Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 31

Lexington Herald-Leader Section Sunday December 1 1991 Scoreboard C2 Calipari puts soul into UMass success Chuck Culpepper HorekHeedor pons columnist coach turned around eyebrows slanted jaw tight nostrils flared Guess who received the next mouthful you sit down! Leave him a food" said Calipari staring into somewhat startled eyes "If you like it get out of the gym!" Other fans in the section erupted with applause and the fan sat down wiping the egg off his face John Calipari often lends an ear to tlie detractors in his profession those who tell him to quit listening to that voice inside that dares him to be different They tell him not to coach with emotion to By Joe Burris Boston Glob AMHERST Mass Tl fan had seen enough mincurt fur one evening He knew it was only an exhibiiMm game which meant the University of Massachusetts basketball team had yet to stir all the lumps out of its offense Ilut he didn't rare Tlie fan had come to expect better from the new-look Minutcmm in Curry Hicks Cage and in his mind freshman forward Ted Cottrell's output was an awful throwback Since he was seated just behind the UMass bench the fan decided to stand up fight the feeling to be orally and emotionally colorful Maybe they're right Perhaps if Calipari played the role of the strong silent type his three-year tenure at UMass would not be filk-d with such moments He probably wouldn't have split his pants while allowing his team how to dive for a Ioom ball He probably would not have charged the court and asked a La Salle player "Who in the hell do you think you are?" after the player harassed one of Calipari's Minute-men He probably would not have picked up technical fouls three times wlien referees interpreted his play signals as objections He probably wouldn't have his name linked to controversy by opposing coaches He probably wouldn't tell disgruntled fans to keep quiet But tlien Calipari probably would not have made UMass one of culk-ge basketlxill's most promising programs in such a short time lie probably would not have guided the Minutenu-n to back-to-back National Invitation Tournament berths His hum probably would not have had its first 20-win season Ploase sea CAUPARI back papa UMass at UK Massachusetts plays Kentucky In Rupp Arena at 8 pm Wednesday and tell the freshman a thing or three At first UMass Coach John Calipari allowed the words to run past him without objection Calipari proliably would have left it that way had the fan limited his remarks to one sentence But he continued and by the time he had reached a paragraph Calipari had readied his boiling point The astern back on playoff track 14-3 Colonels hold off Appalachian St play Middle next By Rick Bailey HaraM-Laadar staff writer RICHMOND It was the play of the game: fourth-and-gual for Appalachian State from the Eastern Kentucky 1-yand line: Fullback JJC Reaves plunged toward the god line There was no gain There was pain on the Appalachian State side because the Mountaineers could have taken the lead with a touchdown on the gloomy rain-drenched afternoon There was acclaim on the Eastern side because the Colonels' defense had held again And soon it was time for Eastern to proclaim a 14-3 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs yesterday Ohio Valley Conference champion Eastern will play OVC runner-up Middle Tennessee State in the I-AA quarterfinals at 1:30 pm Saturday at Roy Kidd Stadium Middle edged Sam Houston State 20-19 in overtime yesterday we score we probably win it" said Appalachian State Coach Jeny Moore whose team was trailing 7-3 when it failed to reach die end zone on the second play of the fourth quarter "You keep thinking die defense will make die play said Eastern Coach Roy Kidd "They Anally did The defense was super That was die Please see EASTERN CS Defensive stand floats boat ROMONI) It was swell day fur ducks defenses and people telling fixxball stories Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian State played playoff ftxXball in thickets I of mud and a driving rain No it was a blinding rain No make it a flash flood The chalk of the yard-line nu-! mcrals bled onto the green field in i large white blubs didnl roll dead they floated dead Coaclies say "Run to They said "Run to the eye of the hurri- cane!" And reporters got the life- long thrill of interviewing players 1 with specks of mud and little blades of grass stuck to their faces It called to mind the old quota-! tkxi attributed to Sonny Jurgensen who supposedly once won a coin toss amid puddles and rain sheets and said kick with the Eastern Coach Roy Kidd who pre- fen the kind of power football you can hear from across the street loved it and not just because his team won 14-1 lie loved the candi- Discussing them he had the same look people do emerging from I ice-cream stores The point is these football games often come down to a short-i yardage play on which somebody winds up happy and somebody winds up climbing walls So it was yesterday at Roy Kidd Stadium in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs I Eastern Kentucky's pivotal gual-! line stand with 14:17 to play ren-! dering nil a 20-play possession by Appalachian State was the kind of moment that evoked real football quotations Describing his experience on the fourth-down-and-goal from the 1 Eastern nose guard 1 Ernest Thompson the kind of guy peg as a nose guard on a crowded street said "I just kind of root-hogged in there" Only in muddy football played' not by players but by gladiators does Webster's language stretch so aptly to the extent of someone roothogging in there Prior to that watching this game was like watching two glaciers go at each other It was a showcase Then with 725 left in die third quarter Appala- chian State trailing 7-3 took off on i a breakfast-lunch-and-dinner drive complete with all three of its time- outs five penalty flags the most forceful rain of die day (Tm telling -you it was positively oceanic out dure) and three fourth-and-one plays "I was thinking it would be a shame to lose the football game when we foul played so Kidd said About die only thing the eight minute process indude was jpoints Appalachian State true to sea-l son-king form sent fullback JK Reaves and his seven rushing touchdowns