Newspaper Page Text
2B
♦ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2006
Georgia Tech defense did its job
By DONALD HEATH
Morris News Service
ATLANTA - Emotion car
ried Georgia Tech’s defense
only so far Saturday night at
Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets need
ed to be perfect to stop a
high-powered Notre Dame
offense. They came close.
Georgia Tech surrendered
two 14-play touchdown
drives in the 14-10 loss.
“Somehow, they dug down
deeper than us,” Yellow
Jacket linebacker Phillip
Wheeler said.
Second-ranked Notre
Dame went 80 yards for a
touchdown to end the first
half, then marched 64 yards
for the game-winning score
to begin the third quarter.
That was it against the
Jackets’ defense. But that
was enough.
“I felt we could win with
(holding the Irish to) 14
points, but 14 points still
can get you beat,” lineback
er Gary Guyton said. “It was
a big night for the team and
the program and we were
ready. Who wouldn’t want to
Penalty leaves Jackets steamed
By ADAM VAN
BRIMMER
Morris News Service
ATLANTA - Two banging
heads left Georgia Tech’s
players and coaches look
ing for walls to bang their
noggins against following
Saturday’s 14-10 loss to No.
2 Notre Dame.
Yellow Jacket lineback
er Philip Wheeler drew a
personal foul penalty for
a vicious tackle of Irish
quarterback Brady Quinn
in the third quarter. The
flag-throwing official judged
Wheeler led with his helmet
and hit Quinn in the helmet,
a taboo tackling method.
Georgia Tech coach Chan
Gailey and most of the
defenders protested the call
as did the Bobby Dodd
Stadium crowd by raining
cups and plastic bottles onto
the field.
“I saw both guys inbounds
and one guy trying to make
a tackle,” Gailey said follow
ing the game. “If you call
helmet-to-helmet every time
two helmets hit, you’ll call it
every time. It’s the game of
football.”
The penalty changed
Saturday’s game. Georgia
Tech led 10-7 at the time.
Wheeler knocked Quinn out
of bounds well short of the
first down on the third-down
play.
Without the flag, Notre
Dame kicker Carl Gioia
likely would have attempted
a game-tying 31-yard field
goal. And Gioia had already
missed two earlier field
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open with Notre Dame?”
But few for the unranked
Yellow Jackets were happy
with a moral victory.
In front of a highly charged
crowd and a national televi
sion audience, Georgia Tech
came within a few plays of
beating Notre Dame.
Irish quarterback Brady
Quinn made the deciding
plays, though. His quarter
back draw for a touchdown
from the Georgia Tech 5-yard
line with 11 seconds and no
timeouts left broke the spell
the Yellow Jacket defense
had conjured for much of the
first half. Instead of trail
ing 10-0 at halftime, Notre
Dame was down just three
points.
“Don’t make me look stu
pid, but if you get the look,
you run the ball,” Notre
Dame coach Charlie Weis
said he told Quinn in a time
out prior to the play.
The Irish had six posses
sions in the first half but
managed to cross Georgia
Tech’s 40-yard line only
twice. Before the half-clos
ing scoring drive, the Irish
had been held to 54 yards
goals, the first from 42 yards
and the second from 36.
The penalty gave the Irish
a first down instead, and tail
back Darius Walker scored
the eventual game-winning
touchdown three plays later.
“I didn’t lead with my
head,” said Wheeler, who
finished with a game-high
13 tackles, including two
for loss. “I don’t think that
should have been a penal
ty.”
A day’s perspective didn’t
quell tempers any either.
Gailey watched tape of the
play Sunday afternoon and
stood behind his postgame
statements. Asked if one
penalty can alter a game’s
outcome, Gailey said it
could.
“There are normally four
or five playsHn any ball game
that can swing the game, in
a big ball game like that,”
Gailey said. “Can a big call
or a non-call be one of those
factors? It certainly can be.”
The personal foul penalty
far from doomed Georgia
Tech’s upset bid even so.
The Yellow Jacket offense
undercut their chances, par
ticularly in the second half.
