Florence Morning News from Florence, South Carolina • 17

lorence lllor nine iXetos Section 'I SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25 1 Sports 1 1 i 'X Covering the World of Sports for 50 Years Clemson Beats Tech Georgia Beats Gamecocks (AP) SC State Routs Howard Rus East Carolina Beats VMI urman Edges UT 17 7 0 13 3 10 VMI Catawba Triumphs A S4W SCr night to Southern victory of Ten 3 38 10 6 Despite losing six out 10 fumbles East Calina scored twice in the third quarter and then held off a final drive by VMI for the victory Quarterback Jimmy Suther land capped a 76 yard drive early in the quarter to start the Pirates on their way toward the win Sutherland who had earlier fumbled the ball away to set up a VMI touchdown scored from eight yards out after East Carolina drove 76 yards in eight plays following the sec ond half kickoff VMI got off to a strong start with two field goals in the first half kicked by Craig Jones In the second quarter VMI took four plays to score after Suth erland fumbled on his own 46 Tailback Andre Gibson scored 68 233 163 42 5 9 0 6 44 5 2 5 49 By MARK MAYER Morning News Sports Writer 17 49 52 164 II 24 14 1 4 39 GREENVILLE NC (AP) East Carolina's Junior Creech booted the winning point Satyr day night to give East Carolina a 14 13 college football win over Virginia Military Institute 177 6 34 17 1 4 39 5 3 GAMECOCKS' ZION McKINNEY DRIVES OR TOUCHDOWN Billy Woods (37) Comes in for the Tackle irst downs Rusbes yards Passing yards Return yards Passes Punis umbles tost Penaltles yards irst Downs Rushes Yards Passing Yards Return Yards Passes Punts umbies Lost Penalties Yards NEWBERRY SIC (AP) Tom Sexton booted a 53 yard field goal with one sec ond remaining on the clock to break a 10 10 deadlock and give the Indians a 13 10 South Atlan tic Conference football victory Saturday night final drive started on their own 29 yard line Quar terback Joey Russo tossed a 28 yard pass to split end Bart Crawford to bring Catawba to 44 Russo tossed two more passes to Crawford to carry the Indians to the Newberry 31 be fore the Indians were penalized back to the 36 for illegal proce ECU 15 57 248 90 The victory extended the winning streak to 12 games and boosted their 1977 mark to 3 0 all conference vic tories Howard dropped to 1 2 over all 1 1 in the MEAC A fumble and a blocked punt set up Howard for a two yard touchdown run by James ORANGEBURG SC (API South Carolina State led by quarterback Jesse Prather and running back Rickey Anderson came from behind to score four second period touchdowns and roll to a 41 16 Mid Eastern Ath letic Conference college football victory Saturday over Howard University CHATTANOOGA Tenn (AP) Kent Woerner plunged two yards over the center for a touchdown Saturday give urman a 17 7 Conference football over the University nessee Chattanooga The touchdown came late in the third quarter but UT Chat tanooga was unable to recover Rodney Ledford missed a 33 yard field goal and Russell Gambrell in tercepted second string quarter back Dennis pass on the 23 yard line to break up a 59 yard drive urman got ons the board first recovering a Chattanooga fumble and marching 56 yards in 10 plays Quarterback Jim my Kiser dove over from one yard out for the score On the next kickoff the ball bounced off running back Tony chest and urman recov ered on UT 16 yard line Three plays later urman's Bobby Behr kicked a 28 yard field goal Chattanooga's only score 'Came early in the second half when Chris Buono grabbed the kickoff but was knocked cold on his own 16 yard line and lost the ball dure Sexton then booted the ball from the 43 It cleared the crossbar by about six inches Newberry scored a touch down on a 22 yard interception return by linebacker Dennis Yarbrough in the third quarter and a 28 yard field goal in the fourth quarter by Bob McMillan Catawba which dominated the game statistically scored its touchdown on a three yard plunge by Ricky White just minutes before halftime Sexton kicked a 37 yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for other score 18 53 231 96 8 8 19 2 7 38 2 2 6 80 Breakfield and Howard 33 yard field goal as the vis iting Bison took a 9 0 first quar ter advantage The points were the first giv en up by South Carolina State this season after shutouts in its first two games SC State drove 26 yards for its first score after a short ATLANTA Quarterback Steve uller ran for touchdowns of one and seven yards and throwed a 66 yard scoring aerial to split end Jerry Butler to lead the Clemson Tigers to a convinc ing series ending 31 14 football