The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 21

Sunday November 30 1986 Macon (telegraph Pagel Sports Section Southern buries Aggies 52 21 Gerald Harris Ah sweet sweet revenge ROBERT SEAYMACON TELEGRAPH AND NEWS Georgia running back Lars Tate is brought down by Georgia Riccardo Ingram Auburn surprises Alabama four points or less I Si '1 yardage was a career high for the senior and the five touchdowns scored set an NCAA I AA playoff record and a school record touchdowns which helped build a 31 0 halftime lead rom there Southern used an overpowering ground game to take a 52 21 victory in the opening round of the NCAA I AA playoffs The win came before smallest home crowd of the 7767 Southern now 10 2 will host a quarterfinal game next Saturday at 12:30 pm The defending national champion will play Nicholls State which beat Appala chian State 28 26 Saturday A season ended at 9 3 Southern quarterback Tracy Ham rebounded from a poor performance in his last game by finishing with 231 yards of offense (128 rushing yards and 103 passing) But fullback Gerald Harris stole the show by rushing for 181 yards and scoring five touchdowns on 18 carries The Auburn tied it when ullwood raced 18 yards on the first play of the second period to cap a 73 yard drive Alabama regained the lead 14 7 at 9:09 of the second period with an 80 yard drive Humphrey carried four times for 46 yards and caught three passes for 17 including the tie breaker on third and five when he broke free and was all alone in the end zone Harley Bowers By Ed Grisamore Mocon Telegraph and News ATHENS forecast began like this: Georgia vs Georgia Tech Sanford Stadium Hedge clipping by Yellow Jackets expressly forbidden Bring your raincoat The Bulldogs will win by nine Ves the forecast for a dry after noon seemed about as probable as a Yellow Jacket victory when the ball was teed up at 12:38 pm with a sellout crowd of 82122 and a national cable television audience looking on But Georgia Tech fighting for its third straight win over the and playing in memory of senior assistant athletic director Jim Luck was deter mined to prove the prognosticators wrong just as the sunny afternoon had made fools of the weathermen The Jackets gave 18th ranked Geor gia all it could handle between the hedges before finally bowing by a 31 24 score The win secured an 8 3 regular sea son for the who are headed for Tampa on Dec 23 to play Boston Col lege in the Hall of ame Bowl And it denied Georgia Tech its third straight winning season The Jackets who finished with a 5 5 1 mark were also trying to become the first Tech team in 23 years to beat Georgia three consecutive years very proud of the way we said Georgia Coach Vince Dooley were many times we could have folded but we were able to hang in there keep fighting and find a way to win in the fourth Georgia spent the afternoon looking at deficits of 7 0 14 7 and 24 21 But Georgia proved victorious because of a run tailback Lars Tate made and one that Georgia Jerry Mays Tate who rushed for 154 yards on 27 carries and scored three Bulldog touchdowns got his final score on a 5 yard run with 4:38 left to push Geor gia into the lead for keeps But the had to hang on by the seats of their silver britches until Georgia linebacker John Brantley and cornerback Gary Moss converged on Mays for no gain on a toss sweep on a fourth and one at the Georgia 46 was the whole ball game wrapped up in that play right said Dooley made the pri (See page 7B) ASSOCIATED PRESS Brent ull wood tackled by Greg Gilbert 29 YARD field goal made it 17 7 in the third period But Aubum which still trails in the series 30 20 1 began its comeback from its own 21 with 1:59 left in the third quarter The drive was helped by a personal foul penalty against Alabama that gave the Tigers a first down at midfield instead of fourth and 15 at their 35 Burger promptly hit Tillman for 16 yards and tight end Walter Reeves for eight more ullwood then took a pitchout around right end to make it 17 14 Tiffin missed a 39 yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter but Alabama seemed to have the game won when free safety Kermit Kendrick inter cepted pass at the Crimson Tide 4 yard line with 7:56 