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Show Monday, October 30,2006 FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD MWC Football BYU 33 Air Force 14 MWC Football New Mexico 20 Colo. St. 19 MWC Football Wyoming 3 TCU 26 MWC Football Cal-Poly 16 SDSU 14 Soccer Wyoming 0 Utah 2 Volleyball BYU 0 Utah 3 Ratliff, Casteel lead Utes over Rebels Chris Bellamy Chronicle Sports Editor The remedy was simple: Return to RiceEccles Stadium, play host to a struggling team reeling from a six-game losing streak and go into the bye week with renewed confidence and enthusiasm. That plan went off without a hitch Saturday afternoon, as the U football team easily disposed of the visiting UNLV Rebels for its first victory in more than three weeks. From the Utes' standpoint, the win couldn't have come at a better time. Not only does it precede their bye week—which will give them a chance to get healthy and have two weeks to prepare for Colorado State—but on the same day, TCU defeated Wyoming, putting Utah into a second-place tie in the Mountain West standings. "Believe it or not, after all the ups and downs and with all the things that have happened this season, we very well could be second after tonight," Whittingham said prior to the end of the TCU-Wyoming game. As the passing game goes, so go the Utes—that has been a pretty reliable gauge for most of this season. That trend held steady Saturday as Brett Ratliff had arguably his best performance of the season. The same could even be said for the entire offense in general. Showing more creativity and imagination than in weeks past, the Utes spread the bah1 around to nine different receivers, using the entire field as Ratliff tied his career high with four touchdown passes (plus one on the ground) while completing 19 of his 23 attempts (82.6 percent). "My game stepped up today, but everyone else played really well," Ratliff said. "Everybody stepped up and made plays and made my job a little easier." Ratliff, in fact, was one of those on the receiving end, catching a pass from Fano Tagovailoa on a double reverse late in the first quarter. But the favorite target of the day was sophomore Brent Casteel, who caught three touchdown passes to give him a teamhigh six on the season. He got the scoring started early in the second quarter, grabbing a Ratliff pass at the right hash mark deep in Rebel territory and proceeding to evade a half-dozen would-be tacklers across the field on his way to pay dirt for a 27-yard score and a 7-0 lead. Brent Casteel stretches over the goal line early in the third quarter. Referees ruled Casteel down at the 1-yard-line, but Casteel still scored three TDs. Later in the quarter, Casteel struck again with just 15 seconds left in the half, beating his defender and catching a 19-yard laser from Ratliff and staying just in bounds in the front corner of the end zone, and the Utes took a commanding 24-3 lead into the half. "Most of it was cover-2," Casteel said of the UNLV defense. "They had a safety on me a lot of the time. I knew I just had to go out there and execute my routes, and that's what I did." Of course, the play that set up his second touchdown came on the defensive side of the ball. The Utes had just scored on Ratliff's 2-yard dive when veteran linebacker Malaki Mokofisi broke the Rebels' backs, intercepting a Rocky Hinds pass on the first play of UNLV's ensuing drive to set up Casteel's second TD. "I think that was a big boost for us," fresh- man linebacker J.J. Williams said. "There wasn't very much time left for our defense— to give the ball back to our offense and go in and get another touchdown right before the half was huge for us." The defense forced three turnovers on the afternoon as Utah cruised to a victory, taking a 45-6 lead into the fourth quarter before the Rebels slapped on a pair of scores during mop-up time. Williams, starting once again in place of hobbled Stevenson Sylvester, made a big play of his own in the third quarter, returning his first career interception 22 yards for a touchdown. "(Turnovers are) one of our biggest things," Williams said. "We're just trying to help out the offense in any way we can, either with three-and-outs or touchdowns. Scoring touchdowns on defense is huge." But the Ute offense, of course, was the sto- Soccer blanks Wyoming Tom Quinn we never got that rhythm and into the goal. Sheppard back." Fortunately for the Utes, tried to quickly corral the they didn't need much rhythm wayward ball, but the official The U soccer team put con- to send Wyoming home with a signaled that it had already siderable effort into honoring loss. The Cowgirls dug them- crossed the plane. Feigt douits seniors at Friday night's selves into a two-goal hole in bled the Utes' lead less than a regular season finale, and the the first half, and the stalwart minute later off an assist from seniors themselves put con- Utah defense made sure they fellow forward Marsh. After siderable effort into showing never got out of it. receiving the ball from Marsh why they deserved it. "Our defense played awe- on a counterattack, Feigt split Amanda Feigt scored a goal, some tonight," U senior de- two defenders and slipped the Hailey Marsh tallied an assist fender Carisse Winegar said. ball inside the far post for her and goalkeeper Ashley Ma- "There were a few mistakes, sixth goal of the season. son pitched the Utes' ninth but all the girls were cover"Hailey played a great consecutive shutout as Utah ing for each other out there. through ball," Feigt said of defeated Wyoming 2-0 in the That's why (Wyoming) didn't Marsh's assist. "She got the team's regular-seas on finale. get anything out of it." ball to me, and all I had to do "I'm very satisfied with the The Cowgirls, however, was tap it past the keeper." win," U head coach Rich Man- can't say the same. Wyoming