Newspaper Page Text
Stephens coach promoting
football playoff proposal
By PAUL McCORVEY
The Albany Herald
TOCCOA, Ga. (AP) — Charlie Greene, head football
coach at Stephens County High School is promoting a
proposal to double the size of the state football playoffs.
His plan would allow the first and second place teams in
each region into the championships.
There would be 16 teams in the first round instead of
eight.
Copies of the proposal were circulated among the
state’s coaches at the Georgia High School Coaches
Association clinic and he said he has sent it to other
coaches since.
“If they like it, they should call their regional members
of the association executive committee,” Greene said. “I
got a very favorable response from coaches at the clinic.”
Greene said he got the idea to enlarge the playoffs
because “in 1976 we defeated Gainesville in the region
playoffs and we got the chance to play further. Gainesville
had a good football team. I know they would have like to
go to the state playoffs.
“On the other hand, this past season we had a fine
football earn. I would have liked the chance to play fur
ther," he said.
Football and baseball, he said, are the only prep sports
in which regions send only one representative each to the
state playoffs.
“Some second place teams in the regions might have
lost only to the region champion, and many circumstances
could have been involved,” he said.
State stuns UCLA
By HOWARD SMITH
AP Sports Writer
“This has got to be the great
est win ever,” said Idaho State
Coach Jim Killingsworth. “We
never even played a No. 2 team
before.”
The Bengals got their chance
Thursday night and made the
most of it, beating second-rank
ed UCLA 76-75 in a stunning up
set and advancing to the re
gional finals of the NCAA col
lege basketball tournament.
Seven-foot center Steve
Hayes scored 27 points and Er
nie Wheeler hit four free throws
— his only points of the game —
in the final 37 seconds, giving
Big Sky champion Idaho State
perhaps its greatest basketball
victory ever. The Bengals sank
18 of 21 free throw attempts in
the second half.
In other action as the field
dwindled to eight, top-ranked
Michigan beat No. 12 Detroit 86-
81, No. 3 Kentucky dropped No.
20 VMI 93-78, No. 4 Nevada-Las
Vegas downed No. 14 Utah 88-83,
No. 5 North Carolina shaded No.
10 Notre Dame 79-77, No. 17
North Carolina Charlotte
shocked No. 6 Syracuse 81-59,
No. 7 Marquette edged No. 16
Kansas State 67-66, and No. 9
Wake Forest eliminated
Southern Illinois 86-81.
That left six of the nation’s top
10 teams still alive, three North
Carolina schools among the
final eight and both UNC-
Charlotte and Idaho State as
Houston rips Tide, 82-76
NEW YORK (AP) - Jim
Sataiin had “Gardenitis” —
that nervous affliction that has
fogged the minds of many bas
ketball coaches at Madison
Square Garden.
“I almost blew it berause I
wasn’t smart,” said the St.
Bonaventure coach.
Luckily, he had some clever
players to make up for his
coaching mistakes Thursday
night, and the Bonnies moved
into Sunday’s final of the Na
tional Invitation Tournament
with an 86-82 victory over Villa
nova. They will meet Houston,
an 82-76 winner over Alabama
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this year’s Cinderella teams.
The pairings for Saturday’s
regional finals:
—EAST: Kentucky, 26-3, vs
North Carolina, 26-4, at College
Park, Md.
—WEST: Nevada-Las Vegas,
27-2, vs. Idaho State, 25-4, at
Provo, Utah.
—MIDEAST: Michigan, 26-3,
vs. North Carolina-Charlotte,
27-3, at Lexington. Ky.
-MIDWEST: Marquette, 22-
7, vs. Wake Forest, 22-7, at Ok
lahoma City.
The four winners advance to
the national semifinals March
26 at Atlanta. The final will be
March 28.
Idaho State built a 71-63 lead
with 2:08 remaining before
UCLA, 22-7, stormed back.
Wheeler’s first two free throws
put the Bengals ahead by five
points with 37 seconds left, but
the Bruins quickly closed within
one point with nine seconds left.
