The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 26

SPORTS San Diego County Monday, September 22, 1980 Eos Angeles Slimes CCtPart III Chargers Break the Broncos and Also the Jinx, 30-13 would lead to Edwards' 68-yard interception return for a touchdown. Johnson sacked Robinson for a loss of six yards. Two plays later, he sacked him again for a loss of nine. Robinson's next pass was hurried, and Johnson almost intercepted it "The quarterback is the quarterback," Johnson said, "and I'm supposed to get to 'em no matter who's back there. I don't compare 'em, I just sack 'em." A $100 Reward By now, Robinson wanted little to do with either Gary Johnson or his philosophy.

He lofted a rather ill-advised pass toward Rick Upchurch that Edwards picked off and returned for the 68-yard touchdown, making the score 24-6. "Just before the game," Edwards said, "Fouts and (James) Harris told me they'd give me $100 if I intercepted a pass or picked up a fumble and ran it for a touchdown. The only thing I could think of on the way to the end zone was the $100." Please Turn to Page 10, Col. 1 And a fumble recovery by Fred Dean positioned the Chargers for the second-period touchdown that broke a 3-3 tie and led to an avalanche of 24 second-period points. "San Diego is good," Denver Coach Red Miller said, "but you can't give up six interceptions.

We need good play from everybody, including the quarterback." In all fairness to Denver's quarterbacks, they were harassed constantly by the Charger defensive line, which had six sacks for 49 yards in losses. Four of the sacks were by Gary Johnson. We Go Hand in Hand' "We're only as good as our defensive line," said Edwards, who had two of the interceptions. "We give them time to rush the passer, and the pressure they put on the passer makes it easier for us to get interceptions. We go hand-in-hand." The game belonged to the defense and the second period was the game.

In fact, the first play of that second period set a trend the Broncos were never to reverse. Robinson fumbled By DAVE DISTEL Tlnwt Staff Wrttor DENVER The football game played at Mile High Stadium Sunday was, as usual, decided by the defense that made the big plays. What was unusual, however, was that it was not Denver's defense that made them. It was the San Diego Chargers who made them instead, coasting to a surprisingly easy 30-13 win. That also was unusual, because the Chargers had not won in Denver in their last 11 games dating back to 1968.

In 1970, they tied, 17-17. Thus, the Chargers improved their National Football League record this season to 3-0 and maintained their one-game lead over Oakland in the AFC West "The defense," Charger quarterback Dan Fouts said, "made a lot of big plays for us today." Indeed, Denver quarterbacks first Matt Robinson and later Craig Morton were intercepted six times, with Glen Edwards returning one of the interceptions 68 yards to a touchdown. Four of the interceptions came against Robinson. the snap from center and Dean, playing his first game after a lengthy holdout, picked up the ball and ran 10 yards to the Bronco 41-yard line. "That's what it's all about," Dean said later.

"Making something happen." Fouts moved the Chargers those 41 yards in seven plays, the big ones being passes of 11 yards to John Cap-pelletti and 19 yards to Charlie Joiner. A seven-yard pass to John Jefferson placed the ball on the one and Cappelletti punched it over from there. That broke a 3-3 tie produced by an exchange of first-period field goals, a 53-yarder by the Chargers' Rolf Be-nirschke and a 51-yarder by Denver's Fred Steinfort For the second straight week, Benirschke broke the Charger record for longest field goal After a Steinfort field goal made the score 10-6, it was Woodrow Lowe's turn to make the big play for the Charger defense. He intercepted a Robinson pass and returned it 28 yards to the Denver 22. On the first play, Fouts found Joiner alone over the middle for a 22-yard scoring play.

That made it 17-6. And now it was Gary Johnson's turn, and what he did IP h'HP From hff Edwards (foreground) and Jerome (Vy if lf upend Broncos' Mike Harden on kickoff return, CvJl Charlie Joiner catches a 22-yard scoring pass from Dan i n) JM Fouts and Edwards heads 68 yards to end zone after Jjgfl 2 JL js making interception in Chargers' 30-13 victory Sunday. itefrmFl Associated Prtss photos CHARGER STAR RAMS TROUNCE GREEN BAY, 51-21 99 and 83 -Yard Interceptions Put Packers and Starr in Hole Reds, Not Dead After All, Sweep L.A. Out of First 2 Interceptions Leave Edwards a Mile High By MIKE LITTWIN Tlmos Staff Wrftar It was the kind of performance to get a struggling team untracked, and the kind to get the coach of another struggling team fired. Green Bay Coach Bart Starr was under scrutiny by the committee which runs the publicly owned Packers before they arrived in Anaheim.

