The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 19

Galloping East Carolina holds off late Pack bid By JOE TIEDE Sports Editor N.C. State and East Carolina capped a football spectacular at Carter Stadium Saturday night that kept 49,200 spectators biting their nails until the clock showed all zeroes. In the end, the Wolfpack fell two yards short as the big-play Pirates hung on for a 28-23 victory. Time ran out on the Wolfpack with State in possession on the ECU two-yard line after a nineyard pass from Johnny Evans to halfback Ricky Adams. Ruffin McNeil, a sophomore safety playing in place of holdover Gerald Hall, made a gamesaving tackle on Adams, who caught the ball at the five heading straight for the goal.

Evans threw for 301 yards as the Wolfpack piled up 25 first downs to 12 for the Pirates. Long plays pay off But East Carolina hit four home runs in the game to offset State's margin in ball possession. ECU touchdowns came on an 82-yard run by quarterback Leander Green, a 60-yard interception return by end Jack Valentine, a 62-yard bomb from quarterback Jimmy Southerland to end Billy Ray Washington, and a 23-yard run by Southerland. State uncorked some long gainers of its own, but it never could overtake the Pirates, who jumped to a 14-0 first quarter lead. Evans threw touchdown passes of 20 and 80 yards to Elijah Marshall and Randy Hall, while Ted Brown ran nine yards for a third.

A 34-yard field goal by Jay Sherrill rounded out the scoring. East Carolina Coach Pat Dye said his team "mishandled the ball some" but "did a great job on offense and defense." He praised Southerland and Green, saying they "did a super job." "We were fortunate to win," Dye added. "Either team could have won. I'm not sure we beat them. They did not act like a beat football team." Staff photo by Scott Stewart Pack's Ted Brown swings around end for good gain And for a while at the end it was hard to tell who would be the beaten team.

Evans, who directed an 80-yard march just before the half ended for State's first touchdown, nearly duplicated that clutch, first-half performance. The Wolfpack surged 76 yards in 1:38 before time ran out. There were several confusing moments, including one when East Carolina players left the field as the clock showed no time remaining. This happened right after Evans tossed a 25- yard pass to Lin Dawson at the ECU 11. Officials ruled time remained and the players returned to the field, allowing Evans one more fling.

He almost made it, but McNeil was there to make the stop. "I honestly thought we were going to win it on the last play," said State Coach Bo Rein. "When you look at it (the game), our defense played pretty well. There were a few plays when we reacted a fraction of a second late and it cost us." But, Rein added, "I don't think our kids should be down. They gave a great effort." See PACK, Page 3 The News and Observer Staff photo by Scott Stewart Bucs' Theodore Sutton dragged down by State's Ralph Stringer Gamecocks score early, thrash Ap Appalachian an St.

By DOUG MEAD Special Correspondent COLUMBIA, S.C. South Carolina rolled up a three-touchdown advantage in the first half and cruised to a 32-17 victory over Appalachian State Saturday night. Playing before a crowd of 50,114, the Gamecocks led 18-0 until Gary Davis connected on a 37-yard field goal just as the halftime gun went off. The Gamecocks held a 25-11 lead at the end of the third period before trading fourth-quarter touchdowns with the Apps, preseason favorites in the Southern Conference. South Carolina, going for its third straight winning season under Coach Jim Carlen, grabbed its biggest advantage when running back Steve Dorsey scored on a five-yard run and Britt Purrish added the conversion for a 32-11 lead midway through the final period.

Appalachian State scored on its next possession, driving 72 yards in nine plays with fullback Eddie Estes running up the middle for 20 yards and a TD with 1:55 left. South Carolina running backs Dorsey and Spencer Clark each scored a pair of TDs while Quarterback Ron Bass threw for one and helped set up three others. His TD pass came on a Sunday, September 4, 1977 Raleigh, N.C. Section Il Lanny tied at World top 27-yard toss to wide receiver Phillip Logan. South Carolina scored early, getting a TD on its second possession when sophomore Dorsey went up the middle from five yards out.

Dorsey's TD ended a six-play, 35- yard drive that was set up by a feeble 24-yard punt by Appalachian State kicker David Abernathy. South Carolina's next scoring drive came early in the second quarter. The Gamecocks went 62 yards in eight plays with Clark going off tackle from eight yards out. See APPS, page 6 Navratilova, Wade win FOREST HILLS, N.Y. (AP) Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade, the two leading contenders to Chris Evert's throne, scored second-round victories Saturday at the $462,420 U.S.

