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Show THE UNNERSITY JOURNAL· SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1998 Gridders drop final road game By D.W. ANDERSON JOURNAL SPORTS EDITOR Confusion, fast breaks, and a nail-biting finish marked the 'Birds gridiron effort against the UC Davis Aggies on Saturday. The final SU road trip will be remembered for a malfunctioning scoreboard and some of the best passing SU has seen this season. The 'Birds lost the game, 35-28.and lost their chance of finishing better than .500 for the season . The score board time clock was not functioning properly throughout the first half, which created a confusing atmosphere. One particular problem with the scoreboard caused a lot of grief for the 'Birds and Head Coach , Ray Gregory. "Il's ridiculous. It took them five minutes to explain what they were doing, and I still don't full y understand," Gregory said. The play was during the second quarter, when the ' Birds, on the 48-yard line, thought they were on a third down play, but they were actually on a fourth down play because the down box hadn't been changed. They passed the ball and got a pass interference call, which would have given them a fi rst down. But the call was nullilkd when one of the officials said that the hall had been touched at the line of scrimmage. When the 'Birds set up for what they thought was their fourth down play, the officials took the hall away and gave it to the Aggies. The befuddled SU defense then took position on the field , and the Aggies blew righ·t past the 'Birds and scored, giving Davis the lead. The game started, with the 'Birds on fire . They recovered an Aggie fumble on the kickoff, and were set up with good field position on the 36-yard line. On the first SU offensive play of the game, running hack Anthony Jefferies sprinted past the Aggie defense and scored, just 21 seconds into the game. The Aggies came back with a six-play passing attack, and a touchdown . After a 46-yard sprint by Jefferies, SU running back Terry Rose slipped past the Davis defensive line for two yards for a touchdown. The first quarter ended with the 'Birds leading 14-7. "We knew they would make some big plays and we would have to answer back," said Aggies Head Coach Bob Briggs. SU defensive back Josh Roberts intercepted the Aggies' first pass of the second quarter. Quarterback Matt Cannon pushed his way in four yards for another SU touchdown . The 'Birds were now comfortably in control, bur: the Aggies mounted a devastating passing offensive, and scored three touchdowns before the end of the half, which. ended with Davis leading 28-21 . The Aggies were the only ones to score in the third quarter, with a 68-yard pass to the end zone. With a 14-point disadvantage, things looked pretty · grim for the ' Birds heading into the fourth quarter. But running back Rod Madsen pushed his way in 19 yards for a touchdown with 8: 19 left in the game. The 'Birds were back in contention, and the game looked like it might he headed for overtime. The 'Birds mounted a passing attack from 20 yards out with 57 seconds left in the game. Cannon threw a pass into the end zone, hut the hall was intercepted by the Aggies who returned to the 12-yard line where they waited for time to expire. Aggie quarterback Kevin Daft compltted 23 of 39 passes with two interceptions for a whopping 495 yards, a single game record for the UC Davis. awin or lose, this team is headed for the playoffs,. said Gregory. "They are a really good hall-club and J wish them the best." TI1e ' Birds return to Eccles Coliseum Saturday for their final game of the year against the Eastern Washington Eagles. Kicko"ff is scheduled for 1 p .m. Harrier Zak James headed for nationals Zak James placed 10th in the men's race to become SU's first-ever NCAA national crosscountry qualifier, and Wendy Allen p laced 29th to lead SU's women to an eighth place finish at the NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country meet, held at Provo's East Bay Golf Course Saturday. The Lady 'Birds enjoyed thier best-ever finish in the regional meet, while the men had just four competitors and did not place as a team . Mid-Con runner of the year, Curtis Moore, and three others didn' t run due to injuries. "I thought it'd be best if we didn 't run them and let the healing process begin so they can compete in the indoor track season," said SU Coach Eric Houle. James finished the men's JO-kilometer race in 3 1:57, 1:12 off the pace of Colorado's Adam Goucher, who won the race in 30:43. Mark Wright placed 36th for the ' Birds in 33:01 , Adam Moore finished 73rd in 34: 17 while Monte Marshall placed 94th with a time of 35:37. Allen finished the 5K women's race in 19:03, 11 :30 off the pace of event winner Maggie Chan of Brigham Young. Teresa Rice placed 31st with a time of 19:06, followed by teammates Mary Ann Schauerhamer, Robyn Adams, and Robin Truman for a team score of 211 , just one point behind Montana. BYU won the women's event with a score of 28 after sweeping the top three spots, and p lacing five p eople in the top 12. "I'm very pleased with the way we ran today, " said Houle. "Zak is our first-ever national qualifier at this level and having him qualify for that meet is very important to our program," he said. 