
DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020327

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Paul White, Staff writer 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   77 lines

HOWARD GROUNDS NSU BISON'S WHITE THROWS 3 TD PASSES TO SET THE MEAC CAREER MARK WITH 59.

``Sweet Flight?''

Darned right.

Howard quarterback Ted White lived up to every bit of his nickname Saturday, as he passed himself into the MEAC record books and his Bison past Norfolk State 32-26 before another sparse turnout at Price Stadium.

The crowd was announced at just 3,712, more than 30,000 less than the Spartans' opening-night gate on Aug. 31 for their matchup with Virginia State (33,872).

The threat of bad weather no doubt scared off many, although the forecasted rain held off and the sun actually shone through most of the afternoon. Still, Norfolk State officials must be scratching their heads over the fact that the combined attendance for the Spartans' last two home games at their new on-campus facility, against archrival Hampton and the preseason MEAC favorite Bison, is just 10,233, nearly 1,000 less than Norfolk State's one-game average gate at Foreman Field in any year since 1981.

Those who stayed away missed a virtuoso performance by White, the Division I-AA passing efficiency leader a year ago who torched Norfolk State's man coverage for three touchdown passes and has now thrown a MEAC-record 59 TD passes in just 25 college games.

``Basically, I feel I've got the best receivers in the country,'' White said. ``Teams that try to cover them one-on-one are taking a big risk.''

Spartans coach Darnell Moore agreed. But he also believed his undersized defense's best chance at stifling White was to blitz several and hope his isolated corners could survive.

On Howard's opening drive, though, Marlon Ward hauled in a 37-yard strike over Lydell Finley, McArthur Johnson plucked a 31-yard bomb away from Torrance Jackson, and Jackson was called for interfering with Ward in the end zone, setting up a 2-yard scoring run by Desmond Wise.

Less than two minutes later, Johnson got free for a 46-yard pass play, and Garrick Overton added a 28-yard reception to lay the groundwork for another short TD run.

By halftime, White had thrown for 241 yards and the Bison led 26-7.

``No excuses, they just beat us,'' Finley said. ``After the first quarter, we settled down and held our own. But it was too late.''

Actually, the Spartans rallied to make a game of it. A 7:05 drive to open the second half - the Spartans had the ball only 7:31 the entire first half - set up a 24-yard Greg Howell field goal. And on the Spartans' next possession, some inspired running by Deangelo ``Dink'' Hodges preceded quarterback Robert Morris' 9-yard scoring run to make it 26-16.

But on a day when White was sublime, the sweetest flight of them all for the Bison (5-3) may have come off the foot of Stefan Cameron, whose 38-yard punt with 12:19 remaining in the fourth quarter squirted out of bounds at the Norfolk State 2.

The Bison defense held, and after a short Greg Howell punt, White needed only three plays to toss the 28-yard scoring pass to Ward that vaulted him into the record books and all but doomed the Spartans (2-6) to their third straight defeat.

Still, the Spartans went down fighting, as Morris' 8-yard touchdown pass to Charles Burnette and a subsequent two-point conversion run by Hodges pulled them to within eight with 2:24 left.

The Spartans had one more chance from their own 40 with 1:10 left, but Morris' bomb to a double-covered Tyrone Sellers was intercepted by Chris Rogers. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

WATCHING IT SLIP AWAY

Norfolk State's Tyrone Sellers, right, grabs Howard's Darnell

McDowell but cannot stop Chris Rogers from making the interception

late in the fourth quarter that ended the Spartans' hopes for a

comeback. The Bison improved to 5-3, while the Spartans dropped to

2-6.

Photo

HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Howard receiver Marlon Ward juggles this pass but manages to haul it

in for a touchdown during the second quarter of the Bison's 32-24

win Saturday over Norfolk State.