The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 55

Army marches again The Black Knights have restored West Point pride CB quarterback Ray elite high school group no SECTION Sljc Atlanta 2.0untal the Atlanta constitution SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1985 i 'irciiBl! -files aioe go FiGainio 8 Irate By Chris Mortenten Staff Writer players, and that's where we are at this stage." "We've got to forget all that," said Falcons defensive tackle Mike Pitts of the coaching uncertainty. "As players, we have to go out, have fun and go home, for the winter feeling a little better about ourselves." The Falcons are 3-12 and attempting to avoid a team-record 13th loss, as they did when they beat the Minnesota Vikings 14-13 last Sunday. The Saints are 5-10. Kickoff is 1 p.m. EST with Channel 5 and WSB-AM750 doing the broadcasts.

Henning and the Falcons won here (36-28) to open the 1984 season. The team started that season with a 3-3 record but lost its next nine games before defeating Philadelphia. The Falcons have lost 21 of their search committee td find a pew man. The Falcons were back in their business-as-usual mode Saturday after Henning and Smith met Friday. They held a brief practice and then boarded their chartered jet to New Orleans.

On board with the team were Henning, his coaching staff and all front-office members, including executive vice president Eddie LeBaron, who reportedly will be fired. The senior Smith did not accompany the team but instead will his private jet to New Orleans this morning. Henning again did not wish to comment on his meeting with Smith or his future as coach, saying his mind was "on the game. That's what we asked of our last 25 games, and this season they have set a club record by allowing 442 points on defense. None of it bodes well for Henning, whose best year was his first in '83 when the team finished 7-9.

His three-year contract, which expires Jan. 31, is not expected to be extended. Sources say that the slim chance he has of retaining his job is convincing Smith Sr. why he hasn't made drastic changes on his coaching staff. Eight of his assistants had no prior NFL experience when they were hired by Henning.

The Falcons and the Saints might be playing Sunday in a place called the Superdome, but they'll be playing in a Supercloud. NEW ORLEANS The Dan Henning era could come to a conclusion Sunday when the Atlanta Falcons meet the Bum Phillips-less New Orleans Saints to close the 1985 regular season at the Superdome. Henning will hear from club owner Rankin Smith Sr. either late Sunday night or early Monday morning to learn of his fate as the Falcons' head coach. His three-year record with the team is 14-33 entering the, 1 p.m.

kickoff. 1 The Saints are without Phillips, the head coach who resigned Nov. 25. His son Wade Phillips is the interim coach, but the Saints already have formed a laid wllb i (5) --4SU''- A'- Georgia Southern defeats Furman in a 44-42 thriller jFurman I Bisher Journal Sport Editor 1 i JL Cm )l- V. mmmim mmmrrmmrti 3i By Ed Hinton Staff Writer TACOMA, Wash.

In the feast that was Saturday's NCAA Division I-AA national championship, the Lamb was excellent but the Ham was superb. And Georgia Southern coach Erk Russell dined on a national championship all his own. With two offenses running every bit as wild as expected, Georgia Southern quarterback Tracy Ham got in the last blow with 10 seconds left to play, a 13- yard touchdown pass to Frankie Johnson that gave the Eagles a 44-42 victory over Furman. Furman quarterback Bobby Lamb of Commerce, ran a clockwork offense up and down the field. But Ham threw for 419 yards and four touchdowns, ran for 90 more and wound up with 509 yards in total offense.

Even that total doesn't do justice to the spectacular poise and maneuvering shown by Ham, a 5-10, 185-pound junior from High Springs, Fla. The teams played before a crowd of 5,306 in the Tacoma Dome, and most of the fans were from the two little Southern schools who'd come so far, braving dense fog and flight cancellations in Seattle, for a battle that could have been fought within a two-hour drive for both sides. Russell was defensive coordinator under Vince Dooley when the University of Georgia won the major college Jjational championship in 1980. "The feeling is much the same," Russell said. "But this one is mine." Georgia Southern won the national championship in its fourth year of football competition.

"When I left Georgia I had no idea what I was going to do," Russell said. "I didn't know if I was going to play Division 11 or Division III. No one in his right mind v. 4 1 Almost indescribable TACOMA, Wash. There comes a time in every life when a person reaches a mountain he can hardly climb, a stream he can barely swim or faces up to a villain he dreads in combat.

