DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100882

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ROBIN BRINKLEY

DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 30 lines

HAMPTON'S CURRY IS POISED TO PASS SPARROW'S RECORD

The schools that produced Ronald Curry and Allen Iverson, but not at the same time, meet again tonight. Guess who's favored.

With Iverson in the Philadelphia 76ers' training camp and Curry in the Crabbers' backfield, this could get ugly. Hampton (5-0, 5-0 Peninsula District) has won 32 in a row while Bethel (4-2, 3-2) is riding a two-game losing streak in which it has been outscored 58-6.

So what's the big deal, you ask? Simple. Curry needs 91 yards to break former Wilson star Aaron Sparrow's state career passing record of 6,790 yards.

For most quarterbacks, 91 yards are no guarantee. But Curry is coming off back-to-back efforts of 346 yards against Denbigh and 356 yards against Woodside.

``We didn't throw much early because Ronald had a bad heel coming into the season and bruised a hand in the second game,'' Hampton coach Mike Smith said. ``But he's feeling better now.''

Hampton was idle last week and has had two weeks to prepare for Bethel. Smith has staged an intrasquad scrimmage during off weeks in the past but canceled it this year because the hitting last season was too fierce.

``I'm glad we're playing this week because I think the kids wanted to hit me,'' he said.

Pick: Hampton, 48-0

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