Twins win 5-2, take 1 -game World Series lead

Twins win 5-2, take 1 -game World Series lead
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The
Minnesota
Twins
bringing the World Series back to their hiehdecible dome, beat the Atlanta Braves 5-2 in Saturday night's opener behind Greg" Gagne's threerun homer and Kent Hrbek's 440-foot solo shot
Rookie Chuck Knoblauch's RBI single gave the
Twins the lead in the first inning and Gagne's
home run made it 4-0 in the fifth, chasing Braves
starter Charlie Leibrandt. Hrbek's upper-deck
shot in the sixth provided the final run for Jack
Morris, who increased his. World Series record to •
3-0 by allowing five hits in seven-plus innings.
Ron Gant singled in Atlanta's first run in the
sixth, but Sid Bream took a called third strike with
runners on second and third.
Mark Guthrie relieved after Morris walked thefirst two batters in' the eighth, got NL batting
-
champ Terry Pendleton to bounce into a double
play but walked David Justice.
Rick Aguilera allowed Gant's second RBI single
— his third hit — then got Bream on a flyout and
finished for the save.
Leibrandt, 15-13 during the season, gave up
harmless singles in each of the first two innings.
He walked Dan Gladden on four pitches with two
outs in the third and Gladden stole second. Knoblauch, one of the top rookies in the American
League, singled in the run — the first of his three
hits — but was tagged out in a rundown after trying for second.
Leibrandt, 0-1 in the 1985 Series for Kansas
City, got into more trouble in. the fifth, when the
bottom of the Twins' order finished him off.
Hrbek, the No. 7 hitter, led off with a double and
Scott Leius' single put runners on first and third.
Gagne, who hit eight home runs during the
season and three in the 1987 postseason, then
lined an 0-1 pitch 357 feet into the left-field seats,
setting off an eruption of hanky waving and hoots
in the dome.
Jim Clancy relieved and quickly got in trouble,
too. Gladden reached on an error by second baseman Jeff Treadway and Knoblauch walked. Puckett's fly sent Gladden to third, Knobluch stole second and Chili Davis was walked intentionally to
load the bases.
But Gladden strayed off third on Brian Harper's
fly to left and had to go back to the base before
heading home. He was thrown out easily, Brian
Hunter to Pendleton to Greg Olson.
Morris, 5-1 in previous postseason starts, includ-
'
ing 2-0 in the 1984 World Series, for Detroit,
breezed through the first five innings before a boisterous capacity crowd of 55,108 in the noisy
Metrodome.
Treadway singled with one out in the sixth, went
to second on Justice's single with two outs and
scored on Gant's single. The runners moved up
when left fielder Gladden let the ball bounce away
for an error, but Bream let the chance go to waste
when Morris (18-1.2) got the called third strike.
Hrbek, who drove in six runs in the 1987 Series
win over St. Louis, hit his second Series homer
wi th one out i n th e bottom h al f.
The Braves, in the World Series for the first time
since 1958, had just one day off after beating Pittsburgh in the seventh game of the NL playoffs on
Thursday night.
THE SOUTHWEST TIMES, PULASKI, VA., SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20,1991-PAGE A9
PCHS took
the pigskin
and kept it
ROANOKE-- Pulaski County
High School head football coach
Joel Hicks has stressed all
season that it is critical to the
Cougars that their new winged-T offense get as many, and
hopefully more>snaps than the
opposition if there is to be hope
for success.
Locker Room
DanCallahan
Staff photo by Donnl* Walls
Cougar wingback Rocky Huff heads upfield as Fleming players join in the chase
Cougars beat Fleming 35-21,2-0 in RVD
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three touchdowns, one inside,
one outside, and another on a
screen pass. Fullback Eric Yates
ROANOKE- Pulaski County ran well inside. Quarterback
High School took control in the Brad Burrus loosened up the
second half, and butscored Wil- Colonel defense with a five-forliam Fleming 35-21 to up its five passing effort, teaming with
overall season record to 5-2, and tight end John Akers and Yates,
its Roanoke Valley.District mark on big plays to keep drives alive.
While the Cougar attack had
to 2-0 in Victory Stadium Friday all its guns in place, the defense
evening.
held Fleming to no first downs
Halfback J.J. Housel scored and just 21 yards of total offense
in the second half until its final
possession of the game.
Stat Sheet
At one juncture in the second
half, Pulaski Co: had run 28
plays to just nine for the
Colonels, and four different run-
BY DANCALLAHAN
. SWT Sports Editor
ou.1 of tli
tack.
