Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 17

JOHNSON CITYTN 37601 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6 1981 vmstorw rs By for 31 Ferrell fumbled on the second play from scrimmage in their first senes and Carey Heard recovered on the ETSU 38 Four plays later Mulli-can a sophomore hit the 47 yard field goal his first collegiate game second fumble came on first play from scrimmage following the ensuing kickoff and it was recovered by Tony Panehianco on the Buc 41 A 17-yard pass from Quarterback Tony Costantme to Reggie Bazel enabled the Eagles to move to the ETSU 16 but they lost six yards in two running plays and Mullican came on to again split the upnghts on his 41 yard field goal and a 6-0 lead with 8 47 left in the period break resulting in its lone first half TD came late in the period when Tommy Thompson recovered running back Marvin fumble on the Golden Eagle 34-yard line The Bucs proceeded to cover the 34 yards in seven plays with Ricky 19-yard sprint moving the ball to the 15 Two plays later Reeves reeled off eight to the seven and Ferrell picked up three to the four then scored from the one three plays later with 343 left in the penod Phil 44th straight extra point gave the Bucs a slim 7-6 lead a margin that stood at the end of the first penod Tech added nine points in the second penod to move out by 15-9 at (Continued on Page 23) By HENRY JENKINS Managing Sport Editor The East Tennessee State University Buccaneers played two types of football in Saturday night's 1981 opener against the Tennessee Tech University Golden Eagles before 7212 (ana in Memorial Center It was a lack-luster first half for the Buccaneers in the as they turned the ball over five tunes (bur of them resulting in Golden Eagles scores to send ETSU trailing 15-7 at halftime but a nearly (lawless second half turned things around for Coach Jack Bucs who won the game 31-22 ETSU alone in its -mi3cues in the first half as the only score came as a result of a Tennessee Tech fumble The Bucs bounced back after its poor first half showing to score four of the six times they had possession of the ball in the second half and ran the record to 16-13 in the 29th series meeting between the two schools Sophomore quarterback Scott Nault who had a hand in one of the first half turnovers that turned into a Tech score came back in the second half to score one touchdown and pass for another in his first collegiate atari The Rues found themselves Trailing by 6-0 two field goals by Ray a 47-yarder and a 41-yarder after ehrly fumbles by Earl Ferrell Vi i- 'IV I- Vffl'l Rick ick Reeves run (brought the 1 st-half pussycat Nault turns io2nd-hair tiger 7 gets ready to throw a block Georgispounds Volunteers 444 Tech defense as Shelby Cornelius (45) ing defenders for the day threw quarterback Jeff Olszewski for an eight-yard loss to stymie the threat Walker rushed for 161 yards in 30 attempts nearly doubling his output in a more limited appearance in last 16-15 Georgia victory in Knoxville Walker also had a touchdown run of 47 yards nullified by a clipping penalty on the Bulldogs Georgia went to the air to get its first touchdown drive going with a Belue pass to Scott for 29 yards plac-- ing the ball on 6 Walker for two Belue for two and Walker in two one-yard rushes put the ball across on fourth down with 2:47 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead See related story Page 1 8 It was all down hill for Tennessee the rest of the way Not only did the Bulldogs score their four touchdowns in what Volunteer Coach Majors hoped would be a low scoring game (for both teams) but Kevin Butler kicked five extra points and field goals of 36 44 and 45 yards to break a Georgia school record of 13 Mints by kicking in a single game previously held by Kim Braswell against Kentucky in 1970 The five extra points also broke the I A 75 tv Staff photo byAiwi Broviet i the final portion a touchdown as Walker rushed for the first 35 yards in three plays and Belue threw the 23-yard scoring pass to Scott The third quarter ended 24-0 The final Geoaria touchdown was the most electrifying for the fans Reserves were on the field and two records were at stake if they could get the ball across the goal Jeff Paulk a junior quarterback raced across the goal sweeeping wide to his right for the touchdown Butler then scoredhis 14th point of the game that ran streak to 106 Two field goals by Butler gave Goergia a 30-0 lead with 12:05 left in the game Matt Simon senior tailback -scored from eight yards out at 6:34 left Georgia had 563 total yards on offense to 152 for Tennessee The Bulldogs outrushed Tennessee 369 yards to 30 for the Vols while outpas-sing Tennessee 194 to 122 Tmiwmm oorM i Ga Watkar 1 run (Butter kick) Ga Scott 