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Show SPORTS | TheSalt LakeTribune FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28, 2003 UTES FACE TOUGH CHALLENGEVS. UCONN College Basketball / B11 OLE MISS BLANKS MISSISSIPPI STATE College Football / B3 TV Weekend B2 % Scoreboard B6 “ NHL B& Kurt KRAGTHORPE Suffering from football withdrawal his is a tough week, I have to tell you. Nofootball. Sure, the weekendis stuffed full of televised games, including the greatest rivalry I’ve ever experienced: Texas-Texas A&M. Butit’s just not the sameas being there. For two-thirds of the month, this was the best Novemberofmylife. Eight days of watching high school and college football, up and down the state, about a dozen gamesin all. Andthen it ended. Anyone who knows me can guess the subjects of the only two books in which I was ever quoted: Golf bargains and football obsession. So imagine myglee during a month when WestRidge Golf Course was offering $6 specials and everybody was playingfootball. Nobody nobody — ever watched the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and Monticello Buckaroos play football in the same month. I did, and I wanted more. I cannot match Utah State quarterback Travis Cox's claim to have attended a football game when he was 8 days old. However,I do remembercrying when doctors would not release me from the hospital in time for the Lions-Packers gameat Tiger Stadium on Thanksgiving Day whenI was 2 daysold. And here are my favorite memories of November ’03: @ A linebacker named Sack. This kid from Monticello was wearing orange shoes and dominating Duchesnein the Class 1-A semifinals, so I looked him upin the program: No, 66, Sack Higgins. Beautiful, I thought, the perfect face for my look into small-town football. So later,just as I’m asking him the origin of his name,he cuts in, “It’s Zack. Z-A-C-K. They messed that up pretty bad.” Heckof a player,though. @ Late afternoon in West Valley City. I’m not kidding. I love 3 o'clock kickoffs at Hunter High in November. By the game’s end, the sun was sinking fast behind the Oquirrhs and the twilight made for a striking scene. @ The swan-divers. Utah State’s season was never the sameafter Nov. 1, when freshman Travis Davis raced 69 yards from scrimmage and dived into the end zone in Logan, earninghis first career touchdown andfirst career unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. The Aggies botched the extra point, did not score again that day and did not win another gameafter that. Three weeks later, Logan High defensive back Cameron Nyman intercepted a pass and dived into the end zoneto give the Grizzlies a lead in the 4-A championship game. Samestory: The Grizzlies missed the extra point, did not score again and lost to Bountiful. @ Holding, Skyline. Having spent parts of two afternoons listening to Hunter coach Wes Wilcken earnestly and almostrationally explain how he wanted to impanel an independent groupto assess a season’s worth ofofficials’ calls and no-calls that affected the Wolverines, I saw the penalty flag on the ground after a touchdown pass apparently put Skylinein position to tie the 5-A title game. Oh, boy. Roughing the passer? Wrong. The TD was called back, and Hunterheld on, 23-15. @ Utah 3, Brigham Young0. OK, 3-0 week after week mightget old, but this game was riveting, especially with the Cougars’ 361-game scoring streak on the line and the Utes trying to secure a conference championship. Thankfully, I watch BYU football with far more detachment now than whenI was 1) years old,like the time my mother sent meto the car for acting upafterit becameclear the Cougars would lose again. This BYU season was one of macabre fascination for me, right down to Toby Christensen’s puntreturn fumble that kept BYU’soffense from havinga last shot. And all that was really left of my November was the 34-hour drive homefrom Provo. kkragthorpe@sltrib.com COPY Puoro ILLUSTRATION BY Topp Apams/The Salt Lake Tribune Utah high school girls volleyball most valuable players, from left, are: Class 5-A, Airial Salvo of Viewmont; Class 4-A, Ashley Hamilton of Lone Peak; Class 3-A, Kali Larsen of North Sanpete; Class 2-A, Shalie Flannery of San Juan, and Class 1-A, Cindy Weston ofRich. Net Returns The complete All-State team By ANDREW ARAGON The Salt Lake Tribune @ Plus Most Valuable Player profiles. B4 Each state volleyball champion this season had a certain intangible that set it apart from the other teams in its respectiveclassification. Theyall had somethingto prove. Viewmont counted the daysuntil the state tournament, waiting to make up for last season’s loss in the final. Lone Peak wanted to show that it was much better than its 2002 record indicated. North Sanpete proved that Morganisn’t the only volleyball power in 3-A. San Juan bounced back from two early losses and showed that other teams shouldn’t complain about making four- hour bus trips. Rich’s new starting lineup didn’t want to tarnish school’s legacy in volleyball. the The Salt Lake Tribune’s Most Valuable Players are Viewmont’s Airial Salvo, Lone Peak’s Ashley Hamilton, North Sanpete’s Kali Larsen, San