Kingsport Times-News from Kingsport, Tennessee • 25

1 KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS Sunday December 2 1979 r-X LJ LI 5 Bama Bops Auburn For Spot In Sugar Bowl TEAM EFFORT GIVE INDIANS 51-34 WIN OVER SPRINGFIELD parent touchdown pass in the end zone on fourth down were within two eyelashes of breaking said Auburn Coach Doug Barfield "Another step and Brooks would have gone all the way on that kickoff return and that pass bounced off of Locklear's Alabama which will play Arkansas in its third straight Sugar Bowl and 21st consecutive bowl appearance had a chance to blow Auburn out right at the start but trailed 3-0 at the end of the first quarter The top-ranked Tide did get rolling in the second period driving 80 and 65 yards to lead 14-3 at the half but Auburn refused to quit Spurred on by a rash of Alabama fumbles the Tide lost four of five the Tigers 15-point underdogs closed the margin to 17-12 with eight seconds left in the third period when Charlie Trotman threw a 36-yard pass to Joe Cribbs and went ahead 18-17 early in the final period on an 11-yard Trotman pass to Mark Robbins However where Shealy who completed five of six passes for 64 yards and ran for 99 during the game took over the defense gave us the ball (in the fumble-filled third quarter) all we could do was get one field said Trotman was the difference in the The Tigers' final TD was set up by a 55-yard pass from Trotman to Byron Franklin After the Trotman to Robbins scoring pass the Tigers tried and failed for the second time on a two-point conversion effort Alabama began its winning touchdown drive at its own 18 and in addition to Shea-More On Page 2C Col 1 BIRMINGHAM Ala (UPI) An inability to hang on to the football almost cost Alabama its No 1 ranking the Southeastern Conference championship and a berth in the Sugar Bowl yesterday but the top-ranked Crimson Tide came out alright in the end thanks to quarterback Steadman Shealy The Tide was down 18-17 with less than 12 minutes to play the first time all year the unbeaten Tide men had trailed in the final period when Alabama rode the feet and arm of Shealy 82 yards to beat Auburn 25-18 complete a perfect season and gain all the rewards such a season deserves things go bad they really go said Shealy in reference to Alabama losing -four fumbles in the third period just thankful we came back I had the feeling we Shealy who also accounted for two second-quarter touchdowns when he passed for 28 yards to Keith Pugh for one and ran a -yard for another had four big plays in the winning drive the biggest being an 6 yard keeper that put Alabama in front to stay with 8: 17 left in the game "It was an unusual game because although I knew Auburn had a lot of players and I knew they would hit you I think they could cause us to fumble as much as we said Alabama Coach Bear Bryant defense played spectacular and our offense played well enough to Auburn 8-3 had a chance to catch Alabama in the closing minutes when James Brooks turned in a 64-yard kickoff return but Brooks was caught from behind by Alabama defensive back Don McNeal at the Tide 31 and Mike Locklear dropped an ap Streatei Rallies Vols Past SCOTT FOOLE 17 poinlt a tough ball game If we can get our rest we'll be D-B outrebounded the Yellow Jackets 29-25 Gray led the way with 8 rebounds The Indians jumped out to a 24-20 halftime lead and stretched it to 35-26 at the third quarter stop The Tribe went on to outscore Springfield 168 in the final frame More On Page 2C Col I Vandy SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS: Canftrenct Overall n-Alaboma 0 0 0 0 Georgia 1 0 A 0 Auburn 4 3 0 I 3 0 LSU 4 3 0 9 Tenntt 3 3 0 7 4 0 Kentucky 3 3 0 A 0 Ole Mitt 3 3 0 4 0 Mi State 3 4 0 3 0 Vonderbilt 0 A 0 I 10 0 lor ido 0 A 0 0 10 I x-Cilnched chomotonshlo and Sugar Bowl bid Saturday's Retutt Aloboma 35 Auburn II Tenneisec 31 Vonderbilt 10 Mloml Flo 30 Florida 74 been able to play Streater whose 221 passing yards allowed him to pass Bobby Scott and become the all-time passing leader with 3433 yards surprised himself with the effort "I really didn't think I'd play that said Streater afterwards was limited in practice all week and still had some stiffness in the knee I thought I could go but know how much" Streater admitted to being gun-shy at first "The first time I ran the ball (26yard gain) I was thinking about the said Streater think I could have brokenjt farther if I hadn't been aware of But Streater said after that run he didn't think about it much the game went on I forgot about said Streater just tried to play like I always do There was no pain I felt He played fine too After being denied a touchdown pass in the first half when Reggie Harper caught one of his passes barely out of the end zone Streater came back to lead the Vols to a score on first possession of the second half He led his team 72 yards In seven plays lofting a 41-yard bomb to Hancock on a post pattern and the Vol sophomore beat- Van-More On Page 2C Col 1 NASHVILLE reaUy beamed Dobyns-Bennett head coach Buck Van Huss He well deserves to be pleased His Indians came away with two straight victories and are still unbeaten with a perfect 7-0 record It took a