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College football briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 3, 2000

Navy avoids ignominy, wins first against Army

BALTIMORE -- When he looks back on a season that began with 10 straight losses, Navy senior Chris Lepore will tap his selective memory to focus on the game that counted most.

"All I'm going to remember is we beat Army," said Lepore, who had an interception and a fumble recovery. "We wanted to go out on top."

Navy found the ideal way to end its perfectly awful season, taking advantage of five turnovers and getting a solid performance from Brian Broadwater in a dramatic 30-28 victory Saturday.

Looking for their first win since last year's Army-Navy game, the Midshipmen (1-10) built a 20-point lead late in the third quarter and held on to beat the Black Knights.

Navy lost the ball twice and had a field goal and a punt blocked. But the Midshipmen nevertheless won a second straight game in the series for the first time since 1982-83.

"It was almost like momentum got caught in the middle a couple of times and didn't know which way to go," Navy coach Charlie Weatherbie said.

Army (1-10) used two fourth-quarter touchdown passes by Curtis Zervic to cut the gap to 30-28 with 2:44 left, but an onside kick failed and Navy retained possession when the Black Knights were called for running into the kicker on a 43-yard field goal try with 1:29 to go.

Michael Wallace had 159 yards rushing and a touchdown for Army, which capped its worst season since 1973's 0-10. Wallace finished with 1,157 yards on the ground, third-best total in Army history.

But what he'll remember most is a fumble that Navy's Brad Wimsatt took into the end zone.

"I could have had the best rushing game I ever had, but that one turnover is what I'm going to remember," he said. "To have such a critical turnover is what is going to be with me the rest of my life.

"I don't have a chance to come out and prove it next week," he said. "It's over for me."

Army leads the series 48-46-7.

MARSHALL 19, W. MICHIGAN 14: This year, it was Byron Leftwich's turn to lead the Thundering Herd to a comeback victory over Western Michigan in the Mid-American Conference championship game.

Leftwich's 29-yard touchdown pass to John Cooper midway through the fourth quarter pushed Marshall (7-5) to its fourth-straight berth in the Motor City Bowl. Cincinnati is its opponent.

The win was even sweeter for Leftwich, the league's passing and total offense leader who failed to make any all-conference squads.

"I consider myself a championship quarterback. The opportunity was there for us to pull it out, and I was glad I was able to help out," Leftwich said.

The Thundering Herd's victory means the MAC teams with the best records -- Western Michigan (9-3) and Toledo (10-1) -- likely will be shut out of a bowl game.

"These losses are devastating as far as what we wanted to get done this season, but certainly not as far as what direction our program is going," said Western Michigan coach Gary Darnell.

The Thundering Herd started the season 2-4, including blowout losses to Western Michigan and Toledo, before winning the East Division on a tiebreaker over Ohio.

New deal keeps Erickson

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Dennis Erickson, who coached No. 5 Oregon State (10-1) to its best record, signed a seven-year contract that could earn him nearly $7-million.

The deal supersedes the five-year contract he signed in January.

"We have built something very special here the last two years and we want to continue to build on what we have done. We want to build facilities and continue to make this one of the better programs in the country," Erickson said.

The signing ended speculation that Erickson would take the coaching vacancy at Southern California.

NORTH CAROLINA: School officials looking for a new coach flew to New Orleans to meet with Saints linebackers coach and ex-Tar Heels player John Bunting.

TEXAS CHRISTIAN: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that defensive coordinator Gary Patterson appeared to be the leading contender to succeed Dennis Franchione.

Division I-AA

GA. SOUTHERN 48, HOFSTRA 20: The running and passing of J.R. Revere kept host Georgia Southern on track for its second straight title.

Georgia Southern plays at Delaware in Saturday's semifinal.

Revere, who rushed for 94 yards and passed for 92, ran for three touchdowns and fullback Adrian Peterson ran for two more.

Rocky Butler had a 13-yard touchdown run, Tyree Johnson added a 2-yard touchdown run and Chad Johnson kicked two field goals for Hofstra (9-4).

Peterson, who has rushed for 100 yards or better in all 41 games he has played for the Eagles (11-2), had 146 yards on 32 carries.

DELAWARE 47, LEHIGH 22: Matt Nagy threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns and the host Blue Hens (12-1) scored 28 points off turnovers. Nagy, who completed 18 of 30 passes, became the first Blue Hens player to throw for 3,000 yards in a season. He topped the milestone on a 30-yard completion to Jamin Elliott midway through the first quarter. The Blue Hens scored three straight touchdowns after fumbles by Lehigh (12-1).

APP. ST. 17, W. KENTUCKY 14: Jerry Beard rushed for 104 yards and Joey Hoover ran for two touchdowns to lead the visiting Mountaineers. Appalachian State (10-3) visits Montana in a semifinal Saturday. The Mountaineers struck first on Hoover's 43-yard touchdown run with 7:17 left in the first quarter. The Hilltoppers (11-2) took a 14-10 lead when Jason Johnson scored on a 10-yard run in the half's final minute. On Appalachian State's second drive of the second half, Hoover ended a 10-play march with a 3-yard run.

MONTANA 34, RICHMOND 20: Drew Miller threw for 381 yards and three touchdowns to lead the host Grizzlies. Miller, who has been injured for much of the past two months, completed 28 of 41 passes and threw touchdowns of 10 yards to Etu Molden, and 65 and 20 yards to Jimmy Farris as Montana (12-1) won its 12th straight. Sean Gustus rushed for 66 yards including touchdown runs of 2, 1 and 8 yards for eighth-seeded Richmond (10-3), the Atlantic 10 runner-up.

GRAMBLING 14, ALABAMA A&M 6: Calvin Spears scored on a 47-yard interception return in the fourth quarter as Grambling State won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship in Birmingham, Ala. Grambling (10-2) held Alabama A&M (7-5) to 146 yards and no offensive scores. Spears' return was the only score of the second half. Alabama A&M's held Grambling to minus-12 yards rushing.

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