SUNDAYDecember 13,1992

INSIDE SPORTS

Index WeatherDeaths A2Editorial A4 Mostly sunny on Sunday, highsSports A8 neaf 50- Mostly clear at night, lows inLifestyles B1 the low 30s' PartlV clouc)y on MondayClassified B6 • wilh W9hs in the mid-50s.

ExplosionEighth body foundby crew in coal mine

Page A5

HeismanMiami's Torrettawins top honor

Page A8days untilChristmas

MappyMotidays

CORNER OF 6THAND WASHINGTON

PULASKI

Vol. 89-No. 345 Pulaski County's Hometown Newspaper Since 1906 Two Sections 75 Cents

Pulaski Co. routs Thomas Dale, 35-20ByDANCALLAHANSWT Sports Editor

RICHMOND — The statechampionship.

The Group AAA DivisionSix State Football Cham-pionship.

The big schools. Thebiggest prize.

It belongs to PulaskiCounty High School!

County celebrationset for today at 2

The Pulaski Countycommunity will have theopportunity to celebratethe 1992 state footballchampionship this after-noon at 2 p.m. at KennethJ. Dobson Stadium.

The public is invited.Admission is free.

The team and coachingstaff will be introduced andthe official presentation ofthe state championshiptrophy will be made.

Pulaski County HighSchool invites everyone toattend.

The Cougars defeatedfavored Thomas Dale, 35-20in the state final at Universi-ty of Richmond Stadium Sat-urday and hoisted the biggold trophy high.

Pulaski County had woneight Roanoke Valley Districtchampionships, three Nor-thwest Region champion-ships, but never a state foot-ball championship.

In fact, Pulaski Countyclaimed its first state cham-pionship Saturday in anysport in the school's 19 yearhistory.

It didn't start like it wouldbe a history making day forthe Cougars.

Ken Oxendine broke threetackles and ran 59 yards toput Dale up, 6-0 on the thirdplay of the, game.

This was just the begin-ning of a torrid offensive ex-plosion in the first half.

Pulaski County came rightback with an eight play, 69yard drive. The big play wasa 30 yard scamper by half-back J.J. Housel to theKnights' seven:

On the next play Eric Webb

Please see FIRST HALF, page A8

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8ufl photo by Donnto WaltoWE'RE NO. II—Cougar fans flood the University of Richmond Stadium turf in Richmond Saturday as the game ends

Water systemset up to beself-sufficientSpecial to The Southwest Times

Pulaski County residents' progressive attitudeshave allowed the Board of Supervisors and the Pu-blic Service Authority to develop a water system,as well as a sewer system, to serve much of thecounty, according to Draper District Supervisor IraS. "Pete" Crawford.

As extensions have been developed, severalcounty residents have asked questions about fund-ing of the waterline extensions, he reports. Hehopes to answer some of these in the following dis-cussion.

"The county water system is financially separ-ated from the general fund so that taxpayers notreceiving water service do not pay for service toothers through taxes paid to the county," Crawfordsays. This means cost of both water and sewer ser-vice must be borne by the people using the service.

The water system includes the water treatmentplant which is capable of producing three milliongallons per day, 140 miles of water line, six pumpstations and 12 water tanks. The sewer system in-cludes the Peppers Ferry Waste Water TreatmentPlant with a three million gallon per day reservecapacity, four pump stations and five miles of col-lection line. "These facilities are critical to provid-ing area residents with safe and sanitary neigh-borhoods are a key factor in supporting the expan-sion of local business 'and the attraction of newfirms to the area," according to Crawford.

The board continually looks for the best possible

Please see WATER, page A3

Marye continuesto recover frommajor heart attackBy TODD JACKSONNRV Staff

otaf« photo by LJndaRavnolda

Newbern ParadeChristmas arrived in historic Newbern with an annual parade Saturday. This lovely floatwith its seasonal message proclaiming Christ's birthrwas among the entries for the after-noon event. Sights and sounds of the holiday are evident throughout Pulaski County withparades, decorations, church programs and shoppers as Dec. 25 nears.

