Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 71

222-6720 flDil Todays television highlights; Sunday, Hov. 18 ,1979" LrMMlrl lO! Cnnrfelini 1 p.m. Football: New York Jets at Chicago SPORTS PEOPLE 2r" rT) II IJ I I IR)J pOUSIinc -Mmf 2 p.m. Football: Detroit at Minnesota COLLEGE SCORES 8 WropTppFor For the latest sports WM 4 p.m. Football: Pittsburgh at San Diego HORSE RACING 13 UjutiHui i-httKMt scores and results.

4 p.m. CFL Football: Calgary at Edmonton OUTDOORS 14 LJ eecMffan! Bucks Sorry, jicv college 0SK bowls MP U'H gets Gator i i wrap up the Moses, By MICK McCABE Fret Sporti Writer ANN ARBOR The University of Michigan didn't need Indiana's help after all Saturday, just a little blocking on the punt team. All hopes of at least a tie of the Big Ten championship and a possible Rose Bowl trip went down the tubes before an NCAA Galor Bowl Friday, Dec. 28, Jacksonville. University of Michigan (8-3) vs.

North Carolina (6-3- 1) 9 p.m., ABC-TV. I'eudi Howl Monday, Dec. 31, Atlanta, Clemson (8- 2) vs. Baylor (7-3), 3 p.m., CBS-TV. Rose Bowl Tuesday, Jan.

1 Pasadena, Ohio State (11-0) vs. Southern Cal (9-0-1) or Washington (9-2), 5 p.m., NBC-TV. Sugar Bowl Tuesday, Jan. 1, New Orleans, Arkansas (9-1) or Texas (8-1) vs. Georgia (5-5) or Alabama (10-0), 2 p.m., ABC-TV.

Cotton Bowl Tuesday, Jan. 1 Dallas, Nebraska 1 0-0) or Oklahoma (9-1) vs. Southwest Conference champion, 2:10 p.m., CBS-TV. Orange Bowl Tuesday, Jan. 1, Miami, Florida State (10-0) vs.

Nebraska (10-0) or Oklahoma (9-1 8 p.m., NBC-TV. More pictures on Pages OF, 12F regular-season record crowd of 106,255 as the Wolverines lost to Ohio State, 18-15. The loss gave second-ranked Ohio State the undisputed Big Ten title and a perfect 11-0 record. It gave U-M an 8-3 overall record and a date in the Dec. 28 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, against North Carolina, which has a 6-3-1 record.

As it turned out, even a U-M victory would not have sent the Wolverines to the Rose Bowl. Purdue sewed up Ohio State's trip to Pasadena by beating Indiana. And just as it has been all season, it was U-M's inability to execute a punt that caused its downfall. U-M had rallied behind quarterback John Wangler, who came off the bench after freshman Rich Hewlett started the game, to take a 15-12 lead in the third quarter. The lead seemed safe enough because the U-M defense was doing a decent job of containing Ohio State QB Art Schlichter.

But the Wolverines were forced to punt from their own 38-yard line and Ohio State sent everyone but Woody Hayes to try to block the attempt. JIM LAUGHLIN BROKE through the middle and easily blocked the kick before Bryan Virgil could get the ball away. Todd Bell picked the ball up on the third bounce and he had clear sailing into the end zone. "I got in so quick nobody would have been able to get it off," Laughlin said." "It wasn't a one-man deal," U-M coach Bo Schembechler said of the breakdown on the blocked punt, U-M's fourth of the year. "We got beat by three points by two teams and two points by another.

If we would have had a good kicking game we would be undefeated. "The only frustrating thing has been our kicking game. We just haven't been able to cover that area. I'm not going to say we would have won the game, but the key play was the blocked punt." THE KEY PLAY could have been when Hewlett was selected to start. "We wanted to run the option," Schembechler said.

"We were going to alternate the quarterbacks. We wanted to improve our running with the option. Wangler was going to play, there was no question about that. "Basically, the reasoning was that we had our running attack devised that way but when we lost Dickey we lost our running game. We had a two-pronged attack with two quarterbacks (Dickey and Wangler) and we didn't want to throw out the option, that's why we went with Hewlett.

