10B
Monday, January 13, 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Packers will battle for NFL championship
No Super Bowl for Carolina
By Dave Goldberg Associated Press writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The only thing missing was Lombardi himself, huffing and puffing in the frosty air and flashing his famous gap-toothed grin.
Playing on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, Green Bay beat second-year Carolina 30-13 in the NFC championship game yesterday, reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since Vince Lombardi's Packers beat Dallas in the "Ice Bowl" 29 years ago.
This year's heroes were Brett Favre and Dorsey Levens, Antonio Freeman and Gilbert Brown.
This team, now 15-3, will head to New Orleans as the favorite against New England.
It was also a win for sentiment, sending 35-year-old Reggie White, the NFL's all-time sack leader, to his first Super Bowl, a goal that Favre and his younger teammates had aimed for all season.
White took a victory lap around the field, then told the crowd of 60,216 "Green Bay, I hope you're proud of us. because we're proud of you."
Lambeau came through again for the Packers, who improved to 9-0 in the playoffs at their storied stadium and won their 18th straight overall there.
It certainly was no disgrace for the Panthers, who finished 13-5, won the NFC West and defeated defending NFL champion Dallas last week. Carolina's loss also ended any chance for an Expansion Bowl
championship game.
"They certainly were the better team," said general manager Bill Polian, who gets much of the credit for bringing the Panthers this far. "We came a long away, and I'm very proud of our team."
The weather at 40-year-old Lambau Field wasn't as big a factor as expected. It was 3 degrees at gametime with a wind chill of minus 17.
Favre, whose two turnovers helped Carolina to an early lead, was 19 of 29 for 292 yards, including touchdown passes of 29 yards to Levens and 6 yards to Freeman.
Levens had 205 total yards, 88 yards on 10 carries and 117 yards on five catches, including a 66-yard scramble with a screen pass that set up Edgar Bennett's 4-yard touchdown run.
This game was a contest until the Packers scored 10 points within 38 seconds in the final minute of the first half, turning a 10-7 deficit into a 17-10 lead.
They added three more on Chris Jacke's field goal on their first possession of the second half.
Without two Favre turnovers that led to Carolina's 10 first-half points, this one went just as forecast.
"The team that can run will win," Favre said before the game.
Well, Green Bay did and Carolina didn't — the Packers ran for 201 yards overall, the most against the Panthers this year.
it would prefer not to do—pass.
Brown, meanwhile, sealed the middle, shutting down the Carolina run and forcing Carolina to do what
Early on, the Panthers were leading, courtesy of an interception by Sam Mills from Favre that put the ball at the Green Bay 2 and led to Kerry Collins' 3-yard touchdown pass to Howard Griffith, which made it 7-0.
But on the final play of the first quarter, Levens caught Carolina's zone blitz defense stunting the wrong way and broke a 35-yard run to the Panthers' 29.
On the first play of the second quarter, Favre found Levens behind Eric Davis for the touchdown that tied it at 7.
Mike Fox forced a fumble by Favre that set up John Kasay's 22-yard field goal that put Carolina ahead 10-7
Then the Packers took control.
First they drove 71 yards in 15 plays, using 7 minutes and 52 seconds. They scored on Favre's 6-yard pass to Freeman with 48 seconds left in the half.
On Carolina's first play, Green Bay's Tyrone Williams made a one-handed interception of Collins' deep out. Favre came back and hit Rison for 23 and Freeman for 25, setting up Jacke's 31-yard field goal that made it 17-10 at halftime.
It was 20-13 after Jacke and Kasay exchanged field goals. Then Favre and Levens again fooled the Carolina blitz with a screen to the Panthers' 4-yard line. Bennett took it in with 1:58 left in the third quarter, and it was 27-13.
Green Bay missed a trip to the Super Bowl last season because of a 38-27 loss to Dallas in the NFC championship game.
"We weren't going to let it happen today like we did last year when we lost it in the last 10 minutes," Freeman said.
Patriots make Super Bowl return after eleven years
By Richard Lorant Associated Press Writer
FOXBORO, Mass. — Few Patriots fans believed it would be easy.
After decades of ups and downs — the ups rare, the downs downright bizarre — the New England Patriots made their fans wait until the last few minutes yesterday before sealing a trip to the Super Bowl.
There were no Hail Mary passes like the ones that helped Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell nearly pull out an early season meeting with the Patriots. This time Brunell, driving for a tying touchdown, threw an interception in the Patriots' end zone with 3:43 remaining.
After the Patriots gave up the ball, Patriots defensive back Otis Smith grabbed a Jacksonville fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. The final score was 20-6 Patriots.
"I've been holding my breath all game. Now I can breathe," said Mike Severino, a season ticket holder from Mattapoisett, Mass. For Severino and other New England sports fans, it was a historical victory that went beyond football.
"We've been living with billy Buckner's disaster for 10 years," he said. Buckner's error, one strike away from a Boston Red Sox World Series victory against the New York Mets in 1986, has come to epitomize the frustration of area fans. The first baseman's error forced a seventh game, which the Mets won.
Some Patriots fans at the pre-game talgate parties have been around since the team's inaugural season in 1960, when the then-Boston Patriots played in Fenway Park.
Krahn, who lives in Richfield, Conn., was 8 years old back then. A relative who was a Boston police officer waved him past security before the games to watch Patriots wide receiver, place kicker and defensive back Gino Cappelletti.
"Anybody could go down to the field," said Rusty Krahn, whose father was one of the first 200 season ticket holders.
"I used to catch the footballs in the end zone when Cappelletti warmed up," he said. "They had some characters back then."
Characters were easier to come by than championships or stability, though, and remaining a Patriots fan required stamina, dedication — and sometimes a sense of humor.
Compared to the trials diehard fans have endured, the cold yesterday was mild weather indeed.
"Long-suffering Patriots fans? Isn't that redundant?" said Paul Pirozzi of Upton, Mass. He bought season tickets five years ago when Bill Parcells was brought in as head coach.
Not all of the tailgate parties were in the stadium parking lot. Gov. William F. Weld and U.S. Rep. Martin Meehand, D-Mass., were among the season ticket holders who ate seafood chowder, jambalaya and hamburgers about a mile from the stadium.
"A little of everything, and some butter on the side," Weld told the cook serving the chowder.
Back at the Foxboro Stadium parking lot, Marty Alicandro was chowing down on chili, surrounded by family and friends chatting and playing cards.
Since he got his first season tickets for $49 — that's $49 for the season — Alicandro's group has grown from four to 12, including family and friends.
With the Patriots on their way to an AFL divisional title in 1963, Alicandro was forced to hitchhike to Boston for a game against Buffalo after his Oldsmobile broke down in a snowstorm.
"Left it on the side of the road," he said. He hopped a bus for the last leg into town, undeterred by the foot of snow or his ruined transmission.
At least he got to celebrate a victory after that game. It's harder to look at the bright side of the group's trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl XX in 1986. And then there was the game, a 46-10 humiliation at the hands of the Chicago Bears. The Alicandros left during the third quarter.
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