So it stands to reason there The Cincinnati Reds, all but counted out a week ago, got up off the mat Sunday. But they didn't just get up. They cleaned the blood-splattered canvas, the one on which the race for the West is being painted, with the Dodgers in the process. In 11 innings of hold-your-breath baseball Sunday before 43,716 at Joe Nolan led off the 11th with a single. Ron Oester, bunting, popped up to the diving figure of Steve Howe, who twice had the ball but, finally, dropped it Two were on.

Reliever Tom Hume, who pitched out of trouble, tried to sacrifice, but the lead runner was cut down. When Frias, covering third, threw to first for a possible double play, second baseman Davey Lopes, who was covering first, dropped the ball. Pinch -hitter Johnny Bench was hit Please Turn to Page 9, Col. 2 By MIKE GRANBERRY Ttfiws Staff Wrtttr DENVER By the time the game ended, his eyes had a tired look, almost a sad look. Tape was stuck to his arms, and perspiration creased his forehead.

But his sharply chiseled face was held chin-up, and Glen Edwards was making the most of a somewhat strange situation. About a half-dozen men had him trapped in a room not much bigger than a broom closet Microphones were aimed strategically at Ed- may be a closed-door meeting or two this morning in Green Bay if the Pack is allowed back, that is. Even though the NFL insists that none of its 28 teams are bad, the Packers' performance in the first half was so embarrassing that Starr sprinted to the dressing room, passing all but two of his players along the way. The two got there first and probably hid the poison. If Starr had watched "Shogun" last week, he'd have known the only honorable thing to do.

Troup Hospitalized "A game like this is not going to change my mind about not leaving," he told reporters. "Naturally, it creates more pressure but I have to keep my chin up." Nonetheless, if the Packer dressing room had been a movie set, the movie might have been entitled "A Starr Is Forlorn." There was very nearly a disaster of the real kind when Bill Troup, Green Bay's backup quarterback, was racked up trying to get to Perry Please Turn to Page 11, Col. 1 By TED GREEN Tlmos Staff Writer The Rams finally got into the win column Sunday with a 51-21 victory over a Green Bay club that must make the ghost of the Packers' past glory teams turn even whiter. The game at Anaheim Stadium was so onesided that the Rams intercepted five passes and returned two with long touchdown runs, one a club-record 99 yards by rookie Johnnie Johnson, the other 83 yards by Rod Perry. The Rams also had a 37-point quarter (the second), second biggest in club history to the 41 scored against Detroit 30 years ago.

And, they sacked Packer quarterbacks seven times, amassed 381 yards in offense and gained more yards returning interceptions (225) than the Green Bay offense did moving the ball 192). Or trying to. It was 44-7 at halftime and 51-7 before the Packers scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The last one must have broken the hearts of everyone who bet the Rams and gave 30 points. PRO FOOTBALL San Diego 30, Denver 13 Los Angeles 51, Green Bay 21 San Francisco 37, NY Jets 27 Detroit 20, St.

Louis 7 Cincinnati 30, Pittsburgh 28 Minnesota 34, Chicago 14 Miami 20, Atlanta 17 Cleveland 20, Kansas City 13 Houston 21, Baltimore 16 Buffalo 35, New Orleans 26 New England 37, Seattle 31 Dallas 28, Tampa Bay 17 Oakland 24, Washington 21 Tellman and Bass Lead Padre Win Muncey Takes First in Hydroplane Event Storjr Page Bengals Get Kick Out of Rookie and Hand Steelers a 30-28 Loss Dodger Stadium, the Reds, who exploded early in winning the two previous games, exploded late scoring five times in the 11th to beat the Dodgers, 7-2, and sweep the three-game series. That's Houston, all alone in first place, a game ahead of the Dodgers and 3V ahead of the Reds, you hear laughing in the background. Frias Takes the Rap The Dodgers, who left the bases loaded in the ninth, when they tied -the game, and the 10th when they might have won it lost it in the 11th when Ken Griffey's bases-loaded single skipped off the mound and off the glove of shortstop Pepe Frias. Frias, you might have heard, was acquired as a late-season defensive replacement when Bill Russell went down. In the 11th, the case for the defense seemed to collapse.