I thought we could move the ball." THE WOLVERINES DID move the ball, with Hewlett gaining 1 6 yards the first time he carried the ball on U-M's first play from scrimmage. That first drive ended at Ohio State's 49. After Mike Harden intercepted a Schlichter pass at OSU's 31, Hewlett hit Ralph Clayton fora 15-yard gain to just outside See U-M, Page 1 0F tMMTi y. i Complete lunch roundup on 'age IV Florida-fun-bound 6M' leaves worrying lo Bucks ANN ARBOR Pasadena, it isn't. Or Miami or Dallas or New Orleans, either.

But at least Jacksonville, has an ocean, no snow, and plenty of sun. And, provided Bo Schembechler falls asleep early one night, the more adventuresome among the Michigan Wolverines might even find a few pretty girls along the beach. Furthermore, in North Carolina, the Gator Bowl offers an opponent the Wolverines ought to be able to beat. The way things have ended the past several years, that may well be the most important factor of all. Let Ohio State and Alabama and Nebraska worry about who's No.

1. This year, Bo's boys are going to have a little fun during the holiday season for a change. At least they know Southern California will be thousands of miles away. And that's a pretty nice Christmas present in itself. Granted, nobody except Bob Ufer is going to get too terribly excited about playing in a bowl named after a large lizard which happens to be kin to the crocodile.

But under the circumstances, the Gator Bowl is as good a holiday junket as the Wolverines of Michigan had any right or reason to expect. To be sure, it will be but another in that endless stream of Nothing Bowls that annually fill our TV screens night ftA ni rtUf a niAkt a lira am riiFirfmai on4 1 1 Vaao llS. Mrs Free Press Photo by AL A MUD A AP Photo by JOHN HILLtRV Who's No. U-M, says Wolverine Doug Marsh (left) as Anthony Carter scores. OSU, say the Buckeyes (right) as Art Schlichter raises the game ball wr: 1 Lr error is one loo many 1 likf Hf AuwfK AIM 1 I IjTi 1 Same old Bo hot at press after M' loss ANN ARBOR It was a typical scene in the interview room after a University of Michigan loss.

U-M coach Bo Schembechler spoke softly, handled most questions fairly well, smarted off to others. When the questions got around to the kicking game for the third time, Schembechler said: "I think we've had enough. We're getting around to this crap he said as he stalked out of the room. As has become the custom, Schembechler refused to open his locker room to the press and even refused to let any players enter the interview See BO, Page 12F By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR Call this one the Goof Bowl. Or the Boo-Boo Bowl.

The Hall of Shame Game. Two highly-touted teams playing for the Big Ten Conference championship made more mistakes than your average high school jayvee squad. Understand that it was exciting. The 106,255 attendees at Don Canham's final football party of the year got their money's worth on this warm, sunny afternoon. Ohio State and Michigan put on a see-saw show that left the outcome in doubt until See MISTAKES, Page 12F Free Press Photo by CRAIG PORTER Freshman QB Rich Hewlett was a surprise starter for U-M Saturday, but the strategy didn't work.

Viici 1115111 uci rvccu VUiiawuao oiiu new cai a. It will be a battle of two thrice-beaten ball clubs with nothing at stake except their personal pride. Undoubtedly, it will put more than a few people to sleep. I mean, if you can name one player on the North Carolina team, you know more about football than I do. But then Saturday afternoon I didn't exactly emerge from Michigan Stadium looking like an expert, did Frankly, at times, I had a tough time discerning which was supposed to be the undefeated, No.

2-ranked team. Bo could have been hero You've got to give the man credit. Bo Schembechler stuck his neck out a mile, surprising the Buckeyes and everybody else by starting raw rookie Rich Hewlett at quarterback instead of John Wangler. It was, indeed, a daring move the kind of gamble that sometimes wins ballgames. And if Hewlett had run the option the way Schembechler hoped, and the Wolverines had been successful, Bo would have been heralded as a hero and a genius.

But the gamble backfired and Schembechler was left to shoulder the blame. And the world was left to wonder what would have happened if Bo had given the ball to Wangler from the very beginning instead of waiting until late in the second quarter to get him into the game. What would the final score have been if Bo had let Wangler put the wall in the air from the outset instead of reverting for a couple of quarters to his beloved option? Not 18-15, 1 can assure you. Actually, the decision to change quarterbacks should have come as no surprise to those who have observed Schembechler at work over the years. Bo has never felt comfortable, watching his team put the football in the air.

