The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 60

MC NEESE 14 BAYLOR 16 N. C. STATE 36 OKLAHOMA 21 N. CAROLINA 44 MICHIGAN 9 CALIFORNIA 28 USL 0 TEXAS 0 E.CAROLINA 14 NEBRASKA 17 DUKE 21 OHIOSTATE 3 STANFORD 23 24 TENNESSEE 45 NOTRE DAME 24 HOUSTON 34 MISSISSIPPI ST. 19 UCLA 20 MARYLAND 31 .7 KENTUCKY 14 AIR FORCE 10 TEXAS TECH 7 OLE MISS 14 USC 17 VIRGINIA 0 LSU TULANE I fet McNeese St Captures SLC Championship Sports Advertiser, Lofoyttt La Sunday, Nov.

23, 1910 61 scampered 21 yards to the USL 37 Reynolds followed that up with a 16-yard pass to tight end Curtis Calhoun to the McNeese 47, and then with a 27-yard hi! to ihe Poke 20 on a crossing pat'ern to Rodney Smith But, with i2 to go in the half, Reynolds unwisely threw while wrapped abound the ankles by a McNeese lineman, and the ball was picked off by McNeese linebacker Mike Smith of Crowley McNeese Coach Ernie Dupiechin was content to run out the clock on his 7-0 margin, a move that merely srved to whet the appetite of the cold, wet fans for an exciting finish in the second half. yard field goal try to the right at 8 04 uf the period. The Cajun offense was to go mto hibernation after that, until Jer.nerette native Kevir Sigue provided a wake up call with 2 12 left in the half It was at that point that the 5-6 wide receiver fieided a Don Stump punt at his 16 and burst to the USL 29 paced the possession But the Cajuns, who ere outgained 170-92 in the first half had owned the first chance to score in the first period Two Phil Reynolds in-completions from the Cowboy 14 snulfed TD thoughts, and Larry Trussell missed a 31- WW By BRUCE BROWN Advertiser Sports Editor LAKE CHARLES The McNeese State Cowboys were the defending Southland Conference champions here Saturday night, and defense was the byword as the Pokes fought to a tough 14 0 shutout victory over the USL Ragin' Cajuns to repeat as conference titlists. The victorv. accomplished before 23.789 fans at cold, damp Cowboy Stadium, vaulted Coach F.

rnie Duplechin's troops into the host berth in the December 13th Independence Bowi against Southern Mississippi. It is the second year in a row in the bowl for McNeese and the third time in the five-year history of the league's showcase Interestingly enough, while McNeese was marching into the bowl with a certain rugged style, Southern Mississippi slipped en route to the tilt, 6-3 to Louisville last night. After the Pokes moved to a 7-0 halftime margin, field position and defense paved the way for the TD that all but nailed the lid on Cajun title dr eams of 1980. The Cajuns' thud period possessions began on their ow 32, 33, two. ana 20.

and 11 was after the last one that the Cowboys moved ir. for the clinching score. A 31-yard Larry Trussell punt from his 17 was fair caught at the SL 48 at the end of the period. Five snaps later freshman back Buford Jordan who had 36 yards on the drive, bolted in from four vards out for a 14 0 Poke lead with 12:50 remaining in the game. Considering the play night of the McNeese de'ense, which came into the game tops in SLC rush defense and showed why, thai second TD spelled doom for the visiting Cajuns of first-year head man Sam Robertson Not even a 37-yard kickoff return to his own 49 by Rodney Smith on the ensuing kickoff could spark a late rally by the Cajuns, who punted three snaps later from the 50.

Two late interceptions of senior USL quarterback Phil Reynolds by the Pokes merely sealed what had become an apparent victorv as the fourth FUMBLE RECOVERY The USL Ragin' Cajuns got an by Cajun cornerback Willie Allen (26). USL's Bruce Jackson early break in their SLC showdown against McNeese St. Satur- (57) recovered the loose pigskin for the Cajuns. (Staff Photo by day when Dwayne Dartez (49) fumbled the ball after being hit Piazza) Tigers Log Convincing Win Over Tulane University's head coach with a convincing 24-7 victory over archrival Tulane and said he was just slap-dab tickled to By AUSTIN WILSON AP Sports Writer BATON ROUGE, La tAP Jerry Stovall closed out his first year as Louisiana State Indians Turn Back Bulldogs i KICKOFF RETURN McNeese State's BruceJackson (57) made the tackle for the Derrick Bahse (27) takes the opening kickoff Ragin' Cajuns 'Staff Photo by P.C. Piazza) and turns it up field for the Cowboys.

