Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 17

Times-Advocate Business Monday, December 29, 1986 One moire day to Holiday Bowl Stolz to get set on game day After the press conference, Stolz had a brief difference of opinion with one person, rolled his eyes skyward and began to walk away. He was greeted by Iowa media representatives who remembered him from his days at Bowling Green and Stolz shook their hands and spoke briefly. He walked over to a table by the pool and exhaled. I was irritable today, he said. I really was.

Stolz is not a big man, but his demeanor is quite forceful and his tone of voice is snappy and sometimes curt. He doesnt laugh that often, but Sunday he broke up from time to time. He just shakes his head and smiles when asked if he really ever expected his team to do as well as it has this year. Did you ever expect to be covering a championship team? he retorts. They were making excuses for me from the start.

They said Please see Stolz, page C2 By Donna Balancia Times Advocate Sportswnter SAN DIEGO It has been an eventful football season for San Diego State football Coach Denny Stolz. After devising game plan after game plan throughout the season, Stolz has come up with the most important one. His personal pre-game plan for Tuesdays Holiday Bowl game against Iowa (6 p.m., San Diego Stadium). After a brief press conference at the Town and Country Hotel Sunday, Stolz sat by the pool and was at ease for what seemed to be the first time since he took over as head coach. All this really takes its toll, he said, leaning back in his chair.

Minutes earlier he had spoken to a roomful of reporters, mostly in lighthearted quips about how irritable he really was. Why dont they ever get the other guy in here, he said joking, referring to Iowa Coach Hayden Fry. Chargers demote Sanders By Jay Posner Times Advocate Sportswnter SAN DIEGO Chargers owner Alex Spanos today demoted General Manager John Sanders and fired assistant GM Paul Tank Younger. Sanders, who has served as GM since Feb. 16, 1976, will remain with the Chargers as assistant to the president until his contract expires following the 1987 season.

Youngers contract will not be renewed after it expires Wednesday, thus ending his 12-year association with the club. I like and respect both of these men, Spanos said in a prepared statement. They have served the Chargers well for many years. I am gratified for the cooperation they have given me in the 2lA years that Ive owned the team. John and Tank both contributed during the organizations transitional period.

The front-office shakeup cannot be classified as a surprise; speculation surrounding the moves had been circulating for many months. Spanos was known to have been dissatisfied with the work of both men, who were holdovers from the regime of previous owner Gene Klein. The Chargers, who won three straight division championships from 1979-81, have not enjoyed a winning season since 1982. They were 4-12 in 1986, and Coach Don Coryell resigned at mid-season. He was replaced by A1 Saunders.

Sanders, 64, pronounced himself happy with the change. Weve been working on it for a couple of months, trying to decide whats best for all concerned, said Sanders, who plans to retire next year. Im very happy with it. Im going to be doing the same things Ive been doing, negotiating contracts and being (Spanos) contact with the rest of the league. Spanos and Younger were both unavailable for comment this morning.

Younger, 58, was the first outstanding NFL player from a predominantly black school Moore to take over for Conyers at wide receiver I wasnt jealous, said Moore. Ive had some good games too this year. That day I had to watch him and I was happy we won. I was a starter for half the season and he started for half the season. He i started the Colorado State game and the week before that I had a great game.

Moore said that despite being backup for the last part of the season, he trusts Stolzs judgement. When I lost my starting job, he saw I wasnt doing my job right, said Moore. When Anthony got the opportunity to start, he came through. You had to love AC. He said that though he has been faring well this season, he pre- ferred last years offensive scheme because it gave him more yards), including seven for 108 yards during a 45-14 loss to UCLA.

Were going to miss Anthony, said Stolz. Were going to have to coach around him. But Kenny Moore has played more football than Anthony Conyers. Sometimes a kid like Kenny has one great ballgame and thats yrhat Im hoping for. Moore was benched in favor of Conyers following the loss to Air Force the seventh game of the season.

Conyers had an explosive game against Colorado State, when he caught four consecutive passes in the last 1:12 to set up Alfred Jacksons game-winning touchdown reception. That was the first game Conyers started ahead of Moore. I liked the offense better last year, it toras a three receiver-type offense, he said. Even though I was behind Webster Slaughter, this year we only run two receivers. Ive caught 25 passes this year.

I really dont know if (the three wide receiver offense) would work with the motivation. This offense has worked so well, its hard to say. Besides fhat, there is a big difference between the two coaching staffs. Last year we lost the close games, he said. This year we hung in there and won the close games.

Coach Stolz brings a lot of motivation to the team attitude. Hes positive about himself and it Please see Moore, page C2 weekend that he had tested positive for cocaine. The NCAA tested the 22 San Diego State starters and 14 reserves Dec. 9. In the beginning of the year, the coaches told us to be smart, said Moore.

They didnt want anyone to get in trouble. We knew we were going to get tested. Everybody knew that. I knew I would never get in a position like that. AC is a friend and I feel sad it happened.