'
Yates finished with 55 yards
on 17 carries, wingback Rocky
Huff had 54 on six attempts,
halfback Carl • Lewis had 53
yards on eight tries, and Housel
finished with 41 on 10 runs.
"When we started this thing,
we had no idea what we might be
able to get done this season,"
said PCHS head football coach
Joel Hicks. "To be 5-2 after tonight with still three games to
go, and in the race for the Roanoke Valley District championship is almost unbelieveable to
me. Fm as happy to be 5-2 right
now as I've ever been in all the
years I've been in coaching. I'm
sure Fve had teams 5-2 before,
but I'm sure I wasn't as pleased
to be 5-2 then as I am this year
with this team.
"This also means that well go
our 13th straight season at Pulaski Co. without a losing record.
I know maybe that doesn't sound
like much, but when you start
counting up the programs that
can say that, that's a little special too."
Af foR^hig Jja
Against the Colonels;
extremely pleased.
Stall photo by Donnto Walle
PCHS QB Brad Burrus lofts pass over WF defender to John Akers (88)
of a big play on the game's second snap when five Cougars defenders got their hands on Eddie
Jones after he caught a quick
pass in the right flat. However,
nobody was able to wrap him up,
and he popped free and galloped
68 yards all the way to the Cou/gar four, Thifca pjlayt later Sean
Stephens scored from the two,
Fleming scored first by virtue and quarterback Al Holland
"That's the way the winged-T
is supposed to work, We ran for
200, passed for 100, made a few
big plays, and had four guys all
with about 50 yards rushing.
That makes it real hard for the
other people to stop you. We really executed so much better
kicked the conversion for a quick
7-0 Fleming lead.
PCHS began to move the football immediately, but was
stopped by a fumble at the Fleming 28.
On its second possession, the
Cougars opened it up as Fleming
*• ~ to '.crowd thfr line of
Friday night in Victory Stadium the Cougars were hanging
on to a 14-13 halftime lead and
had just given up a 1 5-play ,
78-yard touchdown drive that
took seven minutes and 43 seconds of clock time.
At the break, William Fleming
had 27 first half snaps, Pulaski
Co.20. ;.
"That has to change," said
Hicks, "or we could be in
trouble."
It did~change.,>quickly. .,. ,1
The.Cougars took the second
half kickoff...drove and scored.
After stopping Fleming three
downs and out twice—drove and
scored.
Enter the fourth quarter. •
Fleming went three downs and
out again. Pulaski Co. used nine
plays, a. couple of penalties, and
moved 67 yards to paydirt. In all,
it was four possessions, and
three touchowns.
During that same period of
time.it was 21 yards of total
offense, and no first downs for
the Colonels who did not get
anything done in the second half
Until their final possession, down
35-13.
In the second half, Pulaski Co.
snapped the pigskin 30 times,
and Fleming had just 19 plays
with 10 of those in the final jour
minutes.
-^Fleming was a little on the
edge with that long drive in the
first half," said Hicks. They
covered a couple of third and
longs, and a fourth and long.
They made good plays, but we
were getting close. It's hard to
sustain something like that an
entire game, and when we
stopped them quickly and began
"pur ball control, it put us on conwe like it," ho 3ini!ed.
Linebacker Robbie Hager, the
leading tackier on the Cougar
defense, said a minor change
here and there at halftime helped too.
"We worked out some defensive things at the half, and the
coaches helped us understand
better how to recognize Fleming's blocking scheme. We had
to get our pass coverage straight
too. They were using a couple
different pass routes than we
had scouted, and we had to adjust underneath a little -bit-Wejust had to get ourselves where
we needed to be. When we got
that figured out, we stopped
them," said Hager.
• As for being able to control the
ball, and finish with 50 snaps for
the night, center Matt Layman
said it was just a matter of the
offensive front playing better
than it did a week ago. ,
"We played much better up
front. Fleming had trouble getting a good read on our blocking.
We were able to get good blocking angles. We came off the ball
a lot better. We just played better. We imoroved our execution
Please see COUGARS, page At 1 Please see CALLAKAN, page A11
THE SOUTHWEST TIMES. PULASKI. VA.. SUNDAY. OCTOBER 20.1991-PAGE A11
Callahan —
Continued from page A9
and we were just a sharper unit
overall."
that backed us up, and we never
did get out of the hole until it
way too late.