victory over Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at Grant ield Butler who had five receptions gained 163 yards to establish a new single game record in the game which marked the end of the series between the two schools that started two years before the turn of the century Clemson after an opening game loss to the then 10th rankedMaryland Terrapins completed a sweep of the with the Tech victory Last week they stunned Georgia 7 6 and now have a 2 1 season record Lester Brown of Myrtle Beach was the big workhorse of the Tigers' offensive machine which netted 396 yards as he picked up a career high 134 yards on 28 carries including a 19 yard touchdown jaunt The Tigers scored on their first three possessions with Jimmy Russell kicking a 37 yard field goal with 8:48 remaining in the first period to cap a 68 yard drive and less than two minutes later after Roy Epps recovered a Tech fumble at the Tiger 34 yard line uller teamed with Butler on a 66 yard score to put Clemson out front 10 0 Tech got on the scoreboard after its third possession of the first period when Pat Moriarty plunged over from one yard to cap an 11 play 66 yard drive Johnny Smith booted the point after to pull Tech within three points at 10 7 but it was the last points untile Rod Lee scored on a 17 yard run on the Yellow Jackets' first possession of the second half uller scored both of his touchdowns in the second period as the Tigers increased their lead to 24 7 at the intermission ollowing the Georgia Tech first period touchdown Willie Jordan returned the Tech kickoff 28 yards out to the Tiger 30 yard line Tech was guilty of of a late hit which gave the Tigers a first down at their own 45 Aided by a face mask violation the Tigers behind the running of Brown and Warren Ratchford marched 55 yards in 10 plays with uller going over from seven yards out for a 17 7 lead with 13 56 left to play in the half Clemson's best substained march of the young season came in the closing minutes of the half when Jordan was forced to fair catch a Jimmy Peeples punt at the Tiger 18 yard line Brown carried twice to give the Tigers a first down out at their 30 yard line uller hit Butler for another first down at the Clemson 41 and on a third and four the Spartanburg native found Butler again for a 20 yard gainer out to the Georgia Tech 33 When Tracy Perry failed to pick up yardage with 3:04 left in the period uller found his favorite receiver for a 21 yard gainer down at the Tech 12 Brown was called on twice and he responded with nine yards with uller gaining the final yard for a first down at the Tech three on a sneak Brown muscled his way for two yards and uller kept on second down for the final yard and the score with 59 seconds remaining Last year Tech scored twice in the final eight minutes to gain a 24 24 tie with the Tigers and starting the second half it ap peared the Wrecks had the same thing in mind Clemson received the kickoff and after exchanging posses sions Jordan fumbled a Tech punt and Georgia Tech recovered at the Tiger 42 ard line: Quarterback Gary Lanier the Wrecks down to the Tiger 17 yard line where Lee romped off of left tackle for a touchdown to close the gap at 24 14 Brian Kier's interception of Lanier's pass at the Tiger 34 stalled another Tech drive early in the fourth period and after hooking up with Butler on a 48 yard pass play on the first play uller handed the pigskin to Brown who dashed the final 19 yards for a Tiger score and a 31 14 lead Midway of the final period the Clemson defense stopped the Jackets' on long drives After receiving a David Sims punt Tech moved from its 26 to the Tiger three yard Jine as Lee romped for 34 yards and Lanier hit Eddie Lee Ivery for a 37 yard gainer On first and goal at the three Bucky Samberger fumbled Lanier's handoff and Randy Scott recovered for the Tigers The Yellow Jackets' finaldriveof the game was halted when walkon Steve Ryan intercepted a Greg Hardie pass at the Tiger 25 and Clemson was able to run out the clock for the victory VMI UCaroilna IftrMt tO Gibson 4 run (Jones kick) VMI Jones 32 ECU Southerland 8 run (Creech kick) Hicks 2 run (Creech kick) 23581 COLUMBIA The Georgia Bulldog hex was held intact once again Saturday night before 56784 fans at Williams Brice Stadium as Rex 22 yard field goal with 6:33 left in the game was good enough to give the visitors a 15 13 victory over South Carolina South Carolina which has not beaten Georgia since 1958 led 13 12 going into the final quarter but costly mistakes by both teams in a poorly played but tremendously exciting football game