It arrived for the resident of this journalistic bughouse Saturday afternoon in this improbable location, the city by the Sound, That Sound is Puget; another sound still rattling around among the wooden rafters authentic beams salvaged from the holocaust of Mount St. Helen's and converted into the ribs of the world's largest wood domed arena of the Tacoma Dome, resting picturesquely at the foot of Mount Rainier, it would seem, though the mountain is 4(1 miles away. Those are the sounds of the ecstatic shrieks of victory with a South Georgia accent. By order of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Georgia Southern and Fur-man University were dispatched to this address to inaugurate the Diamond Bowl, for which a group of corporate Tacomans calling themselves the Blue Diamond Club have great hopes. Modestly it played Its first date to a house of 5,306, most of whom had traveled 3,000 miles to see a show worth traveling 3,000 miles to see.

While Georgia Southern put the dagger through Furman's heart in a second half that almost defies a lucid accounting, the voices sounded three times 5,306. Tremors felt 3,000 miles away There was dancing on the carpet. There was dancing in the stands. There will be dancing all the way back to Statesboro, for upon the brow of the Eagles of Georgia Southern has come to rest the crown of the NCAA Division 1-AA championship. Incredible.

Improbable. Unlikely. It couldn't happen. There was no background' for it happening. Here were two schools diametrical opposites embattled in the War Between the States of Georgia and South Carolina over a matter of football.

Furman is a small Baptist institution of 2,400 students in Greenville, S.C., with a football history dating back to ancient times. Georgia Southern is a state school of 7,500 students with a modern football history dating all the way back to 1982. It began almost as a whim. It played it out this championship year with a wham. Coach Erskine Russell, of the glistening pate, developed the theme with self-deprecation.

"Nobody in his right mind would have thought this ever would have happened, and I haven't any idea how it did," he said. Sad end to glorious season Furman, the Purple Paladins, were grief-stricken. They had come into this game after a glorious season based on a controlled offense and a sound defense, averaging 36 points a game, allowing only 14. They finished the day breaking both averages. They scored 42 points.

Georgia Southern scored 44. ESPN, the cable network, never dispensed a better show. Furman. ran the first half with Iron-handedness. It was Purple all over.

Bobby Lamb, the quarterback from Commerce, took the Paladins to their locker room in a comfortable position of a 15-point lead, 20B joey ivANscostaff see SOUTHERN A DIAMOND'S AN EAGLE'S BEST FRIEND: Southern's Jeff Evans hugs Erk Russell after beating Furman. Wilkins scores 49 to lead Hawks Tech bolts Dolphins, takes Gator Classic with a 72-53 victory By Jeff Denberg Staff Writer By Thomas Stinson Staff Writer 7a. 1 "If that's not an all-star performance I want to see the other guys in the league," Mike Fratello said Satur-. day night. He was talking about the 49 points by Dominique Wilkins that included a three-point shot with eight seconds to play and a game-saving steal an instant shy of the buzzer that brought the Hawks a stunning 123-122 victory against Houston.

Wilkins who had scored career bests of 47 and 48 points last season in narrow defeats, gave probably the finest performance of his career, scoring 16 points in. the fourth quarter and finishing the game with 19-of-32 shooting from the field, 10-of-10 from the line and 11 rebounds, nine of them on the offensive end. After leading by 13 points in the third quarter the Hawks had stumbled, twice trailing by four points in the final seven minutes in a struggle that featured six ties and eight lead changes in the last nine minutes before the game-winning shot. Houston's John Lucas blistered the Hawks with five three-point shots, the last one for a 120-119 Rockets lead with 1:10 to play. Then it was 122-120 after Akeem Olajuwon's 10-footer with 18 seconds remaining.

The Hawks called a time out, and then Rivers saw Wilkins behind the three- point line. "He was open and f. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. It's getting to look a lot like Christmas. Georgia Tech is winning basketball tournaments again.

Piecing together the most solid 40 minutes of the year, the Yellow Jackets led from first tip to buzzer Saturday night, defeating host Jacksonville 72-53 to win the 35th annual Gator Bowl Classic. But then again, it's that time of year. The Gatdr Bowl Is the fourth consecutive December tournament Tech has won during three years, joining the Casaba Club Classic (1983), the Cotton States Classic (1983) and the Rainbow Classic (1984). It's taken the Jackets nine consecutive wins to pull all this off, but while each championship owns its own significance, this Gator Bowl title might be particularly fulfilling. Because to attain it, Tech finally shrugged off its heavy burden of preseason promise and played again like angry young men.

"We ran and shot and rebounded at the right time," said coach Bobby Cremins'. "That's the best we've played all year." i 3 See TECH NICK AHHOYOStjlf THE RIGHT STUFF: Hawks' Cliff Levingston slams home two points against Houston. 21B See HAWKS i 20B See BISHER M1 V3 7 1 J..