Record Searchlight from Redding, California • 12

Record Searchlight Page 12 Monday August 25 1980 Chargers could be on verge of West dynasty ginm City has been a changing team under Coach Marv Levy and the change has been for the better The defense was particularly effective last season and figures to be Just as good this time around Thomas Howard Gary Spani Frank Manumaleuga and Whitney Paul give the Chiefs a fine group of linebackers with safety Gary Barbara and comerback Gary Green heading a good secondary The running attack with Ted McKnight and Tony Reed among the most promising young backs In the league should be solid And fullback James Hadnot the third-round draft pick out of Texas Tech could turn out to be Just what Kansas CUy needs to complement the two speedsters The passing attack should improve with the maturation of Steve Fuller at quarterback statistics last year were less than awe-inspiring but he appears to have the talent to become a good passer By The Associated Preaa The American Football Confer-- ence'a West Division had a new I champion in 1979 and the title could be the first of many for the pass-crazy San Diego Chargers The division however is anything but San Diego's for the taking Denver would appear much improved with the acquisition of quarterback Matt Robinson and the surging Seattle Sea- hawks could finally make it to the top The Oakland Raiders might make a run at the title they owned for so long if newly arrived quarterback Dan Pastorinl has a good season Kansas City also improving was last in the AFC West in 1979 but had a 7-9 record and can't completely be counted out of the race The potent air attack with Dan Fouts emerging as one of the finest passers in the NFL and a good defense took them to a 12-4 record last season In the playoffs however San Diego stumbled and lost a 17-14 decision to Houston works But unlike the Chargers the Sea hawks have a proven defense to go with it Quarterback Jim Zorn coming off his best season will again give defenses fits with his scrambling in the Sea hawks' imaginative offense He threw for 3661 yards and 20 touchdowns last year Steve Largent Sam McCullom and Steve Raible head a group of fine Seattle receivers The Sea hawks' ground game will depend on Sherman Smith and A1 Hunter both explosive runners who have played second fiddle to the passing attack defense must show much Improvement if the Sea-hawks are to be a championship-caliber club with tackles Manu Tuiasosopo and Robert Hardy standouts on what has been a mediocre unit Coach Jack Patera will probably be doing a great deal of experimenting with defensive personnel even after the start of the season The Raiders playing what could be their last season in Dallas The Associated Press The temperature was 102 degrees at kickoff time at Texas Stadium Then things really got hot feel like been in a car said Dallas fullback Ron Springs after the Cowboys beat the Houston Oilers 20-13 in a National Football League exhibition game at Irving Saturday night intra-state rivalry with Houston always gets us pumped Tony Hill deflated Houston by catching touchdown passes of 22 yards from Glenn Carrano and 34 from Danny White The latter was the winner for the Cowboys who lost free safety Randy Hughes because of a recurring dislocated shoulder Earl Campbell scored ore Houston touchdown on a 7-yard run Kansas City won the Battle of Missouri beating St Louis 20-10 on Nick Lowery's 20-yard field goal and Horace Belton's 4-yard AFC West Fouts made the Chargers the top passing team as he broke Joe NFL passing yardage mark by throwing for 4062 yards Fouts completed 332 of 530 attempts and hit 24 touchdown passes Veteran Charlie Joiner and third-year man John Jefferson give Fouts a pair of extremely gifted receivers Joiner had 72 receptions for 1008 yards last season while Jefferson caught 61 for 1090 Tight end Bob Klein has retired but young Kellen Winslow should prove a capable replacement Defensively San Diego has three outstanding tackles in Wilbur Young Louis Kelcher and Gary Johnson Young played well after replacing the injured Kelcher last year Comerback is also a Charger strong suit with Mike Williams and Willie Buchanon San Diego's weak spot again figures to be its rushing game a roster Huff's passing was sharp especially in an 83-yard touchdown drive which ended with Lenvil Elliott's one-yard run in the first quarter found out a lot Gary did a good solid said Walsh Seattle Coach Jack Patera whose team clobbered the 49ers 55-20 last summer noted that coach made it clear he going to show much of his offense in this game and was going to look at a lot of people the 49ers have come a long way in a year going to be a good club Smith went up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds remaining in the game for the touchdown which climaxed a seven-minute 61-yard drive The 49ers with Steve De-Berg completing three passes put a scare into the Seattle de of those plays before he sat down midway through the third quarter after having completed 12 of 20 passes for 167 yards and a pair of touchdowns After a slow first quarter Theismann completed nine of 10 passes for 136 yards and both of his scoring passes during the last part of the first half Theismann threw a 30-yard touchdown to Ricky Thompson who made a diving sliding catch in the end zone which Oakland argued was illegal and a four-yarder to rookie Zion McKinney of South Carolina with only seconds remaining on the clock to id the half (API KEITH BUTLER MAKES A DIVE BUT GRABS NOTHING Lenvil Elliott scored for 49ers but Seahawks won anyhow Seahawks 49ers Oakland before a possible move to Los Angeles have quarterback Ken Stabler performing his late-game heroics