4 September 18,1986
| Page B1
i .
I College Football
I Vintage Hookei
By DAVID BULLA
Chronicle Sports Editor
GREENSBORO - The eerie, refracted
sunlight made it seem as if a dust storm had
descended on the campus of North Carolina
A&T State University late last Saturday after'
noon. .
11; Could this portend something ominous for the
Aggies? Perhaps another blown lead against
arch-rival Winston-Salem State? No, because it
wasn't freaky weather after all, but a rare A&T
victory over WSSU that set off the dust cloud.
Aggie coaches, players, alumni, students, fans
and even a few street people celebrated in Aggie
Stadium's parking lot of gravel, dirt and grass.
Waiting for the traffic to ease, many were savoring
their favorite plays from the pigskin delicacy
that had just been cooked up inside.
When Stoney Polite broke the plane of the
stadium's south end zone at about 4:30 p.m.,
the victory signified that A&T had its football
house in order after a half-decade of renovations
prompted by Jim McKinley's absconding to!
Texas. At the end of the 1981 season, McKinley
had left the once-proud program in serious debt
and woefully short on talent.
"I think of this as a major hurdle," said
Coach Mo Forte, who last ^ear guided A&T to
its first winning season since 1980. "We iust
beat someone we hadn't beat in five years.
> v "But more than anything* I felt we needed to
beat Winston-Salem State in order to continue
obtaining our goals. Wljen you're talking about
being in the running for the MEAC title - and
we are - you have to beat good football teams.
We did that today."
WSSU, one of the best Division-11 programs
in the country, came into the game ranked
fourth in the Sheridan black-college poll, while
I i the I-AA Aggies were ranked eighth in the same
poll. Comparing Division I-AA and II programs
is like comparing tobacco and tomatoes, but
WSSU has had the edge in this rivalry over the
last decade. The Rams have won six in that
span, although most of the games have been
/ close, with the last eight meetings decided by an
ij average of eight points.
Last week's game was no different as the
- - rivals baked up another one of their classics.
A&T's 36-35 decision at Mississippi Valley
State last November had been a whopper of a .
win, quarterback Alan Hooker said. It gave the
Sports Beat
Barber sees a n
By DAVID BULLA WSSU wid
Chronicle Sports Editor Aggies lim
GREENSBORO -- Chris Barber, a . Sc?""? dn
senior defensive back for North *** ^ec<
Carolina A&T, had seen the Aggies . Barber,
blow three consecutive games to '
Winston-Salem State. t,ng the ga
He didn't want it to happen again, a year ago
but last Saturday the pattern was "The pa
developing once more. A&T, behind ffrgj uPj
the able arm of junior quarterback teams eve
Alan Hooker, scored first and built a Salem seni
14-3 lead by the end of the first again, but
quarter. But the Rams scored the next more this ;
12 points and slowed the Hooker-led jn a sen
Aggie offense until late in the third validated tl
quarter. successfull
Although Barber and his defensive ball progn
teammates never quite shut down . way in a
Local Sports
Former East st
By DAVID BULLA last week. (Ga
Chronicle Sports Editor the Atlantic (
_ _ ' ? Republic of Ii
leff Jones remembers weU a west Qf DubKn
pair of East Forsyth overtime ?j ^ {
D ana in
To?T " ingstonc," he s
t < ?k .u l*st Friday. "N
In one of those games, the shot ^ Nfi
Eagles were up by two with three , .
seconds left and still lost . He A_ . ' . J
says those were two of his
, ? . leagues this sur
unluckiest games. first contacted
But his own fortunes seem to t f
have changed four years later. s.an>PA/,,
With a little luck from the Irish M ..
Professional Basketball League, pla^ b^k
Jones hopes to one day play pro . I f5 . .
. ? . .r .. ,4 . _ in tne lnsn le
ball in the United States. m
Jones, the fonner East and ^ w jjp ?
UNC-Asheville standout, signed . dinics
a contract to play with the atlldentOalway
entry in the Irish league ' othcr
this summer and flew to Europe Please ae
iv.
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SP
it m,:
' guides Ai
A&T's Broderick Rouse, T
above, blocks Tyrone R
Smith's PAT; at right, Alan
Hooker gets t^e word from L
the Aggie bench; WSSU's I
Dana Walker executes a I
play-action pass (photos by
James Parker). V
Sh#rkftan Poll t
Ranking Record Pdnti I
1. Delaware State 2-0 130 f
2. Grambling State 1-0 119 |
3. Tennessee State 3-0 93 *
4. N.C. A&T 2-0 82
5. Central State 1-0 65 )
8. Jackson State 2J 84 =i
7. Mississippi Valley 1-0 63 |
I. W-8 State ^ 1-1 36
9. Southern U. 1-1 28
10. Norfolk State 2-0 22 B
Aggies a winning season. But
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Aggie teammates knew that* v
this stature early in the season
berth was now a viable goal. (
in the history of the league, tY
pion will get an automatic ber
I-AA playoffs.)
