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10 GAME SCHEDULE MEN’S GOLF at Mason Rudolph Intercollegiate in Nashville, Tenn.. Monday CONTACT US MEN'S TENNIS at Southern Intercollegiate in Athens, Ga., Monday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? WOMEN’S SOCCER at Wofford, Wednesday 7 p.m. E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com MEN’S SOCCER at Portland in Seattle, 5 p.m. Friday use FOOTBALL • _ USC rolls over hapless Blazers BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK Demetris Summers ran all over the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1-3) Saturday night, scoring three touchdowns in the first half as the Gamecocks (3-1) blew out the Blazers at Williams-Brice Stadium, 42-10 on Saturday. Summers scored on carries of 21,54 and 5 yards and finished the game with 161 rushing yards off of 21 carries. “Demetris Summers really makes a difference,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said. “I thought he had a tremendous game.” UAB head coach Watson Brown also was impressed with the Gamecock running attack. “South Carolina played well,” Brown said. “Anytime they ran it at us, they ran right at us pret ty good. They looked good and controlled the line of scrimmage, especially in the first half.” Carolina held UAB’s vaunted sophomore quarterback Darrell Hackney in check, limiting him to 17-of-38 passing for 141 yards and a pair of interceptions. Hackney had passed for over 200 yards in each of UAB’s previous games. “They did everything we ex pected. They were at the right place at the right time. I blame myself,” Hackney said. USC also took advantage of a Hackney interception when - Gamecock defensive back Dunta Robinson ran back a pick 29 yards for a touchdown. “It was a great feeling to final ly get my first interception of the season and also to return it for a touchdown to put points on the board,” Robinson said. The only bad spot in Carolina’s play on Saturday was the kicking game. USC missed field goals from 40 yards and 28 yards, plus a botched extra-point attempt in the second quarter. However, the Gamecocks made up for the missed extra point with a two-point conversion by Dondrial Pinkins following the next touchdown. Pinkins led Carolina with ease, throwing 13-of-19 passes for 202 yards and one turnover. “I thought Dondrial bounced back with exception of one in terception,” Holtz said. “I was proud of our football team.” Pinkins, however, gave the credit to his supporting cast. “All the credit should go to the offen sive line, the running backs, the receivers — everybody else played well. I don’t think I played as well as I needed to play. Without those guys, it probably wouldn’t have been as good as it was,” Pinkins said. USC’s corps of receivers were on the end of Pinkins’ success with Daccus Turman catching three passes for 59 yards and tight end Hart Turner grabbing three passes for 23. yards, wide receiver Troy Williamson catch ing two passes for 34 yards and wide receiver Matthew Thomas snagging three passes for 55 yards. Turman added to the rushing game with 13 carries for 45 yards and one touchdown. The UAB offense, on the oth er hand, was inept at best. The Blazers’ only solace came on a touchdown pass from Hackney to UAB wide receiver Jhun Cook with five seconds left on the clock and the game far out of reach. “I thought that our offense just took control of the game ear • ly,” Holtz said. “I credit UAB. They never gave up.” The USC defense made life hard for UAB, with three tack les-for-loss, three forced fumbles," two interceptions, three pass break-ups and three quarterback hurries. “I think that (Darrell) Shropshire is playing really well, but boy, we’re really thin there now. So we’ll just have to see,” Holtz said. The Gamecocks did suffer a let down with two players going down with injuries. Defensive lineman Preston Thorne is lost for the season after tearing the , ACL in his right knee. Offensive lineman Chad Walker, who re ceived his first start of the sea son on Saturday, went down af ter dislocating his knee and pos sibly tearing ligaments, which could cost him his season as well. USC’s next game is Sept. 27 in Knoxville, Tenn. against the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers, who knocked off No. 25 Florida 24-10 on Saturday. The Vols game against USC will be televised on ESPN at 7:45 p.m. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com USC's Demetris Summers breaks a tackle attempt by an UAB defender in Saturday’s 42-10 romp over the Blazers. Summers finished the game with 21 carries for 161 yards and three touchdowns for the Gamecocks. GAME 4 m UAB 10 ™ (1-3,0-1CUSA) K: USC 42 (3-1,0-1 SEC) ** “Demetris Summers really makes a difference. I thought he had a ' tremendous game.” LOU HOLTZ ' USC HEAD COACH BY THE NUMBERS 74 Matthew Thomas’ 74-yard kickoff,return in the third quarter was the longest kickoff return by a Gamecock this season and USC’s longest nonscoring return since an 87-yard run in 1995. 161 Demetris Summers ran for 161 yards on 21 carries, the third highest single game rushing total by a Carolina freshman. Brandon Bennett holds the record with a 278-yard effort in 1991. 