.
Sports
Monday, April 22,1996 Page 7
Mitch Sherman
Berringer’s
impact goes
beyond field
For 3 1/2 minutes Saturday af
ternoon at Memorial Stadium, ev
erything stopped.
The Cornhuskcr sidelines and
48,000 fans peered skyward at the
HuskerVision screens propped atop
the northwest and southeast cor
ners of the stadium, and no one
made a sound.
“Because You Loved Me” by
Celine Dion played as the stadium
filled with images of Brook
Berringer, Nebraska’s former quar
terback who was ki 1 led Thursday i n
a plane crash north of Lincoln.
Berringer’s friends stood silent
on the AstroTurf, dressed in full
pads, helmets at their sides. Many
of them cried.
“It took the life out of me,” line
backer Grant W i strom said. “When
something like that happens, it puts
everything in perspective. There are
some things that are a lot more
important.”
Brook Berringer\s life was more
important than football.
The Huskers played Saturday
because they had to, not because
they wanted to. They played be
cause life must go on even in the
wake of tragedy; and because
Berringer would have wanted them
to play.
Wistrom, Bcrringcr’s teammate
for two seasons, was one of many
H uskers moved by the pregame tri b
ute, which remembered not only
Berringer the football player, but
Berringer the man off the field.
He was pictured reading to chil
dren, throwing touchdown passes,
playing with a collapsed lung and
perhaps his personal favorite activ
ity, hunting.
Football was put in perspective
Saturday. Even in Nebraska, where
the crowd at a spring scrimmage is
the October envy of dozens of
schools, football didn’t seem too
important anymore.
It was sad, offensive guard
Chris Dishman said, “really sad.”
The pain of Berringer’s death,
Coach Tom Osborne said, is much
like losing a member of the family.
For the coaches, he said, it is only
one step removed from the death of
a son or daughter.
“It’s been difficult to concen
trate,” Osborne said, “but it’s some
thing you have to do. I don’t think
the length of his life is as important
as the quality of his life.”
Nebraska played Saturday for
its fallen former quarterback. Not
every player knew Bcrringer well,
but they all respected him for his
class off the field and his ability on
it, which would have given him a
spot this weekend in the NFL.
With the 100th pick late in the
fourth round of the draft Sunday,
the Denver Broncos chose Jeff
Lewis, a little-known quarterback
from Northern Arizona.
That pick should have gone to a
former Nebraska backup from
Goodland, Kan., who instead will
be buried today by his mother.
Sheraian Is a Jailor news-editorial
major and the Dally Nebraskan sports
editor. I
Phillips drafted sixth by Rams
Peter among six former Huskers selected; NFL passes on Frazier .
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Nervous anticipation turned to re
lief for six former Cornhuskcrs who
were selected in the National Football
League draft Satur
day and Sunday.
Lawrence Phillips,
Tyrone Williams,
Aaron Graham,
Christian Peter,
Doug Colman and
Tony Veland
learned over the
weekend that they
_ would have a chance
Heter l0 compete at the
NFL level next season.
But five of the six players said they
were disappointed with their position
in the draft.
“I would be lying if I said I was
happy about not being drafted ear
lier,” said Peter, a former Cornhuskcr
defensive tackle from Locust, N.J.,
who was picked in the fifth round by
New England.
“I’m just happy to be part of the
New England Patriots organization,”
he said. “I really don’t know if I’ll start
right away. I’m just hoping to find a
way where I can contribute. If it’s
running back or wide receiver, I’ll do
whatever they want me to do.”
Phillips, who was drafted by the St.
Louis Rams, said he felt he was the
best player in the draft, but was happy
to be playing in St. Louis.
In a press conference in St. Louis
on Sunday morning, Phillips said he
was not concerned that he would have
a recurrence of the problems that ham
pered him last year at Nebraska.
Phillips was suspended for six
games after assaultingan ex-girl friend
last season. He is on probation and
receiving counseling for his anger.
Those off-field problems made
some teams shy away from Phillips. In
a report on ESPN on Saturday, general
managers from San Diego and Phila
delphia said they had removed Phillips
from their draft board because of his
problems.
The New York Jets, Jacksonville,
Arizona, Baltimore and the New York
Giants, all of which picked before St.