this season but they will have one of the NFL's better long passers Pasto-rini who came in the one-to-one trade that sent Stabler to Houston Even with Pastorinl though the Raiders seem to be fading as a power in the AFC West Finishing 9-7 last season their rushing game and defense were ranked 24th and 21st respectively among the 28 teams As usual tight end is one of the strongest positions with Dave Casper and Raymond Chester sharing the position But the Raiders appear somewhat weak at wide receiver a longtime Oakland strong suit Cliff Branch is the leading wide receiver but 32 and appears to be slowing down Veterans John Matuszak and Ted Hendricks lead an aging Oakland defensive crew with Lester Hayes a standout in the secondary survives NFL roundup touchdown run in the fourth quarter at St Louis Pittsburgh paid the penalty in suffering its first loss in three preseason games The Super Bowl champion Steelers were penalized 12 times for 124 yards and were beaten 20-13 by the New York Jets for their first loss at home in exhibition or regular-season play since 1978 Scott Dierking's touchdown plunge set up by three penalities put the Jets ahead 14-7 and Pat Leahy clinched the win with two field goals One Steeler touchdown came on Theo 69-yard punt return In other Saturday night action Brian Sipe threw five touchdown passes to lead Cleveland to a 33-31 victory at Chicago Los Angeles topped Denver 26-13 Minnesota beat Miami 17-10 Tampa Bay tract and they also said they intend to exercise the option to renew the Oakland Coliseum lease to another 20 years Haas' son Walter Haas will be in charge of the A's with the title of club president and the elder Haas' son-in-law Roy Eisenhardt will be executive vice president The younger Haas 30 is resigning his position at Levi Strauss to devote full time to baseball leaving the team in good said Finley 62 He also stated leaving the game because I no longer can compete financially having to leave because of the idiotic astronomical unjustified (player) salaries After the reached the top in baseball winning World Series titles in 1972 1973 and 1974 most of the star players opted to become free agents and signed multimillion dollar contracts with other teams In 1976 Kuhn vetoed sale of Joe Rudi Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue to other clubs for a total of $35 million Finley sued the commissioner but lost the case have often called him a village Finley said of Kuhn apologize to all the village idiots of America He's the category in which the Chargers finished next-to-last in the league in 1979 Newcomer John Cappel-letti a fullback acquired from the Los Angeles Rams could help the ground attack however At Denver 10-6 last year hoping Robinson can add spark to the team's plodding offense Robinson previously Richard backup with the New York Jets will have Rick Upchurch and Haven Moses to throw to as well as talented tight end Riley Odoms Defensively the Broncos feature one of the best linebacking corps Randy Grad-lshar Tom Jackson Joe Rizzo and Bob Swenson All-Pro comer-back Louis Wright is the best of a good group in the secondary Among the Bronco draftees was defensive end Rulon Jones of Utah State a second-rond pick who might be able to help the team immediately Seattle which won five of its last six games to finish 9-7 In 1979 resembles San Diego in ita ability to generate offensive fire fense by moving to the 11-yard line before time ran out Smith saw his first heavy duty of the exhibition season carrying 21 times for 77 yards The Seahawks averaged only 26 yards per rushing attempt in their first two games know we have a good running game Tonight we needed it and it said Smith Rookies Joe Steele and Gary Carr helped make it work on the winning drive Steele accounted for 21 yards on two carries then caught a 7-yard pass from Adkins at the start of the drive is the first time I've been in a game when it really was said Steele the former Washington Huskies star who came into the NFL in questionable physical condition because of a 1979 injury feeling better every he said backs got so upset at some good clean hits that they wound up taking a couple of bad shots back and got he said The Raiders who Jumped off to a 1(M) lead had problems running the ball but those looked miniscule compared to what happened whenever they tried to pass the ball a feeble effort that produced 58 total net passing yards Dan Pastorini the ex-Houston Oiler who started completed six of 10 passes for 80 yards before giving way to Jim Plunkett who was five of 14 for iust 32 yards It has been said that one of the underlying reasons behind the pervasive college football scandals is that some schools are recruiting athletes who are not cpable of doing college work Then the athlete is given so-called courses or hidden in the university structure "We're coming up with a plan that the new president (Dr James Zumberge) will have to go over have a committee (to screen perspective student-athletes) whose interests just in athletics We must be aware from the start who can or do college SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The dress rehearsals have been encouraging says the Seattle Sea-hawks' Sherman Smith next Friday night will be the sneak The Seahawks hope to have Jim Zorn injured in their exhibition opener two weeks ago back at quarterback Friday night when they host the New England Patriots in the final tuneup game before the National Football League regular season Sam Adkins No 3 quarterback on the depth chart went all the way in Saturday night's 10-7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers which left both teams with 2-1 preseason records San Francisco Coach Bill