The Jackets managed just
71 yards on four posses
sions after halftime against
a defense that looked porous
early in the game. Georgia
Tech wide receiver Calvin
Johnson had five catches for
95 yards in the first half,
and tailback Tashard Choice
had 44 yards on 10 carries
against an Irish defense that
allowed 397 yards a game
last season.
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and just five first downs.
Those numbers from an
offense that averaged 36.7
points and 477.3 yards a
game last season. Notre
Dame’s lowest first-half scor
ing total a year ago was 12
points against Washington.
The Irish offense rallied
in the second half. They out
gained Georgia Tech, 250
yards to 71, and held the
ball for nearly 19 of the 30
second-half minutes.
“Long drives for a defense
can get you winded,” Guyton
said. “Anytime you have an
opportunity to get a team off
the field, you need to.”
Quinn kept Georgia Tech’s
defense working in the clos
ing minutes. He converted a
fourth-and-short play near
midfield with 1 minute, 10
seconds left to seal the vic
tory.
“We had a situation where
our offensive line had con
trol of the game and we only
had a half yard to go,” Weis
said. “I wanted the players
to know you have confidence
in them to get a half a yard
when the game is on the
line.”
Notre Dame altered its
scheme at halftime, though,
dropping extra defenders
into coverage. The Irish
doubled Johnson the rest
of the game, even shifting
three defenders onto him in
obvious passing situations.
Johnson had just two catch
es in the final two quarters
- and that constituted half
of the Jackets’ second-half
receptions.
Quarterback Reggie Ball
took advantage of the Irish
strategy. He rushed six times
for 57 yards on designed
runs in the second half.
Every Jacket drive stalled
out, however.
* The Irish snuffed out a
third-down screen play on
the first drive of the second
half.
* Notre Dame stuffed
Choice on a up-the-middle
run on a third-and-short on
the next possession.
* A replay review over
turned an apparent Johnson
diving catch on the Jackets’,
third drive of the half, forc
ing a punt.
* And on Georgia Tech’s
final possession, Notre Dame
sacked Ball on back-to-back
plays after the Tech quar
terback had moved his team
into Irish territory.
“I expected the defense to
hold them to 14 points, and
I take total blame for us
scoring no more than 10,”
said Georgia Tech offensive
coordinator Patrick Nix,
who debuted as the team’s
play-caller in the game..
“It’s our job to score more
than that.”
SPORTS
Georgia preps for South Carolina
By MARC WEISZER
Morris News Service
As much as Georgia fans
might still love to hate Steve
Spurrier, he doesn’t see
much ill-will in the current
SEC border rivalry that he’s
now a part of in his second
season at South Carolina.
“I don’t know if it’s the
same as the Florida-Georgia
because it seemed like
there’s a lot of despising
each other that goes on with
those two schools and those
two teams,” Spurrier said
Sunday, a day after attend
ing a 10-year reunion of
the 1996 Gators national
title team in Gainesville.
“I think South Carolina-
Georgia always has pretty
good, healthy competition
with each other. I sort of
see it like that.” Georgia
has won four straight in
the series, including 17-15
last year in Athens, just the
Bulldogs’ second win against
Spurrier-coached teams in
13 meetings.
The No. 15 Bulldogs (1-0,
0-0 SEC) and Gamecocks (1-
0, 1-0) meet at 7:45 p.m. in
a game televised nationally
on ESPN.
Doubleheaders force Cox's hand
Playing four games in 48
hours creates the need for
some creativity on the part
of a major league manager.
tos* l
NOTEBOOK
R. TRAVIS
HANEY
Morris News
Service
spiraled out of hand in a 16-
4 loss in Saturday’s second
game, Cox had five players
that spent most of the sea
son at Class AAA Richmond
on the field.
Thank goodness for the
Sept. 1 roster expansion,
huh?
“It’s the only way you
can do it,” Cox said before
Sunday’s first game. “You
can imagine what would
have happened last night.”
Hard to picture anything
much more drastic than
the reality before every
one’s eyes. For instance,
how about Brayan Pena’s
appearance at third base
from the sixth inning on?