Then Wheeler hit two more foul
shots, assuring Idaho State of
the victory.
“It’s history, we lost,” said
UCLA Coach Gene Bartow.
“One good team just beat an
other good team tonight.
There’s no room for error when
you get down to the final 16."
Marques Johnson scored 21
points and David Greenwood 20
for the Bruins.
Robert Smith scored 21 points
and converted four free throws
in the final minutes, leading
Nevada-Las Vegas past Utah,
in Thursday’s night’s other
semifinal game.
Sataiin particularly faulted
himself for the foul trouble of
his two leading scorers, Essie
Hollis and Greg Sanders. They
each collected a third foul be
fore the first half and had to sit
out some crucial moments be
fore and after intermission.
“I wasn’t smart enough to
take them out earlier,” Sataiin
said. “I should have sat them
down when they got their sec
ond fouls. If we had lost the
game, I would have blamed
myself.”
Glenn Hagan came to Sata-
The plan would give players more exposure and more to
look forward to. It would also stimulate and benefit the
financial situations of the schools, their regions, and the
high school'athletic association, Greene said.
“One of the biggest things we have going for us is that
we already have an excellent playoff system,” said
Greene. “In essence, what we are doing is adding ad
ditional games that will create revenue for the schools.”
Under Greene’s plan, the regular season for 1978 would
start Aug. 25. Regular season region play would have to be
completed by Nov. 11. A team could begin its season on
Sept. 2, but would have no off week during the season if it
did so.
State playoffs would begin Nov. 17 and end Dec. 9.
The season would be the same length as the current
schedule.
Green said the plan would eliminate any layoff period
that now exists between regular season play and the
playoffs.
“Commerce had to wait three to four weeks from the
time their season was over until the time they got into the
playoffs. That’s just too long,” he said.
He said he doesn’t believe his plan would weaken the
caliber of competition in the playoffs.
Gainesville High Principal Curtis Segars will present
the proposal to the executive committee meeting in April.
“I don’t know how the executive committee will receive
the proposal,” he said. “The key to approval is to get the
coaches to talk it up so that their representative will be
told ‘This is what we want.’”
22-7. Smith, who scored 13
points in the second half, was
one of five Rebels in double fig
ures. Jeff Judkins paced Utah
with 23 points.
In the East, All-American
guard Phil Ford sank two free
throws with just two seconds
left, lifting the Tar Heels past
No. 10 Notre Dame. The Irish
led by 14 points early in the
second half, but a rash of turn
overs enabled North Carolina to
rally. Ford injured his elbow
with 1:16 to play but stayed in
the game.
Ford got eight of his team’s
last 10 points, including the
decisive free throws, and fin
ished with 29 points. Toby
Knight scored 22 points for
Notre Dame, 22-7.
The Kentucky-VMI game was
far less complicated. The Wild
cats broke it open midway
through the second half with a
14-3 streak and VMI, despite 28
points by Ron Carter, never got
even. Sophomore Truman Clay
tor, averaging 5.8 points per
game, came off the bench and
poured in 29 — hitting 13 of 15
shots from the floor — and Jack
Givens added 26 for the
Wildcats.
In the Mideast, Michigan
pulled away from stubborn De
troit with seven straight points
and went ahead 75-68 with about
eight minutes left. The Titans
got within three with 3:35 left,
but John Robinson hit two
layups and the Wolverines were
lin’s rescue. Usually the Bon
nies’ playmaker, he turned into
their top scorer with 26 points,
including 22 in the second half.
“For some reason, he just
plays well against Villanova,”
said Sataiin, whose team beat
the Wildcats earlier in the sea
son. “Certain guys always do
well against a certain club —
and he just kills the Wildcats.”
When Hollis and Sanders did
get back into the game, the
Bonnies went into a zone de
fense “to protect them,” Sataiin
said. They managed to get
plenty of mileage from their
brilliant forwards with this
ploy, Sanders finishing with 20
points and seven rebounds and
Hollis with 16 points and 10
rebounds.
