Ledger-Enquirer from Columbus, Georgia • 25

Ledger Enquirer Sunday September 1 1996 1 4 A RECREATI0NTENNISC3 J3ASEBALLC4 00TBALLC5 10 Sports SECTION SI5 AP A Southern 500 win would get Dale Jarrett the Winston Select Million Jarrett: Title rates more than million Dale Jarrett sits on the Southern 500 pole f' Associated Press DARLINGTON SC Although he is a victory shy of a million dollar bonus Dale Jarrett will be focusing on something even bigger in the Southern 500 He lost sight of it the last time he challenged the high banks of Darlington Interna tional Raceway Given a choice in March between gambling on a victory or making a late fuel stop that would cement a better finish ing position in the TranSouth 400 Jarrett rolled the dice He lost and a 15th place finish cost him about 25 points in the Winston Cup champion ship battle were bold at that he said asked me on the radio do you want to I said came here to That much has not changed as the 39 year old Jarrett tries Sunday to become only the second driver to collect the Winston Select Million The bonus banked by Bill Elliott in its inaugural year of 1985 goes to the winner of three of four major NASCAR races in the same year Jarrett has done everything' possible to put himself in position to win Precise test ing on the most difficult track led to a race record qualifying speed of 170934 mph that put his ord on the pole for the 47th Southern 500 But the race is secondary to the series championship the most coveted prize in stock car racing Jarrett is fourth in pursuit of it with nine events remaining was well and good because we were only five or six races into the Jarrett said of the TranSouth strategy 22 rac es into the season only 127 points back got to look at that So embattled tobacco giant RJ Reynolds will get to hold its grandiose celebration in the circle only if Jarrett can get there without putting his title quest in jeopardy Otherwise race sponsor Mountian Dew will be the big coprorate winner it means coming in and having to finish seventh or eigfith instead of finishing 15th going to come in and get Jarrett said take that chance Even if he loses Jarrett will collect $100000 for winning the 'Daytona 500 and Coca Cola 600 The difference be tween finishing fourth in the points race and winning is $13 milllion stiffest competi tion figures to come from defending series and race champion Jeff Gordon Auburn turns back stubborn UAB I Tigers struggle to subdue Division I A neophyte Blazers By Mark Rice Staff Writer 1 AUBURN Ala No Homer Smith Au new offensive coordina tor No Gene Stallings call ing the plays No Bill Oliver bring playbook with him It only seemed like it by halftime Saturday night at Jor dan Hare Stadium as the No 16 Tigers were barely leading the UAB Blazers in their first Division I A game thanks to three Jaret Holmes field goals But in the seednd half the Tigers outgained the Blazers in total yards 246 29 Holmes added two more field goals and the Auburn defense completed its first I A shutout in seven years for a 29 0 season opening victo ry knew as long as we let them score it matter what the offense! said Auburn strong safety Martavius Houston But it mattered to Auburn head coach Terry Bowden who calls the offensive plays He saw UAB stack the line to stop I formation and blitz and stunt to confuse the offen TURNING point AUBURN 29 UAB 0 Nursing a 6 0 lead late in the second quarter Auburn was on the verge of trailing as UAB was driving tor a touchdown But on third and 7 from the Auburn 16 Martavius Houston intercepted Rodney pass at the 1 and returned it 30 yards to set up Jaret Holmes field goal sive line which had four new starters including redshirt freshmen together on the tight side TJ Dunigan at guard and Jeno James at tackle happy with the win but I always happy with the way the offense Bow den said ran into some dilemmas with the (I formation) because (UAB) came out here with a game plan to stop the I found out some people on offense ready for the show UAB stopping the I forma tion forced us to go to the no huddle which I really want to go While the offense sputtered the special teams sparkled Holmes a junior college All See AUBURN 1 0 I 49k Of 4 jL i 4 SrJ Larry Melton (28) blocks the punt of Kevin Tatarek (13) debut a dud BO iM AP Above: Georgia head coach Jim Donnan left discusses a few