Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 13

ARQIJND A brief look at the world of sports rniiFCF rnnTRii i OCTCCEH 1399 Coming down to the wire The race for the final two playoff spots in the National League comes down to the last two days of the season. Detail sB5 (v -V VI Wit il 1 MATTOON (ILL.) JOURNAL GAZETTE MATTOON 49 STEPHEN DECATUR 6 (SCOTT 1 LAMRT Four Tennessee players cleared to play today NASHVILLE, Term. (AP) Four Tennessee players suspended as part of the school's academic fraud investigation have been cleared to play In today's game against Auburn, school president J. Wade Gilley said Friday. Gilley said investigators "found nothing" indicating any wrongdoing by the players, so the Southeastern Conference will allow them to play.

"There's no cloud over the players," Gilley.said. In addition to the four seldom-used 13 redshirt freshmen, starting center jd Spencer Riley was cleared of any wrong doing, Gilley said. Riley had not been suspended, but ft? school officials decided to look again fc into a 1995 allegation that an athletic fj! department employee had cowritten a paper with the player. Riley was cleared in 1995, and investigators found no new evidence to change that finding. Jj WL ave has 4" ow to win PThe turnaround has been sig- iuncant.

Alter losing 3a Tennessee is continuing its Investigation of allegations that athletic department tutors did schoolwork for athletes, a possible violation of school honor codes ahd NCAA rules. ESPN reported this week that Inter straight games, Mattoon has aed things around in a big fay. The Green Wave has won 12 their last 13 games, counting EHday's 46 win over Stephen Decatur. With a 6-0 record this year, Mattnnn is rartainlv within reach cfa number of milestones this nal memos show high-level administra- tors in Tennessee's athletic department were told four tutors might have done schoolwork for Riley and four unidenti- fled football players, a baseball player and a female athlete. Three of the foot-; ball players have transferred.

I Apparently, none of the information was passed on to campus authorities charged with' investigating possible rules infractions, university officials say. Jfar. I. For example, a win over Oiampaign Central next week would basically assure Mattoon of tie Big 12 East title, its first since tie 1992 team won it I Mattoon has won just six Big 12 titles (in 1944, '58, '60, '73, '74 and '32) so winning the title would be a TENNIS Williams sisters to meet in Grand Slam Cup final "0 MIKE ESTKI1VSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Mattoon's Tom Haney (35) and another player put a hit on Stephen Decatur's Terrance Mallory (32) In Friday's 49-6 Mattoon win. event for the Green Wave.

And fans are starting to really into this. An estimated 5,000 fins were present for Mattoon's Ifcmecoming win over Rantoul st week and a smaller crowd of a ound 2,300 saw Friday's wini With a 6-0 record, Mattoon is tering lofty heights. A quick 1( kthrough the archives pro-d no Mattoon varsity teams 3 undefeated seasons. MUNICH, Germany (AP) This time both Williams sisters did their and set up a family showdown in the most lucrative tournament in the world. 0t- Serena Williams, the U.S.

Open champion, beat Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 4 64 after older sister Venus defeated Slow start doesn't stop Wave I Only one team, the 1974 team inlr Mncc Viae orlxroMOfirl on Halm has big night as Mattoon rolls to victory iop-ranKea Martina nmgis o-, 6), 9-7 in Friday's semifinals of the $6.7 million Grand Slam Cup. "Should be a good matchup. We're both going to do our best out there and- be the happiest," Serena said. -v BY SCOTT INSERT Mm we might have picked up a win or two." It certainly put a scare into the Green Wave. "They taught us a great lesson for our kids," said Mattoon coach Gerald Temples.

"If you're not ready to I going to get your hat handed to you." Mattoon got its wake up call at the end of the first quarter and came out firing in the second. "They had eight or nine people on the hs the state semifinals. 1 (Wv-Sa'ie'sfeirtiilg'trfpay a nU But not all. After all, two teams still i aain on Mattoon's schedule tl could give the Green Wave a pt je. Champaign Central is only 01 fcune behind Mattoon in the B12 East standings and next wet's game should be the league playing on a Friday night than not playing," said Stephen Decatur coach Tim Cruz.

