Kingsport Times from Kingsport, Tennessee • 10

iliV11 3C 2B Kingsport Times Tuesday September 26 1978 IJnderdog Vikings Capture 24-20 Victory Over Bears rwttiyniflir'- cut the advantage to one point But then Tarkenton took charge Relying on his passing he carried the Vikings from their 31 to the one where Foreman plunged a yard for a touchdown and an eight point Vikings edge and Rick Danmeier who converted after each touchdown booted a 29 yard field goal for an 1 1 point Minnesota lead with 12 minutes to play Avellini forced to play catch-up by passing wound up with 207 yards on 22 completions in 36 attempts but he had two passes intercepted in key situations and the fumble which resulted Minnesota's touchdown gave the Bears too many turnovers to keep pace Tarkenton passed for 152 yards on 14 completions in 20 attempts and had only one interception by Doug Plank on the two to stop a Minnesota threat CHICAGO (UPI) The Minnesota Vikings are far from "dead and the Chicago Bears can testify to their rejuvena 'tion The Bears began Monday TV game unbeaten in 'three games and a three point favorite The Vikings scored the first 14 points never trailed and posted a 24 20 victory move into contention for a seventh straight cham pionship in the National Conference Central Division were vicfms of the Vikings and our own mistakes" Coach Neill Aimstrong said On the sixth play of the game Minnesota Fran Tarken-ton passed to Sammy White for 33 yards and a Vikings' touchdown On the Bears' ninth play Chicago Bob fumbled the snap from center Minnesota Mark Mullaney recovered and lateraled to Matt Blair who ran 49 yards fora touchdown and a 14 0 Viking advantage The two touchdowns were enough to decide the game was a lot of Vikings Coach Bud Grant said pressure every week This was not a Super Bowl it was just a game I The win gave Minnesota a 2 2 record one game behind the Bears and Green Bay tied for the Central Division lead with 3-1 records Minnesota won the contest on rushing yardage too limit ing Walter Payton to 58 yards in 24 carries Both Rickey Young and Chuck Foreman outgained Payton Young with 81 yards in 17 carries and Foreman with 73 in 17 Running was the difference in the Armstrong said We were ready but they played more 3 4 defense than we expected and they ran more than I thought they would The Bears picked away at Minnesota 14 point lead and Pavton ran three yards for the first of his two touchdowns before Bob Thomas booted field goals of 27 and 32 yards to i Minnesofo-Chicago Minnesoto Young 17 Bt Foremen 17 73 McClonahon 1 1 Miller 2 0 Tarkenton 2 minus 2 Chlcago-Harper 10 31 Pavton 24 58 Avellini 2 1 Possing Tarkenton 14 20-1 152 Avellini 22 36-2 207 Parsons 0-1 0-0 Receiving Minnesota Rashod 2 25 White 6-82 Young 3 17 McClanohan 1 7 Tucker 2 21 Chicago Richards 6-76 Harper 5 27 Pavton 4 37 Scott 2 26 Lotto 5-41 Minnesota 14 8 7 CMcogo 7 3 3 Minn-White 33 pass from Torkenton (Danmeier kick) Minn-Biolr 49 run after ioterol on fumble recovery (Danmeier kick) Chi Pavton 3 run (Thomos kick) Chi FG Thomas 27 Chi-FB Thomas 32 Mmn-Foremon 1 run (Donmeler kick) Mmn-FG Danmmeier 29 Chi Pavton 1 run (Thomas kick) A 53 561 (3 798) Chuck Foreman (44) goes over the top for short gain Monday night to get first down in drive for TD on first possession Chicago defenders are Doug Buffone (55) and Gary Fencik (45) Royals Claim AL West Title Share Down Mariners 7-2 ballclub that wants to win You can pick a winner in February For the Phillies keeping the pressure on quite so easy First they had to come from behind to tie their game with Montreal by scor ing a pair of runs in the ninth Then they watched the scoreboard to discover the second place Pirates had beaten the Chicago Cubs 7 4 Finally they put the Expos away in the 12th when rookie Orlando Gonzalez beat out an infield single moved to third on an error and a sacrifice and scored on Larry single aching all over" said Bowa who broke an and Frank Taveras also had a pair of RBI for Pittsburgh Now if the Yankees can hold onto their one-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the AL East the same four teams will be back again to vie for World Series honors And what will Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn say about the competitive balance then9 Elswhere in the NL St Louis blankd New York 3 0 In the only other AL games Chicago topped Oakland 6-2 and Texas edged Minnesota 3-2 in 11 innings WhiteSox 6 A's2 Lamar bases loaded single scored two runs in the third inning for the hite Sox and Chet Lemon hit his 13th homer for another JakKucek 23 wastlie winner Rangers 