202 Dondrial Pinkins threw for 202 yards against UAB on Saturday, marking the first time Pinkins has surpassed 200 yards in his career at USC. His second-best came against UL-Lafayette when he passed for 185 yards. Summers proves to be big difference in Carolina’s offense BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK ith the Gamecocks struggling to find a passing game and big plays this season, the team might have found its secret weapon, which isn’t a secret anymore. USC head coach Lou Holtz said that the only highlight against Georgia last week was that the game made his coaching staff take a serious look at freshman running back Demetris Summers. “We just felt that at the end of Georgia, he caught that screen pass and just made some things hap pen,” Holtz said. “At the staff meeting this morn ing (Saturday morning) when I watched the offen sive film, I didn’t think Demetris had gotten enough reps.” Offensive coordinator Skip Holtz used the two back system, something Gamecock fans were fa miliar with a few years ago when Derek Watson and Andrew Pinnock lined up in that set. On Saturday, Skip Holtz went with Daccus Turman as fullback and gave Summers the chance to be the featured back. So what did Summers decide to do with the opportunity to get more touches? The Lexington native took the ball for 161 yards on 21 carries, including three touchdowns in the first half. He tied the school record for touchdowns by a freshman in a single game with Harold Green, Brandon Bennett and Zola Davis. _ Summers got the ball early and ummers often, finding holes in the Blazer de-' fense and blasting his way for 110 yards on eight rushing attempts in the first quarter. He even scored on the first drive of the game when Carolina got down to the Blazers’ 21-yard line. Summers took a handoff and quickly cut up the field to the right, where he ran through a couple of hand tackles and walked into the end zone for his first rushing touchdown of his career and his sec ond of the season. It didn’t take USC very long to score again when, two drives later, Summers took the ball from USC’s own 46-yard line to the UAB end zone on a 54-yard run that showed the excellent vision of the young running back. “He just has good eyes,” Holtz said. “He’s got good peripheral vision and he also ran physical when he was in traffic. I thought he did a nice job of falling forward.” Wide receivers Troy Williamson and Matthew Thomas provided the blocks and Summers just found the holes. “I just waited patiently and when the holes opened up, I just got what I could get,” Summers said. Summers got a break in the second quarter, car rying the ball only four times for 12 yards, but saw his third touchdown on a 5-yard run that was set up by a 47-yard pass from quarterback Dondrial Pinkins to Turman. In the second half, Summers was used very lit tle with such a big lead but did catch a 20-yard pass in the fourth quarter. Being such a highly touted freshman coming out of high school, Summers has shown maturity to the | coaches and has waited his turn to showcase his ► SUMMERS, SEE PAGE 11 ,<ss wo victoriesin BY WES WOLFE AND BRAD SENKIW THK (iAMBCOCK The USC volleyball team (6-6) wrapped up its nonconference play at the Gamecock Invitational this weekend, win ning two of its three matches. Carolina lost to 17th-ranked Santa Clara in the first match 3-2 on Thursday but bounced back with a sweep on Friday over Duke, 3-0, and a tight 3-2 victory over George Washington on Saturday. Santa Clara 3, USC 2 On Thursday, the Gamecocks dropped a close match to the Broncos (8-4) after it seemed that Santa Clara was going to run away With an easy win. The visiting “if we can just stay in our system and keep our unforced errors down, i think we’ve got a good future a head of us.” KIM HUDSON CHRISTOPHER USC VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH Broncos went up early on Carolina, winning the first two games 32-30 and 30-25. With USC facing a loss, the Gamecocks responded with a 30 12 thrashing over Santa Clara in the third game with a .478 hitting percentage. USC found a way to pull out the fourth game 30-25, forcing the Broncos into 12 errors for the game. Carolina ran out of steam after an amazing comeback and lost the final game 15-12, giv ing USC its fourth loss of the sea son against ranked opponents. Lauren Ford recorded a career high 17 kills as the team picked up a season-high of 17 blocks as well. Ford, Niece Curry and Lynae Vanden Hull posted seven blocks each and Shonda Cole added 10 kills in the match. USC 3, Duke 0 The Gamecocks had its first sweep of the season on Friday with a dominating performance over the Duke Blue Devils (4-8). Vanden Hull, Curry and Iris Santos each recorded 11 kills as they faced a tired Duke team that lost to Santa Clara earlier in the day. Lauren Ford added nine kills and four blocks for USC. Krista Dill led Duke with 12 kills in the loss. ♦ INVITATIONAL, SEE PAGE 11 PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Lynae Vanden Hull and Lauren Ford go for a block In a match during the Gamecock Invitational. The Gamecocks lost to No. 17 Santa Clara (jut beat Duke and George Washington':