USL nave had a hell of a better fighting chance," Gibson said. "If I had to say one guy won the game lor LSU it would be their kicker." LSU's second-quarter touchdowns came on short drives of 22 yards, 8 yards and 24 yards. The elements LSU 's detense limited Tulane quarterback Nickie Hall to six completions in 30 attempts, good for 62 yards. Williams picned off one of Hall's passes to tie a 41-year-old Southeastern Conference record held by Bobby Wilson of OleMiss. LSU's touchdowns came on a 15-yard sprint by Jude Her nandez with 10 minutes left ir.

the second quarter, an 11-yard pass from Risher to Lionel Wallis and a 13-yard run by MikeMontz. Tulane got its touchdown in the fiist quarter on a superlative catch by wide receiver Nolan Franz, who grabbed the ball while skidding on his back in the sloppy end zone. Bobby Lewis. Tech drove to the Northeast 12 midway through the fina period but linebacker Ricky Sanders and defensive back Jody Norman tackled Earl Greer for a yard loss on fourth-and-one. Holman.

a sophomore, completed 16 of 36 passes for 218 yards despite a heavy rain for most of the game. death with the way it all worked out While Tulane goes on to the Hall of Fame Bowl. LSU elected to withdraw its name from bowl consideration and make the Tuiane game its win-dup Picked to finish far down in the standings, LSU finished with a 7-4 record, the same mark that Tulane finished with. LSU quarterback Alan Risher Keyed an opportunistic offense that exploded for 21 points in a nine-minute span in the second quarter. And freshman walk-on James Wagner performed admirably under adverse conditions as punter and placekicker in a steady downpour Wagner took over the pun ting chores when regular punter David Johnston was knocked out of the game in the second quarter, and booted a 20-yard field goal in the fourth.

"He was just fantastic," Stovall said of his young all-purpose kicker "He practiced all season long but this was the first chance we had to get him into a game." LSU's defense, led by end Lymann White, nailed Tulane for a total of 104 yards in losses, 54 of those coming in quarterback sacks. White got three of those sacks on the sloppy turf of Tiger Stadium. Risher called it a mudbowl. Tulane Coach Vince Gibson said the weather robbed his team of any chance of a victory. Tulane plays its home games in the Superdome.

"On a drv dav we would Cajuns Come Far In One Season MONROE, La (AP) -Quarterback John Holman passed for two touchdowns as his Northeast Louisiana teammates stopped a last-ditch Louisiana Tech drive at the 12-yard line to preserve a 19-14 victory Saturday night. The victory gave Northeast a 7-4 season record, its best in 13 years. The loss dropped Louisiana Tech to 5-6 for the year. NLU jumped off to a 13-0 lead as Hoiman passed 25 yards to Nitch Renfro in the first period and Bubba Toups kicked field goals and 40 yards But Louisiana Tech drove back to a 14-13 third-quarter lead on a 1 yard scoring pass from Matt Dunigan to Chris Tilley in the second period and a 60-yard runback of an interception by David Outley. Northeast went ahead for good later in the quarter on a 34-vard pass from Holman to Louisiana Tech 7 7 0-14 NE Louisiana 10 0 1 NLU Renfro 25 pass from Holman Toups Kick) NL'J FG Toups41 NLU FG Toupee.

Lai Tilley 1 pass from Dunigan kick) LaT Oultpy 60 (Lee kick) NLU Lewis it pass 'rom riolman (pass failed) A 15,5.18 Tulane Louisiana St. 7 0 0 0-7 0 0 3-J4 By BRUCE BROWN Advertiser Sports Editor TU-Fratu pass from HalMManalla kick I LSU- Hernandez Urun Wagner kick) LSU Wallis 10 pass from Risher (Wagner kick) LSU-Montz 13 run (Wagner kick) LSU-lg Wagner 20 A 69.248 Teen 13 3740 190 71 34-16-2 9 First downs Rushes yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts NELa 44-175 23 63 37 17 2 6 40 5 3 Fumbles lost TU 10 37- 17 62 20 7 32 2 10 39 LSU 10 4-152 80 24 9 1 41 6 3 First downs Rushes yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts Penalties yards 3 25 1 50 53 Fumbles lost Penalties yards 3 '6 8 9t quarter passed into history. It was a bitter end to a successful season for the Cajuns, who finished 7-4 overall and a rur.nerup 4-1 in the SLC title chase after a valiant stretch drive that included five straight wins. As for McNeese, the. Cowboys seemed to feed on their defensive prowess and to get stronger after getting their 7-0 lead in the first half.

The Pokes finish up a strong iO-1 and a perfect 5-0 in league action. That means that in two years at the MSU helm, Duplechin had gone 10-0 in the SLC and 21-1 in regular season play. He has a chance to make amends for a 31-7 bowl loss to Syracuse last year against Southern Mississippi in three weeks. The Cajuns were not that far behind the champions, especially in the first half, but they were far enough behind to make the final difference. McNeese.

which has not lost to USL since 1972, earned its win the hard way over a Cajun squad that seemed determined it should be otherwise Although falling behind their hosts 7-0 at halftime. the Cajuns were well within range of the crown at intermission. The Cowboy score came on a 27-yard touchdown puss from Stephan Starring to Port Barre's Mike Kysar, a pass that beat the coverage to the corner to climax a 10 play, 75-yard march 9:29 before the break A 17-yard scramble by Starring, a 15-yard dash by Theron McClendon, and a 10-yard Still, the Cajuns did not become contenders as they were in 1980 by dser- tir.g a sinning ship. "I felt like we had a chance all the way." Sam insisted "Even after their final I still feU with the way we CAN throw the ball that we still had a chance." But player of the game Stephan Starring of McNeese did too good a job running the Poke offense, and kicker Don Stump's 41-yard punting average did too good a job bottiing up the USL offense, for that to happen "Starring was the difference in their offense," Robertson noted "He is a threat every time he touches the ball, and they have some super hacks to go ith him Of Stump. Sam said.

