Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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"pv y^v T^| pri r^i game SCHEDULE ^^Trru tto. W—Jm M U xT I FOOTBALL vs. Bowling Green, 7 p.m. Saturday (0N1AC1 US | ■ ■ ■ I . VOLLEYBALL at Clemson, 7 p.m. Wednesday ■ V III I l | WOMEN’S SOCCER vs. Furman, 7 p.m. Wednesday tory ideas? Questions? Comments? I W II I li J MEN’S SOCCER vs. Elon, 4 p.m. Simday 'rite us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com — !"■ S I ■ I— MEN'S GOLF at Inverness Intercollegiate, Monday GREAT SCOTT! JSC wins after Jutch TD catch ly Brian Scott IY PRESTON BAINES HE GAMECOCK The South Carolina offense /ent through nearly an entire ame of futility but saved its best or last, pulling out a 14-9 victory iver archrival Georgia. USC (2-0,1-0 SEC) marched 66 ■ards in the final minutes, aided iy three consecutive third-down inversions and capped off by a 6-yard leaping touchdown recep ion by senior receiver Brian Scott >ver the head of Georgia defensive jack Bruce Thornton. USC celebrated by taking over :he field, deliriously dancing on :he “G” in the middle of Sanford Stadium as time expired. Minutes earlier, UGA (1-1,0-1) bad taken its first lead of the game off a 27-yard field goal by Billy Bennett after the Dawgs returned a Derek Watson fumble deep into Gamecock territory. On the first of the critical late game conversions, junior Ryan Brewer caught an 18-yard pass from senior quarterback Phil Petty on a third-and-10 situation. Two downs later, true freshman Matthew Thomas hauled in the first catch of his career, putting the Gamecocks in position for a nem goal. USC appeared to be setting up for a field goal after two straight runs but, to the surprise of many, threw the corner route to Scott. For Scott, the catch was a dream come true. “I felt I was due for [the catch],” Scott said. “Phil threw the ball, and I just went up and made the play.” The Gamecocks began the game in the best way possible, with Watson returned a Jonathon Kilgo kickoff from USC’s 3-yard line to theUGA 31. Carolina didn’t slow down from there. Petty hit Brewer for a 13 yard shovel pass to the 18. Moments later, after another first down completion, junior Andrew Pinnock bulldozed his way into the endzone for a two-yard touch down run. However, USC’s offense only managed one more first down in the first half, as the Dawg defense keyed on Derek Watson by putting 10 players at the line of scrimmage and holding the Gamecock rush ing attack to a miniscule two yards on 15 carries. After Carolina got its first score, UGA quarterback David Greene started picking apart the USC defense with short passes and rushes by Musa Smith. The Gamecocks, though, played their “bend but don’t break" de fense and thwarted the Bulldog drive. UGA called upon Bennett, and he blasted a 45-yard shot through the uprights to cut the lead to 7-3. While the Gamecock offense sputtered through the half, the Dawgs moved the ball effectively, throwing short catch-and-run passes. UGA drove the ball down the field again in their second pos USC receiver Brian Scott jumps over Georgia defensive back Bruce Thornton before pulling in the catch to move Carolina ahead of Georgia 14-9. photo special to the gamecock session and were stopped, leaving it again at the feet of Bennett. But Bennett pushed the ball to the left on the try. In the second quarter, UGA got the upper hand through fielding position after Kilgo punted into the corner on the Gamecock side of the field. USC couldn’t make a move, and despite a good punt by junior Tyeler Dean, the Dawgs got good field position. UGA was headed to the endzone and got down to USC’s 8-yard line when UGA’s Terrence Edwards made one of three critical drops on a pass from Greene for the touchdown. The drop didn't pre pare UGA for what happened next. On the third-and-goal play, Greene was pressured and threw the ball up for grabs. USC senior safety Willie Offord was there to Intercept the pass. USC still was back in its own endzone, though, and couldn’t move the ball on the Dawg defen sive front. Petty ended up being sacked on a third-down play back at his own two. After another good punt by Numbers from the 0 USC-UGA Game Number of catches Matthew Thomas had before catching a £2y 32-yard pass from Petty The face value of a ticket to USC-UGA game 45 Number of first halfoffensive yards USC had $250 The price one scalper charged 6 for upper-deck endzone ticket Number of times USC has won at Sanford Stadium 2 Catches Brian Scott had before the game-winning catch 1993 Year the Gamecocks last won in Athens Dean, UGA had the ball near mid field and converted a huge third down on a pass over the middle from Greene to Edwards with 22 seconds left in the half. USC held from there and caused UGA head coach Mark Richt to call on Bennett from 38 yards. Bennett ♦ SCOTT, SEE PAGE 9 UNLIKELY HEROES STEP UP IN UGA GAME Thomas, Scott emerge as key players in win BY CHRIS FOY THE GAMECOCK With the game on the line and the Gamecocks facing a critical third-and-10 deep in Georgia territory, senior wideout Brian Scott ap proached head coach Lou Holtz and asked him for the ball. Scott said, “I ... told him, ‘Coach, I can beat him [UGA cornerback Bruce Thorn ton].'” Holtz