Pulaski police part of Operation Heat WaveThe Town of Pulaski Police

Department announces theirparticipation in "OperationHEAT Wave." The program, acooperative effort of the VirginiaDepartment of State Police, Vir-ginia Department of Motor Vehi-cles Auto Theft Unit, and locallaw enforcement agenciesthroughout the Commonwealth,

was established with passage ofHouse Bill 870 by the 1991 Gen-eral Assembly. H.E.A.T. went online with announcement fromthe Attorney General's Office onMarch 13,1992.

The "Operation HEAT Wave"Program operates similar toCrime Solvers, Crime Stoppersand the Drug Hotline. The hot-

line is staffed 24 hours a day, se-ven days a week. Citizens cancall the toll-free auto theft num-ber (1-800-947-HEAT) to reportinformation concerning autotheft or chop shop operations,the main targets of the program.Callers remain anonymous

Please see HEAT, page A2

SHAWSVILLE-After undergoing single bypassheart surgery Friday, State Sen.Madison E. Marye was awakeand alert Saturday, according toMike Hawes, Marye's son-in-law.

The 67-year-old legislator whorepresents the 39th Senate Dis-trict, which includes a portion ofPulaski County, was expected to ]yfftrvebe unconscious for two days. ™

Marye, a member of the Virginia Senate since1973, suffered what was described by doctors as amassive heart attack.

"Things look a whole lot better than they didThursday," said Hawes in a phone interview Satur-day evening. "The heart attack happened withoutany warning. He had no prior problems,"

The surgery was performed at Lewis-Gale Hospi-tal in Salem, where Marye was taken Thursdayafter being siricken while working in the barn at hisShawsville farm. Marye walked to his home andcalled the rescue squad himself.

"The doctors are pleased with his progress at thispoint," Hawes said. "Right now he's just coming outof the anesthesia. He's awake, but not able to talkyet."

Hawes said Marye's wife, Charlotte, and his sonand daughter were at the hospital with the senatorSaturday.

Marye, a Democrat, is chairman of the SenateGeneral Laws Committee.

PAGE A8-THE SOUTHWEST TIMES, PULASKI, VA., SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13,1992SportsCougars, Webb enjoy huge day

First half offense,second half defensetoo much for Dale

Staff photo by Oonnlt Walls

WHAT A DAY! — Pulaski County's Eric Webb takes a break against the goal post pad after scoring one of his twoTDs Saturday

Continued from page A1scored on the inside reverse left.Shayne Graham kicked the con-version for a 7-6 Pulaski Countylead with 6:46 left In the first'quarter.

It was the beginning for ahuge day for Webb, just a so-phomore, and the Cougars wouldnever trail again.

Dale had to punt from its own26 following the kickoff andWebb blocked it. It was firstdown at the Knights' 16.

Two plays later quarterbackAndre Eaves scored off a counter

play from 13 yards out in the leftcorner of the endzone. Grahamwas good and Pulaski County led14-6 with 4:09 left in the firstquarter.

On the first play following thekickoff Dale fullback RobertJohnson ran untouched off theleft side 61 yards to score. Oxen-dine was stopped on the twopoint try, and the lead wasquickly down to two, 14-12.

However, it would increaseeven quicker.

Carl Lewis found a huge holein the middle of the field as thekickoff was blocked beautifullyby the Cougars. Lewis got acrushing block on the Dalesafety at midfield by Billy Ingles,cut left and was on his way topaydirt from 88 yards out. It wasLewis' second '88 yard touch-

down run on a kickoff thisseason, Graham was good on theconversion kick and PulaskiCounty led 21-12.

On Dale's next possession,Oxendine was stripped of thepigskin by Webb and CougarBrian Redd jumped on the loosefootball at the Knights' 36.

