UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, November 6, 1996
3B
Injured Tiger breaks record
Missouri safety tackles season after knee surgery
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Bad knees aren't keeping Missouri's DeMontie Cross from piling up the big plays.
The Associated Press
Cross, a free safety, set a career record for tackles in last week's 41-13 loss to Colorado. It took him three seasons and most of his senior year to do it. His coach said he had done it at less than full speed.
"I've got a big-time player who's a step or two slow because of his knees, and he knows it," Missouri football coach Larry Smith said. "DeMontie is playing hurt. He just can't move like he did a year ago, but he's so intelligent."
Both of Cross' knees are arthritic.
which has limited his practice time. He had surgery on the left knee after last season. But he said the situation was overblown.
"Everybody keeps asking me questions about my knees, and I don't think it's a factor at all," Cross said. "People were jumping on that bandwagon for a while."
"When I get on the field, I get pumped up and it doesn't bother me at all."
Cross had seven stops against Colorado for a total of 388, breaking the record of 386 set by linebacker Travis McDonald in four seasons from 1991-94.
Cross, who transferred from Illinois after his freshman year, is strictly high volume. He tied his career high with 21 tackles against Oklahoma, 15 of them unassisted, three for losses and a sack. He topped double figures in tackles for 11 consecutive games before getting six against Kansas State earlier this year. In 30 career games, he has
DeMontle Cross
10 or more stops in 22 games along with seven forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two blocked punts.
That's a lot of work for a safety, but at times he has闪链手
done the work of a linebacker.
"Denninitely, it's a lot of stops," Cross said. "That's my job. That's what they line me up to do."
He also is the Tigers' defensive quarterback.
"The reason he made a lot of tackles is because he's very smart," Smith said. "He reads an opponents' defense very well.
"It's amazing how he does all that stuff. When he comes out at the quarter, he'll have a pretty good handle. He just has a great sense for it."
the game."
Smith said Cross reminded him of Chuck Cecil, who played for him at Arizona and then had an NFL career. Like Cecil, he has freed Cross to take chances on the field.
"He'll see splits at the line; he'll watch the quarterback's eyes; he'll recognize audibles," Smith said. "His freelances have been pretty good.
"I think he'd be a good coach someday."
Also like Cecil, Smith thinks Cross has a chance to make it in the NFL.
"I know he's getting a good, strong look by the NFL people because he's physical, and the NFL is a physical game." Smith said.
Cross said that would be getting ahead of himself, with three games left.
"I only think about it when other people bring it up," he said. "You just have to be ready when they give you the opportunity."
Elway comeback shocks Raiders
The Associated Press
ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Oakland Raiders were left praising John Elway and blaming themselves the day after becoming the latest victims of a fourth-quarter comeback by the Denver quarterback.
Still struggling with "the hangover of a loss like that," coach Mike White said yesterday that the Raiders destroyed themselves with penalties that undermined the Oakland offense and nullified a field goal.
And White continued to marvel at Elway, who threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Rod Smith with 4:14 remaining Monday night, rallying the Broncos to a 22-21 victory and completing the 33rd fourth quarter game-winning drive of his career.
The Raiders, coming off a bye, spent two weeks focusing on how to contain Elway. But Elway scrambled for a career-best 70 yards, often keeping drives alive and taking the sting out of the Oakland defense.
Jeff Hostetler threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, giving the Raiders a 21-16 lead with a 42-yarder to Tim Brown with 5:01 left.
"We worked hard on it for two weeks, so it's a major disappointment that we couldn't stop him," White said. "We employed some tactics to stop him, but a few times he just got outside of us. And they just do a tremendous job of creating some seams to run in."
That gave Elway a chance to live up to his reputation as Captain Comeback, as he's referred to by Oakland comerback Albert Lewis.
"When you're playing John Elway," Brown said, "the clock has to read 0:00 before you can be assured of any victories."
In addition to the 33 game-winning rallies he's led in the fourth quarter,
Elway has taken the Broncos on seven game-tying comeback drives in the final period. Denver went on to win six and end one
win six and end one in a tie.
"There's too much time," Williams said. "I thought right when we scored, 'We've given him too much time.'"
Raiders tailback Harvey Williams looked at the clock when Brown caught the go-ahead touchdown pass and knew Oakland was in trouble.
The Raiders had 11 penalties for 82 yards, putting them back into the NFL lead with 86 penalties totaling 704 yards this season. Oakland annually ranks atop the NFL, or among the league leaders, in penalties.