'Birds fall to Wildcats in season opener · With 1:42 remaining the Birds were down by just six points and showed good defense effort to slow the Wildcats d own. However, the Birds were unable to rebound missed shots, giving Weber second-chance points to maintain the lead. Panic set in as time ran out for the ' Birds. Down the stretch, SU was forced to fou l Great defense by the SU men's basketball team and a hot night offensively would and could not hit the needed jumpers to close the gap. not he enough as the ' Birds opened up the 1998-99 season Friday night with an 81· "This game does not tell our whole season," said SU forwa rd Tarvish Felton. 75 loss co the Weber State Wildcats in the Centrum. "Both teams came o ut a little slow, we just needed our shots to fa ll late. It was a SU will get a second chance to notch its fi rst win of the year tomorrow night great effort. " Weber State Head Coach Ron Abegglcn when Montana Tech comes to the Centrum for a praised the play of the 'Birds after the game and tbe 7:35 p .m. tipoff. coaching of his former assistant Evans. "Evans does a After a disappointing night against Son's Blue terrific job. [SU] plays a tough matchup zone. They Angels Monday where the Birds were unable to get are quick and I was concerned about that," he said. it going on the scoreboard, SU played point for SU turnqvers led to an early 8-2 lead for the point with the Wildcats until the closing minutes of Wildcats, hut the Birds bounced back on a 7·0 run the game. · to go ahead 9-8. The Wildcats then responded with "It was~ good game. Weber's a good team ," said a run of their own taking a 13·9 lead. SU forward Tyson Hancock. "We came out and Hancock led SU in scoring with 16 points, and played hard tonight, that was the diffe rence [from four other ' Birds finished in double figures as well: Monday night] ." Head Coach Bill Evans was also Faulkner with 14 points, Jeff Monaco with 11 pleased with the way the team played altho ugh the • points, and both Kenyatta Clyde and Felton added 'Birds came out on the losing end. "O ur guys played 10. Weber's Harold Arceneaux led all scorers with well, I liked the effort," he said. 24 points and Eddie Gill added 17 for the Wildcats. The Wildcats were never able to pull away from This was the 15th meeting between the two the 'Birds in the game. However, SU was unable to teams, with the Wildcats holding a 13'·2 edge in the get over the hump and take the-lead throughout series. The previous Bird win was in 1991 as the most of the game. Each time the Birds pulled within Birds prevailed 102-89 in the Centrum. one or two points, Weber would respond with a The Birds have controlled the series with Montana bucket of its own to maintain the lead. Tech, holding a 5· 1 series edge. The Orediggers The 'Birds took their first lead of the game with won the first meeting between the two schools in 8:38 remaining, after a Greg Harton three-pointer 1972, with SU winning each contest since that time. and a dunk on the fo Uowing possession by Tyson Mo ntana Tech is led .by center Brian Watson, who Hancock made it 58-56. The dunk ignited the was the co-MVP of th~ Frontier Athletic Conference Centrum crowd and ignited the 'Birds as well. But last season after averaging 20 points and 11 the Wildcats weren't ready to let down. rebounds p er game. The O rediggers won the FAC SU kept the lead after trading buckets back and post-season tournament crown and have a good forth , but Weber again pulled ahead with a threecore of veteran leadership this year. Montana Tech pointer by Marc Lawson, then later took a 74-67 lead ,,, also has a threat in point guard Cassio Maffia who after two three-p ointers by Harold Arceneaux that L-_ _.....,.11t.._ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ ~ led the league in assists with 5.3 per game last would lead to the fina l outcome. "This is the first game and we have a long road to SU's j eff Monaco tries to out maneuver Weber State's Eddie season . Guard Jeff Bellach leads the team from the p erimeter and holds an NAlA record with four go," Evans said . "We are just going to get better, and Gill. The 'Birds had a strong night both offensively and games in which he hit nine three-point shots. I have faith in this team." defensively, . f)u/ 1-4,lt(,ria.t~ly,fell to_the Wildcats 81-75. By CHAD LAMB OF THE JOURNAL STAFF --- -- . I· |