And I have a hunch he couldn't wait to abandon the airways and get back down on good ol' ground. Obviously, Schembechler is thinking about freshman Rich Hewlett as Michigan's quarterback of the future. And bear in mind, the Wolverines will also have B.J. Dickey, another option quarterback, back next season. If I was one of those outstanding young high school pass receivers Schembechler is presently trying to recruit, I 'would certainly have second thoughts about committing myself to Michigan for my college career.

If all goes according to plan, the Wolverines may not throw a pass for ihey next four years. But back to Saturday, where Schembechler was In rare form. He gambled with Hewlett gambled by not going for a field goal in the first quarter when the Wolves were fourth-and-one on the OSU two-yard line he even called for a pass on a fake punt In the second period. It looked like a Woody team And, as things turned out, he made the wrong decision each time. Still the Wolverines stayed close close enough to win the game, although Purdue made sure that would not have mattered.

Earle Bruce saw to it that things did not get out of hand. Bruce got his first taste of The Big Game Saturday, and it stuck in his throat. If you didn't know better you would have thought Woody Hayes was still calling the shots. From the opening kickoff it was Bruce, not Bo, who played it cautious and conservative and close-to-the-sweater. Rarely did he turn loose Art Schlichter, the Buckeyes' brilliant bomb thrower.

Instead, they ran and ran and ran, preferring to rely on a blocked punt, rather than Schlichter's strong right arm, to win the ballgame. Woody would have been proud. Nevertheless, the Buckeyes will represent the Big Ten in Pasadena New Year's Day but they had better hope they put on a better show than they did Saturday. A year ago, they were in the Gator Bowl against Clemson, another team from the ACC. And no one who cares at all about Ohio State will ever forget what happened In that game.

Clemson won, you know. Of course, the same thing could not possibly occur again this year. After all, If you don't pass the football, it can't be intercepted. Right, Bo? i- CC's grid machine purrs along, 13-0 iW 1 if i By TERRY BOERS Free Pres Sports Writer You can almost hear the television pitchman now: From K-Tel it's the Detroit Catholic Central meatgrinder! It slices, dices and cubes and it can be yours for the low, low price of just. Check that.

No matter what it costs, the price was too high for Hazel Park, Catholic Central, a relentless and methodical machine, took one more giant step toward the Class A state football championship Saturday at Birmingham Groves High School, punish ing an overmatched Hazel Park team, 13-0, In a semifinal game that attracted a crowd of more than 6,500. The Shamrocks, now 1 1-0, will meet Escanaba next Saturday at 1 p.m. under the Silverdome bubble for the Class A title. For CC coach Tom Mach, who found himself embroiled in an unwanted controversy involving so-called cheapshots by his defense during last week's victory over Dearborn Fordson, it was a pleasure to just talk football again. See CENTRAL, Page 4F prep playoffs scoreboard (stories on Pago 5F) ,1 I vv Class SEMIFINAL RESULTS Ishpemlng 20, North Muskegon 11.

WatervUet 14, Detroit Lutheran West 6. FINAL PAIRING Isphemlng (10-1) vs. WatervUet (11-0), 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24, Pontiac Silverdome. Class SEMIFINAL RESULTS Schoolcraft 8, Gobies 0.

Norway 28, Saginaw Mich. Lutheran Seminary 14. FINAL PAIRING Norway (10-1) vs. Schoolcraft (10-1), 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 24, Pontiac Silverdome.

Class A SEMIFINAL RESULTS Detroit Catholic Central 13, Hazel Park 0. Escanaba 28, Livonia Stevenson 26. FINAL PAIRING Detroit Catholic Central (1 1-0) vs. Escanaba (10-1), 1 pan. Saturday, Nov.

24, Pontiac Silverdome. Class SEMIFINAL RESULTS Jackson Lumen Christ! 35, Warren Fitzgerald 0. Gd. Rapids West Catholic 14, Bay City John Glenn 8. FINAL PAIRING Jackson Lumen Christ! (11-0) vs.

Grand Rapids West Catholic (10-1), 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24, Pontiac Silverdome. Free Press Photo by WARY SCHROfcDfcK Catholic Central tailback Aaron Roberts bears down on a Hazel Park defender during Saturday's Class A high school football playoff game. i.