Some Dodgers, losing pitcher Steve Howe included, thought Frias should have caught the ball. Thought that it was a probable double play ball. Howe threw up his hands when the ball went through. He might as well have been signaling surrender. "It was in his glove," Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said.

"It was in his glove," he said again. "Right in his glove." And out of it Howe: 'A Double Play Ball' It was an afternoon of lost opportunity, a game that offered more chances than a lottery. Both teams had ample opportunity to win. It took some unusual play for the Dodgers first to tie the game and then for the Reds to ultimately win it From Tlmos Wlro Sorvtcos SAN DIEGO (Pt Randy Bass hit a home run and Tom Tellman helped himself to his first major league victory with a run-scoring single as the San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, Sunday. Tellman, recently recalled from the minors and making his first start, limited the Braves to seven hits while walking four and striking out two.

Phil Niekro (15-15) seeking his eighth consecutive win, gave up just one hit through the first four inningsBass' homer into the right-field seats in the second. San Diego, which swept the three-game series and won its 10th straight home game, added two runs off the 41 -year-old knuckleballer in the fifth on RBI singles by Tellman and Gene Richards. The Braves ended Tellman's bid for a shutout with an unearned run in the seventh. Dale Murphy reached second on an error by third baseman Luis Salazar and scored on Jeff Burroughs' pinch-hit double. The crowd of 2,846 was the smallest Sunday crowd in Padres history.

The Padres open a two-game series with Houston tonight wards' mouth. So he spoke softly and seemed to belong somewhere else. In a way, he looked unusually dignified, like a bearded monk or a poet on a San Francisco street corner. The incongruity passed, however, as Edwards made a move to make a stand. 'I Made Thing Happen' He let it be known, ever so subtly, that Sunday was his day.

And, indeed, a substantial part of the Chargers' 30-13 victory over arch-rival Denver a team San Diego hadn't beaten in Mile High Stadium since 1968 belonged solely to Edwards. He intercepted two passes, returning one 68 yards for a touchdown. His teammates intercepted four others, making Sunday the first time since Nov. 30, 1975 (when San Diego lost here in overtime) that the Chargers have had six interceptions in one game. "I feel great about the game," Edwards said.

"I made things happen, which is what I'm supposed to do. It Please Turn to Page 10, CoL 1 CHINAGLIA STAR IN SOCCER BOWL By GRAHAME L. JONES TMnot Staff Wrttar WASHINGTON Giorgio China-glia, the Cosmos' goal-scoring machine, shrugged off the heat and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers Sunday to lead his team to a fourth North American Soccer League championship. The Cosmos' 3-0 victory in Soccer Bowl 80 before a crowd of 50,768 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium came on three second-half goals, two by the irrepressible Chinaglia.

Those two goals brought China -glia's season total to 50, including an incredible 18 goals in seven NASL playoff games. For his efforts, Chinaglia was named the most valuable player in Soccer Bowl 80. "Unfortunately, I have to prove Please Tura to Page 14, CoL 3 The field goal climaxed a wild fourth quarter in which second-string quarterback Jack Thompson led the Bengals to two touchdowns and a field goal. "They made very few mistakes and we made a bundle of them," Pittsburgh Coach Chuck Noll said. "It's as simple as that you can't make the kind of mistakes we made and win." Cincinnati, which lost its first two games on last minute mistakes, watched Pittsburgh kicker Matt Bahr barely miss a 51-yard attempt as time ran out to pin the Steelers with their first loss in three games.

"We've played three tough games," Sunter said. "With a couple Please Turn to Paf 10, Col. 1 CINCINNATI-Placekicker Ian Sunter of the Cincinnati Bengals paced the sidelines Sunday and waited for what he knew would be the biggest kick of his career. So when the time came, the NFL rookie was ready to deliver a 21-yard field goal with 2:25 remaining which gave the previously winless Bengals a 30-28 upset of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. "As the game went on, it seemed like we were always one point behind.

I kind of had a feeling it would come down to me," said Sunter, the former Canadian Leaguer who beat out Chris Bahr this season for the Bengals' placekicking job. "It's not every day you get an opportunity to beat the best team in the world." I.