The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 55

up In tlio oucr Golliam! it's tlto Falcons! vk Stung by the disappointing season of a year ago, the Atlanta Falcons make their opening flight against the New York Giants Falcons hope to get off to a flying start And what today at 1 p.m. And that's just one of a full better place than The Big Apple to spread your wings and tell schedule of NFL games being played today under the pro football world you're back in the playoff picture? The the cloud of a possible player strike in October. Vi7 'if. cuaric SECTION SijelanlaSournal the Atlanta constitution SEPTEMBER 12. 1982 Braves fall short against Rids; lead 16C 16C DODGERS GAIN IN HOUSTON CONCEPCION DECLARES A TRUCE By Tim Tucker Stafl Writer "I felt great got loose easy felt as good as; I've felt all year," he said.

4 The search explanation then, will look at the films try to' find something," Boggs "I must have been doing somethiig wrong mechanii; cally. Must haye been." -y. Walk got, out of the first inning, wfih farther dam; agei but hL throwing error, onan first base in the third led to an unearned run tha allowed Cincinnati to increase its lead to 4-8. The Braves, encourv aged by scoreless relief pitching jrpjn Jose Alvarez, TomjT hits in 12 innings since returning from the disabled list, hardly resembled the same efficient, methodical pitcher Saturday afternoon. Starting against the Cincinnati Reds before 20,966 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Boggs retired only one batter before leaving the mound with a 3-0 deficit, and he was the losing pitcher in an eventual 4-3 Atlanta loss.

The loss, coupled with Los Angeles' 5-3 win over Houston, pulled the second-place Dodgers within a half-game of the first-place Braves in the National League West. Boggs, the impeccable control of his previous two starts having deteriorated into first-degree wildness, faced six batters in the first inning. He walked two, hit two with pitches and gave up a three-run home run over the center-field fence to Dave Conception. With the Braves trailing 3-0, one out and two runners on base, Boggs yielded to Bob Walk, the first of four Atlanta relievers. i "I guess," Boggs "this is probably what people' expected me to do my first time out (after the injury).

don't understand it. I didn't have control problems when I was getting back in shape at Richmond or in my first two starts (since coming off the disabled list). I have no ex- cuses. I just messed up just went out there lost." However, while unable to explain the wildness, Boggs insisted hie felt fine physically. No problems with the shoulder, he insisted.

No problems getting loose on the cooL damp afternoon, he insisted. 1 yy y- There should be an explanation. Something sensible, something obvious, something tangible. Tommy Boggs and the Atlanta Braves would like to hear it. 'I just don't know," Boggs said, "how I can go out there and be so completely different from the last two times.

I just don't know But Boggs, who had allowed no runs and just three See BRAVES 6C Co1 iTDOnir Fil Mf't-P'U 7 Furman Bisher Journal Sports Editor jf- 1 tv i BYU 17-14 Georgia defense, Butler's kiclfstop 'YV I t' 9 "3 COMPLETE COVERAGE 13C 4 By David Davidson r- "The defense had to rise to the occasion again," said defensive end Freddie Gilbert, who sacked, 'Young twice for losses totaling 18 yi)rdsl Georgia's first touchdown a 12-yard run by fullback Barry Young, was set up when safety Jeff Sanchez ATHENS Stymied on offense throughout the game, Georgia's, Bulldogs relied on another superb intercepted a Young pass, the first of i a six stolen by the Bulldogs, tj-j defensive performance V-J Not until the fourth or -ter did and a 44-yara neia goat by Kevin Butler with ueorgiai onen.w siari -around, and even then It nine plays to grind but 36 yards for-the only 1:11 remaining to beat Brigham Young 17-14 Saturday afternoon, i tying. touchdown, te by i Walker ttfaptuaiiy'1'gQf an assist from ihat march when Cou-0 '-gar punter Mike Mees, kicking from near his own goal line, shanked the ball only 28 yards. Before Butler's field goal, BYU got. an assist when Georgia was assessed five yards for illegal use of the Cougars first and five at their own 25-yard line. However, Young was forced to: throw high under heavy pressure, Gilbert correctly diagnosed a draw on kick through, no one among the crowd of 80,207 at Sanford Stadium was sure of what the outcome would be until senior cornerback Ronnie Karris intercepted BYU quarterback Steve Young's final pass with only 43 seconds left On a day when Bulldog quarterback John Lastinger completed only four of 14 passes with one interception that was returned 63 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 7 in the first quarter, and Herschel Walker fumbled the ball away twice while gaining 124 yards on 31 carries, it was up to a mighty defense to maintain control.

