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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, J»nu»ry 28,1899
The Armchair ■ I[~ l
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O Stephen Underwood Jonathan Hamilton Phil Jones Denton Ashway Robert Herndon Bruce Miller Norris Vaughan Butch Hansen
’• Sports Editor Sports Staff Circulation Director Columnist FCHS Head Coach NFHS Head Coach SFHS Head Coach Polo G&CC Head Pro
Last Week: 2-0/T-Ist 2-0/T-Ist 1-1/75th 1-1/TSth 1-1/T-sth 2-0/T-Ist 1-1/TSth 2-07-1 st
[Overall: 112-69/T-Ist 105-76/sth 104-77/6th 97-84/Bth 110-71/3rd 106-75/4th 112-69/T-Ist 101-80/7th
Talcons vs°Broncos a * cons Falcons Falcons Falcons Falcons Falcons Broncos Falcons
The Dirty Birds will win
it all - and here’s why...
* *v
. >
'Every football fan knows the
Denver Broncos enter Sunday’s
showdown with the upstart
Atlanta Falcons as the defending
Super Bowl champs and a 7-point
favorite.
But did you also know that in
the previous 32 Super Bowls a
defending champion has returned
to 'defend their title nine times,
idfiping six and losing three?
I still think that the Falcons will
Win. Here’s why:
i
1. The Super Bowl has a histo
ry-of being a super letdown for
heavily-favored teams.
•_ This was true most notably for
the 18-point favorite Baltimore
Colts in Super Bowl 111, who
WCre beaten by the Jets.
r < Consider for a moment that the
Broncos entered last year’s big
game 12-point underdogs to the
defending champ Green Bay
Packers.
Those seven points don’t seem
s<J bad now, do they?
5
2. Before Denver’s victory last
year, the NFC had dominated
the Super Bowl - winning 13
straight from 1985-1997.
Since the inception of Super
Sunday in 1966, the NFL/NFC
has been considered to be the
dominant conference.
'T don’t think the AFL’s top
I
4
CENTRAL from 1B
*
seven points in the third period
aided the Dogs in expanding their
liad to 58-38 at the final break.
T’Whatever Brent gets, he
deserves,” said Dirst. “He really
stepped up ... And Micah just
keeps getting better and better.”
The Dogs scored 45 points in
the middle two quarters. Their
strong offensive display was
attributable to one of their best
shooting nights of the season -
JO-of-57 for 53 percent. That, and
jjist 20 free throw attempts
between the two teams (Central
was 7-for-8), made for a quick
*Passing-wise, Cole racked up
MAT from 1B
SBut Tony Smith got North’s
momentum back at 130, winning
154) over Casey Lamb despite
giving up a few pounds.
•Standout Jeremy Hamilton then
lot a quick pin over John Price at
■35.
■Harrison and Jonathan Douglas
6145) continued the pins for
frorth, but Payton Haynes of
Central scored an 8-6 decision
Mir Kevin Keener as 152 provid
perhaps the closest match of
night.
dhris Price made it two straight
>j the Dogs when he stuck Cory
inc in the first period at 160,
* n Eric Baraney of North ended
lose match at 171 when he
i ned Tommy Henderson in the
i nd.
< entral’s final win came at 189,
Is Nick Hart quickly pinned
K drew Head. Then North
y ipped it up with two straight -
With Vickery pinning Josh Roper
I ■" • I .
teams can compete with the top
teams in our league,” remarked a
triumphant Vince Lombardi after
his team dismantled the Kansas
City Chiefs on the Inaugural
Super Sunday.
Thirty-one years later, the num
bers still bear Lombardi out. The
NFC holds a 19-13 advantage
over the AFC in Super Bowl play.
3. The Broncos have been on
the losing end of two of the
most lopsided games in Super
Bowl history.
Denver suffered a 42-10
blowout to Washington in 1988
and followed that up two years
later with the worst Super Sunday
loss ever, a 55-10 rout by the San
Francisco 49ers.
Every “Dirty Bird” fan is hop
ing that Denver’s triumph last
yea, was an aberration and that
this year they will revert to the
franchise that was outscored 160-
50 in four previous Super Bowl
appearances, inspiring the joke:
“How do you keep the Broncos
out of Mile High Stadium?”
“Put an end zone in front of the
entrance.”
4. Denver’s secondary is the
weak point of their defense.
Atlanta comes into the show
down with receivers Terance
Mathis and Tony Martin ranked
seven assists and Howell added
four. Owings’ defensive effort
included five steals, and Amos
and Donofrio pulled down eight
and six rebounds respectively.
The Warriors, now 4-8 and 6-12,
were led by Chase Crumley’s 11
and Brian Teague’s 10.
Girls
Central’s girls struggled offen
sively, unable to break into dou
ble digits until the third quarter.
While they managed 39 points at
home against the Lady Warriors
in their first meeting, only in a
11-point fourth quarter did they
_ » . ■ Photo/Stephen Underwood
Tough match
William Flynn of Central gets the win on the mat over North
Forsyth's Nathan Kennedy at 125 pounds.
in the third at 215 and Josh Hasty
pinning Kevin Waddell in the first
at 275.
i
■
Jonathan
Hamilton
No. 2 in the NFL in combined
receiving yards. If the Jet’s QB
Vinnie Testeverde was able to
rack up 160 yards through the air
in the first half against the
Broncos, the M&M boys might
spend most of Sunday ransacking
that suspect secondary as well.