hurt the Gamecocks more in the end In a crazy fourth quarter which saw Georgia fumble the ball three times to USC the Gamecocks fumble twice to Georgia and USC punter Max Runager trying a forward pass on fourth down the key play of the game occurred with 7:50 to go and USC in possession With at time left in the game after USC had been penalized 15 yards for holding quarterback Ron Bass fumbled after being sacked and linebacker Jeff Lewis recovered for the Bulldogs at the Gamecock 15 With Steve Rogers replacing JeffPyburn at quarterback Georgia moved down to the one yard line before the Gamecock defense rose up and denied the Bulldogs a touchdown But Robinson who had connnected on a 48 yard field goal earlier hit on a 22 yard effort to give Georgia the lead and eventually the victory The Gamecocks best chance came with 3:80 left when a Max Runager punt was fumbled by Billy Woods at the Georgia 32 where USCs Jeff Kendziorski recovered But Bulldog Ronnie Swoopes sacked Bass from his tackle position back at the 39 and the Gamecocks eventually lost the ball on downs South Carolina regained the ball with 0:41 left in the game but Bass threw two incompletions from his 34 as time ran out and the Bulldog faithful up from Athens went wild The loss was the first of the year for USC as they fell to 3 1 while Georgia raised their record to 2 1 Next week the Gamecocks entertain East Carolina Saturday night in USCs homecoming game Georgia outgained USC 336 yards to 275 with the big differ ence being in rushing where the Bulldogs outgained the Gamecocks 287 140 Georgia fumbled the ball a whopping nine times in the game losing six of them while USC fumbled five times losing three of them Bass threw 32 times for USC completing 17 for 177 yards and one touchdown with Zion McKinney grabbing seven balls for 81 yards and a touchdown and Phil Logan getting five for 75yards But the rushing attack wasn't there as Steve Dorsey led the way with only 31 yards in 10 carries while George Rogers had 30 yards in nine carries and Bass had a minus six yards in 13 carries By contrast Pyburn led Georgia's rushers as the quarter back gained 95 yards in 12 carries (53 of those coming on his first quarter touchdown run) Willie McLendon got 89 yards in 16 carries and Kovin McLee (who became the second all time rusher in Georgia history this game I had 68 yards in 23 carries Gamecock coach Jim Carlen lamented the loss by saying made more mistakes than we did but we couldn take advantage of them We get our running game going and I frankly can't understand that We'll have to work on it in practice this The Bulldogs wasted no time getting their offense cranked up as they marched 80 yards for a touchdown in slightly over three minutes of play in the first quarter Georgia took the lead on a picture book 53 yard option keeper by quarterback Jeff Pyburn who raced down the near sideline untouched until he reached the end zone whereupon he was belted out of bounds Rex Robinson added the point after to make it 7 0 with 11:58 left in the opening quarter After USC George Rogers made a fine return on the kickoff to the Gamecock 43 the fired up Bulldogs forced a turnover as rover back Bill Krug recovered a Casper Carter fumble at the USC 47 But the Gamecock defense stopped the Bulldogs cold and Robinson's attempt at a 58 yard field goal fell way short Later in the quarter with Georgia in possession Pyburn fumbled the center snap and USC linebacker Tim Singleton recovered at the Bulldog 49 The break seemed to pick up the sputtering USC offense as quarterback Ron Bass took to the air and found success against the Georgia secondary Bass completed passes of six 13 and 20 yards in the seven play drive which ended with the 20 yard scoring strike to flanker Zion McKinney who ran a crossing pattern overthe middle and was wide open at the 10 yard line when he raced into the end zone Britt Parrish added the point after to knot the game 7 7 with 4:22 left in the quarter The Gamecocks marched from their own 48 to the Georgia nine early in the second quarter and Bass and McKinney con nected on two more campletions good for 28 yards in the drive Georgia's defense stiffened as defensive back Bobby Thompson made a fine saving deflection on a third down pass for Phil Logan in the end zone Parrish then came on and booted a 27 yard field goal to put USC ahead 10 7 will 9:00 to go in the first half The Gemecocks has a great chance to add to their lead when Georgia's wide receiver Mark Hodge caught a pass andcoughed it up when hit and defensive end Roger Woolbright recovered for