team effort last night but the Tribe walked out with a 51-34 triumph over Springfield in a basketball double-header here Sullivan Central took on host Hillsboro in a late game Hot-shooting guard Scott Fogle once again took charge and led the way with 17 points John Gray 65 center tossed in 12 and forward Victor McMiller added 11 in the victory is the best defensive game we've played" said Van Huss really played well but tonight all of them really played well I couldn't pick any one boy out" It's been a long trip for the Indians who left Friday and a game against Big Seven Conference foe Sullivan East Tuesday night know how this trip will affect said Van Huss just have to wait and see Sullivan East is going to be By RON BLISS Executive Sports Editor KNOXVILLE Jimmy Streater exp-cected to watch much of his final home game at Tennessee from the sidelines here yesterday A knee he injured in the Notre Dame game three weeks before had not responded the way he hoped and he expected only limited action if in the season finale against Vanderbilt But Streater was forced into action before expected when starter Jeff Olszewski spurted and Vandy jumped to quick 160 lead He responded to pass for 221 yards and two long touchdowns to lead the Vols to a come-from-behind 31-10 victory and spoil the hopes of snapping a 23-game SEC losing streak performance was grinned Vol head coach Johnny Majors after Streater had sparked the Vols to 31 second-half points sure have missed that little rascal" Streater who came on late in the first quarter got the Vols on the board for the first time when he lofted a 41-yard scoring strike to Anthony Hancock with 11:45 left in the third quarter Then after senior Roland James broke an 86yard punt return to put the Vols ahead he hooked up with Hancock again for an 85-yard strike the longest in Tennessee history to put the Vols safely ahead 21-10 with 1:40 to play in the third period Senior Gary Moore scored on a 17-yard run on the first play after Bill Bates returned an interception 32 yards midway through the fourth quarter to add insurance The Vols' Alan Duncan finished the scoring with a 27-yard field goal that followed a Vandy fumble moments later But it was obvious that a lot of what happened wouldn't have been had Streater not -X fW 1 fitX I I etft' I xnW -r On Football Ed Tarkenton Still Firing Straight Fran Tarkenton mess around Never has Never will Just throw or go Same with questions Pussyfooting and equivocating are out Fire! Take' say the Dolphin-Patriot crunch Thursday night with Tarkenton sharing ABC-TV microphones with Frank Gifford and Don Meredith: England should win They have a little better people Hear Tarkenton on Bob Griese new No 2: good quarterbacks have a flat year in their thirties for one of two reasons Either their skills have diminished so much time to hang it up or they have a disabling injury I know of any such injury Griese has As for Don Strock Thursday night's Dolphin starter: may be the answer He has to prove it easy to come off the bench now and then and win Successfully going a distance is a different On Super Bowl XIV (Tarkenton being expert at getting into Super Bowls if not out of them): against Dallas and there are at least seven AFC teams as good as the Cowboys Pittsburgh San Diego Houston Cleveland Denver New England and Miami The first four are better The last three are about as And the Minnesota Vikings he directed to three Super seasons only to'bust out there: all NFC teams at their healthy best the Vikings have the worst personnel They're in dire Obviously Francis Asbury Tarkenton talks just as he maddened pro defenses for 18 years jabbing probing keeping opponents and-or audiences forever off- balance I always figured God made hands to direct a football as surely as he made to direct a brush or to turn the common clank of piano keys into beauty Tarkenton makes most of his stack now running his earth-encircling Behavorial Systems business headquartered in Atlanta And he still hits life head-on say the Patriots won in -their last 11 games in the Orange he laughed "Maybe I should change my pick No I I think they're due Funny their problem is the same as Miami's inconsistent Tarkenton asked for a split-second to check his watch almost due at the he said a virus Old broken-down quarterbacks are always due at the office for some Now maybe yes Until just last year Tarkenton tumbled records like toy soldiers 47003 yards passing 3686 completions 362 touchdowns passing And more I was 39 before a knee injury and a broken leg finished Tarkenton said it fair to say everybody should play that long Griese is 34 right? People get old at different times Johnny Unitas played until he was 41 and Bart Starr until he was 37 Both were great for a longtime like Griese The truth is Starr and Unitas should have quit long before they did They became lame ducks quarterback should be most productive in his thirties Any time a really top quarterback like Griese has a whole off-year as opposed to a few off-games a bad sign Ninety-nine percent of the time unless he has an injury nobody knows about his skills are diminishing it the Dolphins over-all deteriorated that much The defense