The last time the catcher
by trade played third?
“With Tony Pena on
Playstation,” he said, point
ing to his nearby teammate.
“You can play your guy any
where. And (catcher Brian)
McCann’s too good of a hit
ter to take him out.”
OK, how about on the
field?
“I would say 15 years
ago,” said the native of
Cuba. “When I was like
really little.”
Pena had played first
base some in high school
and in Dominican leagues,
but not third. But he said
that third was always his
dream position. Hence, the
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Fifth-year senior quarter
back Joe Tereshsinski will
start again for Georgia and
freshman Matthew Stafford
and redshirt freshman Joe
Cox will compete this week
for the No. 2 job.
Coach Mark Richt said
Sunday he probably won’t
name the backup before
Saturday.
“I don’t know if we need
to name it,” Richt said. “We
probably won’t, but we’ll
know who No. 2 is going
in.” Stafford put a charge
into the Sanford Stadium
crowd in the fourth quarter
Saturday, completing 3 of
5 passes for 40 yards and a
touchdown in a 48-12 win
over Western Kentucky.
Of his two incompletions,
Richt faulted only a deep
ball that he said was “poorly
thrown.”
He said a pass that hit
Demiko Goodman’s hands
was “very catchable.” Richt
said Tereshinski, who was
7 of 17 for 90 yards and a
touchdown, had his share
of passes that misfired but
he got hurt by at least three
dropped balls.
The backup quarterback
Playstation move.
“I never expected ever, in
my entire life, that I would
ever play there,” Pena
said. “Sometimes dreams
come true, even ones from
Playstation games.”
Cox said he didn’t hesi
tate to insert Pena at the
hot corner because of his
“quick feet.”
“I have confidence in
him,” Cox said.
Pena recorded one putout
when he threw out catcher
Carlos Ruiz, who was pinch
hitting in the eighth. Pena
was very deliberate in get
ting the ball across the dia
mond to Adam Laßoche.
“Everyone was laughing,”
he said, “but it worked.”
CHIPPER’S SIDE: After play
ing in most of Saturday’s
doubleheader, Chipper
Jones’ still-ailing left side
wasn’t up to another twin
bill Sunday.
Jones was a late scratch
for Game 1, with Willy
Aybar taking his place at
third base and third in the
lineup. He did play in the
second game, going l-for-3
with a walk until the side
flared on him and he had
Atlanta’s
Bobby Cox
seemed up
for the task
during the
Braves’ twin
doublehead
ers Saturday
and Sunday
here against
the Phillies.
As things
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job might not be the only
place on the depth chart
where there could be move
ment.
Third-string tailback
Danny Ware is pushing for
more playing time after
rushing for a game-high 68
yards on six carries, includ
ing a 41-yard touchdown.
“He deserves more oppor
tunity,” Richt said. “I don’t
know if he’ll move up the
depth chart. He may. He
ran the ball the best.”
South Carolina has won six
straight SEC games, includ
ing 15-0 over Mississippi
State on Thursday night.
Georgia’s two-point
win last year was typical
of recent Georgia-South
Carolina clashes. Four of
the last five games in the
series with Richt at Georgia
have been decided by six or
less points.
“We play them early in
the season,” Spurrier said.
“I’ve got to believe Georgia’s
our biggest conference rival.
Now I know we’re not their
biggest conference rival.
They’ve got Tennessee and
Florida way ahead of us
down the road there.”
to leave in the ninth. He
might be out a week or
more with the same oblique
strain that cost him a cou
ple of weeks in late July
and early August.
GILES BPDITE: Second base
man Marcus Giles flew
back to Atlanta on Sunday
to undergo tests for a pos
sible heart defect.
The Braves were still
uncertain when he would
be able to see Dr. John
Cantwell, a cardiologist.
Doctors here thought Giles
might have an improper
ly functioning heart valve
that would need to be sta
pled shut.
Giles, 28, was assured
that that particular pro
cedure wasn’t considered
drastic and the recovery
time would even give him
a shot to play again this
season.
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