Wyoming played well in ning said. "I thought we came keeper Ashley Sheppard liter- spurts, slowing down the Utes1 out very sharp in the first ally handed Utah its first score attack and putting pressure on half—I think we got a little of the game when a corner Utah's back line. The Cowgirls cold during halftime because kick bounced off her hands managed to create a handful of opportunities to put points on the board and several tunes came within inches of becoming the first team to score on the Utes in over a month. Cowgirl forward Comfort Adetoye nearly gave Wyoming a 1-0 lead early in the first half when she caught Mason several yards off her line. Although Mason was beaten on the play, an alert Winegar was in perfect position to make the save. "I get a save like that every now and then," Winegar said. "It's just part of playing as a team." Teamwork was imperative for the Utes, who were playing without star forward Adele Letro, who sustained a concussion last week in practice and was held out for precautionary reasons. The Utes. improve to 14-4 and recorded their second consecutive undefeated conference season. They will host LEfiNJEMAHLEfL/TTtr Daily Utuh Chronicle the MWC tournament, which Katie Battazzo slides underneath Wyoming's Christine Nagel, knocking begins Wednesday. the ball loose in the second half of the 2-0 win for the Utes, tquinn@chronicle.utah.edu The Daily Utah Chronicle ry. After all but disappearing against Wyoming and struggling during the second half of a loss to New Mexico the following week, Ratliff and Co. were looking for a breakout performance—and they got it. The difference was palpable—and everyone got involved. On the Utes' first play from scrimmage, backups Freddie Brown, Bradon Godfrey and Fano Tagovailoa entered the lineup and rotated in and out all game long. In all, nine receivers got in on the action, and none had more yards than Casteel's 86. "Guys were getting open, and that's the plan," Ratliff said. "You take the gimme throws and you take what they give you. Guys stepped up and made plays today." After the bye week, the Utes will be back at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Nov. n for a showdown with the CSU Rams. c.bellamy@chronicle.utah.edu Advantage: Utah Volleyball has upper hand in BYU rivalry Chris Bellamy Launiere's tenure. Needless to say, the postseason will tell the real tale, but this year's squad has not only vaulted into The BYU volleyball team had all the the nation's top 10 but shattered the reasons in the world to come to Crim- school record for consecutive victories. son Court with extra motivation—may- With that, of course, has come added be even with a chip on its collective pressure and, some might say, a certain shoulder. It had already suffered one level of susceptibility to that pressure. loss to its archrival Utes earlier this sea- After all, anyone can have an off night. son—at its own court in Provo. If that A chief concern for Launiere and weren't enough to get the team going, her coaching staff—indeed, a concern excuses were also being bandied about for any team hanging on to such an its earlier loss to the Utes— namely, the extended winning streak—has been fact that star junior Erica Lott was held avoiding complacency. But not only has out of that match with a back injury. this team stepped up to its challenge, Well, the team was at full strength but the possibility of complacency was Friday night when the Cougars invaded certainly not a problem Friday night. Crimson Court, and the result was the Crimson Court is considered one of same: a victory for the Utes, their 18th the most raucous home crowds in MWC in a row. In fact, their effort this week- volleyball, but nothing compares to the end was an even more impressive one annual showdown with BYU—and nevthan the previous victory, as they dis- er was that more apparent than Friday posed of their southern rivals in three night, especially with the national buzz consecutive games, picking up the reg- surrounding the team continuing to ular-season series sweep. grow with each successive victory. "I can't really express how big it Utah sophomore Airial Salvo said is," U head coach Beth Launiere said. that the atmosphere in this rivalry is "That's a very good volleyball team. I always a boost, "especially here, where know they came in here with all their the fans are a lot closer to the players... players and ready to go, and I thought I just love playing in this atmosphere. we played a good volleyball match," It's awesome." With the victory, the Utes have now It's safe to say the Utes have a distinct won four matches in a row over BYU home-court advantage, and it's also safe and 14 of the last 15 meetings—the U's to say the Cougars understand that all one blemish coming Sept. 28, 2005, in a too well, having not won in Salt Lake 3-1 Cougar win in Provo. Aside from that, City since 1999. A lot has happened the Utes have established themselves as with since then; the Utes seem to be at the dominant power of the MWC. Utah a point right now where they are withand BYU came into Friday's showdown out any true weaknesses. They lead the with identical 19-2 records, but the re- conference in kills, assists and blocks, sults speak for themselves. rank second in digs and are holding op"Any time you can beat your rivals 2-0 ponents to a conference-best .101 hitting is a good thing—not just our rivals, but percentage. Still, in the MWC standa team we're fighting for a Mountain ings; only two matches separate Utah West championship with, national rank- from BYU. But from the standpoint of ings and all that stuff," Launiere said. their head-to-head meetings, the two The Utes' 2006 regular season has clubs seem a little bit further apart. been—so far at least—the team's best of c.bellamy@chronicle.utah.edu Chronicle Sports Editor |