Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 45

Qtspcr StarVlYibune arts Sunday, October 2, 1994 PREP ROUNDUP D3 NFL MATCHUPS D7 Ron Gullberg Cowboyi (lowboys pattered, riot beaten fumble away upset bid 1 A r. i i tagB INCOLN, Neb. In the locker room, the University of Wyoming football players were dazed and 1: SATURDAY: Nebraska 42, Wyoming 32. UW RECORD: 2-3 overall, 11 Western Athletic Conference. LEADERS: Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer, filling In for the injured Tommie Frazier.

completed 15 of 22 passes for 131 yards: running back Lawrence Phillips carried 27 times for 168 yards and three touchdowns. ATTENDANCE: 75.333. NEXT WEEK: Northeast Louisiana at Wyoming, 12:05 p.m. GAME SUMMARY: D5. By RON GULLBERG Star-Tribune staff writer LINCOLN, Neb.

The final score: Nebraska 42, Wyoming 32. The number of turnovers: Wyoming 4, Nebraska 2. The end result: Wyoming rattled second-ranked Nebraska and a Memorial Stadium sellout crowd of 75,333 before Je'Ney Jackson's fumbled punt return with 5:32 left in the game ended all hopes of a Cowboy upset bid on an overcast Saturday afternoon. Nebraska converted the turnover into an eight-yard touchdown run by Lawrence Phillips for a 42-32 lead with 5:28 remaining, and a collective sigh could be heard from the Cornhuskers' faithful. "If it wasn't for the fumbled punt at the end, it might have been anybody's ballgame right down to the end," said Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, who improved his record to 2 1 1-47-3 in 22 seasons.

Wyoming, which passed for 344 yards with surprising ease, slipped to 2-3 overall. The Cowboys play host to win-less Northeast Louisiana next week in their final non-conference game of the season. Nebraska, ranked No. 1 in this Mr week's CNNUSA Today coaches poll, improved to 5-0 with backup quarterback Brook Berringer filling in for Heisman Trophy candidate Tommie Frazier. Frazier was hospitalized this week with a blood clot behind his right knee and did not suit up Saturday.

His status for next, week was undetermined. "It was a good football game, for awhile there anyway," Please see POKES, D5 JON WALLER AP Wyoming's Marcus Harris catches a 39-yard pass over Nebraska defender Barron Miles for a touchdown on Saturday in Lincoln, Neb. Wallace needs big points to catch up with Earnhardt NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (AP) If there is to be a typical season-ending Winston Cup championship battle in 1094, Rusty Wallace needs to make some quick inroads into Dale Earnhardt's big lead. Nobody is more aware of that than Wallace, who trails Earnhardt by 217 points entering today's Tyson-Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

"We have to go for broke the rest of the way, and hope Earnhardt breaks that Chevrolet in a couple of races," said Wallace, the 1989 champion. The fact is, Wallace's Ford can sweep the five remaining races and not even come close. Earnhardt, the six-time and defending Winston Cup champion, would tie Richard Petty's hallowed record of seven titles with an average eighth-place finish. To the surprise of many, Earnhardt has shown no indication of racing conservatively. He has finished either second or third in each of the previous five races.

"Some people are surprised that Dale isn't being conservative to protect his lead, but I'm not," Wallace said. "Racing hard is the only Way he knows how to race, and I'm hoping he keeps doing it. "With five races left, my best chance for the championship is for him to have big-time trouble in a couple of them. If he's driving hard, that could happen." Earnhardt, never susceptible to psychological warfare, said, "That's just in his dreams." But the pressure could be on Earnhardt on Sunday on a track where Wallace has been sensational in recent outings. He won both races on the five-eighths-mile oval last season, finished second to Terry Labonte in the April race and has an average finish of second over the past five events at North Wilkesboro.

