The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 45

mwiifnrmim vim nifyyyv eurwww vww ww r'W Hie Commercial Appeal Sports ID) Memphis Tenn Sunday November 13 1983 Furious finish m00mg0nm Memphis State saves the best for last five minutes verfront Stadium Asked if ever seen anything like it a baffled Percy Nabors MSU's senior safety shrugged and said I guess so But never by us We've been saying all season that we were a fourth-quarter team and man guard) Harold Beane shot in low and got good penetration That made their ball carrier dive earlier than he would have and when he did jump somebody must have stuck him good The ball dropped down and I got it" The play that Dockery thought sealed the Tiger victory was tailback Eric Becton's 54-yard touchdown gallop with 4:37 remaining for a 20-10 advantage Becton took a pitch to the right from sophomore quarterback Page Belongy and quick-stepped his way toward the end zone "A couple of guys grabbed at my legs but I kept going and took it all the way" said Becton who at-' tributed a block by Derrick Craw- day against Arkansas State before going to Louisville for the season finale on Thanksgiving night But Thanksgiving has come early for coach Rex Dockery and the elated Tigers And if city officials decide a cannon's blast would be an appropriate homecoming welcome for MSU this week Dr Clifton Wooley probably would be glad to fire it Because it was the spry Wooley who asked attendants in charge of a World War 1 vintage cannon for a victory shot on behalf of the Tigers yesterday And they obliged boys let me shoot that a beaming Wooley declared after returning to the MSU dressing room a 32-milllme-ter style from World War I and 1 By BOBBY HALL CINCINNATI The ending was crazy Football players for Memphis State were turning somersaults in Cincinnati's end zone About 300 ecstatic Tiger fans were making enough noise for 3000 And at one point in the madness MSU's 73-year-old team physician scrambled into position to fire a shot on the antique cannon the Bearcats use to celebrate their touchdowns It was Just what you might expect and perhaps more from a delighted team that had erupted for 30 points in the bizarre Anal five minutes The late-starting Tigers were uncanny in their 43-10 bombardment of Cincinnati in Ri Tennessee Charles Tim Harris eight and sophomore rover Joey Hennelly seven In one corner of the Tiger dr lng room a half-dozen burly play-e singing a loud off-key version of to senior defensive guard Greg Montgomery who turned 21 yesterday being at Memphis State five years and finally having a season like this it feels unbelie-vablely said Montgomery who was red-shlrted earlier in his career It was Montogmeiy who recovered a Bearcat fumble at the Tiger two-yard line late in the first period to end a serious threat when MSU was leading 7-0 "We had a good line charge" Montgomery said and (fresh Willie Totten (10) plays to put the ball in the end zone after a pass interference penalty moved Valley State to the two-yard line Totten scored the TD himself wth 8:23 left in the quarter Valley 20 TSU 0 Tennessee State quickly coughed up the ball again this time on a Hunter fumble after a pass reception at the TSU 32 Six plays later Totten flipped a short pass to 220-pound fullback Carl Byrum rumbling out of the back-field and Byrum churned 15 yards for yet another TD With 4:19 left in the first quarter Valley State was almost out of sight 27-0 But one more piece of misfortune was left for Tennessee State On the Tigers' next possession Carlos Jones attempted to punt this oughta prove it" As senior defensive end Cedric Wright danced off the field the emotional veteran was in a world of satisfaction all his own and four and three on the road!" he bellowed almost loud enough to reach his Alabama residence "Baby it's coming home time! Coming home Indeed the Tigers who were 1-10 the past two seasons are now 5-4 with three consecutive victories under their belt on the road They close out the home season Satur Buchanan (84) leaps in turnovers and a blocked punt that turned a sun-splashed crisp afternoon into a TSU nightmare Either way Valley State coach Archie Cooley Jr said the Delta triumph over Division 1-AA powerhouse Tennessee State represents a milestone for him and for Mississippi Valley State football is the biggest win of my coaching career bubbled Cooley who at age 42 completed his fourth season at Valley State with a 7-2-1 record there's no way that people can still believe that Mississippi Valley State cant play football we have a good football team We proved that Cooley got no argument from Tennessee State precincts Valley used to shoot it in World War II Wasn't this a game? We finally woke up and started playing What a great Ears of Tiger players were still ringing from blast as they dashed out of the stadium The dressing-room celebration was wild as Memphis State toasted a game that very pretty for more than three quarters but turned out to be a beauty for the Tigers 'The kicking game and the defense were the difference" Tiger coach Rex Dockery said thought our defense really did a super Statistics backed up the coaches' thoughts Sophomore linebacker Eric Fairs finished with 10 tackles sophomore end from Mississippi Valley ly good things to happen to TSU in the first half It was 66 Valley State but not for long On the ensuing kickoff TSU returner Herman Hunter belted by Jerry Simms fumbled at the 24 Daryl McKnight recovered for Valley and it took the Devils just five plays to turn the takeover into a TD Totten buzzed a five-yard pass to Tony Baker for the score Stokes kicked the point and it was 136 with 9:21 left in the first period On Tennessee State's next attempt to run a play quarterback Kenneth Biggies fumbled and Valley noseguard Lloyd Mumph-rey a junior from Memphis recovered at the 35 This time Totten needed only three answer (See FRANTIC on Page Dll) Coupon on Page D4 tiM-i I 1 Nebraksa beat Kansas 67-13 2 Texas beat TCU 20-14 3 Auburn beat Georgia 13- 7 4 Georgia lost to Auburn 13-7 5 Illinois beat Indiana 49-21 6 Miami (Fla) played Florida State 7 SMU beat Texas