"He is one of the premier kickers in the nation." Conversely, the Cajuns "missed a field goal and didn't punt well at all. Our punt return game was good but theirs was also. That was because we punted the ball low and short." Forcing those USL punts was a McNeese defense that featured nine tackles apiece from tackles Leroy Ged-ward (of Acadiana High' and Clay Carroll, eight by Rusty Guilbcau of Sunset, and seven stops by Daryl Burckel. The stubbornly valient Cajun defense, meanwhile, must have experienced deja vu. In 1979 in Lafayette, the Cowboys won 10-6 on a night in which the USL defenders were too long in on the action.

Eight tackles apiece by seniors Mike Buckles, Randy Thomas, and Dale Thomas spearheaded that fine effort. Senior linebacker Danny Williams of Cathedral-Carme! had seven stops and a fumble recovery, and end Andy Mar tin who rushed the passer like a madman on the few times MSU went skyward totalled six tackles. the defensive struggle produced a predictable response from Cowboy Head Coach Ernie Duplechin. "The game was exciting! It was definitely better than the first time we won it. ft feels great Much, much bigger game than last years.

"The game meant everything to us. We've got a good football team and they played hard." Both teams earned that accolade But the Cowboys are the lone champions this morning, and the Cajuns have to be content with this year's remarkable success and its signal of future LAKE CHARLES Right now. second place doesn't taste very good to USL's Ragin' Cajuns. But, in time they will realize how far they came in one year's time. Saturday night's 14-0 loss to the McNeese Cowboys before 23,789 fans at Cowboy Stadium in the Southland Conference title showdown as a bitter pill to swallow for a team that hasn't defeated the Pokes since 1972.

But considering the dismal finish predicted in preseason for the team in Sam Robertson's initial year as head coach, a 7-4 record and a 4-1 SLC mark is not too shabby. It was simply a matter of the Cowboys stuffing almost every USL offensive thrust, and of the McNeese offense grinding out 292 rushing yards to control the showdown contest. The Cajuns, who during a five-game winning streak in a torrid stretch run to the throne room of the league were rolling to total offense sums like 400 yards, had just 164 total yards and a season-low 40 yards on the ground Especially distracting to the Cajuns was the effective Cowboy pass defense, an area the Cajuns knew they had to successfully exploit in order to wrest the title away from McNeese. They (the Cowboys) did a super job of covering our people." said Robertson "They got good, deep drops, and broke on the football well. They did some things very well.

"They did the same things they've been doing." Senior USL quarterback Phil Reynolds, who prepped at St Louis High of Lake Charles before going to junior college and to USL, was victimized by that coverage In a disappointing end to a career, Reynolds hit only 10 of 29 passes for 124 yards suffering three interceptions in the process. Yet the hard-nosed leader was in for the entire game. "Phil had done a super job all year." said Robertson in response to a question of inserting sophomore Dw ight Prudhomme at QB. "Phil just had a bad night Robertson likened the Cajun offensive woes to "Trying to climb out of a well all night long. You have to either establish the run or the pass, and we did USL McNEESE 15 8 24 40 124 10 29 0 00 II 6 4 29 164 irst Downs Yards Rushing Vards Passino Passes Intercepted By Fumbles-lpst F'unts avg Penalties yards Total Offenst 69 292 46 25 3 4 3 6 41 6 9 105 338 SCORE BY QUARTERS USL 0 0 0 0 0 McNeese 0 1 0 7 14 SCORING McN Mine 27 pass from Stephan Starring (Don Stump k.ck) McN Buford Jordan 4 run Stump kick) RUSHING: USL Rodney Smith 4 7 0.

Ed Blanco 7 20 0, David Foret4 12 0. McNeese Stephan Starring 21 0, Gerald Polaski 10 71 0, Buford Jor dan 1 7 83 1, Theron McClenoon 16 58 0. PASSING: USL Phil Reynolds 10 29 3 12 0 Stephan Starring 2 5 0 I 0. McNeese 46 1 TD RECEIVING: USL Rodney Smith 3 310, Curtis Calhoun Barry Herbert 3 25 0, Doug Waddell 1 22 0. McNeese Mike Kysar 1-27-1, Dexter Dartez 1 19 0 siana State linebacker Tim Joiner gives chase in Baton Rouge Saturday flight.

(APLaserphoto) RUNNING IN THE RAIN Tuiane University running back Kelvin Robinson (35) scampers for a first down as Loui.