The Bonnies played smart,
tough basketball.
“We were able to keep them
off the boards,” said Sataiin,
“and we also forced them to
take a lot of outside shots. That
was the key to the game.”
Houston became the first
team frm the Southwest confer
ence to gain the final in the 40th
year of the NIT. The Cougars
did it with the help of Otis
Birdsong, who scored 18 points
and hit the go-ahead basket with
1:45 left.
Houston trailed 40-39 at half
time before putting things to
gether behind Birdsong and
Charles Thompson, who scored
14 of his team-leading 20 points
after the first half.
The Crimson Tide lost leading
scorer Reggie King for the first
half when he injured his right
ankle in a fall 37 seconds into
the game.
in. Robinson finished with 25
points and Phil Hubbard had 22
for the winners, while John
Long netted 25 for Detroit, 25-3.
“They are a basketball team
that knows how to win,” said
Detroit Coach Dick Vitale, pre
dicting that Michigan would win
the tournament.
UNC-Charlotte wasted little
time in taking command
against Syracuse, 26-4. The
49ers raced to a 32-14 lead with
about five minutes to play in the
first half and the Orangemen,
last of the seven Eastern
schools in the tourney, never
recovered. Cedric Maxwell led
UNC-Charlotte with 19 points.
In the Midwest, Marquette
trailed most of the way before
Butch Lee sank a jumpshot,
putting the Warriors ahead for
good 60-58. Lee hit a layup in the
final minute that stood up as the
winning basket. Lee finished
with 26 points for Marquette
while Dassie led Kansas
State, 23-8, with 18.
Skip Brown scored 25 points
and Rod Griffin and Jerry
Schellenberg had 22 each in
Wake Forest’s victory over
Southern Illinois, 22-6. The Dea
cons had a one-point lead with
3:15 left and went into a stall.
The Salukis were forced to start
fouling and Brown sank seven
free throws down the stretch,
clinching it for Wake Forest.
Mike Glenn netted 30 points
for the losers.
Red Sox
defeat
Braves
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.
(AP) — A tiebreaking double in
the fourth inning by Steve Dil
liard opened the way for a 5-2
Boston Red Sox victory over the
Atlanta Braves Thursday in a
spring training exhibition
baseball game.
With the score 2-2, Dilliard
doubled home Rick Miller, who
had gotten on with a walk, and
later was walked home by
pitcher Don Collins, who was
tagged with the loss.
Reggie Cleveland was the
winning pitcher.
Homeruns for the Red Sox
were by George Scott and Bob
by Darwin.
Both Braves runs, by Row
land Office and Pat Rockett,
came in in the fourth inning.
Bulldogs
defeat
Virginia
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - The
Georgia Bulldogs, led by the
four-hit pitching of Alan O’Neal
and David Geyer, defeated Vir
ginia 4-2 in a college baseball
game Thursday.
O’Neal allowed all of the Cav
aliers’ hits while pitching seven
and two-thirds innings. Geyer
pitched for an inning and a
third. O’Neal was credited with
the victory and evened his
record at 1-1.
Marty Moore was tagged with
the loss—his second in as many
games.
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Stock car driver Richard Petty site in a director’s chair in
the observation tower atop the Petty Enterprises van
Thursday to time the practice laps of opponents for
Sunday’s Atlanta 500-mile race at Hampton, Ga. At left is
Petty back on 4 wheels
By JERRY GARRETT
AP Motorsports Writer
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Richard Petty finally seems to
have all four wheels on the ground.
Back in January, Petty rented Daytona International
Speedway a couple of days for tests. The word is the tests
started off so well, Petty’s people had all outsider’s
thrown out and the speedway sealed off while they
finished their work in secret.
Needless to say, the competition was especially nervous
about the six-time national champion, who usually comes
back from a bad year like 1976 with an absolutely stunning
one.
