Sports
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Dave Hansen/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska freshman outside linebacker David White chases Northern Illinois quarterback
Stacey Robinson.
Third-quarter points lead
Huskers to 48-17 win
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Most of the 76,194 fans in Memo
rial Stadium Saturday knew it was
going to happen. Nebraska’s players
and members of the media knew it
was going to happen, too.
They just didn’t know when.
“It” was the Comhuskers’ offen
sive bombardment of Northern Illi
nois, which finally came in the form
of a 21 -point third quarter that led to
a 48-17 season-opening win.
But with the game tied 17-17 at
halftime, Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne was “a little concerned.”
“It was pretty scary,” he said. “It
could have turned into one of those
deals we’d never have lived down. If
we would have dropped (the ball) a
few more times in the second half, it
could have happened.”
The Huskers scored the first time
they got the ball, capping a five play,
69-yard drive with a 2-yard burst by I
back Ken Clark.
Clark rushed for 168 yards on 14
carries, but had to leave the game
early in the second quarter with a
bruised knee. He returned in the sec
ond half, but went back to the side
line a few plays later for the rest of the
day.
Osborne said he didn’t think
iClark’s injury was serious, but would
wail until Monday to determine the
severity.
On the ensuing series, Nebraska
stopped Northern Illinois in three
plays and forced a punt. Split end
Morgan Gregory fielded the punt at
the 45 and was hit by Huskie comer
back Jeff Geary. Gregory fumbled
and Northern Illinois recovered at its
own 47.
The Huskies scored nine plays
later on a 2-yard run by fullback
Adam Dach. The extra point by John
Ivanic tied the score 7-7 with 6:08 left
in the first quarter.
Three plays into Nebraska’s next
drive, Husker quarterback Gerry
Gdowski completed a 3-yard pass to
Nate Turner, who fumbled at the
Northern Illinois 22. Gdowski then
threw an interception on the follow
ing drive, ending another Nebraska
scoring opportunity at the Northern
Illinois 24.
After a 28-yard field goal by
Gregg Barrios and a 5-yard touch
down run by I-back Leodis Flowers,
Nebraska led 17-7. But another
fumbled punt return gave Northern
Illinois the ball at Nebraska’s 34.
Five plays later, Dach scored his
second touchdown of the day and cut
Nebraska’s lead to three.
Another Nebraska fumble gave
Northern Illinois the ball at the Ne
braska 20 with 2:30 left in the first
half. Ivanic booted a 36-yard field
goal 15 seconds before halftime,
tying the game and causing a few
boos from the crowd.
Osborne remained calm at
halftime, despite Nebraska’s five
first-half turnovers.
“Getting mad was the worst thing
I could do,’’ he said. “We were tied
not because we weren’t making an
effort, or being lazy, but because we
weren’t hanging on to the ball.”
“I just told them to hang on to the
ball and play a little better.”
As the third quarter began, it be
came apparent the Huskcrs had taken
Osborne’s advice.
Turner took the kickoff at the 3
and returned it to Nebraska’s 47.
Three plays and 53 yards later,
Gdowski’s 11-yard pass to tight end
Monte Kralzenstcin put the Huskcrs
ahead for good.
Gdowski completed 6 of 8 passes
for 83 yards and a touchdown, and
rushed for 74 yards on 5 carries.
Mickey Joseph also saw playing lime
for Nebraska, rushing for 22 yards on
five carries and completing two
passes for 14 yards and a touchdown
- his first as a Husker.
Osborne said Gdowski’s and Jo
seph’s performances solidified their
places as the top two quarterbacks.
See ROUT on 12
NU safety Sanders reunited with high school coach
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
A fatherly figure roamed the side
lines during Nebraska’s 48-17 win
against Northern Illinois Saturday.
Nebraska free safety Marvin
Sanders said the game was special for
him because of the presence of North
ern Illinois receivers coach Robert
Jackson. Jackson was Sanders’ foot
ball coach at Thomwood High
School in suburban Chicago.
To say Jackson and Sanders are
close would be an understatement.
“Coach Jackson was really like a
father to me,’’ Sanders said. “He not
only cared about me as a football
player, but he cared about me as a
person. He really took me as one^of
his own. We’re real close to this
day.”
For Jackson, the feeling is mutual.
“He’s just a super kid,” Jackson
said. “Anything that needed to be
done, at any time, you could count on
him. He’s like my son.”
. Sanders, who played wide re
ceiver and defensive back in high
school, had four tackles -- three unas
sisted - and an interception in the
game.
He said that his knowing Jackson
was not an advantage because high
school and college football tech
niques are incomparable.
Sanders said he and Jackson had
an implied agreement that during the
game it was “strictly business.”
“That’s our competitive atti
tudes,” he said.
Jackson said Sanders was a good
high school football player.
“He was a very physical, ex
tremely gifted athlete,” he said. “He
had great hands and he was always
around the football.”
