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SPORTS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2006
In MEAC, it’s redemption tirrie
TIMES AND DEMOCRATA/AN HOPE
S.C. State’s Bulldogs run through a drill at preseason camp in
Orangeburg, S.C. The Bulldogs are hnto-time MEAC runners-up.
By Herbert L. White
heriD.wh/fe@ft)echartottepost.com
Everyone at the top of the MEAC
food chain is looking for redemption.
Hampton, which has evolved into
the league’s alpha program, shows
few signs of loosening its strangle-
hold on the championship, yet plays
with the specter of successive first-
round flops in the Division I-AA play
offs.
The Pirates, who open the season
No. 13 in the nation, have a bruising
offense led by tailback Alonzo
Coleman and the conference’s top
defense, spearheaded by Bucahanan
Award finalist Justin Durant.
Hampton, which went unbeaten in
league play and 11-1 overall in 2005,
has incentive to stay on top. Those
playoff defeats the last two seasons,
are aU the inspiration this group
needs.
S.C. State shotild be inspired by its
failings, too. The Bulldogs haven’t
been able to beat Hampton, which
has kept them out of postseason play
This year, the two meet .in
Orangeburg, and SCSU would like
nothii^ better than to play for first
on their home tuiT. S.C. ^ate is a
mirror image of Hampton with a run-
White
Sox play
like
champs
Sweep of first-
place Detroit
tightens AL
Central race
THE ASSOC/A7ED PRESS
All of a sudden, the Chicago
White Sox are chasing more
than a wild-card berth.
The World Series champi
ons played hke serious AL
Central challengers, with
Freddy Garcia pitching the
White Sox past the slumping
Detroit Tigeis 7-3 on Sunday
for a three-game sweep.
Down by 10 games in the
division last Monday, Chicago
pulled within 51/2 games of
the first-place • Tigers. Wfith
their sold-out crowd chanti
ng, “Sweep! Sweep!” the
White Sox won their fourth in
a row.
“We’re going to keep fight
ing to the end, whether it’s in
a balLgame or whether it’s in
a pennant race,” said
Jermaine Dye, who hit his
31st home run.
Detroit still has the best
record in the majorn. But the
Tigers also have their longest
losing streak of the season at
five.
‘We got what we deserved
Gast) weekend,” Tigers man
ager Jim Leyland said.
Garcia (11-7) won for the
first time in six weeks and
Bobby Jenks closed for his
major league-leading 33rd
save. Alex Cintron delivered
two key early hits that set
back the Tigers.
“They have to be tired play
ing like that everyday,”
Cintron said. “Sooner or later,
they’re going to have a bad
week. They’re going through
that right now.”
The White Sox improved to
9-3 against Detroit this sea
son. The teams play seven
more times down the stretch.
Tigers starter Zach Miner
(7-3) left after 5 1-3 innir^.
His catcher, Ivan Rodriguez,
also got an early exit “when he
was ejected for the first time
this year.
Rodriguez had to be
restrained by teammate
Carlos Gufilen after gettii^
tossed in the eighth.
Rodr^uez argued when he
was called out on strikes,
then charged fixim the dugout
when plate umpire Tim
Timmons ejected him.
‘We need to refocus again
and try to do the things that
we did the last couple of
'weeks," Rodriguez said.
“We’re going to keep
fighting to the end,
whether it’s in a baii-
game or whether it's
in a pennant race."
White Sox outfielder
Jermaine Dye
o@o
oriented offense and quick defenders.
Junior running back DeShawn
Baker is a 6-1, 225-pound hammer
fix»m Charlotte who’ll set the tone on
offense.
Delaware State, which went a sur
prising third at 6-2 in conference
games last year, is primed to chal-
ler^ in 2006. The Hornets return 11
starters, including seven on offense.
Wth four starters on defense, DSU
needs to devdop continuity quickly
and put the offense in position to win
games.
Florida A&M'may be the ultimate
Please see 1VIEAC/2C
J.C. SMITH FOOTBALL
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO/CHUCK BURTON
Carolina Panthers running back Deangelo Williams (34) runs between Buffalo Bills Troy Vincent (23), Rashad Baker
(26) and Angelo Crowell (55) during the Panthers' 14-13 win Saturday at Bank of America Stadium.
Crash course
Wide-eyed Williams learning on the job at Panthers’ training camp
By Mike Cranston
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPARTANBURG, S.C.
Unprepared to live in a dormitory sur
prised by the size of his playbook and
shocked by the speed of his team
mates, DeAngelo Williams was over
whelmed going into his first NFL
training camp.
Carolina’s top draft pick got cmssed
up even before he arrived at Wofford
College, when the wide-eyed running
back naively asked coach John Fox
what kind of cable the team had in its
hotel room.