But early tire troubles kept him from being a factor in
the season opener at Riverside, Calif. In the Daytona 500,
he encountered the first in a long series of troubles, before
the race even began. And more trouble got in his way at
Richmond, Va.
So all the talk turned to Cale Yarborough, the defending
national champ, who started off with a second and two
firsts this season. Petty was almost forgotten.
Then, Petty crafted a monotonously precise victory last
week at Rockingham, N.C.
And here Thursday, Petty put Yarborough and
everybody else in the shadows, with a record shattering
qualifying run that easily gave him the pole position for
Flames finally top Flyers
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -
The Atlanta Flames won their
first National Hockey League
victory in three years on the
Philadelphia Flyers’ home ice
Thursday night.
But the 4-1 triumph probably
won’t make them feel any more
optimistic about playing at the
Spectrum.
Atlanta Coach Fred Creighton
predicted the Flames could
continue to have problems here.
And several of the players said
the Flyers just weren’t playing
up to par.
Eric Vail scored what proved
to be the game winning goal in
the second period when he took
a perfect drop pass from center
Tom Lysiak and fired the puck
past Philadelphia goalie Wayne
Stevenson.
In the next period, Dave
Shand and Curt Bennett scored
two minutes apart to lock up the
victory.
“Getting in and out of the first
20 minutes and not getting our
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brains blown out helped give us
confidence,” declared
Creighton. “It’s pretty tough to
get in a hole in this building. It’s
tough to come back.”
Flames center Bill Clement, a
former Flyer, said Philadelphia
didn’t put up much of a defense.
“You have to have the in
tensity or legs to force the ac
tion for 60 minutes in their end,”
he explained. “Tonight we did.
We contributed to their ragged
play.”
Philadelphia center Bobby
Clarke added, “I don’t know
what's wrong, but it’s easy to
look back over mistakes. We’ve
just been flat three of the last
four games.”
Shand’s goal, his fourth of the
season, came at 10:51 of the last
period, when the defenseman
got past Philadelphia’s Bob
Dailey, who was out of position.
Bennett tallied two minutes
later on a two-on-one with Cle-
Page 11
— Griffin Daily News Friday, March 18,1977
driver Johnny Rutherford. Petty won the pole position for
the race with a track record lap of 162.501-mph. In second
position is David Pearson with a 160.822 qualifying speed.
(AP)
Sunday’s $170,000 Atlanta 500 Grand National stock car
race.
The trouble he had earlier in converting his new-found
horsepower advantage into miles per hour on the track
appears to be behind him. When Petty wins the pole
position, it’s a signal for his pursuers to watch out,
because the speed he qualifies at is usually the one he is
going to run at all day; none of this exotic, one-lap, all-out
banzai qualifying for him.
In fact, he was somewhat sheepish about his accom
plishment Thursday, one lap at 162.501 miles per hour,
almost 1.5 m.p.h. faster than anyone else.
“I couldn’t help it,” Petty said, almost apologetically.
“We don’t usually anticipate the pole because I’m not that
good a qualifier.
“But I came as close as I’m ever gonna come to a
perfect lap here. I came off turn two better than I ever
have, and it gave me 200 more r.p.m.’s by the end of the
straightaway.
“I’m glad we won it, because it means a lot to the
crew.”
In spite of Petty’s runaway for the top spot, qualifying
was generally close and the speeds were up for everyone.
The first 15 qualifiers averaged 159.477 m.p.h., and the
previous Atlanta 500 qualifying record was 160.709 m.p.h.
More qualifying was scheduled today and Saturday to
fill the remaining spots in the 40-car lineup.
ment.
Houston scored the first At
lanta goal, his 20th, on a first
period power play. Harvey Ben
nett made Philadelphia’s lone
goal, also in the first period.
The win gives the Flames a
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nine-point lead over the New
York Rangers for the third
playoff spot in the Patrick Divi
sion. In spite of the loss, Phila
delphia retained its lead in that
division over the New York
Islanders.