One penalty particularly hurt. Center Dan Turk moved the ball before snapping it on a field goal attempt in the second quarter, trying to draw the Broncos offside on fourth-and-one at the Denver 7.
Cole Ford's attempt from 25 yards was good, but Turk was called for illegal procedure. Pushed back 5 yards, Ford missed from 30.
"Obviously, in a game like this, it points out graphically that you can't afford to be a heavily penalized team. We had too many penalties, which has been the age-old story." White said. "People think you lose games only because of turnovers, and we disposed of that belief."
Penalties stymied the Raiders offense, forcing it at times to abandon its running game because it faced long-yardage situations. The Raiders ended up with only 16 rushes.
"This one hurt. I've had a few players tell me this hurt as much as any experience they've had," White said. "I think when you have a loss that hurts, I think the faster you can get it out of your system, the better."
SOCCER
Continued from Page 1B
ple who naturally enjoy scoring goals," Walker said. "That's a God-given talent that you can't force on players, although this year we have had several players pick it up and do their share of scoring."
This year's club surpassed many of the offensive marks registered by last year's team, including goals (23) and assists (12). But several times this season, the Jayhawks dominated offensively but failed to put the ball in the back of the net.
Kansas matured in other areas as well.
"It's difficult coming back from 1-0 or 2-5," ophormone co-captain Jackie Dowell said. "It's tough when everyone's taking beatings
time after time when we knew we could stick one in earlier to make things easier on everyone."
"Comparing just last season alone, a tremendous improvement was made," Walker said. "We were able to try some tactical things that last year we could never even begin to attempt. We have some phenomenal technical players."
Technically, it was the second season of Kansas soccer, but with a new conference and new players, it might be better named first season, part two.
"We've all learned," said Dowell. "Those of us that were here last year have learned, and those of us who just got here have learned."
ROHDE
Continued from Page 1B
ortwo weeks."
Rohde finished that match against Iowa State in Ames with 17 assists.
"I just expected myself to jump right in and do perfect, and I didn't," Rohde said. "I got a little frustrate with myself, but I've overcome that now."
Rohde already is sixth on the school's career set assists with 910.
"I think she has a lot of energy, which is a good thing because she's able to fire us up when we need it," Khasas freshman middle blocker Anne Kreimer said. "Overall, she's doing great for this being her first year setting ever."
Although this is Rolde's first season as setter for the Jayhawks, she has set before.
The first position Rhode ever played was setter. She was in the sixth grade, where she played for a junior Olympic program.
Rohde now has been in every position since she started playing.
However, Rohde said outside hitter still is her favorite.
"That was all the setting I've ever done," Rohde said.
"I love hitting, putting the ball away," Rohde said. "I'm usually the one setting them up. I'm not usually the one executing."
In Friday night's game against Baylor, Rohde almost had volleyball's equivalent to basketball's triple double. She showcased her hitting skills when she had seven kills on eight attempts, along with 10 digs and 64 assists.
"You can tell she definitely misses hitting because she was such a strong, fiery outside hitter," Kreimer said. "She loves to dump (spike), and she gets so fired up when she puts a dump down. You can tell she still has the hitter in her."
Schonewise said Rohde didn't get the opportunity to terminate plays when she was a setter.
Rohde will help the rest of the Jaya hawks get set for their match against No. 20 Kansas State at 7:30 tonight in Allen Field House.
"Anytime I think she gets to dump a ball, it fires her up because she doesn't get to do that much in the new position she's in."
"I think there's a really good chance we could beat them," Rohde said. "They're a good team, but we could definitely upset them."
FOOTBALL
Continued from Page 1B
Byrd set a school record when he returned a punt 94 yards for a touchdown. Vann also broke free for a 100-yard punt return, also for a touchdown.
The highlight for Byrd and Vann came in the Jayhawks' 52-24 victory against Oklahoma. Both Byrd and Vann returned kicks for touchdowns.
That set such a high standard for the return team since then that it's been hard to improve on, Byrd said.
haven't played as well as we can," he said. "I know the punt return team hasn't done anything the past couple of weeks.
punt the ball well."
"I don't think we've improved since then," Vann said. "The last couple of times, we've missed a couple of blocks. We strive to be perfect every time, and it's tough when
"Since the Oklahoma game, we
"I know we can get better and maybe have another Oklahoma type of a game," he said. "I think we got real good people on the kickoff team. We'll keep getting better."
Vann said that despite the impressive numbers, the Jayhawks were capable of doing better.
we're not."
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