15 pass from Bate (Butter luck) Ga FG Butter 36 Ga Scott 23 pass from Belue (Butter kick) Ga FG Butter 44 Ga FG Butter 45 Ga Simon 8 run (Butter kick) Ga Paulk 1 run (Butter kick) 79600 First downs Rushes-vards Passing yards Return yards Passat Punts FumOtes-iost Penalties yards UT Ga 11 30 30-30 67 369 122 194 0 57 14-26-1 14-19-0 8-39 1-3S 2-1 3-1 3-45 5-59 hitch and led the 26-pomt second-half surge "I just felt I could do Nault said "I just calmed down a lot went out there and did When the Bucs rolled 72 yards for a score on their first possession of the second half Nault said the game was the bag but he tell his Coach "1 really excited after that score because we drove down the field Really easily picking seven or eight yards every Nault said knew then that we had the game No Buccaneer turnovers in the second half certainly helped the cause At that point of the conversation Carlisle looked at Nault and said "I wish you had told me that Scott I was still nervously pacing the The Carlisle-Nault story is a strange one: 1980 coach tries to run freshman Nault off the team Nault hangs in there 1981 Nault comes to spring practice and wonders if in the right place after being warmly welcomed by coach "Scott has to be mentally tough after last Carlisle said "because I was on him at every turn and even questioned his ancestry at one point But he hung in there "He came here in the spring ready to work and there was never any doubt my mind who my starting quarterback would be And there was never any thought of replacing him While Carlisle had words of praise for the offensive line the running backs and the defense the quarterback possibly the crucial position in football became the subject of conversation again "The quarterback always sets the tone for the the BuC coach said For the Bucs Saturday night Nault had the tone set to the right level By ROGER HYNEMAN P-C Sports Writer In Jhe first half of game against Tennessee Tech Buccaneer quarterback Sajtt Nault booled like a whimpering pussycat looking for a place toTufle front-the Golden Eagle 1 But pfter hakims metamorph t'feeycturtetf tatd hun gry tiger the Eagle turned i turkey 7 Thanksgiving came a lltfle 'early for the tiger Nault a sophomore playing in his first varsity football game led the Buccaneers from a 15-7 halftime deficit to a 31-22 victory -The win had the 7212 fans Buc Coach Jack Carlisle and especially Nault wearing ear-to-ear grins ETSU suffered from tumover-itis in the first half fumbling the ball five times and being intercepted twice Nault had the worst case Two of his pitches to running backs were way off the mark and resulted in Tennessee Tech recoveries His passing much better either as he completed three passes to his receivers and two passes to the Tennessee Tech defense-Four of those novers led to Tech the only scores the Eagles managed in the first half "Most of it was because I was the weary but smiling Nault said after the game "On the interceptions I just wait long enough to One of the interceptions was returned 58 yards for a touchdown giving the Eagles at that point a 12-7 lead "I was really upset especially after that touchdown And then I missed the tackle on the guy that intercepted Nault said while shaking his head "Boy that (tackle) was an easy one a smiling Coach Carlisle inter- jected After his poor first-half performance Nault tigtened his chm strap a By JIMMY SMYTH Executive Sports Editor ATHENS Ga "This is our the scoreboard read meaning the Georgia Bulldogs of course and the word mis- spelled Terror it was for the Tennessee Volunteers who fell 44-0 to Georgia before 79600 fans at Sanford Stadium Saturday in a 1981 college football opener Another sign at Sandord Staduim did not go unnoticed either the one just outside the gates proclaiming Georgia national champions in 1980 Big territory Was Tennessee intimidated by being the only team in the country this year to face the defending national champs in the opening game? Perhaps And sophomore Hershel Walker though a show he was indeed was not alone among the Georgia heroes on a warm afternoon as senior quarterback Buck Belue completed 10 of 15 passes for 140 yards Lindsay Scott caught six passes for 95 yards and Norris Brown three for 45 yards Tennessee mounted an early offensive thrust to 30 but the Bulldog defense which coach Johnny Majors had said he felt would be better this year than last was firm Freddie Gilbert one of leadi Southeastern Conference consecutive extra point record of 105 as Georgia reserves provided the opportunity by scoring a touchdown in the last 18 seconds of the game Butler converted the 106th point Tennessee was the previous holder of the record Butler failed on his first field goal attempt of 26 yards in the second quarter