The Index-Journal from Greenwood, South Carolina • Page 33

Look for Classified THE INDEX-JOURNAL TH) (Q) Fit Sunday August 26, 1990 Cletoson ranked. 1 Oth in preseason poll Hurricanes still No. 1 Taa Tea Twty rtm mum Taa Aaaadatai Pre 1M pi cattaa fcotbal poll, wfa flnt- place ratae a oaioKlioon. Itm record, total pouta, and ftaal IM ranttaj. Tana racahw panto tor a Bnt-pLxa wet an eae pott far a Stn-plaea nessee, Southern California, Clemson, Illinois, Alabama, Texas Arkansas, Virginia, Brigham Young, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, UCLA and Washington.

Rounding out the Top 25 were Penn State, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Houston and West Virginia. Clemson, 10-2 last year, got 919 votes in the poll. Miami, in contrast, received 1,431 votes and 24 of the 60 first-place votes. South Carolina earned 13 votes but no preseason ranking. Hatfield makes his debut when the Tigers open the season at home Sept.

1 against Long Beach State. He replaced Danny Ford, who led the Tigers to four bowl victories in a row and three straight 10-2 seasons. Ford, coach from 1979 until this season, resigned amid a power struggle with the administration and allegations of NCAA rule violations that turned out to be minor. Clemson, which didn't win the Atlantic Coast Conference title in 1989 for the first time in four years, returns 49 lettermen and 15 starters nine on CLEMSON (AP) Despite a new coach in a new decade, Clemson finds itself in a familiar position, ranked in the top 10 in The Associated Press' preseason poll released Saturday. The Tigers, No.

12 in the final 1989 poll, were rated No. 10 in voting by a nationwide panel of 60 sports writers and broadcasters. "We are happy to be ranked among the top 10 teams in the nation in the preseason poll," first-year coach Ken Hatfield said in a statement Saturday. "It means we have some talented players returning for 1990 and it is a credit to them. Hpefully this will serve as an inspiration to our players to work hard and strive to improve in the poll from week to week," the former Arkansas coach said.

"One of our main goals as a team is to improve from week to week and being ranked in the poll can help us do that." Miami, the defending national champion, earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason Top 25, followed by Notre Dame, Auburn, Florida State and Colorado at No. 5. Michigan, last year's preseason No. 1, was sixth this year.

Nebraska was next, followed by Ten By The Associated Press Miami, which ended the '80s as the nation's top college football team, is starting the '90s the same way. The defending national champions are ranked No. 1 in The sociated Press' preseason poll. The Hurricanes beat Notre Dame by 25 points in voting by a nationwide panel of 60 sports writers and broadcasters. "It's nice to be recognized, but it also puts a burden on you," Miami coach Dennis Erickson said.

"When you're No. 1, everybody wants to play their best against you." The Hurricanes, who have won three of the last seven national titles, received 24 first-place votes and 1,431 points. Notre Dame, which finished second last season, was runner-up again with 22 first- place votes and 1,406 points. It is the first time Miami has been ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, which started in 1950.

Prior to this year, the Hurricanes' highest preseason ranking was No. 3 in 1986. Miami lost six starters from last year's dominating defense, which allowed the fewest points and yards in the nation. But the Hurricanes return eight starters on offense, including Heisman hopeful Craig Erickson at quarterback. "We have a chance to be a real good team," Dennis Erickson said.

"It's going to be a challenge, though, because our schedule is a lot tougher. Last year, we won some games when we didn't play well. I don't think we'll be able to (See Poll, page 6D) 1 Miami, Fla. (M) 111-4 1,411 1 lNotrtDaBMUU MM i i. Auburn (3) 1M4 UU 4.

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Vlrgmla 10-M 171 11. Brlhaia Young MM 167 Zt IT. Ohio St IM SW la. Ptttebwgh M-l 461 17 M. UCLA.

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IM IM 14 Went M-l HI II Otbor noatrmg ntaa: Artaone 114, Syracuat 17, Arbooa St 71, Gaorgla Frame SL Florida 47, Hawaii Uubwille Georgia Tach It, Tuaa 17, MlaUaalppi II, Oregon It, Wanhingtoo St. Soata CaraHaa Texan Tech LSU 10, Kentucky Colorado St 4, Duke Purdue 1, Toledo 1. (See Tigers, page 6D) NY- Inside attack opens tilings up for Eagles iv HW-fr-. I al' By JOSEPH SITARZ Staff sports writer CLINTON There's little doubt that when you play Greenwood High School, the Eagles are going to run, run, run as Clinton found out Friday night. Greenwood turned a 7-0 half-time deficit into a 21-7 win in the season opener via heady plays by senior Robert Moates and a bruis- i a i 't -ii-A; ing inside running attack.

Greenwood picked up 269 yards on the ground, most of which came on short bursts up the middle. "We did ram it inside quite a bit," said Greenwood head coach Willis Burkett. "We kept pounding inside with the traps and the fullback dive off tackle and the sweep. We didn't have to make but two or three big plays on the outside." The pounding did take its toll on senior fullback David Wideman, who injured his knee in the first half. Wideman is expected to miss a couple of games, Burkett said.

