SARGEANT LIFTS PENN STATE BUT.....

At Ann Arbor, Michigan at The Big House before 111,000 fans cornerback LYDELL SARGEANT (pictured here by his old high school coach DON CROSS) picked off his first interception of the season and ran it back 31 yards Saturday but his Penn State Nittany Lions fell to Michigan 14-9. Sargeant led Penn State in solo tackles with seven, one for a three-yard loss, and added three assists. His total of 10 was a career high.

Michigan was leading 7-3 and driving at the end of the second quarter. The Wolverines had reached the Penn State 24. On third and 10 Sargeant made his grab at the six-yard line and ran the ball out to the 37 where he was tackled by Michigan quarterback Ryan Mallett.

Sargeant was interviewed afterward by the PSU website.
On whether being on the field for a long time exhausted the defense ..."Coach Paterno does a pretty good job of keeping us conditioned. We just have to be ready to play 100 or 20 plays, whatever the offense does."
On his emotions after his interception late in the second half ..."I felt like they had a pretty good drive going there and the defense had to make a play to stop them from getting a field goal and getting a score early. I think that helped us, but there's not much we can do. They scored 14 points. We can improve and we didn't play our best game, but we have to look forward to next week."

ELSEWHERE ON THE COLLEGE GRIDIRON SATURDAY

Before 23,000 Saturday night in Las Vegas MATT SIMS got his first start of the season as the Utah Utes abandoned their four wide receiver offense for the first times and reinstalled a tight end with Sims in that spot. Unfortunately thing did not work out and Nevada Las Vegas rolled 27-0. Ute quarterbacks connected on 23 passes but none to Sims.

VAI TAUA’s Nevada Wolfpack was idle.

In Fayette, Iowa Upper Iowa picked up its first win of the season trouncing Loras College 38-15. JUSTICE CLEGG returned to the starting lineup at right offensive tackle after a week of inaction and MIKE SLAUGHTER came off the bench for three solo tackles and an assist with two coming behind the line of scrimmage. Slaughter had been a starter for the previous two games.

In Arkadelphia, Arkansas cornerback DONALD WHITE registered a solo tackle and three assists Saturday but his Ouachita Baptist team lost its first game of the season to No. 9-ranked Delta State 42-10.


BOO JACKSON connected on 10 of 13 passes for 263 yards but he was on the sideline when the winning TD was scored Saturday night in El Camino’s 31-26 victory over Mt. SAC. Here’s the report from reporter Dave Thorpe of the Torrance Daily Breeze.

El Camino quarterback Boo Jackson had blood pouring from his bottom lip. He needed stitches on the sideline after completing a 25-yard pass and getting knocked to the ground.
Third-string quarterback Jimmy Coy filled in for him. Coy, who was playing ahead of injured second-stringer Kevin Romero, made a brief but important appearance before Jackson returned.


El Camino ran the ball on Coy's first three snaps. But on third-and-7 from the Mt. SAC 9-yard line, Coy threw a pass into the end zone that went off Jonathan Price's fingertips into the hands of Harry Deberry.
It was not only Coy's first and last pass attempt, it turned out to be the winning touchdown.
The play gave El Camino an 11-point lead with 13:21 remaining. Jackson returned stitched and bandaged, completed a key pass down the stretch and the Warriors held off the Mounties to escape with a 31-26 Mission Conference interdivision win at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut.
Jackson bit through his lip on an earlier play but stayed in the game. His wound then grew larger after a completion to Verran Tucker (three catches, 114 yards, one touchdown) a split-second before getting hit hard.
So there was Jackson, who was 10-for-13 for 263 yards and three touchdowns, getting medical attention while Coy finished the drive.
"Six stitches, that was painful," Jackson said. "Blood was pouring on my hand. But when Coy led the team downfield and then threw that touchdown pass while I was getting stitches, it made me smile."
The fact that the Warriors (3-1) defeated a tough opponent on the road while playing the first half in a heavy downpour, made El Camino coach John Featherstone smile.
"We knew it would be a tough game because we haven't won on the road yet, and especially not with bad weather against a good team," Featherstone said. "We're happy to get away with the win."
El Camino, ranked No. 5 in the nation by JC Grid-Wire, held Mt. SAC's ground game to 73 yards, but Mounties quarterback Kevin Craft had a big day, completing 25 of 44 passes for 389 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Craft has not thrown an interception this season.
When El Camino had to make a defensive stop, it was able to get one. The Warriors clung to a 31-26 lead when they turned the ball over on downs at the Mt. SAC 21-yard line with 54 seconds remaining.
Free safety Chris Williams made a big hit to jar the ball loose from Mounties receiver Eric Walker for an incomplete pass.
But an El Camino penalty and Craft's 29-yard pass play to Eunique Williams helped put Mt. SAC (2-2) on the Warriors' 20 with nine seconds left.


Craft had two shots at the end zone, but an El Camino secondary led by Williams and Lamar Chapman blanketed the Mounties' receivers and Craft couldn't find anyone open. Craft lofted his last pass up for grabs near the back of the end zone and it fell incomplete.
"We made some key mistakes on both sides of the ball, but we maintained, got our footing and won the game," said defensive end Simi Kuli, playing in his second game after sitting out the first two with a knee injury.
After Mt. SAC pulled to within 31-26, Jackson returned and hit Tucker in stride on a 49-yard pass play to the Mounties' 10-yard line with 4:25 remaining.
Looking to put the game away with a touchdown, El Camino turned the ball over and Mt. SAC's Tyrell Irvin recovered and brought the ball to the Mounties' 16-yard line. But on Mt. SAC's next drive, a heavy pass rush by Kuli, a near interception by Williams and an errant snap that went for a 26-yard loss helped keep the Mounties out of the red zone.
El Camino took a 7-0 lead when Jackson found Greg Moore wide open downfield after a defensive back slipped. Jackson side-stepped a pass rusher before throwing a strike to Moore, who waltzed into the end zone.
After a defensive stop, El Camino embarked on its most impressive drive, going 68 yards on nine plays, highlighted by Kenny Ashley's 23-yard run and capped by Ashley's 6-yard score. Ashley had no plans to receive the ball on the play, but Jackson mishandled the snap and the ball hit the mud. Jackson picked it up and flipped it to Ashley behind him and Ashley cruised in for the score.
"I picked it up, then looked up and everyone was in my face," Jackson said. "I saw Ashley, and when I saw that nobody was near him, I just pitched it to him."