tKIje Cljarlotte
THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1997
IB
SPORTS
Wait Hil next year
Taste of success
has Carolina
looking for more
By Joe Macenka
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
While most sports franchises finishing their sec
ond season are trying to figure out how long it will
take to be winners, the Carolina Panthers are try
ing to figure out how to win it all.
An improbable run that ended in the NFC title
game left the Panthers with just one goal for the
1997 season: Go one step farther.
“We’re almost right there,” quarterback Kerry
Collins said. “We’ll come back.
We’re not done. We’ve got it going
in the right direction.”
The San Francisco 49ers and
Dallas Cowboys would be hard-
pressed to challenge Collins’
assessment of the Panthers’
development.
Carolina swept the 49ers on the
way to winning the NFC West, a
title San Francisco had owned in
12 of the previous 15 years.
The Panthers went 8-0 at home
in the regular season and 12-4
Collins
overall, closing their schedule with a seven-game
winning streak that helped them earn a first-
round bye for the postseason and a second-round
home game.
They showed no signs of jitters in their first play
off contest, a 26-17 victoiy over the Cowboys, win
ners of three of the previous four Super Bowls.
Carolina’s season ended Sunday with a 30-13
loss to Green Bay in the conference championship
game.
“I hope we’ve been able to establish a foundation
for the future,” coach Dom Capers said. “To me,
getting into the playoffs and experiencing the
playoffs is something that you can take and use to
your advantage in the future. Now we’ve been
there.”
Carolina may imdergo changes on several fronts
before the 1997 season begins.
It starts with the front office. Team president
Mike McCormack will be 67 this sununer and is
hinting that he might retire. General manager Bill
Polian is a likely target of several teams looking
for new leadership.
Carolina’s coaching staff could be affected as
well. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio already has
been mentioned as a possible candidate for the
San Diego Chargers’ head-coaching vacancy.
And free agency, a tool Carolina has used so suc
cessfully in its rapid ascension, is about to eiffect
the Panthers in a different way. This time, instead
of Carohna signing free agents away from other
teams, the Panthers have a number of players who
may attract the interest of competing franchises.
Among the Panthers whose contracts are up is
halfback Anthony Johnson, who took over for the
injured Tshimanga Biakabutuka in the fourth
game of the season and responded with six 100-
yard rushing games. Biakabutuka, Carolina’s top
draft choice last year, is recovering from knee
surgery and is expected to rejoin the team in time
for training camp this summer.
Other free agents include 37-year-old linebacker
Sam Mills, who is coming off a Pro Bowl season
but is likely to play just one or two more years;
Matt Elliott, who played every position on the
offensive line this season, and Mark Carrier and
Wilhe Green, the team’s top two wide receivers in
each of its seasons.
Both Carrier, who just turned 31, and Green,
who will be 31 in April, want to remain with the
Panthers. But that picture is clouded by Muhsin
Muhammad, who was drafted in the second round
last year with the hopes he would provide a boost
to Carolina’s receiving corps. Instead, Muhammad
was bothered by a variety of injuries as a rookie,
limiting him to 25 receptions.
Capers prefers to look at the bright side, noting
that even though Carolina’s top two 1996 draft
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Green Bay running back Dorsey Levens (right) wrestles the football away from Carolina cornerback Eric Davis
for a touchdown in the Packers’ 30-13 win over the Panthers in the NFC championship game. Caroiina’s second
season ended one game short of the Super Bowl, but hope springs etemai for next year.
There’ll be some changes in 1997
By Karl Petraroja
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Standing still is the only thing the
Carolina Panthers won’t do in the offsea-
for. I hke their work ethic.
For the most part we had a
group that was on the same
page, heading in the same
direction and pulling togeth
er.
Among the 18 is veteran
running back Anthony
Johnson. After being a career
son.
See CHANGES on page 4B
See PANTHERS on page 3B
Season No. 2 came to an end with a 30-
13 loss to Green Bay in the NFC champi
onship game, but Carolina went 13-5,
including a playoff win over the Dallas
Cowboys. The Panthers front office and
coaches want to build on this season’s suc
cess, especially in the area of free agency.
'The team has 18 free agents, most of them
starters or key reserves.
