The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 33

SPORTS The Salina Journal SPORTS JOURNAL Harold Bechard JOURNAL SENIOR SPORTS WHITER Setback leaves KU with little to smile about Kansas head coach Glen Mason left the field Saturday afternoon, a Jayhawk fan, obviously with good intentions, stepped up to offer his support. 1 'Great game coach!" the man said. Mason would hear none of it. 'A loss is a damn the KU coach growled as he headed to the Jayhawk locker room with his players. And what a excruciating loss it was.

Getting your wisdom teeth pulled would have felt better than this one. Mason, you see, was in no mood to celebrate after his team had come oh, so close to knocking off the sixth- ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. Mason was certainly proud of his team after its 21-20 loss in Memorial Stadium, but playing the heavily- favored Cornhuskers down to the wire wasn't good enough. "It's the guttiest performance by a bunch of guys I've ever been around," a bitterly disappointed Mason said afterwards. "But there's tremendous hurt in that locker room right now.

I can't describe it." A win over Nebraska would have done wonders for a Kansas team that has been behind the eight-ball ever since opening season with a loss to No. 1-ranked Florida State in the Kickoff Classic. Injuries have been a huge three more starters missed the entire game and two others went down during the the one-point loss was the second of the season. And that made the loss even tougher to take. It officially ended KU's bid for a second straight bowl game as well as the opportunity for a third straight winning season.

But it also stopped the Jayhawks from doing what they wanted to do more than anything send those red-clad fanatics, all 10,000 of them, back home up north with one big migraine. Playing 'em close wasn't good enough. Moral victories have never been in Mason's vocabulary. "I'm proud of our effort, but we don't accept playing teams Mason said. Not even Nebraska.

The Jayhawk players, themselves, were no different. Despite controlling much of the second half as well as the line of scrimmage, it'll still go down in the record books as a KU's 25th straight against the Corn- huskers one of college football's most lopsided series. "Right now, we're hurting inside," said senior co-captain Chris Maumalanga, who caused all sorts of havoc from his defensive tackle position. "We were one play from doing something that KU hasn't done in a long time. "But this is just symbolic of the way the season has gone for us." It could also be said the Jayhawks kicked this one away.

Senior place- kicker Dan Eichloff, the Big Eight's best for three years, missed from 57 and 47 yards, both times with the 15- mile per hour wind to his back. 'He just missed them, that's all I can say," Mason said. June Henley didn't miss much. The5-foot-ll, 190-pounderfrom Columbus, Ohio, has stamped himself as possibly the nation's top freshman running back and a strong choice to join Nebraska's Calvin Jones on the All-Big Eight team. Henley went barreling into the teeth of the Nebraska defense 37 times and finished with 148 yards.

He's now just 54 short of 1,000 and it looks like the Jayhawks have a star in the backf ield for three more years. "We put a big dent in them today," Henley said of the Nebraska defense. "We played real good, but they got lucky on this one. We'll get 'em next year." But for many Kansas players, there won't be a next year. They will end four or five years in the KU program without a win over the Cornhuskers.

"It's tough," senior center Dan Schmidt. "One of our dreams the last five years was to beat And that is why there was no thought of going for the tie Saturday. Not now, not ever. And despite the Jayhawks gaining more respect going for the win than settling for the tie, it didn't pacify Mason. "I didn't glorify anything," Mason said, his pained, intense expression never wavering.

"I wear my emotions on my sleeve, fellows. I tell you how I feel, and I feel NFL Page 39 Sunday, 1993 33 Kansas State goes kerplunk The Associated Press Iowa State's Calvin Branch (25) hauls In a long pass as K-State's Jaime Mendez goes for the tackle In the second quarter of Saturday's game. KU scares Nebraska Jayhawks miss late two- point try in 21-20 loss KSU's big bowl hopes dashed by Iowa State, 27-23 By DAVID SVOBODA The Salina Journal AMES, Iowa K-State got a dose of its own medicine Saturday, and the taste was bitter. The No. 18 Wildcats were upset by Iowa State 27-23 in a game that likely dashed K-State's New Year's Day bowl hopes and kept any bowl hopes, in general, in serious doubt.

"We're disgusted, disappointed," said senior defensive back Thomas Randolph. 'I just can't believe it happened. But you have to let it go." That might be easier said than done. After going up 17-6 with 4:14 left in the third quarter, the game was K-State's for the taking. Instead, the Wildcats let the Cyclones right back into it.

Iowa State, over the next 7:43, drove 80 yards in 16 plays converting twice op fourth down to score, with back-up quarterback Todd Doxzon going over from 2 yards out to cut the lead to 17-12. Even with ISU failing on the two- point try, one had to believe that the game was now, again, in serious doubt. "They get all the credit," Wildcat defensive back Jaime Mendez said. "They changed their schemes on us and we didn't react." Indeed K-State didn't, and the offense gave the ball right back to Iowa State just seven plays later. The Cyclones offense hammered the ball right up the middle against the now-soft Wildcat defense, with Calvin Branch ripping off a total of 34 yards on consecutive plays in the See CYCLONES, Page 34 By HAROLD BECHARD The Salina Journal LAWRENCE No one second-guessed Kansas coach Glen Mason's decision to go for the win against Nebraska on Saturday.

That's right, the win. After being outscored by 200 points by the Cornhuskers during his first five years as the Jay- hawks coach, Mason wasn't about to let this opportunity pass. But, pass, it did. The Jayhawks passed when armchair quarterbacks every- Mason where expected a run and the result was a failed two-point conversion with 52 seconds remaining and a 21-20 loss to sixth-ranked Nebraska. The two-point attempt failed when a pass from quarterback Asheiki Preston to wide receiver Ashaundai Smith fell to the turf in the right corner of the end zone.