Coach Denny Stolz is confident Moore can handle the assignment. He started the season as the only wideout on the team with solid experience. In 1985, playing behind now-NFL players Webster Slaughter and Vince Warren, Moore caught 30 passes for 463 yards. This season he has been on the receiving end of 25 passes (345 By Donna Balancia Times Advocate Sportswnter SAN DIEGO Its not that theres any added pressure on Kenny Moore, but the San Diego State wide receiver is in a precarious position. He lost his starting job following the teams 22-10 loss to Air Force and was replaced by Anthony Conyers.

Now, Conyers is out of Tuesdays Holiday Bowl game against Iowa after testing positive for cocaine last week and Moore finds himself back where he started. Starting. Its no burden on me, said the 5-foot-11 senior. I understand whats going on and I imagine AC (Conyers) feels bad. Conyers admitted over the Jets rumble, Bams fumble in wild-card games Rams answer promise with i frustration By Doug Cress Knight Ridder News Service WASHINGTON Such a waste.

How else to characterize the collective performance Sunday of the Los Angeles Rams, a team blessed with overwhelming potential, yet prone to Ever since their lone trip to the Super Bowl after the 1979 season, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Rams have consistently answered promise with frustration. Quarterbacks came and went, Eric Dickerson ran for naught and the playoffs became a semi-annual letdown. Every year I think were going to make it to the Super Bowl, said defensive end Gary Jeter. But theA it seems every year I get those two tickets and end up watching the game from the stands. I cant take much more of this.

The sand in my hourglass is running out. That trend continued unabated Sunday, as the Rams outran and outpassed the Washington Please see1 NFC, page C4 Ryan brings team back to life once again By Angelo Cataldi Knight Ridder News Service EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The burial was scheduled for Sunday, a cold, overcast afternoon perfectly suited for the grim occasion. After five weeks of sneering obituaries and clanging death knells, the New York Jets would finally be laid to rest in a ceremony with no fond parting words, no flowers, no tears. The only epitaph was supposed to be one last derisive cheer from the leering mob of 69,307 mourners.

But the plan never got off the ground and the Jets never got into the ground. Rather than a funeral, there was a rebirth at Giants Stadium, where the Jets shook off the indignity of five straight losses and resuscitated their Super Bowl aspirations with a startling 35-15 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC wild-card game. Weve been cursed, weve been kicked, weve been counted out you name it, declared running back Freeman McNeil, who led Please see AFC, page C4 Rams running back Eric Dickerson fumbles the ball during the first quarter of the NFC wild-card game. Stars and Stripes grabs 2-0 lead Wind shifts help Conner defeat USA; New Zealand wins Fans stay away as SDSU is defeated By Kevin Kragen Special to the Times Advocate SAN DIEGO Not very many people showed up to watch major college basketball here this weekend. Only 2,454 came to Sunday nights Holiday Bowl Classic final at the Sports Arena.

That was 91 more than had attended Saturdays semifinals. But, as long as the home team keeps losing, those attendance totals arent likely to rise. San Diego State played valiantly but still lost 88-77 to Mississippi in the tournament championship. The Rebels will probably finish in the middle of the Southeastern Conference, but they were far too good for San Diego State. Tournament MVP Charles Prater of Ole Miss kept the Aztecs Tony Ross from making three-point shots at the outset, and the Rebels repelled a William Campbell-led charge to win their seventh game in nine attempts.

Campbell, a community college transfer College of Please see Aztecs, page C2 wind shifts and Conner was always on the right side of them, a downcast Blackaller said. You cant miss 30-degree wind shifts. You cant do it twice in a race. Maybe once, but not twice, he added. Conner lost the start after crossing the line too soon and having to go back, but caught a wind shift right after the start and got him right back in the race, Blackaller said.

It was the second day in a row that Conner and the San Diego Yacht Club entry were forced to come from behind, but this time, Conner did not wait until midway in the final leg to go ahead, as he did Sunday when Stars Stripes won by 10 seconds. This time, Conner overcame a bad start in which he was over the starting line early to be 16 seconds ahead at the first windward buoy. In the battle for the right to defend the cup, Kookaburra III pulled into a first-place tie with Australia IV with a little help from its stablemate, Kookaburra II. Kookaburra II, skippered by Peter Gilmour, sailed away from Australia IV, winning by 59 seconds, while Kookaburra III downed Steakn Kidney by 2:06. Kookaburra III and Australia IV are tied with 59 points while Kookaburra II is next with 52 points.

Steakn Kidney has only 12 points and has no chance of entering the finals. Under the rules set up by the de- I Please see Cup, page C4 FREMANTLE, Australia (AP) Stars Stripes and New Zealand edged closer to a match-up in the Americas Cup challengers finals with resounding victories today. Dennis Conner hammered his old foe, Tom Blackaller, as Stars Stripes beat USA by 3 minutes, 2 seconds to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven semifinal series. New Zealand, skippered by Chris Dickson, continued its winning ways by beating French Kiss by 2:40 for its second win in as many days. Both series resume Tuesday.

USA skipper Tom Blackaller blamed major wind shifts for his boats second straight loss to Conner. There were major 30-degree Eric Smith, 42, grabs a rebound for Mississippi..