Earnhardt has four wins here, but none since 1991. He has finished in the top five only twice in his last five starts here, although one of those was a runner-up finish to Wallace last October. Wallace also comes into this race having won three of the last five Winston Cup events. He leads the series with eight wins after topping everyone with 10 in 1993, when he finished second to Earnhardt in the points after a late-season charge. "This year's a better year," Please see TYSON, D7 6" confused, bruised and battered, black and blue.

But their self-confidence remained intact They had just spit in the face of the nation's second-ranked team and lived to tell about it "I might be a little slow," linebacker Jason Holanda said, when asked for an interview following Saturday's 42-32 non-conference loss to Nebraska before more than 70,000 red-clad football cannibals squeezed into rustic Memorial Stadium. The Pokes' underdog performance was so inspiring, a row of Cornhuskers fans clapped in appreciation as UW limped, staggered and stumbled from the tunnel to the locker room. Who wants to drive at least six hours from Scottsbluff to see the 'Huskers rip an opponent 70-3? Those upstart Pokes put up a helluva fight and made every turn of the odometer worth it. For the record, Holanda indeed was "a little slow." He even bobbed and weaved a little while attempting to get dressed. His responses were not well thought out, just "a little slow." But, like his teammates, Holanda was confident following the loss, albeit a little woozy.

"We definitely need to build on this," said Holanda, a junior college transfer, and one reason why the Pokes were able to hold the nation's top rushing team to 322 yards, well below their 471.5 average. "All week in practice, the coaches pressed us into flying around on defense, playing our kind of football, an aggressive, i attacking, nothing-to-lose kind of football," Holanda added. "This week, I suspect we'll practice that same way and build on it" And just maybe, the offense learned something positive, too. Something like, "Hey, we have some pretty good receivers if I can get them the ball." Senior quarterback John Gustin, who lost his starting job because of 10 turnovers in four games, returned to action Saturday after redshirt freshman Jeremy Dombek was knocked unconscious during a vicious fourth-quarter sack by former Cheyenne East High School star Troy Dumas. "I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow," Dombek said, himself a little dizzy.

"It's something I was used to in high school, but high school is a little different than the Nebraska Cornhuskers." Following Dombek's injury, Gustin stepped in and played with the confidence of a Heisman Trophy candidate. He pulled UW to within 36-32 by completing six of nine passes during a 13-play, 86-yard scoring drLVe that included six first downs. The game marked only the second time this season the Pokes passed for more yards than they ran for, Combined, Dombek and Gustin completed 25 of 46 attempts for 344 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receivers Marcus Harris and Eddie Pratt had 149 and 126 yards, respectively. But despite leads of 7-0, 14-0, 14-7, 21-7 and 21-14, UW came up short in the win column.

frustrated because we very well could have won the game," Gustin said, "but we're kinda proud because we played with our hearts, we played with adrenaline. "I'm proud of the team, and proud of Jeremy (Dombek). He stood in there and took some hits." For the third time in five games this season, UW's outstanding veteran defense was done in not by the opposition, but by its own youthful offense and special teams. Dombek completed 17 of 35 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. But he forced three interceptions that the Cornhuskers turned into 21 points.

Redshirt freshman punt returner Je'Ney Jackson, looking to be the hero rather than the setup man, fumbled away the ball at UW's 8-yard-line with 5:32 left and the Pokes trailing 35-32. Whether or not UW could have Please see GULLBERG, D5 BOB JORDAN AP Dale Earnhardt, right, and Rusty Wallce relax in the garage area of the North Carolina Motor Speedway during practice on Saturday. Phillips declares Broncos off-ltaute to outsiders Kelly Walsh boys, Central girls win By the Star-Tribune staff CASPER The dream of the Kelly Walsh High School tennis team was finally fulfilled on Saturday afternoon in Laramie when the boys earned the 1994 Wyoming State High School championship by 9 12 points over last year's champion Cheyenne Central. The Central girls won, defeating Sheridan by 4 12 points. EIHTSZIIIlMnill Vk I- s.