is great wide receivers simply fantastic running backs excellent and the offensive line is one of the best even if it isn't what it once was So the buck stops with the quarterback harsh It's also ust as truly according to the most devilish QB ever named for the first Methodist bishop in America bad Monday game against Houston about a month ago Dan Pastorini of the Oilers also played terribly Pastorini is only 30 about New quarterback? Steve Grogan is just 26 and still has to show he is a consistently fine quarterback The best quarterbacks in the league right now are Roger Staubach and Lord 37 and Terry Bradshaw 31 and Brian Sipe To Tarkenton means you put a number on when a guy should be great or should be through But it necessarily support the hopes people might have for Griese pulling out of this tjnd of Vanderbilt quarterback ValTHeflin (7) dives over a host of Tennessee defenders for a short gain in game Speed Sparks Blues Over Clintwood 15-8 By DENNY DARNELL Assistant Sports Editor CLINTWOOD be a new Group A state grid champion in Virginia this year Clintwood the defending state titlist saw its bid for a fourth Group A crown spoiled here at icy Ralph Cummins Stadium yesterday afternoon as Parry McCluer notched a 1541 victory Parry McCluer now 11-2 meets Washington Lee Montross Saturday at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville for the title made the finals with a 35-28 win over Cen-tral-Lunenburg yesterday Parry McCluer and Clintwood were evenly matched in all facets of the game except one And that facet speed turned out to be the factor that would spell upset for the top-ranked Green Wave After the Wave had grabbed a 60 lead' on the opening play of the second quarter and dominated the game through the first 18 minutes the Blues put together TD marches of 82 and 70 yards in Gatling gun fashion That was all Bob squad needed as the second half turned into a defensive struggle with the Blues using good field position to keep Clintwood backed against the wall Part of the Blues' advantage in the speed department came in the form of running back Tim Jones A bullish runner similar to Kelly Vanover of the Wave Jones used his speeid to be even more devastating Both Jones and Vanover collected 108 yards rushing It was 25-yard tackle-breaking scamper and two-point conversion that deadlocked (he score capping a seven-play 82-yard march at 3:48 of the second stanza The second speedster in he Parry McCluer backfield was Rock Martin The senior running back kicked the Blues' offense in gear on the opening TD drive with a 36-yard scamper and then capped the winning march a five-play 76yard grind with a 31-yard TD reception Martin pulled the ball in over the middle and raced to the left sideline winning the foot race to the end zone over the Wave secondary 36yard run at the 4:59 marck of the second quarter Clintwood's defense had completely controlled Blues i i Parry McCluer was without a first down and had only two yards total offense didn't think we would be able to run inside on them" he PM coach Bob Williams set out to throw some and try to break something outside We used traps the crossbuck and the pass effectively But we had surprisingly good success inside "We expected Clintwood to come right at us The question was whether we could stop them It didn't look like we could early We change anything along the way We just tried to be a little more aggressive" Jones picked his hole on the TD run usually go to the left side" he said "On the TD run I found the opening off tackle Once I got through the line I cut back against the grain and managed to slip away from a couple of tacklers had good success with the traps and cross-buck We couldn't line up and go right at them They were too Jones has now rushed for 2054 yards and tallied 218 points on the year played good football" said Wave coach Ralph Cummins two teams were even down to the skilled people That's where they had the advantage And Jones' strength worried us as much as his speed they were going to do anything with us I thought be inside Our defense played well enough to win We just get the points on offense We were moving until the delay penalty Another TD on the board thee and it could have changed the complexion of the Clintwood which finishes the season at 162 looked to be ready to break the game open in the opening half Witl( Vanover car-' rying 10 times for 39 yards in a 13-play 48-yard march the Wave were on the board at the 11:57 mark of the second quarter Van-over hurdled in for the final yard and added the two-point conversion also going over the top A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was assessed the Wave on the ensuing kickoff and a good return by the Blues to the Clintwood 45 still wasn't enough to get the visitors untracked offensively Even a bad snap from center on a punt didn't hurt at Mike Mullins managed to get off a running 36-yard punt More On Pagf 2C Col 2 A i Parry McCluer quarterback Neal Mohler (18) unloads with a completion as Rock Martin (32) wards off a Clintwood defender to give Mohler plenty of protection Parry McCluer pulled off a 15-8 win over the defending Group A state champion Green Waves 4 1 4.