Jackson was coach at Thomwood
for three years after serving as an
assistant for nine years. He went to
Northern Illinois the year after Sand
ers graduated.
In his three years as coach,
Jackson said he dedicated himself to
making sure the players got adequate
publicity at all universities and col
leges.
During Sanders’ junior season, six
players went to major college foot
ball programs, and four (including
him) went during his senior year.
“He was a great motivator and he
went to a lot of work to get his players
recruited,’’ Sanders said.
Sanders credits Jackson for his
decision to sign with Nebraska.
“Jackson was a very honest man
and he thought Nebraska had a very
honest program,” Sanders said. “I
remember him telling me one night,
‘No matter where you decide to go,
always go somewhere there’s a lot of
integrity.’ He told me that Coach
(Tom) Osborne was the man with the
most integrity in college football.”
Sanders said he once considered
transferring from Thomwood, after
getting mixed up with the wrong
crowd.
Jackson changed his attitude, he
said.
“He took me aside and said,
’Running from your problems isn’t
going to solve it,’’’ he said. “He told
me to never be a quitter and’that’s
something I always look back on. He
turned things around for me.”
Jackson’s influence precipitated
Sanders’ desire to also become a
football coach after graduation.
“That made me want to have that
kind of influence on somebody else,”
Sanders said.
Sanders said he wants to coach at
the high school level because “dial’s
where personalities and attitudes are
molded and shaped.”
‘‘Hopefully, I can lead some guys
in the right direction like Coach
Jackson did with me,” he said.
Jackson recalled the homecoming
game in Sanders’ senior year when
Thomwood defeated its rival Home
wood-Flosmore for the first time in
seven years.
Sanders had 15 tackles, two inter
ceptions and more than 100 yards
receiving in that game.
‘‘He put on a spectacular show,”
Jackson said.
Sanders remembers that game, but
said the last game of his high school
career was the most memorable.
‘‘I remember me and Coach
Jackson just standing on the field
looking at the scoreboard and realiz
ing there is no more,” Sanders said.
‘‘That was really hard, but it’s still
the most memorable.”
Cornhuskers ‘Kruse’ to Runza Invite title
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
and Cory Golden
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team found the
road against Houston a little tough until junior
Val Novak set the Comhuskers into “Kruse”
control.
u coach Terry Pettit said Novak, the
nuskers’ setter, and sophomore outside hitter
Janet Kruse provided the lift Nebraska needed
defeat the Cougars Saturday night to capture
inc Runza Invitational title.
Nebraska won the five-game match 15-5,9
J7-19, 15-8 and 15-5.
1 thought at the end ‘Kruser’ and Novak
elevated our play attackwise,” Pettit said.
val got the ball to 'Kruser* and 'Kruser*
started to terminate.”
Seventh-ranked Nebraska defeated Bowl
ing Green 15-13, 12-15, 15-9, 15-6 Friday
night in a match that featured the Huskers’ first
game loss of the season.
Houston beat Kansas State by scores of 15
11, 15-13, 11-15, 15-11 on Friday and beat
Bowling Green by scores of 15-9, 3-15, 15-8,
12-15, 15-12 Saturday. Also on Saturday,
Kansas State posted a 15-11, 17-15, 15-10
victory over Bowling Green.
Novak and Kruse were named to the All
Tournament team, after Novak, the tourna
ment’s Most Valuable Player, tallied 80 assists
and Kruse 28 kills against Houston. Both were
career bests. Kruse also set a Nebraska record
for attacks with 59 en route to a 25-kill per
formance against Bowling Green.
Houston’s Susan Rice and Julie Gates,
Kansas Male s i.ynua Harsnoarger ana bowl
ing Green’s Lisa Mika also were named lo the
all-tourney team.
Houston coach Bill Walton said he was
impressed with the performance of Kruse and
Novak in the tournament.
“Janet Kruse had a great weekend,” Wal
ton said. “She hit over people, she hit around
people, she hit through people... I thought she
was pretty studly.
“I thought Val Novak was also critical to
Nebraska’s win. She chased down a lot of balls
and she put a lot to her hitters off bad passes.”
In the third game, with the Huskers trailing
14-9, Nebraska captain Virginia Stahr left the
match with a sore right shoulder.
Behind Novak and Kruse, Nebraska rallied
back to take the lead 17-16, in what was the
game’s fifth lead change, before losing the
game.
But it wasn’t all Kruse and Novak.
“I thought Becki Bolli wasa major factor in
the match,” Pettit said, ‘‘not just because we
ran points when she was in, but because she
changed the tempo.”
The junior serving specialist laid down a
game-high five aces, but her jump serve did
more than just disrupt the Cougars’ service
reception, Walton said.
“(Bolli) was a big help to Nebraska off the
bench,” Walton said. “They would need a
boost and she’d come in and get the momentum
with a couple of points.”
Pettit credited Stahr for benching herself,
and praised her replacements -- Sara Heschand
Stephanie Thatcr.
See PETTITon 15