DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100889

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Ed Miller

LENGTH: 61 lines

DIV. I-AA REPORT

Filling in at QB for injury-prone W&M is (who else?) Steve Fill

He may not be completely healthy, but Steve Fill is the healthiest quarterback William and Mary has. And in the triage-like system being employed by coach Jimmye Laycock these days, that makes him the starter Saturday against James Madison.

``He's not OK yet,'' Laycock said. ``But he's good enough to go.''

Fill has a sore ankle, a minor annoyance compared to the knee injuries that have sidelined two other Tribe quarterbacks in the past four weeks.

``We've had guys down like this before,'' Laycock said. ``But never at quarterback.''

To recap:

On Sept. 13, starter Mike Cook suffered ligament damage in his left knee when he was hit late against VMI. He had surgery Sept. 16 and is expected to miss at least another week.

Fill, who came in for Cook, sprained an ankle against VMI and had to be helped from the field.

Daron Pope, a redshirt freshman, finished the VMI game and started the next three. He left last Saturday's game with a severely bruised knee, however, and is doubtful for the JMU contest.

That leaves Fill, who in addition to having a sore ankle, had his bell rung in a 33-12 loss to Northeastern last Saturday. Fill was replaced briefly by fourth-stringer Brian Holwig, a redshirt freshman.

The Tribe is 1-2 since Cook's injury, but Laycock said Pope and Fill, who have struggled to move the offense, are not entirely to blame.

``A lot of people haven't played well,'' he said.

Hide that videotape

JMU is also reeling heading into the William and Mary game, which is traditionally the most emotional of the year for both teams. The Dukes, who were off to a surprising 3-1 start, were blasted by Villanova 49-17 last week.

``I'm sure that film will get around the league, people will see it, and it's embarrassing,'' coach Alex Wood said. ``You've got to compete, and we just didn't do it. We made it too easy for them.''

The Dukes got 103 yards from tailback Delvin Joyce, and 13 tackles from safety Tony Booth. Booth made 11 tackles the week before against Maine and 18 the week before that against Massachusetts.

Booth's numbers against Villanova were deceptive, Wood said.

``In the last two weeks he was getting those (tackles) close to the line of scrimmage,'' Wood said. ``This past week he was making touchdown-saving tackles, and that's not good.''

Showdown in Lynchburg

Hampton, which entered the top 25 this week, and Liberty, which is knocking on the door, meet Saturday in Lynchburg. If you're looking for a reason to pick the Flames, look no further than turnover margin. Liberty leads the nation in that category, while Hampton is 75th.

Liberty has forced 17 turnovers, while committing only five.

``I'm going to rename this school Turnover University,'' coach Sam Rutigliano said.

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