Seven plays later, Webb ranthe inside reverse again to scorefrom seven yards out. Grahamwas good and the Cougars wereon top by 16, 28-12 early in thesecond quarter.

Following the kickoff PCHSlinebacker Jeff Berkley sackedDale quarterback Travis Gran-dison for an eight yard loss onthird down and the Knights hadto punt from their own 26.

No way. Webb, who else,blocked it again and PulaskiCounty had a first and ten at theDale 15.

Two plays later, Webb poppedclean on'the inside reverse rightto score from 17 yards out. Gra-ham was good again and theCougar lead had leaped out to23,35-12.

Webb had already scored threetouchdowns, blocked two puntsand caused a fumble. He wouldlater make a big defensive stopin the second half. He led histeam in rushing with 81 yards onnine carries.

'Please' fe6e COUGARS, page A9

'Miracle on Slaughter House Road' finishedRICHMOND —The final

chapter has been written.The "Miracle on Slaughter

House Road" came to an endSaturday in Richmond.

There was no way to knowwhere the dream would end or ifit would ever become a reality.

It did on the Astroturf of Uni-versity of Richmond Stadiumwith a stunning 35-20 statechampionship victory over Tho-mas Dale of Chesterfield.

It ended like it began. It's1979. Pulaski County's footballprogram has little or no respect.Every win over anybody is con-sidered an upset.

Finally after 14 years of suc-cess, great wins, and heart-breaking defeats, the Cougarfootball program found itself inthe state championship game.

And guess what. It was still inthe role of the underdog. '

Dale was ranked No. 1 in Vir-ginia and 20th in the nation.

And on the third play of thegame the Cougars became moreof an underdog when the muchheralded Ken Oxendine went 59

Locker RoomDan Callahan

yards for a touchdown and Tho-mas Dale led 6-0.

Maybe that made an alreadyconfident Dale team even moreconfident in itself and even lessrespectful of a Pulaski Countyteam it seemed to give little at-tention. However, respect wasabout to be earned,

The buildup to the game in theRichmond area seemed to make

the contest a mere formality, afunction that had to be perfor-med before awarding the trophyto the Knights.

Enter the Wing-T, Dale washelpless to defend it, and likelynot as prepared as it should havebeen.

The Cougars marched downthe field and scored,

Enter the kicking game.Eric Webb blocked a punt. The

Cougars scored again.Dale broke another big play

for a touchdown.Re-enter the kicking game,

Carl Lewis blitzed 88 yardsdown the middle of the field for athird Cougar touchdown in thefirst quarter.

It was 21-12 Pulaski Countyafter one quarter of play. That'sa shocking point for every 36 se-conds of play.

Oops. A Dale mistake, fumble!Brian Redd recovers. The Cou-gars score again.

Dale is attled. The Knightscannot move following the kick-off.Please see CALLAHAN, page A9

Staff photo by Donnte Wall*Pulaski County fullback Eric Yates is flipped into the air by Thomas Dale defenders

Miami's Torretta wins HeismanMiami senior beats out RBs Faulk and HearstBy RICK WARNERAP Football Writer

APUuwrphoto

Miami QB Gino Torretta hugs the Heis-man Award he won Saturday in N.Y.

NEW YORK — Gino Torretta, leader of the na-tion's No. 1 team, won the Heisman Trophy onSaturday as the No. 1 player in college football.

The Miami quarterback, who is 26-1 as a starter,beat out running backs Marshall Faulk of SanDiego State and Garrison Hearst of Georgia.

Torretta, who holds almost every career passingrecord at "Quarterback U," is Miami's second He-ieman winner. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde wonthe award in 1986.

"This is truly a prestigious honor," Torretta said."I want to thank my teammates, especially the de-fense, because they're the reason I'm Kere."

Faulk finished second, 320 points/behind T&rre-tta, and Hearst was third, trailinguhe winner by418 points. Faulk was the nation's feuding rusher

for the second straight season, while Hearst ledDivision I-A in scoring and was No. 2 in rushing.