14C See GEORGIA Bear tqlios; thosting out of Atlanta vioit Wearing his new face and a baggy rain suit, Paul Bryant celebrated his 69th birthday standing in a drizzle Saturday at Grant Field, a rather uncommon location for him. He almost never comes to-Atlanta to celebrate anything except revenge, and in this case it was sweet and everybody in red should have had a bellyful of the stuff. Some tattered old axioms were proven out in the course of events at Georgia Tech's opening game of the football season. Such as, "Lightning never strikes in the same place twice" and, "A man once stung is twice as wary." Georgia Tech, youll recall, introduced the 1981 season by astounding the universe. The Yellow Jackets beat Alabama 24-21 in Birmingham, an upset that became magnified to a new degree with each passing weekend on which Tech vainly sought victory again.

From this peak of ecstasy the Jackets slunk into a valley of morass, and on this gloomy afternoon of fog and defeat gave no signal of redemption. Bryant, it is said, had his face lifted awhile back, but on this occasion chose not to enhance his marvelous new countenance sartoriaUy. Missing was the houndstooth hat and well-tailored splendor and in its place the rain gear, gray shirt and baseball cap, as if deigning not to waste his best on Atlanta, his unfavorite' metropolis. His squad of athletes, howevercame stupendously prepared for mayhem, if only roitfinely garbed, and delivered swiftly and with deadly force. In five minutes the Crimson Tide was leadiflgflO-O.

It was as if they had pledged to present their coach a point for each of his years. They cut it off at 45, and after Tech's bleeding stopped, the home side delivered a token blot to Alabama's recorda touchdown in the gloaming. This was not enough to remove the pall of the worst defeat in Bill Curry's short coaching tenure. Only once in their 50-game relationship has Alabama scored more on a Georgia Tech team, that in 1950, when Alabama won 54-19 on the same location, but natural grass. The close and the: faithful of Georgia Tech had begun the day in festive humor, giving themselves an Edge, so to 'speak.

On the corner 6f Techwood and 3rd Street they dedicated the Arthur Edge Jr. Athletic Cenfer, of the sleek and smooth lines and the plush interior. "Skin" he was known as by those close enough and fortunate enough to be his friend, because of his exceedingly retarded hairline. He was president of Callaway Mills, and in this manner did the Callaway family choose to revere him after death. Beautiful as Edge Center is, one can hardly resist harking back to the lovely prosperity that came out of the little bandbox athletic department headquarters just up the hill.

The cross is not Curry's to carry alone, for in the last 25 years Georgia Tech has managed to win only twice from Alabama, and one of those was his. The suspense was of short duration. Alabama received a punt and scored in seven plays. Alabama received another punt and kicked a field goal. Jim Bob Taylor, the quarterback from Texas, threw two interceptions, and Alabama put 14 points on the new scoreboard, one that can write messages, tell time and count but otherwise is of no offensive or defensive advantage to the home team.

At the half the score was 31-0. Mainly responsible for this was Walter Lewis, a junior quarterback from leap's iruiniis -v it -Si, -rf I i -s: 7 7C7 COMPLETE COVERAGE 12C By Jesse Outtar Constitution Sports Editor i' Revenge-minded Alabama players scored the first five times they got the football and celebrated Bear Bryant's 69th birthday by bashing Georgia Tech 45-7 season as a head coach with victory No. 316 now two more than runner-up Amos Alonzo Stagg. Alabama thoroughly avenged Tech's stunning 24-21 upset last year' in Birmingham by taking a 31-0 halt-time lead over the bewildered Jackets while a partisan crowd of 57,126 scarcely believed what they were seeing. The Tide was a 20-point favorite, but at the outset it appeared that his players planned' to score at least a point for each of Bryant's years.

"It's an understatement to say I'm happy won today," Bryant said. "I'm proud of our players and assist- ant coaches, who have had to live with that thing for a year. We had art i excellent plan, but the only thing we didn't have a plan for was when we got a score that high because we had no idea it would get that way." The Bear added that his major con- Saturday afternoon at Grant Field while indicating they intend to present their famed coach an, unprecedented seventh national college football championship as a possible, going-away presentJ Thirteen backs arid seven receivers ran, passed and caught the football for a total of 490 yards, and only a late Tech touchdown averted the most lopsided defeat in 50 games, dating back to 1902. As it was, only Alabama's 40-0 triumph in 1934 exceeded the Saturday disaster that marked the start of Bryant's 38th BILLY DOVNSStaH 10C 14C See TECH See BISHER IT'S COCD: Georgia kicker Kevin Butler makes the correct call on winning field goal. Bock on to Soaring: --'Peace; Florida turn USC into victim Nq.2 17-9 7 7 SC Surprise: Ole Miss upsets state rival Southern Miss.

28-19 7C Siioekor: West Virginia puts Oklahoma to shame 41-27 1 SC Survival: No.7 Penn State survives against Maryland 39-31 il.SC A revitalized Chris bags another U.S. Evert Lloyd Open title 7- 3C.