Thirty years ago this week the University of Montana Grizzlies began their football season with a 35-0 loss to Wyoming. The Cowboys were coached by Bob Devaney, who left after the season to take over a downtrodden Nebraska program.

One of Wyoming's student managers was Dick Chaney, who left Laramie and sorting sweatsocks and is now Secretary of Defense under President Bush. Tha Loyola Rams got off to a rousing start in the Western as they pounded the Stevensville Yellowjackets 40-0. The Rams' Jerry Baucas scored three touchdowns, Russ Pilcher scored two and Steve Williams had one. All of them came on the ground. Montana State athletic director Gene Burdette came to Missoula to meet with Montana officials about the possibility for a new athletic conference tenatively called the Western Empire League.

The new league potentially included both Montana schools, Idaho and Idaho State, Seattle University, Portland University and Gon-zaga. Seattle and Gonzaga later dropped out of the process because of travel expenses. On tha national scene, major league baseball commissioner Ford Fricke reaffirmed that Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle would have to hit their 61st home run by the 154th game to get recognized as the single-season homer champion, since Babe Ruth's 1927 total came in a 154-game schedule. On Sept. 13 Maris had 56 dingers and Mantle 53 through 144 games.

Maris' 61 homers were finally recognized as the official single-season standard this Chris Walterskirchen TOP 25football I.Flo. St. 58, West. Mich. 0 3.

Michigan 24, Notre Dame 17 4. So. Cal. 21, 5. Penn State 10 6.

Florida 35, Alabama 0 9. Oklahoma 40, No. Texas 2 Baylor 23, 12. Colorado 14 13. Nebraska 71, Colo.

St. 14 14. Iowa 29, Iowa St. 10 15. Auburn 23, Mississippi 13 17.

Geo. Tech 30, Boston 14 Central Mich. 20, 18. Mich. St 3 19.

Ohio St 23, Louisville 15 20. Texas 45, LSU 7 Tennessee 30, 21. UCLA 16 22. Syracuse 31, Maryland 17 24. Pittsburgh 26, Temple 7 25.

Miss. St 48, Tulane 0 Baseball By KIM BRIGGEMAN ol the Missoulian RUSTON, La. Not many football teams include in the buildup for their home opener an autograph session with two assistant coaches. Louisiana Tech did Saturday. While Ruston, a town of about 20,000, painted itself red for the evening's match with Montana, A.D.

Pat Tilley and quarterback coach Joe Fergu TOM BAUERMlwoullan Ashley Ogle. Bozeman 20 23 8 859 Big Sky 14 .10 10 9-43 BOZEMAN 100, 31) Ashley Ogle 311 13 7, Bridget White 47 7 11 15, Misty Fillbach 6 2 2 16, Denis Brokke 47 0-1 8, Katie Hubley 1-5 5 6, Katie Dahl 2 2 0-0 4, Sunny McGee 1-5 0-0 2. Brandy Burgess 0-0 1-2 I. Totals 20-45 15-24 59. BIG SKY (0-0, 12) Kim Petrlt: 1-1 2 2 4, Heidi Torgerson 2-3 1-1 5, Alex Hall 1-1 0-0 2, Jenny Cook 5-8 04 10, Rene Neilson 2-5 1-2 Megan McGee 0-2 3 4 3, Holly McMaster 3 5 04 7, Becky Loran 2 5 3-4 7, Tracy Staves HM.

Totals 16-31 10-13 43. Three point goals Bozeman 4 7 (Fillbach 4-61, Big Sky 1-2 (McMaster 12). Total touls-Boieman 16, Big Sky 24. Fouled out Torgerson. Rebounds Bozeman 29 (Dahl 8, Ogle 7, White 7), Big Sky 19 (McMaster 61.

Turnovers Bozeman 16, Big Sky 20. 1 iy A I ml i Braves slip by Dodgers ATLANTA (AP) Ron Gant knows there's still a lot of baseball to be played, but he thought the Atlanta Braves needed to send a message, anyway. They did, with a 3-2 comeback victory over Los Angeles in the 11th inning Saturday, moving the Braves back into first place in the NL West, one-half game ahead of the Dodgers. "A lot of people say we're gonna fold under pressure," Gant said after delivering the game-winning hit, a bases-loaded single off the left-field fence. "Today showed we can play under pressure and won't give up," Gant said.

