The Lincoln Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • Page 11

THE LINCOLN STAR SDorts Saturday, Page 11 Cornhuskers' "shootout game' arrives 20 days early Offense NEBRASKA No. Namo Ht. Wt. Pos. Wt.

S6 Spaath 228 TE 225 70 Llnaanfaltar 6-7 277 LT 255 51 Schmidt 222 LG 240 52 Davis 232 250 63 Jorgenson 235 RG 229 78 256 RT 329 8 162 SE 188 15 Ferragamo 6-3 208 QB 184 49 208 IB 189 45 Donnell 6-2 219 FB 193 81 Shamblln 6-3 190 WB 174 Defense OKLA. STATE Ht. Name No. 6-4 6-5 Perrelli ................62 6-1 6-2 6-4 Baker ....................66 6-9 Hardaway .............73 6-2 6-2 Weatherbie ...........15 6-0 5-11 S. Taylor ..............28 5-9 R.

NEBRASKA 80 220 LE 211 6-3 OKLA. STATE 91 6-3247 LT 238 6-4 Dawson .........97 66 215 MG237 72 275 RT 260 6-5 Dokas ..................91 98 211 RE202 6-4 Turner ................77 61 6-0 206 LB223 6-1Welmer 59 Wightman 6-3215 LB 205 .........45 23 Smith 196 Mon. 189 5-11 Coppola .........21 34 CB 173 5-10 .........24 31 Harvey 5-10 170 CB 188 4 Valasek 166 S185 6-4 Irions .........3 Kickoff 1:30 p.m., Memorial Stadium Broadcasts KLIN, KFOR, KFAB, WOW, KRNU-FM. By Dave Sittler Staff Sports Writer Funny how things tiim out. These early days of November were suppose to be spent putting on storm windows, raking leaves, tossing an extra log on fire while awaiting the arrival of two annual biggies winter and the Nebraska Oklahoma football game.

Every good Nebraska fan knew Nov. 26 was to be the day. That was the afternoon their cherished Comhuskers would send Oklahoma to its winter of discontent as Nebraska won (what seems like) Shootout No. 567 and marched triumphantly to the Orange Bowl as champions of the Big Eight. But alt that has changed.

Thanks to one of the strangest seven- week periods in Big Eight history and to an upstart Oklahoma State team, things are turning out differently this time around. Oklahoma State has already bankrupted one partner of what has been the Big Eight franchise for years when the Cowboys beat Oklahoma The Pokes whipped their better-known cousins from Norman, 31-24. This afternoon. Coach Jim Cowboys will try to drive the final nail in the coffin, destroying Nebraska the team which has shared partnership with Oklahoma in owning the Big Eight title longer then most folks can remember. So, Nov 26 has arrived 20 days early.

The game will be today at 1 30 in Memorial Stadium when Nebraska and Oklahoma State clash in a battle between two of the three league leaders. Each team has a loss to go with three wins, as does Colorado. Oklahoma State showed capable of some rather strange ball when it blew a fourth-quarter lead and the game to Colorado three weeks ago. Not to be outdone, Nebraska joined the loser ranks two weeks ago against Missouri. You remember Mizzou, the team that seems to take a vacation every other Saturday.

It was on the job two weeks ago in Lincoln, shocking the Buskers, 34-24 Couple those strange happenings with a dozen or so other Big Eight games and you have three teams tied for the lead and six clubs still owning a shot at the title, During any normal season, the Big Eight would have six teams burnt out by now, leaving Nebraska and Oklahoma to shoot it out around Thanksgiving. This is anything but a normal year, thanks to league members Iowa State. Missouri, Colorado and, of course, Oklahoma State. The Cowboys will wheel a veteran group into Memorial Stadium. Nineteen starters return from a team which scared Nebraska a season ago Stillwater before losing 28-20.

OSBU boasts one of the premier running backs in Terry Miller. The Colorado Springs junior, who has won successive Big Eight back-of-the-week awards and seems destined for all-everything honors, rambled for 228 yards last Saturday against Missouri The Miller operates out of Oklahoma new, veer-T offensive formation Gone is last OSU wishbone and I- formation sets which were good enough to allow Miller to score three touchdowns against the Buskers. Oklahoma defense is led by mean and mobile Phillip Dokes A 6-5, 260-pound tackle, Dokes keys the Poke defenders who are third in the conference in total defense, allowing 295.3 yards a contest The Cowboy pass defense, which tops the conference, will be severely tested by Vince Ferragamo Ferragamo has thrown for 1,381 yards and 14 touchdowns to pace the Big Eight quarterbacks, Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, who will be seeking his 35th win since taking over for Bob Devaney, expects to field a healthy squad 1-back Dave Gillespie is the only questionable performer, although Iback Monte Anthony is smarting from a tender shoulder. be there." Anthony said of the ultra-important game "A lot of players have passed through this school lately without going to the Orange Bowl, I plan to be among that A win over the Pokes is a must if the Buskers intend to be lying on the Florida beaches in late December you think of Oklahoma State you think of one of the hardest hitting teams in the country," Anthony said might be one or two big plays that decide the game, but I think there wall be a lot of vicious hitting inside the 10-yardline If past history is an indicator, the 86th consecutive sellout crowd of more than 86,000 at Stadium wall view an ally fight with Nebraska escaping with a narrow victory The last three contests have been cardiac arrest jobs as Nebraska has built a 13-2-1 record against the Cowboys The last Nebraska loss was in 1961, although Oklahoma Stale tied the Buskers, 17-17 in 1973 Bow important is the Stanley says it the most important game in his four years at Oklahoma State Osborne won go that far But both coaches know the winner will be in the drivers seat with the road headed to the Orange Bowl Oklahoma State in the Orange BowP Funny how things turn out. pnoto Dv WeD Ray Southeast's Larry Gilliland (44) runs behind wall of Knight blockers.