3 Twins 2 Bobby Bonds the man everyone loves to trade achieved the fifth 30 homer 30 stolen baseseasonof his career Bonds who hit his30th homer in the eighth inning doubled with one out in the 11th inning and scored on A1 two-out single to Rive 1 exas the win Cardinals 3 MetsO Silvio Martinez 9 8 pitched his second two hitter of the season and beat the Mets for the third time in as many starts George Hendi lek and Roger Freed had RBI singles for the Cards By BILL MADDEN UPI Sports Writer A baseball status quo9 An unprecedented repeat of the same four playoff finalists is closer to becoming reality today with the Kansas City Royals having clinched at least a tie for the American League West and the Philadelphia Phillies inching closer to the National League East title The Royals clinched a tie for their third straight AL West title Monday night by beating the Seattle Mariners 7-2 behind the six-hit pitching of Dennis Leonard who won his 20th game for the second straight season At the same time the Phillies maintained their four-game lead over Pittsburgh in the NL East by coming from behind to beat the Montreal Expos 3 2 in 12 innings John Wathan had a two-run triple for the Royals in the first and the Royals added four more in the fourth to stake Leonard to his fourth straight win and help him become the first pit her in Royals history to win 20 games twice said the Frank White teams get this far i 30 years and we ve done it three years in a row We went through a lot to get here The injuries the slumps from some guys who were trying to hit the long ball to help the club got to get inside of a team inside the players to see what made of This team is a tough gritty 0 for-9 streak with his game winning hit love to sit in the sun for a week All I was trying to do was hit down on the ball and avoid hitting a popup "I think winning a game like this along with the way we've played over the last couple of weeks shows this team has character As for the Pirates who kept their slim hopes alive by beating Chicago once again it was Dave Parker providing the bulk of the offense Parker raised his NL-leading average to 328 with a single double and triple and increased his NL-ieading RBI total to 114 with two Omar Moreno In Coryell Chargers Have Top Motivator Kansas City designated hitter Hal McRae and Seattle second baseman Julio Cruz collide at second base after McRae stole second The throw from the Mariner catcher was errant and McRae raced to third and scored when the throw to third was off the mark Sooners Claim Top Spot In College Football Poll NEW YORK (UPI) The San Diego Chargers are the 11th NFL club to make a coaching switch since the beginning of last season and if that leaves you with the impression that a good solid quarterback often is more highly valued than a good solid coach then on the right trac Coaches with anv kind of tenure at all like Tom Landry Bud Grant Don Shula Chuck Noll and John Madden are the ex ceptions rather than the rule so that although the season is barely one quarter of the way along there are already two casualties Tommy Prothro being the la test Don Coryell who did so well with the St Louis Cardinals before having a falling out with owner Bill Bidwill and being fired last February is the new Chargers' coach Prothro is their old one He said he was because he was disappointed over the losses to Oakland Denver and Green Bay He was especially upset Tom Prothro Resigns Chargers Hire Coryell SAN DIFGO (UPI) Head coach Tommy Prothro always said he would do anything to make the San Diego Chargers a winner Monday he resigned Prothro telephoned Chargers owner Gene Klein Sunday just before midnight and said he wanted to step down Klein arrived at San Diego Stadium at 5 a Mondav and called former St Louis Cardinals head coach Don Corvell and offered him the position Coryell accepted The Chargers were routed by the Green Bav Packers Sunday 24 3 San Dugo committed 11 tur novers five interceptions and six fumbles After the game Prothro said it was disappointing and he wasn sure if his team could rebound from a 1 3 start to salvage a good season "We re just not ready to plav he said 1 It doesn look like we can come bac from a 1-3 star but it a long season and things can turn around But apparently the bad start bv his team got the best of the 58 year old Prothro still think this is a good football team Prothro said during Mondav news conference is a playoff contender However after disappointing losses to Oakland and Denver and a disaster against Green Bav I feel a fresh approach and a rude awakening is what this team