Georgia got on the boards for the second time after recovering a Tennessee fumble with just over two mi-nutes left in the were for--: tunate to be only 14-0 behind at the Majors said later The Vols were at their own 33 when a handoff (Olszewski to Willie Gault) went astray and Georgia recovered Belue threw to Brown for 40 yards Walker picked up one and then two before Belue threw a touchdown pass of 15 yards to Scott "I think Belue is a better player than he was last Majors said The Tennessee coach had predicted that Georgia would be as tough or tougher than it was as national champions The understatement of the year came from a Georgia fan leaving the stadium 1 think going to have a pretty good Georgia methodically added to its lead in the second half with a 36-yard field goal by only three minutes into a feat neither has Garrt still lobltirig for first 1 981 NASCAR win at Southern 500 Jimmy THE 32ND ANNUAL Southern 40-car starting field will get the green flag at noon Monday with Harry Gant leading the way off the start-finish line" at thp 1366-mile Darlington International Raceway in Darlington the 23rd race on the 1981 schedule with the top winner Darrell Waltrip who has won eight races and six pole positions starting from the Uth position 'rat Grand national only his accomplished Grand points 4 1 Gant 41-year-old from Taylorsville Mike Yankees brought a four-game lead to Eli-zabethton and left with the qame pennant margin after halving four games with Manager of the Year Fred club Johnson Cardinals had' a dismal finish after making a strong run for the pennant but still shared third place with the Bluefield Orioles who made a strong bid in the days of Campaign Manager Johnny Red Birds were in on the pennant-making however! alternately endangering chances of and then snapping a nine-game Elizabethton winning streak 12-2 Aug 25 at Elizabethton and making it A wo in a row back in Johnson City 7-6 in 10 innings to hurt the chances of catching the Yankees But a very unfttnny thing happened to the Cardinals on the way to having third place all by themselves The Bristol Tigers who had been in a struggle with Kingsport earlier for the cellar spot whipped Johnson City four out of five games in their final senes outscoring the Cards 34-19 in the process When the dust settled Johnson City was all-even with the Tigers 7-7 as it was with Bluefield and Paintsville on the season The Cards had earlier finished with a 10-4 edge over Kingsport but had suffered at hands 5-9 When the post-season honors were announced Johnson Danny Cox was voted the Player of the Year in the league and Waters the Manager of the Year Champion Paintsville had five players honored Johnson City four Elizabethton and Kingsport two each and Bluefield and Bristol one each Johnson City drew 32035 fans to Howard Johnson Field during the 35-game home schedule considerably more than the 26000 they drew as the last-place club in 1980 i THE NCAA ia apparently going to soften its position in the battle it has with the College Football Association (CFA) At least the Southeastern Conference meeting in Atlanta seemed to feel that the situation will be worked out to separate the major football-playing schools of the CFA (61) from the some 76 whom they (the CFA) feel do not play the game on the major school level but exercise voting power they deserve The NCAA has indicated it had already begun a study of (Continued on Page 21) 4 1 Dale Earnhardt the defending GN champion who won a race this season is in the fifth row (10th place) in Allison also the money leader has a 50-point margin over Waltrip in the points race but Waltrip with his win at Bristol International Raceway Aug 22 ia the third-leg leader with 185 points followed by Ricky Rudd with 175 Allison has won $415150 to $340500 for runnerup Waltrip this season Richard Petty is third with $305140 PAINTSVILLE-Tri-County nailed down its third straight Appalachian Summer A League pennant in a direct confrontation with its closest challenger Elizabeth-ton at the home of the Twins Joe O'Bnen Park 4 i second pole position of the season and the number 2 at all unusual for Gant still a non-winner on the circuit who haa finished second five times (his season in the first 17 races and fourth place in three of the last four i Gant qualified at 152693 miles per hour slower than the record held by Benny Parsons of 155866 miles per 1 hour on April 13 Cale Yarborough who qualified second at 152135 miles per hour holds the 500-mile race record at 134 003 set on Sept 3 1973 i Yarborough also holds the most wins for the Labor Day event visiting Victory Lane four 1968-73-74-78 1 Waltrip the Tennessean from Franklin near Nashville is currently giving Bobby Allison a spirited race for the Z' I o-'.