Walsh also looked at a No 3 quarterback Gary Huff the veteran who made a pretty good case for himself in his bid to stick on the wreck downed Cincinnati 20-14 in overtime Seattle edged San Francisco 10-7 San Diego defeated Atlanta 17-9 Washington whipped Oakland 34-17 Detroit trounced New Orleans 40-17 and Buffalo blanked Green Bay 14-10 Baltimore walloped the New York Giants 37-20 Friday night Sipe's fifth TD pass was a 10-yard strike to Dave Logan with 1:28 left in the game against the Bears who were directed to all four of their touchdowns and a 28-6 lead in the first half by Mike Phipps who did not play in the second half Phipps ran 2 yards one touchdown and passed 42 yards for another Sipe completed 21 of 36 passes for 313 yards Nolan Cromwell ran 35 yards for a touchdown with an interception and Frank Corral kicked four field goals to key Los victory at Denver the first in three exhbition games for the Rams At Miami Minnesota broke a 19-10 with the Dolphins early in the fourth quarter on reserve quarterback Steve 31-yard touchdown pass to Ahmad Hashed Tampa Bay's home-field win came at 6:21 of overtime when Rick Bems scored on an 11-yard run Archie' Griffin' 3-yard scoring run and Matt conversion in the fourth quarter sent the game into overtime The Bucs appeared to have won in regulation on Neil 28-yard field with 58 seconds left But it count because the Bengals had called time just before the snap ODonoghue then missed Ed Luther a rookie quarterback set up a go-ahed field goal in the third quarter and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass with 5:07 left in the game to lead San Diego past visiting Atlanta Billy Sims scored on runs of 11 and 5 yards and Ed Murray kicked four field goals in leading the Lions over New Orleans at Pontiac Mich Joe Ferguson threw two first-half touchdown passes and defense stifled visiting Green Bay which played with 11 players five of them starters sidelined by injuries Twins Mauch announces resignation BLOOMINGTON Minn (AP) -Moments after Gene Mauch announced his resignation as manager of the Minnesota Twins following game rookie outfielder Rick Sofield sat on a chair in the Twins' clubhouse and cried were all hoping it wouldn't said Sofield who said the players knew about a news conference called for 10 minute after the game a 3-2 loss to Detroit wish I could hit three thousand and make him stay I would do anything to the man But something made him quit and it's sad because we need But Mauch the dean of major league managers with 21 years of service said that not only the Twins need him they would be better off without him Third base coach Johnny Goryl was named interim coach He will inherit a team which is 54-71 and more than more than 25 games behind Kansas City in the American League West Mauch who also managed the Philadelphia Phillies for nine years and the Montreal Expos to even was on the second year of a three-year contract extension with the Twins CHARLIE FINLEY REFLECTS Finley sells A talks of roses Bad day for Raiders Pac-10 says Robinson WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Theismann wasn't about to say anything that could light a fire under the Oakland Raiders He and the rest of the Washington Redskins know the two teams meet for real in the third week of the regular National Football League season score is no indication about what kind of team they have" said Theismann after the Redskins clobbered the Raiders 34-17 Saturday night in an exhibition game Raiders have a good football team a very good one We simply had some big plays turn this one around" Theismann figured in a couple No excuses for (Continued from PAGE 11) (Subsequently some athletes got credit with makeup work while others never got credit) Robinson blames himself for not making sure he or his delegates were properly supervising the academic work of his athletes "Because of coaching and then recruiting you have enough time to spend with the individual he said logically other people are handling it But in the academic process a coach should be involved you get conned or lulled into believing something is happening when it OAKLAND (AP) Charles Finley put his Oakland into white shoes and bright green-and-gold uniforms also into three World Series probably smelled the roses more times than I had a right to" Finley said Saturday in announcing he is selling the American League baseball team he bought 20 years ago when it was in Kansas City The new owners in a 6127-million deal scheduled to close in November is a group headed by Walter A Haas Jr chairman of the board of Levi Strauss Co the clothing industry giant with headquarters in San Francisco Finley has been one of most colorful and controversial figures for the past 20 years fueding with many people from players to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn and getting along famously with others kind of sad in a way that Charlie's leaving Everyone said we wouldn't get along but he's been Just tremendous with said Billy Martin who was hired as A's manager this year and has turned the team into a winner The new owners said they want to talk to Martin about extending his two-year con really isn't have a great sense of responsibility about our football team Don't be late to meetings you must study your assignments for every game and such They (the athletes) are very ethical people and they show up every day But school is a different thing It's like me I have a great ethic about my work but I have a helluva time paying my bills what you have is the behavior over here is important and not so important over there We all give lip service to how important education is but we backed it up as hard as we could or are going.