Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 33

Today's tslavisisa highlights: 0 1 p.m. Football: Chicago at Green Bay 1 p.m. Football: LA Raiders at Kansas City 4 p.m. Football: Detroit at Tampa Bay 9 p.m. Football: Denver at Cleveland IVetchlnj tha wild, wild flL 1cst; Minnesota beat Texas 1-0, and Kansas City defeated Seattle, 8-5, Saturday.

They remain tied for first in the AL West. See Page 4D. Sporta Phone, 1-976-1313 Sunday, Sept. 13, 134 LIONS PREVIEW 11 HORSE RACING 13 OUTDOORS 13 Call LJ DETROIT FREE PRESS with sports news: 222-6660 In; 1 Jones, Toronto edge Tigers riiiic Bouncy Blocked punt may have i savea more man game This combination of vie tories by the Tigers andor Toronto losses eliminates the Blue Jays from the AL East race. The Tigers' 2-1 victory over Toronto Saturday afternoon means the earliest the Tigers can clinch the division championship is Monday, when they play Milwaukee.

By GENE GUIDI Free Press Sports Writer In the opinion of Cliff Johnson, Saturday's final score should have read: "Ruppert Jones 2, Blue Jays 1." Johnson, pinch-hitting for Willie Aikens in the Toronto eighth inning, smacked what appeared to be a game-tying homer off Willie Hernandez. But Jones raced back to the left-field fence, went high into the air and snared the ball just as it was about to drop over the nine-foot wall and into the first row of seats. 1 That catch along with Jones' fourth-inning homer that broke a 1-1 tie made the difference as the Tigers edged the Blue Jays, 2-1 to reduce their magic number inthe American League East to four. EAST LANSING Bishop Harris is a Notre Dame football coach, not a cleric, although there Peter Gammons' baseball column is on Page 11D. Even though Jones' performance cost Toronto a victory, Johnson was so moved by the heroics that he came into the Tigers' clubhouse after the game to congratulate Jones.

"Man, what do you want to do that stuff to me Johnson asked Jones with a huge grin. "No kidding, you played a great game today." Jones, who drew "Rupe, Rupe" chants from the chilled crowd of 44,349 all afternoon long, also made a sensational diving stab of Alfredo Griffin's third-inning liner. But the eighth-inning grab had the fans on their feet. See TIGERS, Page 6D are those who would be uncertain how to explain the difference. On the bus trip north, the Fighting Irish football team stopped to eat at the Win Schuler's restaurant in Marshall, and Bish op Harris paused at the cash register to pick up a cigar.

Running back Allen Pinkett walked up, so the assistant coach purchased two. "One for me, one for you," Harris said. "But only when we win. "Deal," Pinkett said. Irish rally beats Spartans, 24-20 The Notre Dame student sniffed the victory cigar and stroked it with his fingers after Saturday's game at Michigan State.

"Save this baby for later," he said. His team had just been 17 points behind, only to stave off State, 24-20, in what coach Gerry Faust was busily describing as "one of the greatest comeback victories Notre Dame has ever had." (It certainly ranked in the top 500.) Shouting out the news Vv i The best thing about the game to the players was that it might shut up some of the people back on campus, the ones who 1 j. i iV were shooting off their mouths after last Satur (, 5 day's loss to Purdue. Mr. "There was this one guy, man, he really harassed us," said cornerback Mike Haywood, who blocked a "Never worried about it.

Never have. I just MSU blows 17-0 lead By JACK SAYLOR Free Press Sports Writer EAST LANSING This time, Michigan State, like the fabled front-running hare, dawdled too long and got caught by Notre Dame's tortoises. Bothered, bewildered and beleaguered by turnovers again Saturday, Notre Dame finally made a break of its own and turned a blocked punt into the game-winning touchdown in a 24-20 battle of mistakes at Spartan Stadium. While the Irish stewed, MSU piled up a 17-0 lead. But for the second straight week, the Spartans' offense took off the second half, and Allen Pinkett's five-yard scoring run provided the winning margin midway through the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame fans came screaming for coach Gerry Faust's scalp, but at the end, MSU faithful, making up most of the crowd of 76,919, left booing coach George Perles. "That's why they pay to come in," Perles said. "They get frustrated." THE GAME LOOKED much like an instant replay of the opener, in which the Spartans ran up a 24-0 lead, then held on grimly to win, 24-21, when See MSU, Page 10D fourth-quarter punt and probably saved this game for the Irish. "He was waiting for us when we i ft 1 got back from Indianapo work as hard as I can, and coach as lis, just so he could tell us 4 how terrible we were." Haywood felt good hard as I about not having to face any hecklers back home. can.

But surely no one felt much better than Faust, who has done everything but sell his soul to get Notre Dame rolling. Had the Irish lost this one, his career coaching record would have been 18-17-1. Irish football coaches who go 18-17-1 are liable to end up with their pictures on the bulletin board of the South Bend post office. Faust had something to shout about after Sat urday's game, although the real reason he was shouting was that the Michigan State marching band was passing by and a nearby boiler had kicked on. In that raspy, Don Corleone voice of his, he responded to questions about his job security by i s.j Jrt i.

2 i mBimirWS saying: "Never worried about it. Never have, honest to God. I just work as hard as I can, and coach as hard as I can, and hope the right people think so." Free Press Photo by PAULINE LUBENS Still, it isn't easy. "Sure, we know coach Notre Dame's Alonzo Jefferson lunges between MSU's Anthony Bell (left) and Shane Bullough. Faust's situation," quarterback Steve Beuerlein said, "but we can't worry about his job.