One player who benefited from was
"We
couldn't stop them, and .
the offensive lines' good play was that means
you don't get the ball
fullback Eric Yates who had his
back. Pulaski Co. got us down,,
best game of the season, and his
kept us down, and kept the ball.
most carries. He scored on a five- That
pretty much tells the story
. yard run, and ran 55 yards on 17
tonight,"
said Stuart.
carries.
,
.
"That's
the best way to play
•• "I felt good this week. I feel
this
game,"
said Hicks. "Get the
healthy. The whole team is heaball
first,
and
then don't give it
lthy. I think we feel as fresh now
1
back.
It's
that
old playground
as when the season started, I
thing where you take your ball
had good practices all week. I
and go home if they don't let; you
knew my time would come. The
get your way."
. coaches just said wait. Who
The story this night was really
gains the most yards is a lot bethat
simple. ?ulaski Co. took the
cause of how the other team
second
half kickoff, and didn't
plays our offense. At times, my
give
up
the ball until they crosinside runs haven't been there,
but tonight they were. We had to sed the goal line. When Fleming
hit the right spots though. When did get the ball, the Cougar defense took it back quickly. The
they stunted their linebackers
Colonel offense must have felt
inside I didn't have a play, but
cheated.
when they didn't, we had space
in the middle."
And now Pulaski Co. is stuck,
It's ironic that when Fleming's and must come of of the closet, if
top runner Larry Basham wasn't it fact the Cougars could ever
able to play with a banged up
realty hide anyway. Tthe underankle in the first half,, the
dog tagmust go. Put it in the
Colonels still managed to total
drawer to be used when appro166 yards of offense. Basham'
priate another day. There's a .
was able to go in the second half, Homecoming bash with Northand did score the Colonels' final side this week, and then a huge
touchdown, but the Fleming atbattle at home against Cave
tack bogged down, and Basham
Spring for at least a share of the
finished with a season low 32
Roanoke Valley District chamyards.
pionship in two weeks.
Hicks says he does not want to
"Defense was our biggest problem," said Fleming mentor Sher- look ahead, but he cannot hide
anymore either. It's the biggest
ley Stuart, "but Pulaski Co. had
surprise of the football season,
a lot to do with that. They made
but the facts are quite
'
big plays. Early in the second
clear...Pulaski County is for real
half we had a first and 10, but
in 1991.
were hit with a holding penalty
Staff pholo by Dannie Walls
Pulaski. Co. defenders swarm all over Fleming player on kickoff coverage
Cougars—
Continued from page A9
scrimmage.
Burrus hit Yates out of the
backfield for 22 yards to the
Fleming 24. Two plays later he
hit Akers at the right hash for 14
and a first and goal at the five.
On the next play Yates popped to
paydirt up the middle. Brian
Duncan kicked the first of his
five conversion kicks on the
evening to tie the game 7-7.
The Cougars scored again on
their third possession. After
driving to the Fleming 24, a
15-yard penalty moved the ball
back to the 40. Burrus tried to
pass on the next play and was
sacked for an eight-yard loss
back to the 48. On third and almost forever, Burrus dropped
deep and flipped a screen pass in
the right flat to Housel who cut
nicely off his lead blockers and
broke free down the si deline at
the 30, and outran the Colonel
secondary to the end zone to
complete the 48-yard touchdown
play, the second longest scoring
effort of the season.
But with the Cougars up 14-7,
Fleming began an impressive
drive that took 15.plays, covered
78 yards, and consumed 7:43 of
clock time.
Holland converted first downs
on third and long three times
with passes to Jones, Stephens,
and Mike Souma. He connected
with Michael Harrington for
nine yards on fourth and eight to
the PCHS 15.
On third down Holland hit
Souman again for 13 yards on
third down from the 16... Jonesscored on the next play with just
1:18 left in the half. However,
Holland missed the conversion
kick to keep:the Cougars on top
by one, 14-13.
Pulaski Co. moved after receiving the kickoff and was helped by a face mask penalty on
the Colonels. With just five seconds left in the half, Duncan
was short with a field goal at-
tempt of 39 yards.
PCHS had 86 yards rushing at
the half, and 88 passing, good
balance that would continue.
Fleming had 166 total yards,
just eight less than the Cougars,
but 144 yards had come through
the air. 'Those numbers would
not hold up in the second half.
PCHS was seemingly able to
do pretty much what it wanted
much of the time.
"We mixed things up well,"
said Burrus. "Early in the game,
they wanted to crowd ,the,'line of
scrimmage and send linebackers
after us. That opened up some of
our quick passing routes, and
forced Fleming to back oui a
little bit. They had to drop .off to
stop the pass. Then they couldn't
stop the run. Things just sort of
opened up for us, and the guys
really played well...our execution
was good, and my receivers -are
really doing a good job of catching the ball."