left toplay SO IT WAS A day of surprises Tacked together they added up to one of the most exciting contests in this long rivalry between the two state universities When you talk about how emotions can affect an athletic event this one will stand for years as a prime example Tech had two things to play for irst vindication for the loss last week to Wake orest which knocked the Jackets out of a trip to the Bluebonnet Bowl Second the tragic death riday afternoon of longtime Tech coach and assistant athletic director Jim Luck and school police sargeant Gary Beringause in an auto accident while driving back from a team workout at Sanford Stadium to a motel in Commerce Tech players and coaches dedicated the game to the two and the Jackets fought their hearts out to win one for their departed comrades The situation was so emotional that Coach Bill Curry when asked about Luck following the bitter loss broke down and cried unable to say much more at his post game press conference than that the better team won by doing what needed to be done at the right time all loved Jim he said as tears streamed down his face Georgia had motivation too The Bulldogs had dropped two in a row to their Atlanta rivals heading for bowl games in both 1984 and 1985 with crushing losses to the Jackets beating down on their heads out Ham scrambled for a 19 yard touchdown run on the next senes making it 21 0 Southern with 14:45 left in the first half North Carolina then dug the hole even deeper when Keith Matthis fumbled on the 11 Edward Eaves recovered on the 8 and Harris scored on the first play from scrimmage It was a day of surprises ATHENS A lot of things went opposite to expectations here Saturday afternoon when Georgia and Georgia Tech collided for the 79th time irst the oddsmakers figure this one right at all having favored Georgia by anywhere from nine to eleven points over Georgia Tech indicating a possible wipeout The Bulldogs push over the winning touchdown until just 4:38 remained to be played and then sew up their 31 24 verdict until the one minute mark the defense rising to new heights to halt the final threat The weatherman was even more off base forecasting 80 to 90 percent chance of rain during the afternoon The contest started under bright sunshine and while it ended more than three hours later under cloudy skies not a drop of rain fell on the party Just as off base were those who have been criticizing Georgia quarterback James Jackson including this reporter While Wayne Johnson the hero of the victory over Aubum two weeks ago do anything especially wrong during the first quarter and a half it until Jackson took over midway through the second period that Vince team began moving the ball EXTRA POINT put the Eagles on top 28 0 with 14:22 left in the first half At that point the Aggies were probably talking to themselves because on Harris' run the fullback fumbled the pitch from Ham only to have the ball bounce right back up into his hands He never broke stride going into the end zone That was one of six fumbles Southern had on the daythe Eagles only lost one fumbled three times and lost two had a lot of good things happen to us in the first Eagle Coach Erk Russell said had some timely turnovers in our favor and were able to post a 31 0 halftime lead If you ever feel comfortable the time to do With Southern off to such an overpowering start had to shift gears offensively Rather than use the ground oriented attack that orte hoped would keep Ham and company off the field the Aggies had to go to (See SOUTHERN page 7B) The Associated Press BIRMINGHAM Ala Wide receiver Lawyer Tillman ran 7 yards on a double reverse with 32 seconds remaining Saturday to cap a fourth quarter rally that gave No 14 Auburn a 21 17 victory over seventh ranked Alabama and killed the Crimson Tide's Sugar Bowl hopes Brent ullwood who carried 21 times for 145 yards scored his second touchdown of the game by running 26 yards on the first play of the final period to cap a 79 yard drive and cut lead to 17 14 The Tigers marched 67 yards in 11 plays for their winning score after receiving a punt with 4:54 left The drive included Trey diving fourth down catch of Jeff 9 yard pass at the Alabama 