Juan’s Shalie Flannery ana Rich’s Cindy Weston. Salvo, Hamilton and Flannery each will be back next season. Viewmont’s Lori Salvo earned coach of the year honors for guiding the Vikings to a perfect 35-0 season. The all-state team is selected by a balloting process that gives every coach in the state a chanceto vote. Class 5-A: Anythingless than a state championship would have been a huge disappointment for Viewmont. After reachingits first title match in 2002 and MVPsall helped their teamtake the neat step getting smashed by Skyline, the Vikings wanted nothing more thanto get back to ‘championshipmatch in 2003. View- Safsten and Whitney Bills next season, both second-team all state selections. Skyline’s Melissa Osterloh and ont got tiplay Skyline again,butthis Clearfield’s Kate Robison are repeatselections on the first team. Davis sopho- time swept the Eagles off the court in the semifinals before moving on to win the school’s first volleyball championship. A big question going into the 5-A tournament was how would Viewmont react to being the team to beat? Would the Vikings falter under the pressure of playingin the title match again? “T was nervous,” Lori Salvosaid. “I worried, ‘Would webe a different team once wegot there?’ ” Viewmont turned its play up a notch and didn’t lose a gamein its four wins. While Airial was the 5-A MVP,strong seasons were also turned in by junior Cidney Judkins and sophomore Micah Lines. Viewmont will lose Samantha more Kayla Walker and Brighton setter Gini Mendenhall roundoutthe all-state team. Class 4-A: Utah County continued its dominancein this classification, but a new team emerged as a power in 4-A, Lone Peak rebounded from a 1-7 season under coach Deanna Meyerto winits first statetitle. On the surface, it seems like the Knights had a miraculous turnaround. But Lone Peak was muchbetter than its record indicated last year, as it was stuck in the sameregion with three Di- vision I players. Only three teams See VOLLEYBALL, B4 as many mistakes NFL Dolphins 40, Cowboys 21: Fiedler’s passingsets the tone and Dallas’ sloppyplay seals the deal, giving the AFC East squad its third straight victory By JAIME ARON The Associated Press IRVING, Texas — Jay Fiedler took the first snap, dropped back and threw deep to Chris Chambers. While pass interference prevented them from hock- ing up, the theme was set. Fiedler and Chambers connected on three touchdown passes and Fiedler ran for another score, leading the Miami Dolphins past the Dallas Cowboys 40-21 on Thursday in a much higher-scoring gamethan expected from the NFL’s two best scoring defenses. “Wetalked all week about how we needed this win, and they came out and made it happen,” Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedtsaid. In his first start since Oct. 19, Fiedler was nearly perfect. He was 14-for-17 in the first half, then just 2-for-3 in the second half when the Dolphins opted to protect a big lead by handingoff to Ricky Williams. The former University of Texas star responded with 104 yards, putting him over 1,000 for the season. For all the offensive firepower displayed in Miami’s highest-scoring game since getting 49 in the 2002 opener, the biggest play came from the defense. See DOLPHINS, B6 Lions pick off Packers @ Plus NFL notes. B6 Tim SHane/The Associated Press Dolphins wideout Chris Chambers stretches out for a second-quarter touchdown reception ahead of the Cowboys’ Mario Edwards. Chambers caught three TD passes. Stockton’s successors doingthingsdifferently New school: The team’s trio ofpoint guards are scoring more andpassing less; defense even sees improvement By Puit MILLER The Salt Lake Trilnine If you play the point, you pass that ball — that’s always been the Jazz way. John Stockton removed the NBA’s assist records from the realm of mere mortals by following that credo. But Stockton’s suctessors are rewriting the job description. Carlos Arroyo, Raul Lopez and Mo Williams — yes, it’s now a threesome after Williams’ grand performance Wednesday against Houston are scoring more and passing less than the Hall of Famer who preceded them. Arroyo, the starter shelved temporarily by an ankle injury, is averaging 15.5 points per game, a level that Stockton had not reached in a decade. Lopez has had fewer opportunities, but he has already had a 15- and an 18-point game. And Williams, who barely playedin the first 13 games, scored 10 points on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Jazz are reaping another benefit of replacing 41 year-old legs with a trio of players barely out of their teens: Defense. A month into the season, the evidence is slim, but encouraging. Point guards whofrequently torched Utah the past couple of years are finding their shots decidedly more difficult this year. Stephon Marbury, who had a pair of 29-point games against Utah last year, shot 3-for-13 in the Delta Center earlier this month. Baron Davis, who scored 21 points on just 14 shots a year ago, was 7-for-21 against the Jazz in New Orleans. Tony Parker went 2-for-10, Tyronn Lue3-for-10 and Steve Francis, who See JAZZ, B2 Sonics at Jazz TONIGHT T p.m. KJZZ |