4. Denver has relied (too
much?) on Terrell Davis to run
over and around opponents all
season.
The Falcon front seven has
totally shut down opposing
ground games this year, only
allowing one running back to
gain 100 yards in a game - the
Jets’ Curtis Martin. Also, take
into account that the defending
champs haven’t been down by a
touchdown or more too often this
year, so they have been able to
run the ball.
When the Dolphins beat them in
a late season Monday night game,
Denver was forced to throw and
the results were not pretty. John
Elway turned in the worst QB rat
ing of his 16-year career.
approach that pace.
“It was disappointing in that so
far this season, we’ve played
teams closer the second time
around,” said coach Jerry Cauley.
“Tuesday, we didn’t do that.”
Os course, Central is still with
out senior guard Amanda
Coffield, frequently their leading
scorer. Lauren Samples and
Emily Pritchett led the way with
five points each, with Samples
and Samantha Schupp hitting 3-
pointers.
Allowing just four points each
of the first three quarters, White
had between 14 and 19 them
selves in each stanza. Senior Lee
North finishes at home against
South Forsyth Friday, while the
Dogs do the same vs. Lumpkin.
5. The turnover factor. The
“Dirty Birds” specialize in forc
ing turnovers with a very
aggressive ball-hawking
defense.
Remember Elway has been less
than super in four Super Bowl
appearances, throwing seven
interceptions and fumbling three
times. If he makes those kind of
mistakes on Sunday, Denver will
have to rely on the passing game
more than they would like in
order to come back.
Elway is not the same player he
was even a year ago, as he was
forced to miss two full games and
parts of two others this season
with a nagging hamstring injury.
As a result the 38-year old sig
nal caller is not as mobile and
placing him in obvious passing
situations will make things easier
for the ‘bomb squads’ to target
him.
The Broncos, too, have feasted
off of turnovers this year. Just ask
the Jets, who had Denver on the
ropes, 10-0, midway through the
third quarter in the AFC champi
onship game.
Six turnovers later, the Broncos
escaped with an uninspiring 23-
10 triumph.
But Atlanta QB Chris Chandler
has not thrown an interception in
two years on possessions inside
an opponent’s 20-yard line.
6. One last thing, one of
Denver’s losses this season
occurred on the same field
where they will tee it up on
Sunday.
The Falcons are a better team
than the Dolphins, lest we forget
the 38-16 pummeling at the
Georgia Dome in December.
Lee Cannon paced White with 15
points and surpassed the 1,000-
point mark for her career.
Cauley continued the team’s
practice of rotating the lineup
completely every four minutes on
the clock and playing man-to
man ‘D’. “When the day comes
that we’re ready to win, it will be
with man-to-man,” said Cauley.
The Bulldog teams will play at
South Forsyth Friday night.
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FALCONS from IB
ues to write occasionally for the
Forsyth County News after taking
over as Sports Editor for our
Dawson Community News, has
never been a big Falcons fan. But
he feels they have a great chance
to take it all (see his column, this
page).
Unlike many others, Hamilton
and his family plan to forego the
big parties and enjoy the game in
their own home.
Ditto for Polo Golf and Country
Club Head Professional Butch
Hansen, who greeted me
Wednesday by saying, “Go, you
Dirty Birds!”
In his years of serving the
metro-wide golf community,
Hansen has gotten to know many
of Atlanta’s top sports personali
ties and many of the Falcons have
played at the club.
“I know Dan personally ... He’s
such a super guy,” he says of
Falcons’ head coach Reeves.
Hansen is also sporting a nice,
new sports shirt with the team
logo on it, compliments of defen
sive line coach Bill Kollar. “He’s
one of the best line coaches in all
of football.”
Others admit they are going to
Super Bowl parties - even if
they’d rather go one-on-one with
the big battle on the tube. “I’d
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prefer to be at home by myself,’X
says FCN columnist and local-'
attorney Denton Ashway.
But Ashway will enjoy the com
pany of group of friends and
acquaintances and - though hd
also took a long time to warm to
the formerly moribund team - he'
thinks the Falcons can do it.
Like most everyone, Ashway
also finds that Falcons talk is
swirling around most anywhere
he goes. “It’s really been preva
lent, like the Braves in *91,” he
says. “You can barely tum on the
TV without seeing it. I never
thought I’d see the day when the
Falcons were the leading topic.”
North Forsyth Raiders head
coach would also like to see the
game solo, but perhaps for differ
ent reasons. “So I can yell and
scream ... but sometimes you have
to be civilized.”
And leave it to Miller for the
final word on why the Falcons
will win: “They’ve got a great
defense. And defense wins cham
pionships.”
“Hey, it’s a coaches’ clichd!” ’
Bulldog head coach Robert
Herndon also picks the Birds -
and even Vaughan would like to
see them win, I think (even if it
means losing the Great Eight.
Go Falcons!