Torretta is the first senior to win the Heismansince Notre Dame's Tim Brown in 1987. The fourprevious winners — Desmond Howard, Ty Detmer,Andre Ware and Barry Sanders — were juniors.

Faulk's second-place finish is the best by a so-phomore since Georgia's Herschel Walker wasrunner-up in 1981. No sophomore has won the He-isman.

Torretta received 310 first-place votes and 1,400points in balloting by the media and former Heis-man winners. Faulk got 164 first-place votes and1,080 points, while Hearst received 140 first-placevotes and 982 points.

Florida State linebacker Marvin Jones wasfourth, matching the highest finish by a defensiveplayer since Pittsburgh's Hugh Green was runner-up in 1980. Notre Dame's Reggie Brooks, whoaveraged moreyards per carry (8.0); than any other

runner, wus fifth.The top three finishers attended the televised

ceremony ut tho Downtown Athletic Club.Torretta led in four of the six voting regions —

the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Sou-thwest. Faulk carried the Far West and Hearstwas the top vote-getter in the South.

Torretta's mother, Connie, attended the cere-mony, along with his three brothers. His father, Al,died in 1988.

"I always told him if he'd put his best foot for-ward, he'd be the best,; and today he is the best,"

; Mrs. Torretta said;.'" '.:•;'." \ ;".•>' •... . - . . • • . • •• • ' ; ; . ' :.; '-. :-.Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward was

sixth overall, followed by Miami linebacker Mi-choal Barrow, Washington State quarterbackDrew Bledspe, Stanford running back Glynburn and Alabama defensive end Eric Curry,

Please see HEISMAK page A9

Cougars—Continued from page A8

"I never would have thoughtI'd have a day like this in thestate championship game,"beamed Webb.

"It's been my dream to win astate football championship forPulaski County.

"I don't think Dale respectedus. We just took what we hadand gave it to them. We had 'emconfused with our offense, Onthe criss-cross play, I would runby people and they didn't have aclue I had the ball," laughedWebb.

Late in the first half that onebad break that always seems tohappen to Pulaski County in thestate playoffs did indeed happenagain.

After Dale finally got off apunt, but likely only because Pu-laski County didn't try to blockit, the Cougars controlled thefootball for nine plays from theirown 25 to the Dale 38, but withtime running out in the half,Eaves' deep pass was picked off.

Dale had' a chance for a coupleof your basic "hail marys."

On the last play of the firsthalf, Oxendine caught a passdown the middle that had deflec-ted off the hands of Lewis andscored to complete a 65 yardtouchdown play with no time lefton the clock. Oxendine leapedover for the two-point conversionand the lead was cut to 15, 35-20at the break.

But while it didn't seem likelyat the time, the scoring was over.

The third quarter flew by. Pu-laski County took the secondhalf kickoff, got two first downsand ran off eight plays beforepunting. Ingles boomed thepigskin 44 yards where Berkleydowned the punt at the Dale six.

The Knights then kept the ballfor 16 plays against a Cougar de-fense that gave up yardagegrudgingly every down.

Finally, after picking up firstdowns on fourth down twice dur-ing the drive, the Knights faceda fourth and one at the Cougar29. Dale pitched the ball toOxendine and Webb wrappedhim up for a yard loss and theCougars took over, already inthe first minute of the fourthquarter.