"It's been a hard two years and not having a team last year has really hurt. "With all the talk of closing our school "tad wlflf everything afift.that's happened, I have to admire our kids just for sticking it out." For 12 minutes, Stephen Decatur (0-6) gave Mattoon everything it could handle. After Eric Hahn broke free for a 70-yard touchdown run with 5:45 remaining in the first Stephen Decatur's Eric Fleming broke free for a 60-yard run of his own. A few plays later and the Reds were in the end zone. "I thought that first quarter was the best we've played all year," said Cruz.

"If we'd have played like that against some of the teams we've played earlier in the schedule, MATTOON Do not feel sorry for Stephen Decatur. After a year without football, the Runnin Reds are just happy to be playing on Friday nights again. And for 12 minutes Friday, Stephen Decatur Diit a scare into Mattoon. trailing line and they were blitaing and they gave us some trouble early," said Temples. "But we got a few things straightened out and with them daring us to throw the ball, we did." Neil Sanders warmed up in the second quarter.

After misfiring on his first four ck cxier. just 7-6 after one quarter. The ChamDaim News-Oazetta ready stated that Central's sjbeti will shoot down Mattoon's ounaay nnai win aaa vj to the family budget, with $800,000 5 going to the winner. It will also give Serena, at 18 one year younger than Venus, the chance tojj gain her first victory in the historic sis- ter-sister series. She also collects a J-1 $100,000 bonus for her U.S.

Open title, win or lose. "Not bad," Serena said of the moneytt the sisters will earn. "I'm going to hate i to see my tax return." Serena and Venus became the first sisters to meet in a WTA Tour final when they played at Key Biscayne, 5 in March, with Venus winning 6-1, 4-6, 64- Venus also won their two previous pro non-title matches, in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open and in the quarters of the 1998 Italian Open. They could have met in the final of But Mattoon put 28 pomts on the board in the second quarter and pulled away for a 49-6 win in Big 12 conference play. "I always tell people that it's better to be odical team.

See MATTOON, B6 Ahd don't forget Danville. The Vikings pasted Champaign Central and even though they've struggled the past few weeks, they can be very dangerous, especially if they come to Mattoon with Shelby ville falls losses and in need of a win 20-13 ulinton to tqraualify for the playoffs. How Mattoon does against er team remains to be seen it it goes to prove that many pdople still don't believe the hype. 9. the U.S.

Open three weeks ago, but Venus lost to Hingis in the semis. Serena beat Davenport in the semis and then defeated Hingis to win the family's first Grand Slam tournament title. Venus, who snapped a twewnatch losing streak to Hingis, didn't want to take her latest success in the sisters' bitter rivalry with Hingis as revenge. "I don't believe in revenge. No matter what happened, I still lost at the U.S.

Open," she said. In an often electrifying showdown between two 19-year-olds that took 2 A. A ii ir Shelbyville's record to 1-5 overall and 1-5 in the Okaw. Byrd led the way gaining 119 yards on 16 carries to lead Clinton. Oddly enough, Byrd started rather slowly, with two of his first three carries going for losses.

However, Byrd's third carry resulted a 9-yard touchdown run that gave Clinton a 6-0 lead after Shelbyville blocked the extra point. On Shelbyville's ensuing possession, Tad Miller's pass bounced out of two players and into Clinton hands and BY BEN OIGGLE Staff Writer SHELBYVILLE Clinton's Tyrone Byrd ruined Shelbyville's Homecoming by coming back. Byrd, a junior tailback for the Maroons, had missed the last three weeks nursing an injury. Friday night he returned to lead Clinton to a 20-13 Okaw Valley Conference victory over Shelbyville. The Rams were also stopped inside the 5 in the final minutes of the game as Clinton prevailed to improve to 2-4.

The loss drops nuurs, ox miriuies, venus renea on ner big serve and sheer power to rally See RAMS, B6 associated press photo Chad Meyers, right, Is safe at home when St Louis Cardinals pitch- mm i vi Wildcats baseball in final four i er mam i nompson can i locate tne baseball during Friday's game. ogauiai i inigio, wiu nas inu tAJiiiia, away from victory. Serena had a considerably smoother path into the final, wirlning in 73 minutes and never looking in danger against Davenport, the Wimbledon champion. In men's quarterfinals, Greg Rusedski fired 19 aces in ousting Australian Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-5, 7-6 (86). Kafelnikov, ranked No.