the Gamecocks at the Bulldog 27 But the opportunity was wasted when safety Johnny Hender son picked off a Don Bass aerial at the 18 where Georgia started to march Aided by a costly roughing the kicker penalty the Bulldogs went from their 18 to the USC 30 behind the running of Pyburn Willie McClennon and Kevin McLee With 0:34 left in the half Robinson came in and boomed a career record 48 yard field goal to tie the game 10 10 at halftime With tne Gamecocks getting just 57 yards rushing in the first half Bass came out throwing and again he found holes in the Georgia secondary as the third quarter's wild action began The Gamecocks marched from their own 20 to the Georgia two in 17 plays with the big gainers consisting of a 10 yard pass to McKinney passes of 12 13 and 15 yards to Logan and a 10 yard run by Steve Dorsey which brought the ball down to the one But the lived up to their billing and stopped USC cold on three rushesforcing the Gamcocks to settle for a 20 yard Parrish field goal to make it 13 10 with 7:04 left in the third quarter Gwjl lit 5 Cardin 733 Pyburn 53 run (Robinson kick) McKinney 20 past from Sass (Parrish kick) SCar Parrish 27 Robinson 48 i SCar Parrish 20 Safety Dorsey recovered SCaro fumble In end zone Geo Robinson 22 Braves Lose ATLANTA (AP) Cesar Geronimo smashed three hits to lead an 11 hit Cincinnati attack as the Reds outlasted the At lanta Braves 8 7 Saturday Geronimo singled home a run in the Reds' five run second in ning and added a homer in the third Cincinnati starter Tom Hume 2 3 was the beneficiary of the attack in pitching six innings to earn the victory Pedro Borbon relieved Dale Murray in the ninth when the Braves scored three times and picked up his 18th save of the season Braves starter and loser Dick Ruthven 7 12 surrendered five hits and six runs in lasting just 1 1 3 innings Gary Matthews and Darrell Chaney homered for the Braves time with the score by Suther Petion land A fumble by VMI Mike Alston set up East Carolina's second score in the third quar ter Eddie Hicks came up the middle for two yards to score after a 22 yard drive Creech Howard punt with Anderson recovering alternate quarter back Nate Rivers fumble in the end zone for the touchdown The Bulldogs took the lead on a 76 yard dash by Charles Bur gess lhen Prather fired a 42 yard touchdown pass to Theo dore Carter Strong safety Tommy Brown returned his fourth interception of the year 26 yards for a TD as the Rulldops moved tn a 2R 9 halttime lead Howard 9 8 7 Carolina st 21 a i Howard Breakfleid 2 run (kick failed) Howard Ward 33 SC St Anderion umble recovery in end zone (Montgomery kick) SX Burgess 76 run (Montgomery SC Carter 42 yard pass from Pra ther (Montgomery kick) SC St Brown 26 Interception return (Montgomery kick) Wilson one run (Ward kick) Anderson 32 run (Montgomery SC 36 Montgomery SC 34 Montgomery A 5820 Georgia 16 63 26 4898 75 6 12 5 0 5 34 9 6 5 43 6 67 Tigers End Tech Series With Convincing Victory A 50116 tLCIemten Tech irst downs 24 Rusnes yaros Passing yards Return yards Passes Punts umbles lost Penaltles yards lb 4 2 8 65 8 79 Bulldogs Nip Gamecocks On inal Quarter the touchdown from four yards added the winning point in me nnai piay oi me game Clemson 10 14 0 7 31 Ga Tech 7 0 7 Clem Russell 27 Clem 66 pass from uller sell kick Tech Morlarty 1 run Smith kick Clem uller 7 run Arlri kick Clem Buller 1 run Arlri kick Tech Lee 17 run Smith kick Clem Brown 20 run Arlri kick Three plays afterward running back Mike Smith scrambled through a hole for a seven yard touchdown victory gives the team a 2 1 overall record and 1 0 mark in the conference while UT Chattanooga fell to 2 1 over all and 1 1 in conference after upsetting Appalachian State last week "We played a very sorry foot ball game" UT Chattanooga Coach Joe Morrison said thought we were ready to play but we got behind early made a lot of mistakes and you can do that against a good football Chattanooga had five fumbles and lost four of them and ur man lost four of its six urman held Chattanooga fifth in the nation in rushing to just 177 yards on the ground and 105 yards in the air "This was the best game the defense has played this urman Coach Art Baker said the most satisfying win I've had in a long time" urman ranked seventh in the country in rushing piled up 309 yards on the ground and an other 56 in the air out VMI led by 13 0 at the end of pirates Hneback Mike Brewing the first half But the Pirates on stopped the piay on the 41 came back strong after half Yar aer a Pass com' mg! 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