Cowgirls defeated by Brigham Young By the Star-Tribune staff PROVO, Utah The University of Wyoming volleyball team suffered its first Western Athletic Conference loss, falling to Brigham Young 15-10, 14-16, 13-15 on Friday night. "We should have won," head coach Beth Kuwata said. "Especially the fourth game. It went around and around, but we just couldn't get the point." The loss dropped the Cowgirls to 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the WAC. The Cougars improved to 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the league.

"BYU has a great team," Kuwata said. Angie Walker came up with 36 digs for the Cougars. "She was a large part of BYU's offense," Kuwata said. "She kept swinging and swinging." Melissa Sharp had 16 kills and 18 digs to lead the Cowgirls. Wende Brown added 14 kills and 17 digs.

Jill Jones recorded 18 digs. Jil Robins made 45 setting assists. By JOHN MOSSMAN AP spurts writer DENVER The siege mentality is complete. Acutely aware of an abandonment of support by fans and growing criticism by the media, Denver Broncos coach Wade Phillips has gathered his players around him and declared the team off-limits to outsiders. "This is my team now," Phillips said.

"It's not the fans' team or the media's team anymore, it's all mine. But I'll take it." Referring to recent criticism of quarterback John Elway and his inability to create late-game heroics, Phillips added, "And I'll take John Elway every time. I've made mistakes and John has made a few mistakes. But I'd still rather have him than anybody else, including (Miami's Dan) Marino or any of the rest of them." The Broncos, expected by many to reach the Super Bowl because of an influx of new talent, find themselves at 0-4 as they get a much-needed bye week. It's the Broncos' worst start in 30 years, and the finger-pointing is intense, if not always accurate: Elway has lost his fourth-quarter magic and has hurt a potent offense by making key turnovers; The defense, given short shift when the Broncos shopped the free-agent market, doesn't have the personnel, or the coordination, to be effective; Phillips' laid-back coaching style doesn't properly motivate the players; The team chemistry has soured.

All of the criticisms are valid, to a point. But Phillips also is correct when he contends that Broncos' critics have put too much emphasis on the team's Please see BRONCOS, D7 The Broncos have a bye this weekend. NEXT WEEK: Broncos at Seahawks WHEN: 2 p.m. WHERE Husky Stadium. TV: KTWO.

RADIO: KTWO. 1030 AM, pregame begins at 1:05 p.m. RECORDS: Seahawks 3-1, Broncos 0-4. TODAY: The Seahawks play at the Colts at 11a.m. NOTES: The howls for Wade Phillips' job come not only from the fans and media but from front office people who have had second thoughts about letting Dan Reeves go (at John Elway's request) for the player-friendly Phillips.

Is it Phillips' fault? Not entirely. The people who went out and got him an offense failed to do the same on defense and now are desperately trying to plug holes with the aged Dennis Smith and Karl Mecklenburg. Kelly Walsh standout senior Mark Hallock won the No. 1 singles title, defeating Todd Hoffman of Sheridan. The Kelly Walsh twosome of Steve Edwards and Terry Blakemore also won the No.

2 doubles boys crown. Ninth-grader Kevin Williams, playing for Natrona, won the No. 2 singles title, defeating Jerrad Smedley of Central. Jennifer Akes of Cheyenne Central won the No. 1 girls singles title, defeating Amy Powers of Gillette.

Following Kelly Walsh and Central in the boys team standings were Sheridan, Natrona, Rock Springs, Gillette, Powell, Green River, Jackson. East, Cody, Rawlins, Laramie and Torrington. Central and Sheridan were followed in girls team standings by Gillette, Rock Springs, Jackson, Green Hiver, Cody, Kelly Walsh, Powell, Natrona, Laramie, East, Dubois, Rawlins and Torrington. Sports Editor Ron Gullberg. For information, questions or comments about this section, call (307) 265-0573 or (800) 442-6916; email sportsetrib.com; fax (307) 266-0568..