"They think it's a second- or strain," said the coach. "It's not a serious thing but it needs rest for a couple of weeks." Wideman did see limited action early in the second half. The inside running set up the outside gains, Burkett said. "That kind of softened the stuff up out there. They got to really coming in on Wideman," Burkett said.

"We wanted to run inside and check ourselves." It was an outside run that set up Greenwood's first score. Tailback Al Green broke free for a 21-yard gain in the third quarter to give Greenwood a first-and-10 at the Clinton 33. Four plays later the Eagles were in the end zone. Beau Hollingworth hit Moates on a bootleg pass on a second-and-21. Moates was stopped short of the goal but pitched the ball back to tight end Marty Rice, who raced into the end zone.

Moates returned a punt to give Greenwood good field position for its second touchdown and picked off a Hal Williams pass to set up the third. Deone Jones scored from the 4 and Green barreled in from the 2 for Greenwood's other TDs. Jones led Greenwood with 88 yards rushing, Wideman finished with 86, Green added 42 and Carlos Smith 26. .1 1 in in irf iar (SUIT photo by David Hayi) Ninety Six's Jeff Rodgers Practices water skiing on his slalom course built on a private pond near Callison Rodgers wants to be the best The loss of Wideman is threefold for the Eagles. Not only did GHS lose its fullback, it also lost working.

They were breaking down." Rodgers met a representative from HO at a tournament in late May. "They said 'here, take it home, try it, if you like it we'll see what we can do for Rodgers recalls. Rodgers said he and HO have "a good relationship." "They're excited about having me on their products and I'm excited about being on it. My skiing has improved a great deal," Rodgers said. And now skiing is fun again.

"There for a while it wasn't because I was struggling so," he said. "It got to the point where I hated going skiing. I was ready to quit the sport. (See Rodgers, page 6D) By DAVID HAYS Staff sports writer Jeff Rodgers of Ninety Six is on the verge of being the best slalom water skier in the world not bad for a man who thought about quitting just a few months ago. Rodgers has placed second twice on the pro tour in the past two months and has done the equivelant of a world record in practice.

This fall, the 23-year-old will have a couple of opportunities to break the world record in record capability tournaments. Earlier in the summer, Rodgers was not happy with his skiing and thought of quitting. But after changing skis several times, he finally found one on which he was comfortable. HO Sports made the ski which Rodgers likes and now sponsors him. "I was changing two or three skis a week," Rodgers said of his problems in the spring.

"I was trying new skis, none of them were its Dunter and backup linebacker. "We'll miss David, but we've got good players," Burkett said. "We've got to call on some people to come in and do the job. Smith and Rodney Wright will be called on to fill in for Wideman. Wright injured himself (See Eagles, page 4D) mmmmmmmmmmmmimm mm--- MARTY RICE Scores on raizle dazzle Big play didn't work as designed By JOSEPH SITARZ Staff sports writer CLINTON It was a simple bootleg.

That's all it was, and don't let anyone tell ya different. "I'd like to take the credit. I can't," said Greenwood High School head coach Willis Burkett of Greenwood's razzle dazzle play Friday night against Clinton at Wilder Stadium. "I wanted to take credit for it. I was going to try to make everybody think I was smart.

Now they know I'm not. I'm still my same-old-big-dumb-self. "Beau (Hollingsworth) spilled the beans and told a reporter that wasn't a called play." Nope, it was a just a bootleg right but it turned things around for the Eagles in their 21-7 win against the Red Devils. At the time of the bootleg, Greenwood trailed 7-0. Hollingsworth, a senior quarterback was supposed to hit senior wideout Robert Moates with a pass.

He did. "We called the bootleg pass and Robert ran the curl and he was open and Beau hit him," Burkett said of the second-and-9 play from the Clinton 21. "We had another receiver, our tight end, I guess it was Marty (Rice) who was running in the flat. When the ball was thrown to Robert, he broke to go block." Moates was stopped short of the goal. As he was falling down, Moates pitched back to Rice.

(See Bootleg, page 4D) Peeler finds opening against GHS 'tough' By JOSEPH SITARZ Staff sports writer CLINTON Greenwood native Ronnie Peeler had a slightly different perspective on the Greenwood-Clinton game Friday night than he had for the last two years. "It's kind of hard to describe," Peeler said after watching Greenwood's 21-7 win against Clinton from the pressbox. "It's quite a different experience. I had mixed emotions." For the first time in his coaching career, Peeler was not on the Greenwood sidelines. Instead, he was in the coaches' box at Wilder Stadium as a Clinton coach.

"Having to open up against these guys (Greenwood). tough," said Peeler, a former Eagle who played and coached for legendary high school coach J.W. "Pinky" Babb. After the game Peeler made his way down to the field where Greenwood players and fans visited with him. GHS senior defensive backreceiver Robert Moates came up and gave him a hug.

(See Peeler, page 4D) Clinton coach Ronnie Peeler visits with GHS's Vincent Simpson Eagles' lineman says hello to former Greenwood coach Friday after game.