DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310869

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   25 lines

LAKE TAYLOR MUST NOT SIMPLY OVERLOOK NORCOM

Faithful Eastern District watchers are looking at the Nov. 7 showdown between Lake Taylor and Booker T. Washington with longful eyes. If all goes according to plan, the Eastern District title goes to the winner.

First things first, though. In the case of Lake Taylor (6-2, 4-1), that's a 5-3, 3-2 Norcom team fighting for its playoff life.

The Lake Taylor game plan, as always, includes a healthy dose of Ronyell Whitaker, fourth in the area in rushing yards and third in scoring with 16 touchdowns.

But Whitaker's next two games are against the top two rush defenses in the area - the Greyhounds (second with 72.3 rushing yards allowed per game) and the Bookers (tops with 63 yards allowed per game).

Norcom needs TaRon Anderson in the backfield to take pressure off Charles Lowe, who carried the ball 19 times out of 25 Greyhound touches in last week's 7-0 loss to Booker T. Washington, and Kevin Jones, who started the Bookers game hot but ended it completing one 9-yard pass in his last 12 attempts.

Pick: Norcom, 13-10

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