Prep stops Northwest, 21-7 By Chuck Sinclair Prep Sports Writer Omaha Creighton Prep football coach Tom Jaworski that he really didn really care which team made the Class A state football playoff finaLs. as long as his Junior Jays would provide the opposition That even seenunl hke a bit much to hope for as Prep slopptHl Omaha in Friday night semifinal at Field just eight days after the Huskies had whipped Prep 23-6 fo earn their playoff berth But as J.iworski put it before the game, and senior wingback Lou Finocchiaro echoed after the finish. Prep was ready ready to the tune of 21-7 and a complete turnaround of last wtvk Prep got the break early when Tim Durham bobbUnl Pat first punt of the game after the Huskies had shut the Jays down on three offensive plays But recovered on the 25-yard-hne and It took just thrw plays for John Sempek to find him wide open in the end zone for the first score with 10 i)9 remaining in the first quarter The point after try by LeiTair was blocked, but Prep had taken advantage of the turnover, instead of not being able to push it across like a similar situation last On Prep's next series, another punting situation was torced, but the ball bounded between LeClair's legs to the 19-yard-line where Northwest tiwk over with excellent field position but failed to score when Craig Huston was intercepU'd in the end zone by Doug Spellman Taking the ball on the 23-yard-hne early in the second quarter. Prep drove 77 yards in 11 plays with Thurman Cotton scoring the. first of two one-yard touchdowns to give Prep a 12-7 lead with 9 45 left in the half FiniHchiaro caught the two-point conversion from St'nqH'k to make it 14-0 Northwest fought back and scored on a one-yard by Paul Tully that was set up by a 32-yard scramble by Huston to Prep five-yard-line Neither team was able to mount an offensive in the stvond half until Tata Machado intercepted a Huston jvi.ss at the Northwest 34-vard-line and returned it to the 21 Cotton carruHl the ball six straight times until he it in with 3 19 remaining in the game Prep will now meet Lincoln Southeast.

14-0 winners over Grand Island, in a game at Seacrest Field in Lincoln will be prepared for the final, the first for either team We four guys out to scout at Grand Island, he said Two to watch each team We really didn care who won the game, we just wanted to be there That was our mam goal Ttmight game was a compliment to our football team, he added We played a great football team tonight They wouldnT have been here if they weren were just ready tonight, FiniHYhiaro, who caught three passes for 49 yards and one toucfidown We had the best week of practice this wtH'k that we ve had all year I'hat may have had something to do with the new life pumptHl into Prep after apparently being kmnked out of the playoffs, but getting back in on two major upsets We just plain did everything better tonight, Jaworski Now. we re just looking forward to next WiVk game with Southeast Statistics, page 12 Classy Centennial routs West Point By Dave Sittler StaW Sports Writor Waco Centennial demonstrated here Friday night what can happtm when you acquire a little class Benefiting from experience gamed by playing and whipping eight Class teams during their nine-game regular season, the Broncos rolled over West Point 33-7 in semifinal Class (M playoff action think our Class competition showed tonight," Centennial coach Rod Voss said of lus team which ended the game rated No 1 in the Sunday Journal and Star with its 9-0 record Point has a fine team, but certainly not as quick as what been used to seemg with the Class teams The victory atoned for a 3(M) pasting the Broncos suffered last year in first round playoff competition against eventual Class C-1 champion Plainview thought we played a super football game tonight," Vim said of his classy effort "Outside of a couple penalues I think of much we did wrong Centennial, who lived on its ckfensive resNitaumi alt season, also came with a sterling offensive effort against the out- Cadets With halfback Barry Leif putting on a offensive show with his nifty running, the Centennial defense came up With Its usual stingy effort The Broncos allowed West Point only 161 yards total offense while forcing Cadet quarterback Rusty Adams to throw six interi'eptions had only seven interceptions all year," West Point coach Reggie Smith said But Centennial is a fine football team Our depth is nut all that great and It hurt tonight" Forced to play the same eleven men both ways against the rangy and talented BronciKS, Wait Point finally wore down under strong runmng attack which ground out 255 yards Leif did most of the damage as he carted the ball 32 times for 156 yards and three of his five touchdowns on runs of one, three and one yards the best game ever had for Voss said of his talented junior who rushed for 602 yards during die regular season Centennial jumped to a quick lead and appeared ready to dominate as the Broncos drove 67 yards the kickuff to lake a 6-0 lead on one yard plunge Wi'st Point back and appeared Net to make a contest of it when spunky running back Steve Smidt got the Cadets offen.st» untracked in the second quarter Smidt, who does everything from the kicking chores to the running duties for the Cadets, carried the ball six out of eight times during the West Point scoring drive which was set up by a Centenmal fumble Quarterback Adams got the final three yards on West Point drive and Srmdt extra gave the Cadets their only lead of the night at 7-6 with 5 58 left in the second quarter But a fumble by Adams which nial Tim Gierhan recovered on the West Point 32 yard line with I 36 left in the second quarter proved to be the contest turning point After a dump pass out of a variation of the shotgun offense from quarterback iKiug Gloystein to Leif picked up 20 yards, Leif scored on a six yard scamper to push the Broncos ahead 12-7 with 49 seconds left in the half touchdown was a big turning point for us," Voss said "It allowed lu to LSE earns final berth with victory over Gl By Randy York Prep Sports Editor Grand Island Lincoln Southeast's oft- mahgned secondary intercepted four passes here Friday night to lead the third-rated KnighLs past Grand Island. 14-0. in the state Class A playoffs The performance may have been the result of a special meeting called Thursday by Southeast head coach Frank Solich Our whole secondary got together and reviewed our assignments," offered cornerback Unik This is by far the best game we played as a unit W'e all worked together and got the job done Lanik intercepted one of the passes by Grand Island quarterback Paul Tneschman. who completed only SIX of 24 tosses Safety Knox Jones intercepted two passes and Don Jones, subsiiluting at cornerback for Lanik.