"1 think I thrive on pressure situations," Gant said. "That really does wonders for my confidence." After failing to advance runners in the fifth and ninth innings when he hit into force outs, Los Angeles manager Tom Lasorda wasn't ready to see Gant again. "I'd rather somebody else would be up in that situation than Gant," Lasorda said. The Braves lost a national tele-' vision audience because of a 1-hour, 19-minute rain delay in the first inning, and were in danger of losing for the second straight day when the Dodgers scored two early runs. But the Braves rallied and beat Roger McDowell (8-9), the seventh Dodgers pitcher.

Pinch-hitter Jerry Willard drew a leadoff walk in the 11th and was replaced by pinch-runner Keith Mitchell. Terry Pendleton dumped a bloop double to left, and David Justice was walked intentionally, loading the bases before Gant's hit scored Mitchell with the winner. It was Atlanta's eighth victory in nine games, and was only its fifth win in 14 meetings with the Dodgers this season. Los Angeles had won four straight against the Braves and still holds a 6-2 edge in Atlanta. The Dodgers had their three-game winning streak stopped.

The teams wrap up the series Sunday, and then play three times next weekend at Dodger Stadium. Jim Clancy (2-4) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory. A crowd of 44,773 saw the 4-hour, 10-minute game. "Our bullpen did a good job, as theirs did," Lasorda said. "Unfortunately, we just couldn't generate any offense." The Braves got five innings of scoreless relief.

iii mt ail launches a shot over Bozeman 's Big Sky shot well from the field 51 percent but attempted 14 fewer.shots than Bozeman. The Hawks swarmed over the Eagles for a 21-9 rebound advantage in the first half. DeMers said he's satisfied with his team's progress. "Hey, you don't want to peak in the third game," DeMers said. JENNY COOK of Big Sky, left, "I thought we played very well that first quarter," DeMers said.

"But we had a stretch in the second quarter where we lost our composure. We handed them about eight points, and you just can't to do that against a team that Junior forward Jenny Cook led Big Sky with 10 points, and McMaster added seven points and a team-high six rebounds. rosin) Boatm -vp---: After Notre Dame cut Michigan's lead to 17-14 in the third quarter on a 35-yard TD pass from Rick Mirer to Tony Smith, it appeared the Irish (1-1) would pull off another comeback victory over the Wolverines (2-0). But on a crucial fourth-and-one midway through the fourth quarter, Elvis Grbac pump-faked and threw a lob pass to a tightly covered Howard, who dove and caught it with both hands in the right corner of the end zone. "I pulled it in and tucked it away," said Howard, who caught six passes for 74 yards.

"The crowd roared and it was music to my ears. I knew it was fourth down and there was no doubt in my mind that I would get to the ball." Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said the Irish were expecting a pass, but still couldn't stop the play "that broke our back." "We were in perfect coverage for it, but it was a perfect throw and a great catch," Holtz said. "It was a gutsy call." The victory ended four years of frustration against Notre Dame, which won its three previous games against Michigan by a total of 11 points. ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) Once again, a triple-threat star stole the show in the Notre Dame-Michigan game.

Only this time it wasn't Rocket Ismail and this time Notre Dame lost. Desmond Howard scored on a 29-yard reverse and a spectacular 25-yard diving catch as third-ranked Michigan beat No. 7 Notre Dame 24-14 Saturday to snap a four-game losing streak against the Irish. "It's an amazing feeling to finally beat Notre Dame," said Howard, a speedy junior who catches passes, returns kicks and occasionally runs the ball. "Last year, we were ahead by the same score in the fourth quarter and let it get away.

This year, we controlled the ball in the fourth quarter like we should have last year." Ismail, now playing pro ball in Canada, helped the Irish hand the Wolverines heartbreaking defeats the past two years. This time, the main offensive rocket was on Michigan's side. Howard, who caught three TD passes and scored on a 93-yard kickoff return in Michigan's opening win over Boston College, was just as sensational Saturday as the Wolverines won their eighth straight game. Yankees 3 Padres 3 Red Sox 1 Giants 1 Blue Jays i Astros 7 Athletics 0 Reds 3 Angels 3 Pirates 5 White Sox (10) 1 Phillies 2 Rangers 3 Cardinals 2 Twins 0 Met 1 Indians Cubs 7 Orioles (11) 5 Expos (10) 5 Tigers Atlanta 3 Brewers 4 Dodgers (11) 2 Mariners Royals (n) DESMOND HOWARD of Michigan flashes the No. 1 sign as he streaks past a yotre Dame defender on a 29-yard scoring run..