“He said, “Hotel? We’re stayir^ in a
dorm,”’ Williams recalled. “So I said,
“What about the TV, do we have TV?’
He said, It’s $85.’ Then I got in ffi^e
and I couldn’t see the TV finm my bed,
‘You see these guys on television
and they portray training camp as
guys laughing, hanging around and
drinking water - it’s nothing like that
at aU.”
Even after fumbling during an 11-
on-11 drill during the first week of
camp, Williams hadn’t lost his sense of
humor.
He’s slowly absorbing the Panthers
playbook — which is phonebook-size
compared to what he had at Memphis,
where the offense centered aroimd the
5-fooU9 speedster.
“I think we had eight plays at
Memphis ■ two runs to the left, two
runs to the right, two passes to the left
and two passes to the right,” Williams
said. “We had one sheet they passed
out.”
At Memphis, WTliams set an NCAA
career record by amassing 7,573 all
purpose yards. He finished fourth all-
time with 6,026 yards rushing, and
went over 100 yards on the groimd in
34 of 44 college games.
So far, it’s been a much different
See WILLIAMS/2C
Sting improved over
2005, but more needed
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte Sting hit stride just as
the season came to close.
The Sting ended the regular season
with an 84-57 blowout of Chicago to
close 11-23, nearly doublir^ last year’s
win totEil.
“I’ve been waiting for a game Uke
that,” coach Mu^sy Bogues said.
Although it took the very end of the
season for the Sting to hit on aU cjdin-
ders, Bogues said he was encouraged
by the way his first fiiU season ended.
‘Tm happy I took on this challenge,”
he said. “This is [my} first year.-, .with a
■full season imderstanding the
league...and what coaching was all
about. Fm just going to continue to
learn and get better.”
Charlotte center Tammy Sutton-
Brown, who averaged 11.1 points per
game, said the last part of the season
is something the team can build firim.
“There were spurts,” she said. “We
didn’t start off too well, but after the
AU-Star break, there were a lot of
good spurts, and stuff we just have to
build on.”
Without the pressure of playoffs
Charlotte pla5/ed its best basketball.
‘We just went out there and wanted
to enjoy the moment and have fim
with' each other,” said forward
Tangela Smith. ‘We just wanted to
win and end on a good note..”
“It’s been a long season for us,” said
forward Sheri Sam. ‘We all would
want a diffa:ent outcome, but we can’t
change it. The season’s short, and you
can’t afford to start slow, and I think
this team learned that thb year.”
Provided management doesn’t
make too many changes in the offsea
son, Smith is optimistic about what
the Sting can accomplish.
“’We have a great team and every
body on this team could be a starter,”
she said. ‘We just need to get better
chemistry next year, which we wifi,
have, and just play together and well
be all right.”
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Johnson C. Smith corner-
back De’Audra DIx blocked
three kicks and intercepted
two passes in 2005.
Dix’s
goal:
Turn ‘D’
into ‘O’
FILE PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
Sheri Sam said Charlotte's slow start
doomed the Sting’s playoff chances. The
Sting finished the WNBA season 11-23,
nearly double last season’s total.
By Herbert L. White
herb.wh(te@fhecharlotlepost.com
Johnson C. Smith football
coach Daryl McNeill has
issued a challei^ to comer-
back De’Audra Dix: score
points on defense.
The junior flashed big play
potential last year, blocking
three kicks and picking off a
pair of passes in addition to
35 tackles.
“I’ve challenged him to
score in every game whether
it’s a PAT block, an intercep
tion or kickoff return,”
McNeill said. “I feel he can
do it and I know he can win
a game for us doing one of
those things.”
“That’s the coaches,” Dix
said. “They put me in the
right place, I just make the
plays.”
He’ll have plaity of oppor
tunities in a secondary that
returns three starters. In
addition to playing comer-
back, Dix will be a regular on
special teams, where he’ll
return kicks.
“I’m just taking the God-
given talent and working
hairi every day” he said. “If I
can help the team scoring on
defense to win games, that’s
what in do.”
Dix is fast enough to han
dle single coverage and sup
ports against the run. He’s
rarely out of position, said
sophomore quarterback
Carlton Richardson, who
tests Dix daily in practice.
“His speed blows me away
the way he flies around the
ball,” Richardson said. ‘You
can bait him all you want,
but he’s so quick... if he
makes a little bit of a mis
take he has the speed to get
back on that route.”
Said McNeill: “He has the
foot speed, he has the tough
ness, he has the great aware
ness of the football as far as
breaking on the ball.
Hopefully people will throw
his way so he can get some
See DIX’S/2C