came up with the other interception Southeast had a much better pass defense that I thought they could play Grand Island coach Ken Fisher said after his Islanders were kncH'ked out of the state playoffs the second straight year by a Lincoln team Our sec'ondary has been suspect all year long and we've aware of it. Sohch said couldn have played much better That the best game Knox has had Hager Gary didn get an interi-eption but he had a lot of key And Tim he just did an excellent job of one-on-one coverage De.spite Southeast secondary performance, thought Grand Island should have had them out of there in the first half We had all kinds of opportunities, but they came up with the big play We were hoping to jump on them and take them out of their game plan It was remarkable Southeast went into the UHkerrtHim at halftime with a sc'oreless tie Grand Island originated 44 offensive plays in the first half while Southeast managed only 18 The Islanders held a commanding 14-3 edge in first downs and a 167-62 bulge in total offensive yards Siutheast made the necessary half-time adjustments to take lontrol in the third quarter Lanik the Knights on the move with a 3ii-yard punt return in which he eluded four taiklers The 5-9 160-pound senior also caught a 14-yard touchdown pass in Scmtheast 52-yard drive and produced a key block when quarterback Ed Davis was forced to scramble out ol a Si reen pa.ss on a fourth-down situation Davis broke the scoring drought with a one- yard sneak with 13 seconds left in the third quarter Southeast scored four minutes later, driving 62 yards in six plays after Mitch Mullins recovered a Kirk fumble, one of nine Grand Island fumbles in the game The Islanders lost three for a total of seven turnovers Larry Gilliland, the game leading rusher With 118 yards on 21 carries, scored the Knights second toui hdowm with 8 05 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard run around right end Gilliland took a pitch-out from Davis, fumbled the ball a couple of yards in front of him, picked It up on biiunce without breaking stride and raced into the right corner of the end- zone There were a lot of strange bourn es out there tonight and we were just fortunate to get our share Solich said We were very lucky to viime in at halftime at 0-0 Grand Island could ve made the game lopsided in the first half if we hadn come up with three interceptions key to the Knights seventh victory against one loss and two ties was the kicking game a Nilich worry Grand Island Don Dennhardt, who had returned four punts and one kickoff for touchdowns this seasvtn. was held completely in chevk Davis averaged 42 5 yards on five punts and l.rand Island finished with a nunus four return yards We worked hard all week on our kicking game -aid did a good job td hanging the ball in the air and kii king it out of bounds so Dennhardt didn get much of a chance Fisher told his players alter the game not get down on themselves We got beat by a good football team, he said Southeast will show up well in the game you an ount on that Fisher vud siuthea.st of a double tight end formation throughout most of the game toohusout if a lot of our defen.st*s Frank Solich really did his Statistics, page 12 open up our offense a bit more and let us do some things you can do you have the lead With lentennial pirating three of Adams passes in the third quarter entennial blew the contest wide open With two quuk touchdowns I entennial advances to the state championship contest against Tekamah- Herman a 264) victor over Bridgeport in the other (-I semifinal West Point which finished ib season With an 8-2 record, suffered ib only other defeat of the season to Tekamah-Hernun early in September West Point coach Smith predicted Tekamah-Herman would win the I'-l championship game scheduled here next Friday at 7 I have to stick with a member of our Husker Smith said have three backs who can run and a quarterback who can do it all Naturally, Voss disagreed with that observation sort of hked the way I'tica nial looked tonight, Voss said And pretty classy the I'entenmal coach could have added Statiitict, 12 c-cjto Grand Island's Don Dennhardt is stopped by Southeast's Ross Loudenback..