needs For this reason I am resigning today hope the team will not think I am quitting on them or have lost confidence in them They are a tremendous group of people that I have thoioughlv enjoyed coaching I take this action onlv because I want it to be in the best interest of the team Corvell coached the Cardinals to two divisional titles in five years but was fired after the 1977 season in a disagreement with owner Bill Bidwell over salary assistant coaches and drafting procedures He had three years remaining on his contract His release was accompanied by stipulation he would not coach in 1978 The Chargers gave the Cardinals a third round draft choice in 1980 for Corvell services Coryell was 104 19-2 in 12 years at the helm of the San Diego State team He moved to the Cardinals in 1973 an overmatched Rice team made the Sooners strength difficult to judge and they were less than an overwhelming choice Southern Cal 2 0 made the most significant jump climbing five places from last week aftera surpisingly one-sided 24 14 triumph at Alabama which fell to No NEW YORK (UPI) Oklahoma combining a 66 7 drubbing of Rice with Alabama upset loss to Southern California took over the nation No 1 ranking from the Crimson Tide Monday in the UPI Board of Coaches college football ratings In the first change in the top spot since Alabama was named No 1 in pre season Oklahoma received 25 first place votes to seven for runner up Southern Cal The Sooners No 2 last week totaled 558 points to 516 for the Trojans The top five teams were closely bunched this week Oklahoma victory against 7 Central Up To 7th In State Grid Poll No 3 Michigan after an impressive 28-14 victory at Notre Dame narrowly trailed Southern Cal and close behind was No 4 Arkansas and No 5 Penn State Arkansas 2 0 beat Oklahoma State 19-7 while Penn State won its fourth missed gaining a playoff berth In Coryell final season with the Cardinals they won seven of their first 10 games and wound up losing their last four Bidwill and Coryell began having their differences over matters which had been left strictly up to Coryell before such as the priorities in the draft and the feeling between the two men reached such a point that Bidwill had the lock changed on Coryell office door so he couldn't open it When thev became aware Coryell return to the Cardinals this season the Los Angeles Rams made a bid for him seeking to sign him as Chuck successor Bidwill going to let Coryell go chcaplv though He insisted upon on a first round draft pick in return The Rams go for that so Coryell who was being paid by Bidwill for this year next year and the one after simply sat home and collected his checks He did a little garden mg and plaved some racquetball but was anxious to get back into football By terms of his contract with the Cardinals Corvell could not take a job with another NFL team while he was tied with them He had asked to be allowed to sign with some otherclub but Bidwill said no at least until such time as hecould besatisfied by the compensation he wanted This was the same situation Dick Williams found himself in after parting company with the Oakland A following the 1973 season Finally Charlie Finley relented so that the Angels were able to sign Williams after they turned over $100 000 to the A owner Similarly Bid will relented enough so that he accepted a third round pick in the 1980 draft from the Chargers in return for the right to sign Coryell Prothro teams compiled a 21-39 record during the four seasons-plus that he handled the Chargers He was an excellent evaluator and selector of talent and the biggest criticism ever lodged against him was that he didn motivate his players In this day and age that's looked upon as some kind of felony Prothro believed if a player was a professional he should be capable of motivating himself which is perfectly logical Coryell on the other hand is an outs landing motivator He relates to his players so well not only walk that extra mile for him they 11 run it As long as he can have them doing that he should have no trouble keeping his job with the Chargers And when they eventually get tired as all plavers do after awhile Don Coryell will move on somewhere else the way all his predecessors have done before him 1 game without a loss 26-21 over Southern Metnodist Texas 2 0 remained in the sixth position following a 17 3 victory over Wyoming Alabama dropped to No 7 after its first loss in three games and Texas continuing its steady rise in the ratings moved up two places to No 8 behind a 37 2 win over Boston College shakeup was Kingsport Dobyns Bennett drop