, Pulaski County respondedwith a big time consuming drivethat removed most of the fourth

THE SOUTHWEST TIMES, PULASKI, VA., SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13,1992-PAGE A9

Slat SheetPC 21 14 0 0 35Dale 12 8 0 0 20D«le — Oxendlne 69 yd. run kickfailed 10:32 litPC- Webb 7 yd. run, Graham kick6:40 litPC— Eaver 13 yd. run, Graham kick4:09 1st .Dale — Johnson 61 yd. run 2 pt. tryfailed 3:41 litPC— Lewli 88 yd. k.o. ret., Grahamkick 8:20 1stPC— Webb 12 yd. run, Graham kick10:61 2ndPC— Webb 16 yd. run, Graham kick7:29 2ndDale— Grnndlson 66 yd. paw toOxendine, Oxendine 2 pt. run 0:00

FlratDowneRtuhingPassingPAM YardsTotttlYardaReturaYard*PuntingPenaltliM

PC TD16 1260-261 34-2151-3-1 4-9-02 101263 316100 1321-44.0 1-42.00-0 0-0

FumblexUrt 1-0 2-2

Riuhing , '.PC — Webb 9-81, Houeel 14-71,Yatei 11-48, Eaves 8-29, Redd 6-23,Lewis 2-9TD — Oxendine 16-96, Johnson 7-86,Brooks 4-17, Grandison 6-10, Davis2-8.PawingPC - Eaves 1-3-1-2 yds., Waller0-1-0-0 yds.TD — Grendleon 4-8-0-101 yds. 1 TDReceivingPC— Housel 1-2TD— Oxendine 1-65, Hall 1-22,Logan 1-11, Johnson 1-3

quarter clock.Twelve plays later the Cou-

gars were stopped at theKnights' 27, but by then therewas just barely more than fiveminutes left to play.

Thomas Dale made one lastsurge behind the scrambling runby Grandison after he was flu-shed out of the pocket trying topass. He slipped and slid 25yards to the Cougar 38.

But on the eighth play of thepossession, Grandison wasunder heavy pressure fromRandy Dunnigan. He was thenhit from the backside by LarryNewcombe and the ball wasloose. Ingles recovered at the Pu-laski County 31 and the Cougarfans started to "rip it up."

On fourth .down, after Dalehad called its last timeout, Pula-ski County decided not to puntfrom its own 36.

With just 1:24 left to play,Eaves ran the quarterback

Stuff ohoto by Donnto Write

Thomas Dale's Ken Oxendine tries to keep his footing against the Cougars Saturday. The Knights' prized tailbackwas held under 100 yards by Pulaski County's defense

counter for six yards and a firstdown at the 42.

Now it was obvious. PulaskiCounty was going to be the statechampions.

As fans flooded the turf inRichmond, Pulaski County headcoach Joel Hicks was carried tothe center of the field on theshoulders of his players.

"It was a great effort by ourfootball team. I'm proud of ourprogram. I'm happy for ourseniors.

"We thought we would movethe ball. We felt our kickinggame would help us, but we

State Title GamesDivision 5:Bethel 27E.C. Glass 0

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) —Bethel's Allen Iverson ran forone touchdown and returned apunt 60 yards for another scoreaa the Bruins rolled to a 27-0 vic-tory over E.C. Glass in the Div-ision 5 championship game Sat-urday.

The Bruins (12-2) finished theseason with five consecutive vic-tories to capture their first titlesince 1976.

E.C. Glass (12-2) did not com-plete any of its 11 passes andwas held to 71 total yards.

Iverson passed for 201 yardsand intercepted two E.C. Glasspasses, including one in Bethel'send zone that killed the Hilltop-pers' best scoring threat of thesecond half.

The Hilltoppers trailed 14-0after a first half in which theyhad just three first downs andgot no deeper than the Bethel43-yard line.

Division 4:

didn't know we'd do either aswell as we did.

"Dale hadn't faced the Wing-T.We executed well. They had justfive days. It's hard to get readyfor something new in that shorta period of time.

"I also felt playing on the As-troturf helped us. We wouldn'thave wanted to play that team inthe mud. We're a quick team.Today our kids, moved like abunch of rabbits in a briar1

patch," said Hicks.Thomas Dale, ranked No. 1 in

Virginia and 20th in the nation,entered the game with a 13-0 re-

Callahan

cord, but now has a smudge onits mark. Pulaski County fini-shes its greatest season everwith a 12-2 record, its most winsfever in a single season, andclosed out the season with eightconsecutive victories.

