DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180616

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   35 lines

VINDICATED STALLIONS DOWN TALLWOOD

Optimists would call them opportunistic. Pessimists would call them lucky. But the Green Run Stallions call themselves vindicated.

The Stallions - with zero points and 91 yards from the offense - still got the big plays on defense and special teams to knock off No. 5 Tallwood 20-7 Friday night.

Green Run, in beating a Beach District-leading team for the second straight week, scored all its points on plays of more than 50 yards: an 80-yard kickoff return by Arsha Gilchrist, a 53-yard interception return by Andre Jackson and a 50-yard fumble return by Alan McLeod.

Both teams made mistakes - Tallwood turned the ball over four times, the Stallions three - but only Green Run (5-2, 4-2) was able to take advantage.

After the first quarter, Green Run held a 13-7 lead. The Stallions' total offense? One yard.

Still, Green Run led, thanks to plays like Jackson's interception of Lions quarterback Shermaine Reid late in the quarter. Reid was attempting a half-step quick screen pass to Andre Walker, but Jackson read the play and stepped in front of the pass, darting untouched to the end zone.

``I saw the film, I studied that film,'' Jackson said. ``I was feeling it with that interception. I'm like Sub-Zero (the character in the Mortal Kombat series), because I froze them.''

``We probably watch a half-hour of film every day,'' added Stallions coach Johnny White. ``When they're in that set, we knew that play was their favorite.''

Tallwood (5-2, 4-2) amassed 323 yards rushing on 52 carries, but after Lewis Floyd's 25-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the Lions could not score again.

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