points with an umpire during game in Ath ens Right: Southern Eddie Shaw (25) gets around Georgia cornerback Glenn ord (7) of Columbus during first half action Georgia begins the Jim Donnan era in an inauspicious fashion losing to Southern Mississippi By Charles Odum Staff Writer ATHENS Ga Welcome to Georgia Jim Donnan And by the way In a debut that was a definite dud for Donnan as coach Southern Mississippi score a touchdown but still upset the Bulldogs 11 7 Saturday before a Sanford Stadium crowd of 81076 including some that were booing by halftime Southern Mississippi won with field goals of 42 20 and 25 yards Johnny Lomoro and a key safety in the final quarter It marked the first time in 35 years that Georgia held an opponent without a touchdown and still lost In 1961 Georgia led by first year coach Johnny Griffith lost 3 0 at lorida State The Griffith era at Georgia lasted only three years before he was succeeded by Vince Dooley who as athletic director hired Donnan Having just signed a six year contract the new coach obvi ously plans to be in Athens longer than three years Donnan realizes however that Satur collection of breakdowns the safety four fumbles (two lost) two interceptions special teams breakdowns and four quarterback sacks win him any new fans want to tell all the Georgia fans and everybody else that was one of those games where no way you can just say it was just one of those things that Donnan said looked like we were totally out of sync from the first series offensively and we made mistakes that are very atypical of our Donnan now has an open week before Georgia (0 1) visits South Carolina on See BEORGIA C8 I Chicago blanks Neagle Braves 12 0 Cubs spoil Denny debut as a Brave By Bill Zack Special to the Ledger Enquirer CHICAGO Never mind adding another pitcher to best staff What the Atlanta Braves need is another hitter or two Debuting with his new team Saturday afternoon Denny Neagle discovered what it means to be a Braves starter Working with no support from a lineup that spent August in a funk Neagle watched a pair of relievers turn a close game into a rout as the Chicago Cubs buried the Braves 12 0 before a crowd of 38691 at Wrigley ield could have picked a little better script for my Neagle said have five more starts and sure have some better It fault Working on three days rest he departed after 5 in nings having allowed three hits and three runs It take long for Brad Clontz AT CHICAGO and Dean Hartgraves to turn the game into Today 2:20 pm the worst loss Wrigley ield since a 16 4 debacle RAD0: WRCgam against the Rockies 142Q jgs Aug 12 1995j 1 Clontz charged with three earned runs in l3 of an inning in the second game of doublehead er duplicated that ineffectiveness Satur day In another 13 of an inning he yielded three more earned runs inflating his earned run average to a ghastly 548 Hartgraves was equally horrible work ing two innings and allowing seven hits and six runs including home runs by Ozzie Timmons and Luis Gonzalez remember the last time we have a chance to win a manager Bobby Cox said All in all it was a coming out party for a Cubs offense that had played eight straight one run games Timmons had three hits and four RBI Brian McRae matched his career high with his 12th homer and scored four runs and Ryne Sandberg and Scott Servais drove in a pair of runs was good to blow them Timmons said had a great time out there While lineup was amassing 12 hits the Braves were doing nothing against a pitcher who came in with 14 losses and a 508 ERA As if those numbers daunting enough rank Castillo was also 0 7 in his career against the Braves and had been charged with eight earned runs in 1 13 innings against them in his only start this season So with those numbers dogging his footsteps Castillo (7 14) pitched into the seventh inning and gave up two hits GEORGIA TURNING POINT With Southern Miss leading 3 0 early in the second quarter Georgia elected to try for a first down instead of a field goal on fourth and one at the Southern Mississippi 5 Robert Edwards was 1 stopped for no gain If Georgia had kicked a field goal then it could have been in position to win the game with just a field goal instead of a touchdown on its last possession of the game SOUTHERN MISS 11 GEORGIA 7 Jose Hernandez jumps over Jer maine Dye during a second inning double play AB I.