2 in the world, came here from Australia where he lost both singles matches in Russia's Davis Cup defeat to Australia. It easy to understand. Although Mattoon qualified for trfe playoffs in 1990, '91 and 92, the st eak years made a lot of people fc get They prefer to remember the d( wn years, the tough losses, the st eak. Skeptics see this and they see Mattoon enjoying its run right ntfw and they don't buy into it. jThey can back up their disbe-lis Jpey know that Mattoon must v1 at least one more game or win tht 12 East to qualify for the pl Jjffs because Mattoon probably Jwon't have the points to qualify fith a 6-3 record.

ilso, an 8-1 or 9-0 record will be rejjfired to land Mattoon a home playoff game and even if Mattoon finished 8-1, the lack of points' could possibly send the Green Wave on the road. This isn't Mattoon's fault. The schedule is the schedule and neither Bloomington or Normal is on" it. When the Green Wave was suffering through its losing streak, it had to play all three Bloomington-Normal schools and it paid the price. Now, with a strong squad, Mattoon doesn't have either Bloomington or Normal Community (generally considered the traditional top two in the conference) on its schedule.

Games against those two would give fans a better idea of exactly how good this team is. But then again, frO is 6-0. If you can't celebrate a 6-0 record after the last four years what can you celebrate? Status quo for sluggers as Cubs edge Cards ST. LOUIS (AP) Round one EAST PEORIA Mattoon Middle School reached the semifinals of the Class AA state baseball tournament with a 13-2 win over Brimfield on Friday. With the win this Mattoon team became the winningest team in a two-year span in school historv with 37 wins other semifinal pairs Mount Zion against Forrest Prairie Central The semifinal losers play for third place at 3:30 p.m.

while the winners battle for the Class AA junior high state title at 5:45 p.m. Mattoon finished third in last year's tournament. of the McGwire-Sosa duel was a draw. Neither Mark McGwire nor Sammy Sosa came close to a home run Friday night as the Chicago Cubs won the opener of the three-game, season-ending series 3-2. over that time, breaking the record held by the 1988-89 teams.

Nathan Meinhart was 2- "If I hit a home run tomorrow sixth inning. "It's just another game," Lieber said. "I didn't want to make a mistake to (McGwire) because I know what he's capable of doing." McGwire leads Sosa 63-62 with two games to go, but his streak of homering in four consecutive games came to an end in front of a sellout crowd of 49,085 the largest of the season at Busch Stadium. Sosa, who has homered only once in nine games, was greeted mostly by cheers, mixed with a few boos, each at-bat "Big Mac had some boos at Wrigley Field, too," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. for-3 with three runs scored or the next day, it happens," Sosa said.

"All I'll say is I'U try my best." HAT'S, Inside today's sports section PROFESSIONAL GOLF J2j HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL B3 iE jp I 1. i ILLINI READY FOR H00SIERS PIPPEN OFF TO PoItLASDZbsI MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 85 for the Wildcats. Starting pitcher Ross Jeske added McGwire, who had been in a AB 4 10 5 1 0 4 2 2 1 0 0 4 2 1 3 3 2 3 12 4 13 2 11 0 0 0 3 i 0 33 13 12 three hits. Mattoon Mullen, 2b Bra. Griffin, 3b McDowell, -Wilson, ph 1 Bri.

Griffin, If Meinhart, cf Metzger, 1b Jeske, Miller, dh Glosser, ss Hudson, rf Totals Mattoon Brimfield ovial mood before the game and Mattoon raised its record even discussed a desire to manage in the future, had no comment to 17-2 on the season and will Dlav todav at 11 a.m. asainst Jon Lieber pitched a seven- Shorewood Troy. Shorewood hitter for his second straight complete game and Jose Nieves hit a I Scott Lambert is sports editor Troy deteated Chatham Glenwood 2-0 on Friday. The for the Journal Gazette 0031207-13-12-2 1000001 2-4-4 tiebreaking RBI double in the See CUBS, B6.