ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512110089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
``I was surprised,'' Craig Kusick said.
``It shocked me,'' Jeremy Earp said.
Imagine how Rowan felt.
There were 16 seconds left in the first half of the 23rd Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. Wisconsin-La Crosse had a tenuous 9-7 lead over the Profs, and the ball on its own 15.
It seemed a good time to ``kneel on it,'' as Kusick, the Eagles' quarterback, said.
Eagles coach Roger Harring had a different idea. When he sent in the play - 964/MAX - to Kusick, the quarterback wondered if the wind-chill at Salem Stadium had gotten to the veteran coach.
Twelve seconds and 85 yards later, it was the Profs who were on their knees.
Kusick's sideline bomb to Earp with four seconds left in the half blew the Eagles to their 36-7 crushing of Rowan. It was that play that started this wind-swept game toward the third most-lopsided Stagg Bowl in history.
``I think most people would consider Roger a conservative coach,'' said Earp, who got his 10th touchdown of a 14-0 season on the play. ``If he's confident something will work, though, he'll take the risk.''
Was it a risk?
``Not that much a one,'' said Harring. ``I said that Rowan seemed like a team that wanted to jump on interceptions rather than play the man. We seemed to be beating their secondary throughout the half.''
Kusick knew the play was a gamble only if he threw an interception. The 6-foot-6 NFL prospect knew if he took a sack, the half's time would expire. If he overthrew Earp, as he had earlier, it's still second down.
``I was going to throw it so far, there's no way they were going to intercept it,'' said the All-America quarterback.
If Earp, a sophomore transfer from Iowa State, was shocked by Harring's call, he was dumbfounded when he lined up split to the right side.
``I thought they'd be playing deep, in a prevent, or a zone,'' Earp said. ``They came out man-to-man. When I saw that, I knew we weren't going to change the play. I was just going to keep running until I got the ball.''
Kusick took a three-step drop. Earp went three steps to fake a slant pattern, then ran a fade.
Kusick rifled the ball with a wind gusting to 30 mph. After about 60 yards in the air, it landed in Earp's arms, with the receiver one step ahead of falling Rowan safety Tom Nolan.
``The game wasn't over,'' Earp said, ``but we started feeling pretty good about it then.''
It was La Crosse's second NCAA Division III title in four years. It was the Profs' second very cold day at Salem Stadium in three years.
``If we go into the half 9-7, it's a different football game,'' said Rowan coach K.C. Keeler.
Instead, it was the beginning of the end before a crowd of 4,905. La Crosse went to the locker room not only with a nine-point lead, but with the knowledge it hadn't allowed a third-quarter point all season.
The Eagles still haven't, and they also knew the Profs would have to play into the bitter wind in the fourth period.
``It was a huge play,'' Keeler said.
It was the longest play in Salem's three Stagg Bowls. Records aren't kept on cChampionship game records aren't kept in the Division III playoffs, but the Kusick-Earp connection was the third-longest completion in La Crosse's 83-year football history.
``We were in our base defense, sitting loose,'' Keeler said.
Yes, and Wisconsin-La Crosse was sitting pretty. The Eagles just kept pounding Rowan. When game officials told La Crosse it could keep the game balls, it was appropriate. La Crosse had possession for more than 40 minutes.
``Coach Harring sent it in, and I never thought about changing the play,'' Kusick said. ``There was no question we were going to run it against man coverage.
``I wouldn't say Coach Harring surprises us much. I think he likes to surprise other people, though.''
The bespectacled Harring, who has 232 victories in 27 seasons as head coach at his alma mater, isn't sure whether he's conservative. Predictable? No question.
``I'm so consistent, my wife [Mary] reads me like a book,'' he said. ``I'm sure she can tell you what I'm going to do on a particular day at a particular time.
``I do like to gamble at times. Well, maybe it's not so much that, but I do like to call an unusual one somewhere at times.''
And this one was a real red Harring on the road to a national championship.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. 1. Wisconsin-La Crosse's Jeremy Earpby CNBheads for the end zone after catching a pass near the end of the
first half of the Stagg Bowl. Earp's TD with 4 seconds left gave the
Eagles a 16-7 lead. 2. Wisconsin-La Crosse's Jeremy Earp (left)
catches an 85-yard touchdown pass after getting behind Rowan's Tom
Nolan near the end of the first half on Saturday.