What allowed the Aggies to
year thirst for victory over the
play of Hooker, who spices u]
fensive tricks by scrambling in
iew confidei
e receiver Masha Paul, the aliin
ited the Rams to only one ralli
ve over the last 22 minutes 34-2
onds of the game. Tha
the former Parkland stan- gam
it was a case of A&T wan- seen
me a little more than it had strai
51-2
the
ist three years we came out 0f e
but the Rams have great
fry year," the Winston- \
or said. "They were great was
we wanted it a whole lot 4
year." ball
se, the victory over WSSU had
he belief that Mo Forte had aga
y rebuilt the Aggies' foot- jusi
am. Forte has come a long kid
year 's time, for the A&T but
andout Jon
lway, located on
)cean, is in the \ hi
eland, 115 miles
)
is another stepp
aid before leaving
ly goal is to get a
[ m
played in the Big
Vayne Robinson
timer, said he was
by the Galway
playing in the
ies at Worcester, I
n the summer.
etball once a week
ague will not be .
igation. He'll also
>ach his team and
to high school I y*n? b*
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Americans I've (photo
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Vinston-Salem Chronicle
hT by Rams
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he said the win make Fran Ta
for Hooker and his plenty of help
vith a victory of that limited th
i, a I-AA playoff 96 yards on 41
[For the first time Hooker was
ic MEAC cham- completing his
th in the Division and leading th
of the first qu
quench their four- finished with
5 Rams was the 223 yards and
p his store of of- interceptions,
i a way that would "Alan Hool
tee in hungry
ini were restless when the Rams h<
ed from a 19-0 deficit to win
5 last year in Winston-Salem. . th
t came in the midst of a four- m
e losing streak to open what ai
led certain to be A&T's fifth la
ight losing season. But after a
14 loss to South Carolina State, m
Aggies have put together a string cc
ight wins in nine outings. th
u/
VSSU Coach Bill Hayes felt A&T te
a strong team all along. re
'I thought they were a good foot- ai
I team last year," said Hayes, who
I a four-game winning streak
inst the Aggies snapped. 4They i*1
t didn't know it. Some of their C(
s buckled under a little pressure,
.they didn *t today. They know
ies to play Iri:
W^M [ U
:k Germaine Crowell tries to outrur
a Pop Warner game; see the result
by James Parker).
EK
rkenton envious. Hooker had billinj
from a beefed-up Aggie defense to Fo
e potent WSSU ground attack to playe
1 carries. \&
unstoppable early in the game, yards
; first eight passes for 103 yards Stone
e Aggies to a 14-3 lead at the end than
arter. The junior from Liberty Th
17 completions in 25 attempts for prep
two touchdowns.,He threw two Polit
eight
ker certainly lived up to his
iMour
Lewis
(phot
' Aggies Hi
ow good they are now." 1^^^
Barber, who had five tackles and #
iree breakups, said that there are
lajor differences in this A&T team
id the ones that he's played on the I
st three years.
L L /N _ r - 1 -? *
une or me Dig imngs is we're ^
tore confident," he said in a
;lebratory Aggie locker room. "In W?*
le past, we were kinda laid back. We
aited around to see what other
ams were going to do to us and then f
racted. Now we're going out there
id initiating the action.
"We also had some attitudes that pMi
idividuals came firsts the team se- \
3nd. That's changed now."
Barber said this A&T-WSSU con
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g," said Ram Coach Bill Hayes, who lost
rte for the first time. 4iI also think A&T
d really hard. They were hungry." H
:T gobbled up almost half of its 429 total
on the ground. Indeed, running back
;y Polite chewed up more yardage (123)
all of the Rams combined.
e Aggies* first drive showed how wellared
their ground game was for this one.
e scored the game's first touchdown on an
-yard run that completed an eight-play,
Please see page B6
it Tabor's Tyrone I
$ calls the signals
o by James
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I
p Spotlight
cKoy's recovery?
oms Spartans
*
NNETH RAYMOND
le Sports Writer
?ti m PC athlptipc anH OPO^ami?r miu ! > -~*l- ??
Mv.iiwviwa Hiiw UVUUVIIIIWS 111 1A 111 1 al II CI
ways, as they did last Friday night when
linebacker Rodney McKoy's good reading
i rendezvous with destiny.
oy found himself at the right place at the
ime against Mount Tabor. For on second
md nine to go on the Carver 16-yard line late
fourth quarter, Spartan quarterback Tyrone
Ditched the ball to the ground. McKoy, who
ver in tackles last season and has the lead in
partment again this year, picked up the ball
mbled 65 yards to the Spartan 19-yard line
ss than two minutes to play.
Jackets made the most of a golden opporthat
left the Spartans blue. With the final
s ticking off the clock, place-kicker Stephon
n nailed a 27-yard field goal. His boot with
conds left propelled the undefeated Yellow
i past the previously unbeaten Spartans 3-0.
oy said that he saw Lewis coming and read
y all the way.
iw what he was going to do by the way they
Please see page B4
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