Pulaski County. outscored'itsfour playoff opponents 110-36,and with the state championshipgame still being played on theUniversity of Richmond's hometurf, the Knights must have feltlike they were trapped in EricWebb's "Spider" web.

The kicking game, Lewis'touchdown return, and Webb's

two blocked punts were hugefactors in the outcome of thegame.

Hicks credited assistant coachFreddie Akers and Webb for theblocks.

"Coach Akers and Eric (Webb)came to me and said they had anidea to block a punt. It lookedgood to me. We had to switchsides with Eric, but I said okay,let's do it. It worked," laughedHicks.

Everything worked wellenough for Pulaski County thisday, more than well enough towin its first ever state cham-pionship.

AP Uwrphoto

Bethel's Brandon Chenault grabs hold of E.C. Glassballcarrier Brian Brooks

Orange County ............. 10

HIGHLANDS, Va. (AP) —Chris Harrison caught a 21-yardtouchdown pass from TerryMonk and Brad Salyers ran for a7-yard score Saturday to leadRichlands to a 19-10 victory overOrange County in the Division 4title game.

Josh Perkins added field goalsof 22 and 25 yards and BrannonBreeding ran for 113 yards, his14th consecutive game of100-plus yards, as the Blue Tor-nados (14-0) won their first-everstate championship.

The Fighting .Hornets (11-3)got a 3-yard touchdown run fromBernard Ellis and a 33-yard fieldgoal form Chris Snyder.

Richlands' Ronnie Cordle hadtwo interceptions and BradDavis sacked Orange quarter-back Jesse Lohr three times.

Division 3:Jefferson Forest 35Matoaca 14

ETTRICK, Va. (AP) — Jeffer-son Forest cornerback RonaldHayes set the tone early for a de-fense that carried the Cavaliersto a 35* 14 victory over Matoacain Saturday's Division 3 cham-pionship game.

Hayes intercepted a lateral onMatoaca's first play and went 25yards for a touchdown to sendJefferson Forest (13-1) on theway to its first state title.

Matoaca (13-1) had five tur-novers, two of which were retur-ned for touchdowns. Quarter-back Craig Akins was sackedfive times, fumbled once andthrew an interception that wasreturned for a touchdown.

Jefferson Forest had 298 .totalyards while holding the Warriorsto 165.

After Jefferson Forest tookleads of 14-0 and 21-6, the Cava-liers' Baron Spinner intercepted

a pass by Akins and returned its59 yards for another score.

Division 2:Lunenberg Central 20Lebanon 6

VICTORIA, Va. (AP) — Ter-rell Wilkerson ran 20 times for196 yards and a touchdown Sat-urday as Lunenburg Centraldefeated Lebanon 20-6 in theDivision 2 title game, the Char-gers' fourth state championshipm 13 years.

The victory completed a 14-0season for the Chargers, whowon state titles in 1980, 1986and 1987 but lost in the finals in1988,1989 and 1990.

The Pioneers (12-2) got theirlone score late in the first halfwhen Andy Musick teamed upwith Aaron Fuller on a 21-yardscoring play. The touchdownmade it 14-6, but Lebanon wasunable to threaten the rest of theway.

Lunenburg Central finishedwith 243 rushing yards com-pared to 89 for the Pioneers.

Continued from page ASHere comes the kicking game

again.Webb blocks his second punt

and Pulfaski County scoresagain.

Dale scored on a lucky deflec-ted pass on the last play of thefirst half that cut the margin to35-20.

And while points came by thebushel basket full the first half,it was a blank second half exceptfor the fact that Dale could nolonger make the big play and theCougar Wing-T ran the clock,and the Cougar defense gottougher and tougher.

Dale had 150 rushing yards inthe first quarter, but was min-us-8 in the second quarter andtotalled only 104 total yards inthe second half. The Knightsnever kicked an extra point andnever got a point out of its kick-ing game:

Fans often wonder if all thetalk about special teams is justlip service.