Burrus' five-for-five night was
good for 111 yards, and moved
his passing percentage for the
season to almost 70.
Following the second half
kickoff Pulaski Co. drove 68
yards in 11 plays to score when
Housel circled left end from 16
yards out. Big plays in the drive
came when Burrus nailed Akers
on a crossing pattern for 23 big
yards to the Fleming 41 that
overcame a clipping penalty on
the Cougars. Two plays later
Burrus. rolled right, but found
the running lane* open aha* galloped161 yards to the 26.
Late in the third .quarter the
play that broke Fleming's back
came when Holland fumbled on
third down and Akers recovered
,at the Colonel 15. Four plays
later Housel went left, and had
absolutely nowhere to go, but he
squirmed free of the initial
\tackle attempt, spun and slipped
free of another defender, and
dove over the goal line from
three yards out and the Cougars
went up 28-13.
After a fourth consecutive possession of three downs and out
for Fleming, Pulaski Co. began
another drive from its own 33..'
Nine plays later Carl Lewis zipped off the left side to score from
nine yards out. Duncan's pat
made the count 35-13 with 4:14
still to play.
'
Fleming made its only move of
the second half behind the passing of Holland and tailback
Larry Basham scored from a
yard Out with 1:14 left. Stephens
caught a two-point conversion
pass from Holland for the final
35-21 tally,
"The way we played was really
pleasing," said Hicks. "Fleming
took some things away from us
by crowding their linebackers on
the corners, but we changed our
blocking a little bit. We just
blocked down and took them the
way they wanted to go. It helped
Eric have a good night inside,
and opened the halfback plays
for us a little bit. We didn't shoot
ourselves in the foot like we did
against Salem. Our execution
was much betjt&r. Fleming made
some good plays because in the
first half our defensive 'backs
weren't far away at all. They,
were making good plays, we
weren't making bad: ones. This
one feels good," smiled Hicks.
The Cougars host Northside at
Homecoming Friday.
NFL Preview:
Are the 49ers better than 2-4 record?
By The Associated Press
The San Francisco 496^
would like to believe they are
~better~than-their-2-4 record. If
they are, this is the weekend to
prbveit.
In danger of slipping out of the
NFC West race for the first time
in nine years, the proud 49ers
havetheirwork cut out for them
on Sunday against the quickstarting Detroit Lions (5-1).
"I think the team can still
leans,,Houston at Miami, Kan,sas City at Denver, the Los Angeles Rams at the Los Angeles
Raiders, Seattle at 'Pittsburgh,
Atlanta at Phoenix, Minnesota
at New England, Cleveland at
San Diego and the New York
Jets at Indianapolis.
Cincinnati will play at Buffalo
Monday night.
Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and Washington are idle.
The 49ers have beaten the
Lions in three of their last four
«
about that," San^Francisco coach
George Seifert said. "The important thing right now is to concentrate on getting a win. As far as
I'm concerned, the whole focus of
this-team has got to be on our
next opponent."
The 49ers, who have qualified
for the playoffs in each of the
past eight seasons, are last in
the NFC West for the first'time
since 1979, when they finished
2-14. Their 39-34 loss to Atlanta
last Sunday left the four-time
Super Bowl "champions with
their worst record, since a 3-3
Startinl985. • /
The Lions, meanwhile, are in
first place in the NFC Central
for the first time since late in the
1983 season. Coming off a bye,
the Lions have had an extra
week to prepare for the 49ers.
The Lions staged a remarkable
comeback in their last game,
overcoming a 17-point deficit
with three fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Minnesota 24-20
for their fifth straight victory.
.The NFI/a ,eighth wefk began
Thursday night with Chicago
(5>fc) beating, G^en Bay '(1-6)
6-2 for the first time since 1981.
Quarterback- John Elway of the
Broncos is 9-5 against Kansas
City, having completed 231 of
-434-passes-for-2y864-yards-and—
eight touchdowns, with 24 interceptions.
The all-Los Angeles game is a
homecoming for the Rams (3-3)
at the Los Angeles Coliseum,
where they played from 1946-79.
Rams coach John Robinson coached from 1976-83 at the
.
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Peete and the running of Barry
Sanders have led Detroit into
the forefront of the NFL'picture.
Last week, the 49ers were
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feature 3 the frontrunners in the
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Kansas City's Christian Okpye
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