Carolina head coach Dom Capers real
izes he can’t keep them all, but he wants to
keep the nucleus intact
“I would like to keep the core of this team
together,” he said. “Many times you don’t
have a lot of control over that. I like what
this team was all about, what they stood
PHOTO/WADE NASH
All-pro linebacker Sam Mills, pressuring Green Bay quarterback
Brett Favre, wiH return next season.
Hornets quietly improved over last season
By Karl Petraroja
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
PHOTO/PAUL WILLIAMS III
Anthony Mason has been a
force for the Hornets.
The Charlotte Hornets
earned a big ‘D’ as the NBA
season nears the halfway
point. That’s ‘D,’ as in defense.
As for what they achieved,
the Hornets get a B-plus, for a
much better than expected
showing at 20-16 after 36
games.
Charlotte has buUt a win
ning record despite a brutal
schedule, blending in a rookie
coach with several new players
and a system built around
defense.
Defense has worked it for
Charlotte. It’s turned the once-
soft Hornets into a force to be
reckoned with, especially
when the game’s on the line in
the fourth quarter. Leading
scorer Glen Rice, who is aver
aging 22.4 points a game, likes
the Hornets’ improvements
under coach Dave Cowens.
“We’re a much better defen
sive team now,” Rice said.
“Anytime you’re struggling on
offense, you definitely need to
rely on the defense to pick up
the aggressiveness.”
The architect of the Hornets’
new commitment to defense is
Tiger’s
tale
grows
By Ron Sirak
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARLSBAD, Cahfomia - Just
when it
seems 'Kger
Woods must
surely come
down to
earth, he does
something to
show he’s the
real deal.
Woods did it
again Sunday
at the
Mercedes
Woods
Championships, shooting a
near-hole-in-one with a 6-iron
from 186 yards to win a playoff
with 'Ibm Lehman after Lehman
hit his 6-iron into the water on
the first extra hole.
Both had finished 54 holes at
14-imder-par, five strokes ahead
of Guy Boros, who received
third-place money, and six better
than Paid Goydos and Fred
Couples.
But a persistent rain made the
La Costa course unplayable for
Monday and tournament offi
cials decided to make it a three-
jound event. Woods and
Lehman played No. 7 because it
was the only hole that was
playable. They would have con
tinued pla3dng No. 7 over and
over until a winner was deter
mined.
The $216,000 first prize gave
Woods $1,006,594 in career win
nings in only nine events. Ernie
Els had the old record for getting
to $1 million fastest, needing 28
events. And only Gene Sarazen
and Horton Smith won three
events at a younger age than
Woods.
“It’s a perfect start,” Woods, 21,
said about winning the first
tournament of the new season.
Lehman hit first in the playoff
and immediately took the pres
sure off Woods by hitting into
the water. AH Woods needed to
do was put the ball on the green
and two-putt.
He did much more than that.
“Tiger hit a great shot,”
Lehman said. “Of coiuse he had
See WOODS on page 3B
North Rowan
is N.C.’s track
tower of power
By Brian Powe
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
Cowens, but on the court,
Anthony Mason is the field
general. Mason, who came
over in the Larry Johnson
trade with New York, has been
preaching the importance of
pla3ring tough defense from the
day he arrived. Mason, who
averages better than 40 min
utes of play per game, prac
tices what he preaches and his
See HORNETS on page 3B
SPENCER - What city in
North Carolina has a high
school track and field team
that’s won three straight state
championships and produced
three All-Americans in the
past decade?
It’s not Charlotte, Durham,
Raleigh or maybe Greensboro.
But, surprisingly, this particu
lar team haQs from Spencer.
Tucked away in a small com
munity that sits in the back
yard of Sahsbury, the North
Rowan High School track and
field team has emerged as the
premier powerhouse of 2A
track and field in the state.
Under the helm of coach
Robert Steele, North Rowan
was voted the top indoor track
team in America in 1991. The
Cavaliers have had nationally-
ranked individuals who have
ranked jumpers, hurdlers and
sprinters.
“It is a credit to our athletes
that we have been able to com
pete at this level,” Steele said.
“For those who want to become
a part of this program, they
must understand we CEury a
program with a rich tradition
of winning.
“We have been fortunate
See TRACK on page 3B