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Underdog teams dig way to Super Bowl matchup
From The Associated Press
They weren’t supposed to start the season 6
0.
They weren’t expected to make the playoffs,
and the San Diego Chargers certainly weren’t
considered to be a Super Bowl team.
On the other hand, the San Francisco 49ers
weren’t expected to start the season 3-2.
But they were expected to make the playoffs,
and the 49ers were considered a Super Bowl
team.
In a matchup of opposites, the 49ers and
Chargers will face each other in the Super
Bowl.
San Diego defeated Pittsburgh 17-13 after
quarterback Stan Humphries hit Tony Martin
for a 43-yard touchdown pass in the fourth
quarter.
“It says a lot about this team that we stuck
together through thick and thin, with thou
sands of people against us,” Martin said. “No
body ever gave us a shot. We can put that
behind us and go to the Super Bowl now.”
They go to the big game burdened by the
AFC’s 10-year losing streak. The Chargers are
17-point underdogs to the 49ers.
That doesn’t bother Charger linebacker Jun
ior Seau.
“We’ve been underdogs all the way through
this season,” he said. “The character on this
squad is enormous. You just can’t measure it.
“You have to do something rare to get
respect in this league.”
Pittsburgh came into the AFC Champion
ship game as an 8-point favorite. And they
showed it, at least in the final statistics.
The Steelers outgained San Diego by a little
less than 200 yards. They had 10 more first
downs, and they got off almost twice as many
GerikParmele/DN
Kristi Camp performs on the beam during Nebraska’s victory over Utah State
Sunday. Camp scored a 9.425 in the event.
plays as San Diego. 5
But the Chargers are the ones going to
Miami.
“If we stick together and play the best we
can, we’ll have a good chance to win it all,” San
Diego’s Dennis Gibson said.
San Francisco may have something to say
about that after outlasting Dallas, the two-time
defending Super Bowl champs, at Candlestick
Park Sunday.
The 49ers capitalized on five Dallas turn
overs to charge to a 38-28 win.
But the 49ers had to hold off a late surge by
the Cowboys, ending Dallas’ quest for a record
third straight Super Bowl win.
San Francisco jumped out to a 21-0 lead in
the first quarter. 49er comerback Eric Davis
had a 44-yard interception return for San
Francisco’s first score.
On the next series, Davis knocked the ball
loose from Michael Irvin after a reception, and
Tim McDonald recovered. 49er quarterback
Steve Young then hit Ricky Watters for a 29
yard touchdown pass.
Then, on the ensuing kickoff, Adam Walker
knocked the ball loose from Kevin Williams,
and six plays later, rookie William Floyd scored
from a yard away to make it 21-0.
But Dallas didn’t quit.
Cowboys’ quarterback Troy Aikman found
Irvin in stride on the goal line to cut it jto 21-7
in the next series. The Cowboys seemed set to
score on their next possession when they inex
plicably ran a draw on third-and-10 play from
the 49ers’ 12-yard line. Emmitt Smith gained
only two yards, and Chris Boniol missed the
field goal attempt.
Dallas got back to within 10 points but could
never get any closer, shattering its hopes of
another trip to the Super Bowl.
Improvedpreparationhelps
gymnasts winopeningmeet
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
Preparation.
That’s a major difference between last year’s
Nebraska women’s gymnastics team and this
year’s women’s gymnastics team, according to
Coach Dan Kendig.
That preparation showed Sunday.
The Comhuskers, 1-0, opened up their sea
son with a 190.275-188.400 win over Utah
State, 0-1, in front of630 spectators at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
“It was our first meet, and a lot of things
could have been better,” Kendig said. “I’m
very pleased.”
The 16th-ranked Buskers were led by sopho
more Shelly Bartlett, who set a personal best
with 38.575 to win the All-Around.
Kendig said Bartlett’s maturity showed in
the way she has improved herself from last
year.
“After she did her floor routine I was like ‘I
enjoyed watching that,”’ Kendig said. “She’s
eager to get better.”
Kendig said Bartlett’s balance beam and
floor routines really showed she has improved.
But her mental aspect may be her greatest
improvement, Bartlett said.
“As a freshman I was a lot more nervous,”
Bartlett said. “I think I know a lot more imag
ery in mentally preparing for this meet, and I
think that helped a lot.”
Nebraska started the meet scoring 48.3 on
the vault, and took advantage of a slow start by
Utah State on the uneven bars.
The Aggies scored 46.35 in that event.
Utah State coach Ray Com said the tough
start hurt his team.
“We’re weak on bars,” Com said. “We
cannot be behind by almost two points after the
first rotation and expect to win.”
Nebraska’s Martha Jenkins and Utah State’s
Jennifer Crawford tied for first in the event
with a score of 7.5.