40 and a 20 yardrun by ull wood on the next play Three plays later Burger handed off to tailback Tim Jessie who started right and gave the ball to Tillman going the other way He was hit just as he crossed the goal line Aubum thus ended a two game losing streak to its arch rival both by two points It marked the fifth consecutive year the outcome has been decided by IT WAS ALSO THE second consecutive good perfor mance by Southern's defense The Eagles limited to 14 points one Aggie touchdown was an intercep tion return finished with less than 300 yards of offense while Southern had 541 442 of those coming on the ground "They have a great great football team It will take a great football team to beat them" Aggie Coach Maurice orte said my opinion Georgia Southern is the best football team faced Last week we beat ourselves Today we were beaten by a fine football The Aggies had to be thinking about last week on their opening drive North Carolina ended its regular season by falling to Appalachian State 55 9 in a game that saw the Aggies repeatedly turn the ball over Satur day they started off the same way On the opening drive of the game quarterback Alan Hooker lost the ball on a sack by lint Matthews Matthews recov ered the fumble on the 34 Two plays later Harris broke a 17 yard scoring run Tim oley kicked the extra point and Southern led 7 0 with 11 51 left in the first quarter But it all Aggie mistakes that led to the runaway Southern took the ball on its next drive and went 97 yards for the score This time Harris went over from 7 yards By James Palmer Macon Telegraph and News STATESBORO North Carolina dug itself into an early hole before Georgia Southern finished the job by burying the Aggies in an offensive avalanche Saturday afternoon in Paulson Stadium The Eagles turned a pair of first half Aggie fumbles into THEY ALSO REMEMBERED vividly how Tech players and coaches had mistreated the sacred hedges that surround Sanford Stadium following the 1984 triumph They protected the hedges this time by coming from behind three times to gain the decision having trailed 7 0 14 7 and 24 21 during the long afternoon The victory eighth of the season against three setbacks (Clemson LSU and lorida) and one coming on the heels of the victory over Aubum may have (See BOWERS page 7B) Georgia breaks losing streak with 31 24 win I How the Top Twenty fared How the AP Top Twenty fa'reji this week 1 Miami beat East Carolina 36 10 2 Penn State (11 0 0) did not play 3 Oklahoma (10 1 0) did not play 4 Michigan (10 1 0) did not play 5 LSU beat Tulane 37 17 6 Nebraska (9 2 0) did not play 7 Alabama lost to Aubum 21 17 8 Arizona State (9 1 1) did not play: 9 Arkansas (9 2 0) did not play 10 Texas beat Texas 16 3 11 Ohio State (9 3 0) did not play 12 Arizona (8 2 0) plays Stanford late 13 Washington (8 2 1) did not play 14 Auburn beat Alabama 21 17 i 15 UCLA (7 3 1) did not play 16 Baylor (8 3 0) did not play 17 Southern California lost to Notre Dame 38 37 18 Georgia beat Georgia Tech 31 24 19 North Carolina State (8 2 1) did not play 20 Iowa (8 3 0) did not play ALABAMA WON LAST year 25 23 on Van Tiffin's 52 yard field goal as time ran out triumph spoiled a sensational perfor mance by Alabama tailback Bobby Humphrey who rushed 28 times for 204 yards 172 in the first half and caught five passes for 27 more including a 7 yard touchdown pass from Mike Shula in the second period that gave him Alabama single season scoring records of 17 TDs and 104 points The victory left Alabama with a 9 3 regular sea son record but 4 2 in the Southeastern Conference ifth ranked LSU won the title with a 5 1 mark and will face Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl Alabama settled for a Sun Bowl date against Washington Aubum 9 2 overall and 4 2 in the SEC tied Alabama Mississippi and Georgia for second place in the conference The Tigers are going to the Citrus Bowl to meet Southern California Humphrey keyed an 82 yard drive in the first period by rushing five times for 77 yards including bursts of 48 and 25 and Alabama took a 7 0 lead at 12:07 on 2 yard pass to tight end Angelo Stafford Wil Uli 1 i i 1 1 I I Am JWeBkW IB Hr 1 1 I 1 tl hi A 2711 BBf WvVwi Be 'A'" Uv llK ft' 'J 1.