from fourth to 10th following a 21 20 loss to Oak Ridge rated third this week Farragut receised three first place votes from the board one less than Maplewood NASHVILLE (UPI) The loo 10 Tennessee gh school tool bo teams in AAA AA A visions fh first ploce voles and records parentheses AAA 1 Forrogut (3) (S-0) 2 Mooiewood (41 (5-0) 3 Ook ooe (5 01 4 He) HnryCntvl 1 (4 0) Noshv lie Overton (4-1) 6 Bovior 1 0 1 7 Sullivan Central (5-fl) Gallal (5-0) 9 Covington (5 0) 75 1 Kingsport (4-1) 19 1 Moryvlt (5) (4-0) 75 2 Ruie (I) (5-01 71 3 Lexingfon (5-01 4 Rockwood (50) 60 5 Mmpns Rdgwv (7) (S-0) 48 6 Noshv lie Huiwod(SO) 41 7 Brentwood Academy (1) (-1) 35 33 12 9 8 Lenptr City (4 1) 9 Wh te Station (5-0) 10 Noire Oome (4-1) NEW YORK (UPI) The United press ntrrotionoi Board of Coaches Ledbetter Claims Low-Pro Honors In Pro-Am At Graysburg Hills too 20 college footboil ratings th 1 rst-o'oce voles ond won lost records In NASHVILLE (UPI) Three East Tennessee powers Farragut Maryville and Alcoa remain the No I Tennessee high school football teams in their respective divisions for the second week in a row The three schools located within a radius of less than 30 milies of one another were named the top teams bv the UPI board in the fourth week of this years poll Farragut 5-0 and tops in AAA defeated Middles-boro Ky 17-14 Friday night and takes on Clinton this Friday In an unusal match between two No 1 teams Maryville defeated A Alcoa 21 14 Friday night Maryville (5-0) state A A champs in 1976 and 1970 meets second ranked Knoxville Rule Friday in another showdown Alcoa last year A plavoff winner meets Gatlinburs Pittman The team loss to Maryyille was the first in five games In 6 AA the major about the 24 3 flogging inflicted by the Packers Sunday calling it "a disaster Most of coaching career was spent in the collegiate ranks and during 10 years at Oregon State and six more at UCLA his teams scored 104 victories and were beaten only 55 times for a 654 per cantage Coryell was even more successful coaching 12 years at San Diego State where his teams won 83 percent of their games with an overall record of 104 19 2 When the coaching job with the Cardinals opened Coryell wrote a letter to Bidw ill asking to be considered He made such a good impression on Bid will in an inters lew that he was given the job and wasted little time in changing things around For years the Cardinals had two aspects of the game continuously hammered into them ball control and defense Corvell had his own ideas the kind that had helped him mold San Diego State into a small college colossus while he coached there He was much more Interested in a quarterback like Jim Hart who could throw the ball and a tough rugged offensive line that could give him time to do it That was what he strove for with the Cardinals and that was what he succeeded building so that St Louis posted a 10-4 record two seasons before left and just par en theses Team 1 Ok id homo (25) (3-0) So Co it (7) (3-0) 3 Michigan (j) (2 0) 4 Arkansas (3) 0) 5 Penn St (1) (4-0) 6 Teo (20) 7 Aiotwma (2 I) I Tpos ASM (2-0) 9 FiondO St 0 10 Pittsburgh (2-0) II LSU (2-0) 12 Nebraska (2-1) 13 Maryland (0 14 (3-0) 15 Ohio St (1 I) 16 I St (3-0) 17 ssouri (2-1) if Kentucky (111 19 Sanord 1) 70 Purkj 2 Nat ty agreement Points 558 514 499 46 1 450 372 786 260 194 184 154 116 101 9f 86 84 54 22 30 19 me CHUCKEY Doug Idbetter fired a 70 here Monday afternoon at Graysburg Hills Country Club and took top honors in the low pro category of the Trt City chapter weekly pro-am He won $15 Low amateur went to Kelly Adams who finished with a 71 and also earned $15 Norman Campbell and Ledbetter teamed to win the pro-pro division with a 65 They each won $7 50 The winning team was Ledbetter lams Kenny Phillips and Harold Glover They shot a 62 and received $29 for their efforts Second place went to Ledbetter Adams Chester Trivette and Harold Rodgers with a 64 Each won $19 50 Next week competition will move to the Johnson Citv Country Club And it will also be the second round of the Tri City chapter PGA Pro of the Year which is being led by Darrell Laird assistant pro at Ridgefiijrfds 1 Alcoo (6) (4 1) 87 2 6oodpaure (2) (5-0) 71 3 South Fuhon (1) (5-0) 4 4 Lose County (Ml 6 5 Sweetwater (3 1) 30 4 Polk County (3-ij 21 7 Hofoon 5-01 Old NCkryAcdrnv(4 II 20 9 Woodbury (5-0) 6 10 MadisenvtiA (5-0) IS America Piwanii CeacAat Attactattaa teems an prooetion tty me NCAA are meheibte far tea 29 ami oat tonal cbomatenshia uderahen by Mm UPI ftoerd Coaches These seams earreniv an oratoatwore Mtcfctgan State Oklahoma Slat end OromNing I 1 L3.