Kendig said starting with the vault was a
major advantage for his team.
“It’s the Olympic order, and it’s a good
starting event for us,” Kendig said. “We went
six for six on both vaults.”
In the second rotation, Nebraska struggled
“We’re a lot more mentally put
together. There’s been a lot of
injuries early in the season, so
that’s forced people to do a lot
more imagery. ”
m
SHELLY BARTLETT
Nebraska gymnast
on the uneven bars.
Jenkins and Kim DeHaan fell in back-to
back routines, but the Huskers kept a 95.85
94.075 lead.
Nebraska freshman Laurie McLaughlin
scored a 9.6 to finish fourth in the event.
The Huskers still led after slipping up on the
balance beam, scoring 47.425.
Jenkins, who was in contention for the All
Around title, ended those chances when she
fell off the beam twice, scoring an 8.45, and
DeHaan fell on her mount attempt.
However, after the back-to-back falls,
Bartlett picked up the slack with an event
winning 9.75.
Bartlett said she didn’t put any extra pres
sure on herself to have a good routine.
“Every time when I go up for a routine you
feel that no matter what your routine is, it’s
going to have to count,” Bartlett said.
After falling in the two previous events,
DeHaan finished strong with a personal best
9.725 in the floor exercise.
DeHaan helped pace the Huskers to a 46.9
score in the event, the Huskers’ lowest score of
the day.
Jenkins ended her meet spraining her ankle
bn her last landing in the floor exercise, Kendig
said.
Bartlett said everyone had stepped up their
Eerformance with the early injuries Nebraska
as had this season.
“We’re a lot more mentally put together,”
Bartlett said. “There’s been a lot of injuries
early in the season, so that’s forced people to
do a lot more imagery.”
Panel’s vote saves men’s gymnastics from elimination
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
In a period of a few hours last week
at the annual NCAA Convention in
San Diego, men’s gymnastics, a sport
that appeared destined for doom in
less than four months, was given new
hope.
Constant lobbying from the
nation’s collegiate gymnastics com
munity, including Comhusker coach
Francis Allen and Nebraska athletic
director Bill Byrne, persuaded the
panel of voters at the convention to
save the sport.
A bill that originated three years
ago called for the elimination of any
NCAA sport in which at least 40
schools did not participate. Nebraska
is one of 3 3 schools in the nation with
a men’s gymnastics program.
Had the proposal passed, thisyear’s
championship meet in Columbus,
Ohio, would have been the final men ’ s
gymnastics event sanctioned by the
NCAA.
The writers of the bill felt a sport
with such little participation was not
worthy of staging a championship
meet.
However, the voters at the conven
tion did not agree, and voted to ex
tend the life of men’s gymnastics
until after the 1997 season, when the
sport’s fate will once again be open
for argument.
“We are pretty excited about it,”
said Allen, whose defending national
champions are preparing to begin
their season this weekend at the Roeky
Mountain Open in Colorado Springs,
Colo. “The major push came from
Bill Byme at the NCAA Convention.
This decision is going to give us time
to breathe.”
Allen said this vote was only -the
first move. The next step, he said, was
not only to persuade the voters to
extend die life of men’s gymnastics,
but also to get rid of the proposal
calling for the elimination ofthe sport.
“This is just the icebreaker,” he
said. “I think, after this, we have
some factors in our favor. Over the
next two years, I think gender equity
will slow down. We’ll be able to take
a closer look at the future of the
sport.”
Allen, who has won eight national
titles as the Nebraska coach, said if
the proposal had passed, Byrne was
ready to provide an alternate to the
NCAA championship meet.
“He was prepared to start a Col
lege Gymnastics Association and host
a championship meet in Lincoln each
year,” Allen said.
But even if the College Gymnas
tics Association was a success, Allen
said, it would not have compared to
the NCAA-sponsored meet.
“There are some stragglers hang
ing on just because it’s an NCAA
sport,” Allen said.
Approximately 16 schools, he said,
would have continued to offer schol
arships and operate a complete pro
gram.
If gymnastics is eliminated in the
next few years, Allen said, the major
effects may not be felt immediately.
“If the NCAA drops college gym
nastics,” he said, “it’s obviously go
ing to hurt the Olympic team, and in
a few years, you’re not going to have
coaches.”
He said the best coaches were those
who had been gymnasts at the colle
giate level.
“You’re not going to be able to
teach someone how to do a triple
back-flip if you’ve never been a gym
nast,” Allen said. “And if you don’t
have gymnastics, you won’t have any
where for the coaches to come from.
“It would really shut to hurt about
ten years down the road. It’s like
shooting yourself in the foot.”.' ..