Tech 33- 7 8 Brigham Young beat Colorado State 24-6 9 Michigan played Minnesota 10 Ohio State beat Northwestern 55-7 11 Maryland lost to Clem-son 52-27 12 Iowa beat Michigan State 12-6 13 Boston College lost to Syracuse 21-10 14 Florida beat Kentucky 24-7 15 West Virginia beat Rutgers 35-7 16 Alabama beat Southern Mississippi 28-16 17 Clemson beat Maryland 52-27 18 Washington beat Southern California 24-0 19 North Carolina lost to Virginia 38-7 20 Pittsburgh beat Army 38-7 from his own four-yard line Valley State's Walter Cox came cartwheeling out of the November sky and blocked the kick which Valley State pounced on at the nine Totten used only eight seconds to ring up TD No 5 this time on a nine-yard pass to super-receiver Jerry 'World' Rice Stokes PAT made it 34-0 and the first quarter was still 2:25 from being over Tennessee State never could dig itself out of the hole the Tigers had toppled into during those horrifying first 13 minutes A two-yard run by halfback Mickey Avery gave TSU its first touchdown on the first play of the sec- (Continued on Page D14) an attempt to block pass early punch Tennessee State State bolted into what may be a world record early lead 34-0 before the first quarter was over and never allowed TSU to creep closer than 11 points Fact is if it had been a prizefight instead of a football game they might have stopped it on a first-quarter TKO It took Valley State just six plays to land its first haymaker on the first possession of the game Totten floated a 37-yard touchdown pass to wide reciever Joe Thomas only 3 minutes after the National Anthem On the point-after-touchdown attempt Tennessee State's Tommy Perkins blocked Johnathan kick which was one of the last real- By AL DUNNING Mississippi Valley wide-open high-gear football team left Tennessee State University stretched on the grass of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium yesterday afternoon 51-38 and mystery fans would have loved it Was it murder or suicide? There was strong evidence to support either conclusion valley State fans thought their hair-triggered quarterback sophomore Willie Totten had snot Tennessee State down in cold blood by burning the Tigers with five touchdown passes Tennessee State fans in a crowd estimated at 15000 insisted the Big Blue's defeat was self-inflicted They pointed to seven Tiger pAl Dunning- Consider him baseball9 to Raquel Welch League's Most Valuable Player It was a landslide vote Twenty-four members of the Baseball Writers Association of America two in each National League city cast ballots Twenty-one of them listed Murphy No 1 anything about are his knees and elbows When they handed him his second straight MVP award the other day Murphy said he was flattered but that he wished he had done more since his team make the National League playoffs He also said it wasn't the biggest honor bestowed on him lately "The award that means the most to me is the Exemplary Manhood Award I received in Utah last he told newsmen Built like a tight end (65 and 218 pounds) -he has the speed of a wide receiver and has a rocket launcner where most guys have right arms In the 1983 National League Green Book the official media Information guide the word they used to describe Murphy's defensive talent was Braves fans say As they head back to the dugout after Murph spears another screaming drive in the 'power alley opposing hitters usually just cuss i Such language is as foreign to Murphy as Mandarin Chinese About the only four-letter word he really understands is (Right after he won his first MVP award last year for Nobody doubts that Murphy means it either He is a devout Mormon who adheres to church rules as strictly as he does to the rules of baseball fAROL BURNETT ONE of the brightest talents ever to grace television once appeared oh a TV special alongside Raquel Welch one of the anatomical wonders of the world Either the special had a cast of jillions or it was staged in a cramped place I don't remember For whatever reason the two actresses had to share a dressing room Miss -Burnett emerged in bugeyed amazement nothing the matter with blurted Miss Burnett to the TV' audience mean all over ijsiuSSSk tI Baseball players in the Al-Dunning Atlanta Braves clubhouse must know the feeling Every time Dale Murphy sheds his Superman suit and heads for the shower teammates have to marvel anything wrong with this guy it's invisible to the naked eye Murphy just won reelection as the National J- example he packed up and left Instructional League to work for the Florida on his hitting) AT AGE 27 Murphy is the youngest National League player ever to earn MVP distinction in consecutive years Only three other National Leaguers ever won back-to-back MVP titles at any age: Ernie Banks Joe Morgan and Mike Schmidt No player in either league has ever stacked three straight MVPs but bet against turning the hat trick in '84 As good as he is Murphy keeps getting better His first term as MVP was built on a 281 batting average 36 home runs 109 RBI 113 runs scored and 23 stolen bases This year he matched or improved his performance in every category: 302 batting average 36 homers 121 RBI 131 runs scored and 30 stolen bases Murphy is almost as dangerous wearing a 1 glove as he is carrying a bat If they gave Most Valuable Centerfielder awards he might win that one too manager Joe Torre probably sized up Murphy as well as anyone could: type doesn't come along very often" THAT'S WHAT MAKES Dale Murphy all the more remarkable: He is a Hall of Fame dean- Certainly his type doesn't come along often enough in bigtime professional sports At a time when narcotics cops and trial lawyers sometimes outnumber umpires and referees in bigtime sports kids as well as the rest of us need a hero we can admire with no holds barred liver This guy thinks drug dealers wear white smocks and fill prescriptions As far as Murph is concerned a highball is what a wild pitcher throws The only thing he's ever been known to steal is second base He thinks grass is what grows 1 the outfield the only joints he kiws Dale Murphy is such a fan -iti -i Ti rr i -i hti iwi ri iti.