talked to offensive co ordinator Skip Holtz before giving the go ahead. “There was much discus sion on the play, but Skip fi nally made the decision to call the post corner,” Holtz said. Lou Holtz agreed, and the rest is history. After only pulling in two passes for 14 yards prior in the game, Scott ran down the right side of the field, straight in the path of two Georgia de fenders. Petty’s throw was slightly behind him, and he had to rip the ball away from Thornton as he landed in the endzone to pick up the game-winning score with 1:22 remaining in the game. “You always dream of a game-winning catch, espe cially against a team like Georgia,” Scott said. Regardless of getting al most no production from the offense for the majority of the game, Phil Petty was able to come out with a little over three minutes remaining and lead his team on a nine-play, 67-yard game-winning drive. Petty was able to convert on three third-and-10 plays en route to the touchdown. The same USC offense was only able to pull out 45 yards in the first half. After starting the drive, the Gamecocks quickly found themselves in a third-and-10 situation. Petty dropped back and NEXT WEEK: BOWLING GREEN (2-0) AT USC (2-0) 7 P.M. SATURDAY WILLIAM S-BRICE STADIUM threw a pass over the middle to Ryan Brewer, who went over the 50-yard line for an 18-yard gain and the first down. USC attempted to push their running game again, but to no avail. The Gamecocks once again found themselves in a pivotal third-and-lQ scenario on the Bulldog 48. The answer to their dilem ma came in true freshman wide receiver Matthew Thomas. Thomas’ 32-yard reception was not only the first catch of his collegiate career, but it kept South Carolina’s drive alive. Thomas was happy to con tribute to such a big drive. “Petty put [the ball] right on the money,’’ Thomas said. “It [the catch] felt really onnH ” At the Bulldog 16, the Gamecocks tried to run twice before they had to confer bn what to do with yet another third-and-10 situation. They could keep running and hope for a field goal, or put it in the air and see what happened. Despite an improved kick ing squad from the past cou ple of seasons, Holtz still wasn’t too fond of putting a kicker in that position. "I certainly didn’t want to put that much pressure on a placekicker if I didn’t have to," Holtz said. Petty completed to Scott, though, and USC’s field goal unit never entered the game. Holtz was just relieved that the game was over and that the Gamecocks were able to come out with the win. “Georgia is a very, very good football team,” Holtz said. “I’m glad we didn’t have to play them two out of three.” Men’s soccer goes 1-1 in Charleston Gamecocks beat TCU, lose 3-0 to top-ranked SMU BY KYLE ALMOND THE GAMECOCK The USC men’s soccer team fell short of beating the top ranked team in the nation, but it didn’t come out winless this weekend at the Aaron Olitsky Memorial Classic in Charleston. The No. 19 Gamecocks han died TCU 3-0 Sunday, breaking even in the tournament. USC lost to No. 1 SMU Friday. Jordan Quinn registered his first career hat trick against TCU, who fell to 1-2-1 with the loss. The Gamecocks improved to 2-1. Carolina had a great oppor tunity to improve its ranking with a win against the Mustangs, but a goal in the last minute of play by SMU’s Ross Spencer buried the Gamecocks 3-2. For the second straight game, USC found itself behind 2-0 in the first half. SMU midfielder Luchi Gonzalez scored a pair of goals, including one off a free kick, to put the Gamecocks in an early hole. Ryan Daley responded in the 26th minute with his sec ond goal of the season, pulling Carolina within one. In the 70th minute, Joey Worthen tied the game with a goal. Fellow senior Ryan Stocking had the assist. The Gamecocks threatened to add a third goal for most of the second half, but it was the Mustangs who made it happen, with Spencer’s goal in the 90th minute. Gonzalez again played a part in the scoring, adding the assist. Even though his team didn’t pull off the upset, USC head coach Mark Berson had positive things to say about their effort. "It took a lot to come back from a 2-0 deficit," Berson said. "We showed a lot of heart and inspiration to battle back like that ... The team showed tremendous character." Berson said he was con cerned about breakdowns in the backfield, however. The Gamecocks also gave up two early goals against Penn State in their season opener. "We just need to eliminate our mistakes in order to im prove," Berson said. The Gamecocks played rel atively mistake-free Sunday, shutting out the Horned Frogs. Goalkeeper Michael Bachmeyer had five saves in the winning effort. USC jumped ahead early in the match with Quinn’s first goal at the 35:09 mark. Sophomore defender Jordan Smith had the assist. Early in the second half, Quinn found the back of the net < again. Worthen’s header off a Daley cross found a wide-open Quinn in front of the box, and the ju nior forward capitalized on the opportunity. Quinn finished his hat trick in the 6lst minute, drilling a free kick from 23 yards out. USC returns to Columbia for its next match of the sea son. The Gamecocks will take on Elon next Sunday at the Graveyard. It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.