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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1988)
Sports The Battalion Tuesday, Oct. 11, 1988 Page 7 Smith helped wreck Coogs Player of the Week Brent Smith By Jerry Bolz Sports Writer The Texas Aggie defense turned loose with a new look Saturday and wrecked Houston’s early undefeated season. Brent Smith was a part of that look the Cou gars would have rather not seen. The Aggies used six defensive backs the entire game to combat Houston’s “run and shoot," passing offense. Smith, a 6-2, 200 pound senior defensive back playing at linebacker had seven tackles. Three were quar terback sacks. “They didn’t show us anything we hadn’t worked on,” he said. “Every one of us out there knows how the others play, and we just bonded together.” Defensive coordinator R.C. Slocum said the plan of the game was for the Aggies to adjust as Houston picked-up on their defensive scheme. When Houston came out in the first quarter and gained 142 yards pass ing and took a 6-0 lead, adjustments were necessary. The adjustments came on the sideline, where Slo- |cum was drawing up new defenses during the game. Smith, who blitzed most of the game, said they changed defenses every time they came off the field. Slocum said the defense reached the point in the sec ond quarter where they started picking up on what Houston was doing offensively. The Aggies held Houston to 92 total yards in the quarter, including 3 yards nishinp. In the second half the A&M offense began to do its part which allowed the defense to play like the “W- recking Crew II” likes to. Head Coach Jackie Sherrill said the offense helped the defense a lot. “When we’re moving the ball and scoring, our de fense can play recklessly, blitzing and stunting,” he said. “We took their biggest play (the screen) com pletely away.” In the third quarter, Smith used his positioning off of right end to blitz and catch Cougar quarterback Darren Dacus off guard twice for -14 yards. Smith’s sacks, plus two from linebacker John Roper, played the big gest part in holding the Cougar offense to a minus-16 yards in the quarter. Smith opened the fourth quarter with a Dacus sack on the first play, which forced Houston to punt. He said the coaches did a great job getting the defense re ady for Houston. “We worked on the blitz all week and were really prepared for this game,” he said. “The key was to play together. Coach Sherrill talked about togetherness and it brought us together this week.” It was that togetherness that kept A&M playing hard even when being behind 9-7 at halftime. Houston had several long passes that caught the Aggies off guard but the defense didn’t let the Cougars into the end zone until late in the fourth quarter. The Aggie defense kept Houston from getting a first down from about the 5:00 mark of the second qurter to about the 7:00 point of the final period, including the entire third quarter. At times during the game, A&M had no true de fensive linemen in the game, like when the 225-pound Roper played nose guard, one of the schemes drawn up on the sideline by Slocum. Roper had no idea he would play the position. “We just put the play in during the game and I didn’t do bad for a little guy,” he said. “I always kid around in practice and say I would do it, and they took me up on it.” Houston ended the game with 358 total yards, 125 less than their average. A&M held the Cougars to 50 yards rushing, a feat for a team using six defensive backs. Smith, who played linebacker as a freshman, had a lot to do with shutting down Houston’s running game. “I had some fans out there and I wanted to impress them and win the game,” he said. “As long as I con tribute and we win, it doesn’t matter where I play.” Tyson’s marital woes are getting old Mike Tyson and his marital trauma. For the past half year, or ever since the marital knot was tied, the public have been cosy chums watching the mercurial marriage of the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and his television queen Robin Givens. For almost five months the Tyson-Givens pairing have made headlines with their fights, accidents, court battles and globe hopping. They are the Sean and Ma donna of the sports world. Rarely have I seen a marriage and its problems re ported with such relish in the sports pages. Everytime I read the sports section in hopes of see ing coverage of the Aggie football team or who won ! what medal in Seoul, I have been greeted with all the [ gory details of what must seem a marriage made in i hell. Practically everyday news of some kind about Tyson or Givens has stared me in the face. The turning point, or perhaps the peak of the trauma, was the past week’s announcement of divorce proceedings to end all the I warring. While it is not my goal to bore into or exploit the un- 1 fortunate failure of Tyson’s marriage, I feel it does de serve some comment on why these people have eaten | up so much newspaper print. What is the fascination with this marriage? Needless to say, Tyson has called a lot of attention 1 to himself outside the ring rather than inside the ring Cray Pixley Assistant Sports Editor recently. He has had car crashes, street brawls, home squabbles and medical exams to evaluate his mental stability. And all this has been pranced across the televison screen by Barbara Walters with Givens as the ringmas ter. After all, Givens must be the source of all Tyson’s problems —right? That is what everyone would like to believe. It is convenient to point a finger at his wife. Tyson is playing the part of the misunderstood champ who loves his wife and Givens is portraying a gold-digging actress who snared her million-dollar man without the restrictions of a pre-marital contract. But Givens would appear to be a loving wife who wisely values her life and decided to exit the marriage with her health. Nice and tidy. Which is the true portrait? The press want to know. The press want us to know. The Tysons want the press coverage. Perhaps a large part of Tyson’s supposed mental problems are really about his frustration with his voca tion. I mean, the man is a powerhouse who seemingly can’t be beaten. There doesn’t seem to be anyone to hold a