Right in front of a large gathering of Nebraska fans who were holding their collective breath and turning blue in the process. Big blue, that is. For much of Saturday's game in Memorial Stadium, the home-standing Jayhawks looked like anything but a team struggling to reach the .500 mark. The Jayhawk offense controlled the ball behind a persistent running game spearheaded by freshman sensation June Henley. And the KU defense, while bending from time to time, broke just once against a Nebraska offense that entered the game ranked No.

3 in the country. But, oh, that two-point conversion. "I second-guess myself more than you guys ever will," a disappointed Mason said afterward. "Obviously, it wasn't the right play because it didn't work. But it was something we had worked on throughout the week and decided it would be our two-point play.

'I called what I thought would work the See JAYHAWKS, Page 34 The Associated Press MORE COVERAGE ON PAGE 40 Andover eliminates Clay Center Penalty hurts Tigers in 24-13 regional loss By LARRY MORITZ The Salina Journal CLAY CENTER The play that never was left Clay Center players, coaches and fans wondering what might have been. Andover dodged a bullet in the form of a Clay Center rally, posting a 24-13 victory over the Tigers in a Class 4A regional contest Saturday afternoon at Unruh Stadium. The victory moves Andover, 9-2, into next week's sub-state game at Goodland where the Trojans and Cowboys will meet for a spot in the 4A state title game. Clay Center lost for the first time this season and finished with a 10-1 record. "We had an awful good year and I think at this point in time it's hard for these young men to understand how good it was," Clay Center coach Larry Wiemers said.

"They've put out a lot of effort and I believe it's better to put out that effort and fail then never put out that effort at all." Trailing 21-7 to start the final quarter, the Tigers closed that gap with a touchdown early in the period. They appeared to have all the momentum going their way after Luke Henry's huge run on Clay Center's next posses ion. Nebraska's Cory Schleslnger breaks around Kansas' Ronnie Ward for a 12-yard gain during Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium. Holyfield knocks Bowe off throne Kelly Salina Journal Andover linebacker Scott Newcomer (right) looks for the ball carrier after falling for Clay Center running back Jon Wiemers' fake. Henry's 61-yard gain down the left sideline appeared to have put the Tigers at the Andover 2-yard line, where a touchdown and two-point conversion could have pulled Clay Center even with more than six minutes to play.

But the run was nullified on a clipping penalty, the Tigers were eventually stopped on downs and Andover added a late 25-yard field goal to seal the victory. "Our kids are tough," Wiemers said. "They played hard and got beat by an excellent team. We didn't turn the ball over until late in the game, so I feel like Andover earned it. They took it to us, through the ball when they had to throw it and did what they had to do.

It was a very good scheme and very good It was an offensive scheme that Trojan seniors Zack Siegrist and Bryce Carlisle made work. Siegrist, one of the state's top quarterback prospects, directed a short-passing attack that compiled 169 yards through the air on 13 completions. Siegrist's top targets were Mark Walker (five catches, 62 yards) and Corey Poore (four, 42). Carlisle rolled up 156 yards rushing on 14 carries, much of that coming on a third-quarter trap play that went for 82 yards and a touchdown down the right sideline. "The 30-trap, that's always been my big play," Carlisle said.

"But this was just an intense game and we knew we couldn't let up at any point. It was just nerve-wracking playing all four quarters and not knowing See ANDOVER, Page 40 Judges, AP disagree, in final scoring By The Associated Press LAS VEGAS Evander Holyfield did the unexpected by winning back the heavyweight championship of the world from Riddick Bowe on Saturday night. The shocking upset was interrupted for 20 minutes in the seventh round when a parachutist crashed against the ring and apparently broke his neck. After 12 rounds, judge Patricia Holyfield Jarman scored it 115-114 and Jerry Roth had it 115-113, both for Holyfield, who became the fourth man to become heavyweight champion at least twice. Judge Chuck Giampi called it 114-114, making the victory for the IBF and WBA titles a majority decision.

The AP favored Bowe 115-112. Holyfield's victory came just one week short of a year from the date he lost the title on a unanimous decision to Bowe at Las Vegas. It just wasn't Bowe's night. In the chaos of the seventh round, his wife Judy, four months' pregnant, had to be taken to a hospital ov- recome after the chutist crashed into the ringside seats. According to David Goldman, who works for Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, the chutist broke his neck.

Immediately after the fight, a doctor was summoned to look after Bowe's 82-year-old trainer, Eddie Futch, who was seated on Bowe's stool. Bowe was controlling the seventh round when suddenly the chutist dropped onto the scene, using a chute with a propeller on it. The chute caught on the ring canopy and slammed the unidenitifed man into the ropes near Bowe's corner. Security and police rushed to the scene. "I knew I was up against the best big man in the world," the 31-year- old Holyfield said after the fight.

But during the fight he refused to acknowledge that. Although Bowe appeared to control the early rounds and also the last couple of rounds, Holyfield had the champion in trouble on a couple of occasions the fifth and 10th rounds. "I knew it was going to take a real fight and I could not make the mistakes I made the first time," Holyfield said. The big mistake he made in losing to Bowe, he said, was that he concentrated on getting a knockout. On this cool night, Holyfield fought toe to toe with Bowe but also boxed more than he has in the past.

And in the fifth it appeared he might get his knockout. The fourth round ended on a wild note, as both men went toe to toe for at least five seconds after the bell..