of 1991 leaping over I the line On third down he got 1 yard to die 1 i On fourth down Thompson root-hqgged in and got hold of I Reaves' legs "He have a chance to jump" Thompson said 1 Tackle Chad Bratzke had the low role just stuck my face in (die mud and did the best 1 'hesaRL I Linebacker Bundy McGinnis "sold he said meaning he dived over the line then counted I himself lucky they handed it to die 1 fullback right in front of him He and fellow linebacker Ted Fouser slammed into Reaves "It was a Herald-LsadsrRotoin Tinay Salba Ted Fouser (maroon 44) and the EKU defense stopped JK Reaves on 4th-and-goal at the 1 in the 4th quarter University of Kentucky basketball coach Rick Pitino says the Wildcats do not live or die by the three-pointer Page C3 Seminoles drop to No 3 in Florida as Gators win 14-9 Houston beats Kentucky 76-70 in the championship game of the Lady Kat Invitational Taurna--ment Page CB Bell County shuts down Covington Catholic 12-3 in the Class 3A state football playoffs Page C9 The Cincinnati Bengals are not expecting quarterback Phil Simms to be rusty today when he replaces the injured Jeff Hostetler at the helm of the New York Giants today in Riverfront Stadium Page CIO By Fired Goodall Associated Press GAINESVILLE Fla Florida State the top team for nearly three months is now only third-best in its own state No 5 Florida handed the third-ranked Seminoles their second consecutive loss yesterday knocking its intrastate rival out of the national championship picture with a 14-9 victory The triumph was the eighth straight for Florida (10-1) which won its first official Southeastern Conference championship this sea-' son and is headed to die Sugar Bond to play Notre Dame It also stopped a four-game losing streak to Florida State and means the Gators are no worse than second- best in the state after being considered No 3 for die past five years been a long time Florida defensive tackle Brad Cul-said rather beat diem years in a row but Tm proud to be part of the team that stopped the Florida State (10-2) last die Na 1 ranking to Miami two weeks ago and finishes last in die state by virtue of its 0-2 record against die Hurricanes and Gators: The Seminoles will dose the season against Texas in the Cotton Bond "Being No1 we were a target all year We might have run out of some juice at the Florida State quarterback Casey Weldon said "I don't think we can even consider it a good season now with the expec- Assocteted Press 1 Casey Weldon who was sacked three times was upended by Florida's Tony McCoy after an incompletion Henri Leconte carries France past the United States in doubles and moves the French team to the brink of its first Davis Cup title in 59 years Page C11 Florida defense which harassed Weldon into a subpar performance and held Florida State to 37 yards Please see RIVALRY C5 tations we Shane Matthews threw for 206 yards and one touchdown and Er-rict Rhett rushed for 109 yards and one TD The key though was the Bowling Page CIS Golf PageCII Horse racing Pages C12-13 NFL Page CIO Tennis Page C11 Dance Floor looks like Derby horse in romp pretty tense moment there" McGin-J nis said soon as I went over -j the top and saw him give it to die 'fullback and 1 was on path to hit Shim I knew stop diem be- College scores Basketball TCU73 Tennessee 59 cause I could feel everybody around Miss 101 Prairie View 50 Football Georgia 18 Ga Tech 15 Alabama 13 Auburn 6 Tenn 45 Vandy 0 Middle Tn 20 Sam Houstn 19 Marshall 20 III 17 (OT) PagosCM Duke 118 Harvard 65 Carolina 98 Towson St 88 "I was watching on TV in die Hennig said "and see Waki Warrior in the picture So halfway down die back-8tretch I had to climb up some stairs and look over heads to see how for in front this horse Out on the racetrack Antley also wondered what was happening when Waki Warrior ran off and left the field But he was reassured when he saw no one else was gaining on him "I looked between my fogs and still three lengths behind And when he tapped Dance Floor on the shoulder Blue Grass Stakes last spring three weeks before winning die Derby But this time hoping this long-range prospect works out "When Wayne Lukas asks you to ride in a $200000 race you make your best effort to be Antley said He is the fifth jockey to try out Dance Floor He hopes he is die last' Dance Floor ranged up second on the backstretch but Waki Warrior slipped so far out in front that he shot out of die picture on closed-circuit television Antley said he worried But Mark Hennig die assistant who had saddled Dance Floor had some anxious moments By Maryjean Wall Harald-Leader racing writer LOUISVILLE If practice makes perfect Dance Floor got his Kentucky Derby routine down pretty good yesterday at Churchill Downs Oaktown sharp young colt showed all die right footwork in his final practice over die trade where Wayne Lukas hopes to bring him bade next May for die Kentucky Derby He dosed a six- length gap on Waki Warrior to draw off by six lengths and win the $16L370 Brown yilliamson Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in -Choctaw Ridge also from the Lukas stable was third in die field of 10 2-year-okfo who closed out Churchill fall meet before a crowd of 16602 As always die Kentucky Jockey Chib Stakes leaves die racing fans of autumn with just enough Derby hints and hopes to tide diem over until spring hard to make promises and guesses for die Derby" mused jockey Chris Antfoy who was up on Dance Floor for the first time right now he looks like a good one" Antley came away so impressed with Dance Floor's flight rtf speed that he chose the- son of Star de Naskra as his top Kentucky Derby prospect for now Antley get Strike the Gold to ride until the me getting in" David Wilkins die end who was everywhere all day did away with the tight end per assignment then "I looked in and saw the surge of die line and I was like (daps his hands) We got this time" Safety Chris McNamee moni-j tored the outside saw that it was safe then celebrated "I believed (all i along) we were going to keep them from a touchdown" he said It was clear that Eastern had 'root-hogged its way into the second (round But that was about the only thing that was clear Clemson 114 Morehead 69 Cumberland 79 Walsh 68 Knoxville 78 Union 76 N(N CS-7 Please see DANCE FLOOR C12 ir i.