In the state championshipgame Saturday, Pulaski Countygot 21 points as a direct result ofits special teams play. ShayneGraham was also five for five onextra point kicks,

So it all started as an under-dog and the dream came true thesame way.

For Joel Hicks it was a sweet,sweet ride to the center of thefield.

He began the effort to be thebest 14 years ago. The effort to

Heisman

be the best has had its ups anddowns. It has been extremelyemotional at times, but Hickswas one thing only Satur-day...satisfied.

"We wondered if they coulddeal with our Wing-T. We alsofelt we had an edge in the kick-ing game. We thought we couldmove the football, and we put ina plan to block the punts. Ourdefense played tough against areal good offense. I think in thesecond half the kids made Dalehave to work harder than theywanted, to. Other than the threebig plays, we didn't give themmuch," said Hicks.

But coach, was this champion-ship worth the wait

"You betteha'l It's worth everyday of practice, and every hour ofhard work. It's worth every se-cond for as long as it took.

"I just want to say I'm proud ofPulaski County. We have greatmotivated kids. I've always saidit's a pleasure to coach PulaskiCounty kids.

"I'm so happy for our seniors.It's a really nice group of specialpeople."

Hicks then tried to name eachone of his seniors before adding,"I love my coaching staff. I've gotthe greatest bunch of coachesany man could want. A lot of thethings that have gone right forus are attributable to them justas much if not more than me.

"And our fans. Golly whatfans. I thought everybody fromPulaski County was here today.,

"We have'so much more tooffer in Pulaski County thaneven we realize. ,

'Tor our program, our school,our community, and for so manypeople who have given specialattention and time to helping usmake our program as good as itcan be, today is for all those peo-ple," said Hicks.

And all those people floodedthe turf in Richmond Saturday.There was supposed to be a for-mal presentation of the statechampionship trophy, but noway. It was mass chaos. Cougarfans laughed, cried, hugged andsqueezed every ounce of joy outof the moment.

Senior Jerome Greer saidlater, "I guess all this will sink inin a couple of days. I'm sore. Dalewas tough. The turf hurt, but I'mso happy. This is everything I'veever wanted. It's what I came toPulaski County for. This is it.I'm so proud," said Greer.

It's also likely that Greer andthis Cougar team doesn't realizehow proud and happy they havemade thousands of PulaskiCountians.

The effort lasted 14 years —14 long, hard years, but Hickswas correct, it was worth it.

The "Miracle on Slaugh-terhouse Road" is complete. The1992 Cougars have written thefinal chapter.

Quality and great effort can-not forever be denied.

Pulaski County is the 1992State Champion.

Continued from page A8burn and Curry tied for ninth with 47 points each.

Torretta wasn't the flashiest player in the coun-try and didn't have the eye-popping statistics of re-cent Heisman winners. 'All he's done is win moregames than any of Miami's great quarterbacks, in-cluding Testaverde, Steve Walsh, Craig Erickson,Bernie Kosar and Jim Kelly.

Since Torretta became the full-time starter in1991, Miami has gone 23-0. He was 3-1 as a red-shirt freshman in 1989, when he filled in for the in-jured Erickson. The only loss was 24-10 at FloridaState.

"He's a consistent winner," ESPN commentatorLee Corso said. "He didn't put up huge numbers,

but he made the big plays and never got his teambeat."

Under Torretta, Miami has continued to winchampionships as well as games.

If the top-ranked Hurricanes beat No. 2 Ala-bama in the Sugar Bowl, Torretta will become thefirst player to win the Heisman and a nationalchampionship in the same season since Pitts-burgh's Tony Dpraett in,1976. He would also be thefirst quarterback to lead his team to consecutivenational titles since Oklahoma's Steve Davis in1974-76.

"Gino is smart, he makes few mistakes and heprobably operates the offense better than anyoneI've ever had," Miami coach Dennis Erickson said.