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By GREG CLAY
- Rev's* Staff Writer
If Alcorn State is the real "SWACbuster/*
then Braves defensive back
Issiac "General Ike" Hoh must be the
real Rice-buster.
Jerry Rice, Mississippi Valley's allAmerica
wide receiver who is said to be
so good that he can catch a BB in the,
dark, had two shadows Nov. 4 - his
and Holt's - in a matchup that dazzled
the anxious eyes of 63,808 fans in a
jam-packed Mississippi Memorial Col
lseum, tnc second-largest crowd to attend
a sporting event in Mississippi
history.
How close were their shadows?
"We kept bumping into each
other," said Rice, the 6-foot-3,
205-pound fireball, who's better
known as "World," after his team lost
42-28 in a slugfest billed as "the game
of the week, game of the month, game
of the year, game of the decade and
game of the century" by the public address
announcer.
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As it turned out, Holt and the rest of
. _ the Braves'Tomahawk defense got the
best of the bumping. Hoh had the
whole "World" in his hands, limiting
Rice to eight catches for 134 yards and
a 35-yard score. Those statistics would
^ be excellent for most receivers, but only
average for Rice, who entered the
game averaging 12 catches, 197.3 yards
and three touchdowns per contest.
And Valley began the game leading
the country with a 64.1 points-pergame
average, tops on any collegiate
level.
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Alcorn State's defense, ranked second
in the NCAA Division I-AA
behind Tennessee State, threw up a
brick wall against the Delta Devils
when it counted most. ("Defense wins
championships," the Braves chanted in
the locker room after the flame ^ WoH
who was "thinking six/* turned out
the lights on Valley when he beat Rice
to the ball and returned his sixth interception
of the season 29 yards for
the game's final score with 16 seconds
left, thus thwarting the Delta Devils'
last effort in a gallant comeback.
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Valley trailed 28-7 at the half but came
back to tie the score at 28 early in the
fourth quarter.
"We are the real SW AC-busters,"
said a jubilant Marino "Godfather"
Casern, Alcorn State's head coach,
alluding to- Valley Coach Archie
"ChinclinoiT"
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rocnt to the local media that the contest
would be "the SW AC-buster."
Holt isn't expected to be a bust in
next year's NFL draft. "He has speed,
quickness and closes in on the ball,"
said Gil Brandt, director of player perBBBBHBBBBBBSBBBB8BBSBBS5S
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The Coaches
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Above, MVSU Head Coach Archie
Cooley directed and devised as only
he can - but Alcorn State out-"
DOinted his seorinn marhino in th*i
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end (photo by James Terry). Below,
left, Alcorn's Marino Casern shares
a victory hug with one of his
players (photo by Mark Gail).
sonnel for the Dallas Cowboys. "I'm
not sure if he's a first-round draft
choice, but he stands pretty close to being
one. He's coming on, as they say."
MI think his (Holt's) stock went
through the ceiling after the way he
played in this game," said former
Alcorn State defensive back Roynell
Young, who now plays for the NFL's
Plti|*d*lf>hl* bo! h injured this
choice by the Eagles.
Meanwhile, Rice, who dazzled the
crowd with a spectacular shoestring
catch for a 23-yard gain in the first
quarter, is expected to be one of the
first receivers taken in next year's
draft. "I watch Jerry Rice on the films
three or four times a week," says
Jackson State's 6-5, 210-pound wide
receiver Chris Burkett, who caught two
touchdown passes in Jackson State's
47-0 rout of Texas Southern on the eve
of The Big Game. Burkett, a senior, is
considered to be an early-round draft