Open Championships. The second-seeded Navratilova, the Czech expatriate who now resides in Dallas, beat 22-year-old Carrie Meyer of Indianapolis 6-4, 6-1. Wade, the Wimbledon champion from Britain who is seeded third here, returned to straight tennis following her opening round sideshow against Dr. Renee Richards and clobbered Maggie Riley, a qualifier from Dallas, 6-4, 6-0. They thus join Evert in the third round of the women's chase for a $33,000 first prize- the same as the men get.

Evert, seeking her third consecutive U.S. Open crown, lost just one game in winning her first two matches earlier this week. Vilas advances Meanwhile, men's third-round got under way Saturday, with fourth-seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina posting his 42nd consecutive victory on clay, easily defeating Victor Amaya of Holland, 6-3, 6-3. Other seeded men to advance to the fourth round were No. 8 Vitas Gerulaitis of Kings Point, N.Y., a 7-5, 6-1 victor over John Yuill of South Africa; No.

11 Roscoe Tanner of Kiawah Island, S.C., who trounced Terry Moor of Monroe, 6-3, 6-1; No. 12 Harold Solomon of Silver Spring, 2- 6, 6-1, 6-3, and No. 15 Wojtelk Fibak of Poland, who routed Doug Crawford of Weston, 6-1, 6-1. But 42-year-old Ken Rosewall's comeback came to an end as the 14th seeded tennis legend from Australia bowed to Jose Higueras, 24, the second-ranking player in Spain, 6- Rosewall, a two-time winner of the title, first played here in 1952-when Higueras was not yet born. For the fourth straight day, the matches were played in strength-sapping 90-degree heat and high humidity, conditions which were especially taxing for Rosewall, who became the fifth seeded player to be ousted from the men's draw.

He joined No. 6 Raul Ramirez, No. 7 Ilie Nastase, No. 13 Mark Cox and No. 16 Stan Smith on the outside looking.

See MARTINA, page 11 AKRON, Ohio (UPI) PGA champion Lanny Wadkins of Advance, N.C., who shot a 4-under-par 66 Saturday, and Tom Weiskopf, who had a 68 and birdied the final two holes for the second day in a row, share the second-round lead in the $300,000 World Series of Golf. round included a 5-under 30 on the back side of the Firestone Country Club South course, while Weiskopf toured the front side in 4-under 31. The 29-year-old Wadkins, who started the day two strokes off the lead, climaxed his superb round by holing out a bunker shot for a birdie on the final hole. It was his seventh birdie of the day. The 36-hole scores of 135 by Wadkins and Weiskopf were two shots better than Mark Hayes, who had a second-round 69, and three better than first-round leaders Hale Irwin and Ray Floyd, both of whom had 71s on Saturday.

Wadkins more or less predicted he would hole out his sand shot on the final hole. "I was talking to Jerry McGee as we were walking down the fairway," said Wadkins, "and he said, 'Get it up and down, Lanny, and you'll have a pretty solid I said, 'Hell, Jerry, I'm going to hole it. I haven't holed a bunker shot in a long Wadkins, who won the PGA title only two weeks ago, said he had only wanted to "get it back under par and get in shape for the next two days" after suffering consecutive bogeys on the seventh, eighth and ninth holes. "They were not bad shots," said Wadkins in describing the three straight bogeys. "It was more the wind than anything else.

It made it tough to get the right club." Weiskopf eagled the second hole and had birdies on the fourth and ninth to make the turn in 4-under 31 and at that time held a three-shot lead. But he faltered momentarily by bogeying 12, 13, 15 and 16 before finishing with birdies on 17 and 18, the last one coming on a 50-foot putt. United Press International That man again! Lanny Wadkins expresses his feelings after missing an eagle putt in the second round of the World Series of Golf Saturday. Wadkins, however, made a birdie on the hole. See BLAZING, Page 5 Radio- 12:30 Tennis: U.S.

Open Tennis (WNCT-Ch. 9, WTVDCh. 11) 2:00 Baseball: Atlanta at New York (WRET-Ch. 36) 4:30 Golf: World Series of Golf (WFMY-Ch. 2, WNCTCh.

9, WTVD-Ch. 11) What's inside 0 Tiede column page 2 0 Duke football page 6 Area sports page 2 UNC football page 6 0 NFL roundup page 2 Scoreboard page 6 0 World Cup page 2 0 Grid roundup page 7 More ECU page 3 0 Prep column page 8 Carew booms page 4 0 Prep notes page 8 0 NL, AL page 4 Racing column page 9 Baseball stats page 4 0 Racing features page 9 Golf column page 5 0 Outdoors page 10 0 Golf roundup page 5 0 More outdoorspage 11, Rod Carew The Associated Press Virginia Wade hits backhand sNot.