Louis, had expressed interest in
Phillips, but opted not to draft him,
leaving him available for the Rams.
Phillips said he was looking for-.
ward to playing with former Husker
teammates Toby Wright and Zach
Wicgert.
Besides Phillips, Colman, a line
backer who was selected in the sixth
round by the Giants, will have a chance
to team up with former Husker Rob
Zatechka. Zatechka was drafted last
season by the Giants.
The draft was ironic for Colman, he
said, because he had talked to Zatechka
about playing in New York an hour
See DRAFT on 8
Matt Miller/DN
Chad Kelsay (No. 57), Erick Arens (No. 40), Damon Benning (No. 21) and Steve Raymond (No. 27) battle to recover a fumbled punt
by Shevin Wiggins on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The white team got the ball and scored three plays later to take a 7-3 lead.
Defense dominates Red-White Game
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
There is an old saying that offense
wins games but defense wins champi
onships.
If that adage holds true after Satur
day afternoon’s annual Red-White
Spring Game at Memorial Stadium,
the Comhusker football team may need
to build an addition to its trophy case.
The red team (No. 1 offense, No. 2
defense), despite being held without
an offensive touchdown, pulled out a
20-17 victory over the white squad
(No. 1 defense, No. 2 offense) in front
of a spring game record crowd of
48,659 fans.
Coach Tom Osborne said he was
proud of the effort put forth by his
team, especial ly on the defensive side.
“We’ve got a decent offensive foot
ball team, but 1 think we may have an
outstanding defense,” Osborne said.
“If you play good defense and have a
good kicking game, you have a
chance.”
The defense shined as the red team
surrendered 231 yards and the white
team held the red offense to only 209
“We've got a decent offensive football team, but I
think we may have an outstanding defense."
TOM OSBORNE
Nebraska football coach
yards.
The red team, featuring I-baeks
Ahman Green and Damon Benning,
was held to 93 yards rushing on 46
carries. No. 1 quarterback Scott Frost
led the red team with 50 yards rushing
on 19 carries. Fullback Ben Kingston
of the white team led all rushers with
56 yards on 10 carries.
Green, the No. 11-back,washeldto
25 yards on 11 carries. Benning car
ried the ball six times for 16 yards, and
No. 1 fullback Brian Schuster gained 4
yards on three carries. Neither team
had a run longer than 15 yards.
Jon Hesse was the game’s leading
tackier with 12 stops, including 2 1/2
behind the line of scrimmage. Chad
Kclsay added eight tackles, including
two for losses.
Frost, who completed only 4 of 14
passes for 44 yards, said the defense
might single-handedly win a few games
for the Huskers next fall.
“I don’t think the offense has to put
up great numbers because of the way
the defense plays,” Frost said. “The
rush ends put their ears back and really
came after us.”
One of those defensive lineman,
Jeff Ogard, said stopping the No. 1
offensive line was the key to the
defense’s dominance.
Ogard forced two Frost fumbles on
the afternoon.
Matt Turman’s 59-yard pass to
Brendan Holbein in the second quarter
was the longest offensive play of the
game. That play helped set up a 25
yard Kris Brown field goal.
With the lack of offense, special
teams played a key part in the red
squad’s win.
Benning returned a Brian Morro
punt 87 yards for a touchdown with
4:22 left in the third quarter. Frost’s
pass to Jon Vedral on the two-point
conversion tied the game at 14.
Brown made field goals of 26, 25
and 23 yards. His fourth field goal of
the day, another 25-yardcr with three
seconds lefl in the game, gave the red
team the victory.
Brown, who also punted once for
58 yards to the 1-yard line, said he
welcomed the chance to kick a field
goal that decided the game. Last year,
Brown’s freshman season, no team
came within 14 points of the Huskers.
“It builds my confidence up a little -
bit,” Brown said. “If the situation war
rants itsel f next fall, I can say I’ve been
in a pressure game and kicked the
game-winning field goal!'
The white team took a 7-3 lead on a
2-yard touchdown run by James Sims
with 6:42 left in the first quarter.
The white team went up 14-6 on a
fourth-down-and-3 play from the 18
when Monte Christo threw an 18-yard
touchdown pass to tight end T.J.
De Bates in the second quarter.