candle to him. For the 35-0 Tyson, there is perhaps no one left to fight. This could be a bit daunting to a man trying to match Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0. You can’t break a record if there is no one willing to take the ring with you. Who would after the way Tyson dispatched his last foe, Michael Spinks? Well there was a willing victim but, wouldn’t you know it, Tyson’s marriage problem reared its ugly head. Great Britain’s Frank Bruno was to have fought Ty son in October, but Tyson, in what the press say was a fit of depression, crashed his wife’s car into a tree and bashed his head. The bout was postponed and Tyson won’t be near the ring for awhile. But if we can’t have Tyson beating up Bruno, there are those who seem interested in him beating up his wife. \aggif^^^cinema7 (Presents v IlikSSi: 3 Men ^ Cradle A story o# dry nrit and wot diapers. (French with English subtitles) The film which inspired the hit THREE MEN and a BABY Tuesday. October 11 Rudder Auditorium - 7:30 PM $2.50 W/TAMU ID Co-sponsored by MSC Jordan Institute The College of Liberal Arts & the Placement Center present CAREER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS “Resume Writing Tues. Oct 11 & Thur. Oct 13 5 pm 302 Rudder 308 Rudder Featuring corporate representatives from Compaq & Conoco Students! Work Smart. Work Simply... With Hewlett-Packard! % ,7 ...$42.00 ...$60.00 ...$60.00 .. $82.50 $132.00 . . $45.00 $52.50 ...$82 50 $176.25 $132.00 $186 75 $468 75 ’/w% HEWLETT "PM PACKARD I <f3 I AUTHORIZED HEWLETT-PACKARD DEALER 505 Church Street • College Station, Texas (409) 846-5332 Belcher, Gibson lift LA to 3-2 lead NEW YORK (AP) — Rookie Tim Belcher won his second game of the playoffs and Kirk Gibson hit his sec ond straight game-winning homer as Los Angeles beat the New York Mets 7-4 in Game 5 on Monday to move within one game of their first Na tional League pennant since 1981. The teams now fly to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers can wrap up the best-of-seven series Tuesday when former Met Tim Leary opposes David Cone, the losing pitcher in Game 2. During the regular season, the Mets won 10 of 11 games from the Dodgers and won 56 games at home, including their last 11 at Shea Sta dium. But the Dodgers came into New York to win two of three and take a 3-2 lead. The Dodgers won Game 4 in 12 in nings on Gibson’s homer shortly be fore 1 a.m. EDT. A little less than 12 hours later, the two teams were back on the field for the fifth game with the series tied at two games apiece. The Mets and Dwight Gooden were three outs away from taking a 3- I lead in the series when Mike Scios- cia tied the score with a two-run homer. Gibson, who ended a l-for-16 slump with his game-winning homer in Game 4, hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning for his second homer in a little over 12 hours. With two outs in the ninth, Gibson beat out an infield hit, then appeared to reinjure his left hamstring stealing second and left the game. Jose Gon zalez ran for Gibson and scored the Dodgers’ seventh run when Mike Marshall tripled to right-center. In all five games, the Dodgers have scored first, this time breaking through for three runs off loser Sid Fernandez in the fourth inning on 39- year-old Rick Dempsey’s two-run double and an RBI double by Alfredo Griffin. Belcher, who won Game 2, set down nine straight before Len Dyks- tra led off with a walk in the fourth and Gregg Jefferies singled. Belcher, who won nine of his last II decisions, allowed seven hits and struck out six as he became the first rookie to win two games in the play offs since the format was adopted in 1969. In Game 2, Belcher allowed five hits in 8 1-3 innings as the Dodgers beat the Mets 6-3. Marshall led off the fourth with a single and, after a walk to John Shelby, Dempsey doubled down the left-field line on a high fastball. Dempsey was signed as a non-ros ter player last spring by the Dodgers after hitting .177 for Cleveland in 1987. He missed the last half of 1987 after suffering a broken thumb in a collision at home plate with Kansas City’s Bo Jackson. As a catcher for Baltimore in 1983, Dempsey was the World Series MVP and is 20-for-61 in 21 postseason games. Griffin, a .167 batter hitting right- handed, followed Dempsey’s hit with a double to left-center field. Steve Sax led off the fifth with a single and moved to third on Mickey Hatcher’s hit-and-run single to right field. Gibson, who led the Dodgers with 25 home runs, then hit a drive into the right-field seats to chase Fer nandez. Fernandez, who won his last six games to finish 12-10, allowed seven hits and six runs in five-plus innings. During the season, he was 8-4 at home with a 1.83 eamed-run aver age. Fernandez was given a start in the playoffs because of an injury to Bob Ojeda, whose left middle finger was almost severed in a gardening acci dent 10 days before the end of the season. The Mets got back in the game in the fifth when Howard Johnson led off with a single to snap an 0-for-14 streak in this series and 0-for-22 over all in postseason competition. The slump tied pitcher George Eamshaw’s mark for postseason futil ity. Wally Backman followed with an infield single and, one out later, Dykstra homered into the right-field bullpen. New York chased Belcher in the eighth. Dykstra led off with a double and scored on Jefferies’ single, his seventh hit in 19 at-bats in the series. Left-hander Ricky Horton relieved Belcher and struck out Keith Hernan dez, then yielded a single to Darryl Strawberry. Right-hander Brian Hql- ton then retired Kevin McReynolds and Gary Carter for the save. Frank Dicharo’s Shoe Repair 3914 Old College Rd. 846-9025 * Boot & Shoe Repair * All ladies heel taps Vi price with this coupon * Aggie Senior Boot repair-1 day service Expert Work DICHARO’S CUSTOM BOOTS Complete Boot & Shoe Repair Service Custom Made English Riding Boms * Hand Made Western Boots * The Finest Exotic Leathers Boot Maker Frank Dichar ° Y'- /! PRESIDENTIAL IMAGE MAKING FEATURING MICHAEL DEAVER FORMER DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF and AUTHOR of BEHIND THE SCENES Tonight TUESDAY OCTOBER 11 7:30 P.M. RUDDER THEATRE FREE ADMISSlOf