It's only a distraction if you let it be. Besides, so much of that stuff goes on at Notre Dame because it's sort of Huskies dump lifeless Michigan nature by now. Criticizing the coach is sort ON DECK: A look at the Lions' game with Tampa Bay. Lions Preview, Page 1 1 D. IN PARADE: What challenges remain for Sugar Ray Leonard? Parade magazine.

ELSEWHERE: Ya gotta love the Cubs. So says columnist Mike Royko. Page 3H. Saturday's ccSea fcstbaU a THE UPSETS: Georgia Tech stymied No. 19 Alabama, the Tide got off to its worst start In 28 years, and No.

12 Penn State knocked off Iowa, 20-17. Page 9D. THE ROUTS: Top-ranked Nebraska subdued Minnesota 38-7; No. 9 Ohio State blanked Washington State, 44-0; and Oklahoma downed Pittsburgh, 42-10. Pages 8D.

THE HOME TEAM: Wayne State edged Evansville, 13-7. State roundup, Page 7D. BTHE REST: Top 20 action and all the college football scores are on Pages 8D and 9D. of a Notre Dame tradition." The coach came into the locker room at half- By TOMMY GEORGE Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR No frills here. Little was time Saturday and told the Irish they were going to win.

They were losing at that moment, 17-3. He told them straight out that they were a better fancy about the way Washington toppled Michigan, 20-11, at Michigan Stadium Saturday. Washington simply played nearly errorless football, while Michigan gingerly tiptoed its way through a miserable afternoon of blunders. yard touchdown pass and suffered no thefts. Playing before a national TV audience, Michigan lacked the pizzazz it displayed in upending Miami last week.

Washington, eager and prepared for this challenge against the team rated third in the nation by the Associated Press, led, 20-3, after three quarters and kept Michigan out of the end zone for all but the final two seconds of play. Michigan was awful. Most of U-M's 103,072 fans booed the Wolverines off the field at halftime when they went into the locker room down and out, 10-3. Afterward, Bo Schembechler looked stunned. "I've seen us play worse, but I can't remember when," Schembechler said.

"We turned the ball over, we made mistakes, we were lethargic. I don't know if they're (Washington) any good or not. When you're so bad, you never know." Washington (2-0) will improve on its No. 16 ranking, while Michigan will fall. The Wolverines might have realized that this one was well worth forgetting after only a quarter.

Washington took more than nine minutes in the first quarter to construct a 19-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in a field goal. See MICHIGAN, Page 9D Michigan fumbled three times and lost two of them. Washington did not commit a Jim Harbaugh threw three interceptions and hit only 17 of 37 passes. Huskie Hugh Millen was 13 of 16 for 165 yards, tossed a 73- nL-f VsStrti a-ua Hearns Pistons9 pay is among NBA's best devastates Hutchings football team than Michigan State those were Faust's words, exactly and not to worry, because they were going to go out there in the second half and prove it. Joe Johnson, the safety whose big hit on Lorenzo White stopped the Spartans late in the game on fourth down, said the Irish might as well have sipped some water and returned directly to the field.

"We didn't even want a halftime," Johnson said. "We wanted to go right back out there. He didn't have to tell us anything." We knew we were messing up out there, but as soon as we threw a couple of big plays at Michigan State, they did exactly what we didn't do. They got all down on themselves and never recovered." "What we did," Pinkett said, "was give ourselves a good, strong kick in the butt." Working out the kinks Once Notre Dame drew close in the second half, Faust decided that pressure was the answer. He knew that Ralf (The Wonder Foot) Mojsiejenko was such a splendid kicker, the only way the Irish were going to get anywhere with him was to cram a punt down his throat.

Especially since John McDowell, the Spartans' snapper, kept the defense from timing the snap count, Faust said, by "bobbing his head up and down, which is sort of illegal." Haywood threw himself at a punt best he could and got a thumb on it, putting Notre Dame right back in the game and, who knows, maybe even saving the coach's job in the process. Faust rated the comeback right up there with the one that beat Houston in the Cotton Bowl of 1979, back when Dan Devine was the embattled Notre Dame boss. The Irish started that season with two straight defeats, something they have never done since. Faust was staring 0-2 straight in the face Saturday, but said, "The coaches stayed cool, the players stayed cool and I stayed cool, believe it or not" Give that mar a cigar. By GEORGE PUSCAS Free Press Sports Writer SAGINAW Thomas Hearns un loaded his sledge fists on the head of hapless Fred Hutchings here Saturday, and the shock of the blows tore across the ring and right into the heart of i T- 1 I I Hutchings corner.

Fearing for his fighter's safety, Bennie Casing, Hutchings' assistant By CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer The Pistons, once one of the lowest- paid teams in the NBA, will go into the 1984-85 season with a roster averaging almost $400,000 a year per player, according to documents distributed to teams by the league office. The documents, obtained by The Free Press Saturday, show Isiah Thomas' new contract will play him $750,000 this season $455,000 in salary, $100,000 in what is termed "miscellaneous compensation" and $195,000 that will be deferred, to be paid beginning in 1996. The new contracts signed recently by Kelly Tripucka and Vinnie Johnson are not included in the documents, but Tripucka will be the second highest- paid Piston, making $700,000. See PISTONS, ffageSD trainer, leaped into the ring near the end of the third round screaming at referee Arthur Mercante to halt the fight. Mercante was in the midst of doing just that, awarding Hearns a technical knockout at 2:56 of the third round.

It was as one-sided a fight as Hearns has seen and he has produced many. Hutchings, the No. 3 contender for Hearns' WBC super- Free Press Pholo bv WILLIAM ARCHIE Thomas Hearns (left) pounds Fred Hutchings during thir bout Saturday. See THOMAS HEARNS, Page 2D.