By GRANT KERR VANCOUVER (CP) — ‘There were — times Saturday when Leon Bright was anything but a shining Hght for British . Columbia Lions in their Western Football Con- ference semi-final playoff game against Winnipeg Blue Bombers. ‘Three times the rookie from Florida State fumbled; three times the Bombers turned the miscues into points—15 of them, in fact, and Win- ni seemed ready to advance to the WFC final ainst Edmonton Es- 08. But, suddenly, the man called Neon Leon by team-mates lit up the hearts of 27,150 fans at Empire Stadium as he grabbed a pass - from quarterback Jerry Tagge and raced 49 yards for the winning touchdown as B.C. won 33-32 in a dramatic ‘suddendeath game. | “T take all the credit for those fumbles Leon made,” said head coach Vic Happ ‘“‘Here’s a rookie under tremendous pressure, butnobody gave up on him toda y. “Tagge showed his: confidence in Leon by going. ‘to him when it really counted,” LONG WAIT OVER Bright scored the winning touchdown at 12:18 of the fourth quarter to advance the Lions to the WFC final for the first time in 13 years. They won the Grey Cup in 1964, their last final ap- arance. | The Eskimos will host of the Lions. .. the. WFC final Nov. 20 at Clarke Stadium. B.C. won two of three games from Edmonton this ‘season. Saturday's game was played ‘in a driving rain which contributed to six turnovers by each team. “A lot of strange things happened - out - there because of field con- ditions,” said head coach Bud Riley of the Bom- bers. ‘It was great for the fans.” The Lions got two touchdowns from wide receiver Al Charuk on passes of six and 36 yards rom Tagge, with Lui Passaglia adding the other 15 points.on four field goals, two converts. and a single. LONG BOMB THREAT Wide receiver Mike Holmes of Winnipeg also caught two touchdown Ottawa Roughriders closer to Grey Cup. | By ALEX BINKLEY OTTAWA (CP) — The often criticized Ottawa defence came up with two big plays late in the game to preserve a 21-16 for Ottawa Rough Riders over Toronto Argonauts Sunday in the Eastern o 0 semi-final, Mark Mitchell picked off a Clint Longley pass on the sixyard line to snuff out a potential Toronto scoring drive with azout four minutes to play. In the ast minute of e ame Mike Fanucci and Mike Rile ‘combined to force Chuc Ealey to fumble with Fanucei ending up in possession of the ball for Ottawa, The win moves, the Riders, defending Grey Cup champions, into the eastern final next Sunday against Montreal ouettes in the Olympic stadium. The winner of that game goes to the Grey Cup. An 86-yard pass and run play from Tom Clements to Ross Clarkson early in the third quarter gave Ot- tawa the winning points. Len Platt on a 25-yard pass from Clements and Richard Holmes on a one- yard run accounted for the other Ottawa touch- downs. Gerry Organ con- verted all three. RETURNS PICK OFF Rough and tumble game BILL LEVITT Super just te per, jus super,’’ were defensive coach Bob O’Billovich’s words to describe two plays that helped Ottawa Rouch Riders stave off Toronto Argonauts in the final minutes for a 21-16 win in the Eastern Football Conference semi-final day. Mark Mitchell picked off a Clint Longley pass deep in Rider territory and Ottawa recovered a Chuck Ealey fumble to ensure the victory and advance the Riders to the eastern final against Montreal Alouettes next Saturday. ‘They saved it for the right time,” said O'Billovich. ‘‘Ev- erybody’s been ticizing the defence all. year for not making the. i ” tchel gaid he was expecting the pass an just laid back. ; ‘We were playing in a three deep and giving a - them room all ternoon,” said the dimunitive defensive back. ‘'They threw inside on me and I just grabbed the ball.” - Ottawa tackle Mike . Fanucci was ecstatic after the game and said all he was trying to do on the fumble recovery was keep Ealey from throwing the football. GRABS JERSEY Richer after tennis game BOGOTA, Colombia {AP) Argentina's Guillermo Vilas won the $50,000 Orient Inter- national Cup on Sunday, beating Spain’s Jose Higueras 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. . Higueras,. who qualified for the final . with a victory over Brazil's Carlos Kirmayr, said: ‘‘Three times already I’ve been beaten Vilas so far this year. ithout discussion, Vilas is the best tennis player _ in the world.” (CP) =. “I took the inside on Mike (Raines) and hit Ealey _ high,” said Fanucci. "I grabbed his jersey and pulled down is shoulders.” Fanucci said he turned around after the tackle and seeing Raines with the ball was “pure ec- stasy.” . Ottawa quarterback Tom Clements _ said breaks such as the Ealey fumble are necessary to win games but there was no luck involved in the 86- yard touchdown pass to Ross Clarkson. “They were teaming Tony (Gabriel) and when they do that they leave it open for our other receivers,” said Clements. Clements said he faked to halfback Richard Holmes in the flat, looked back to the other side for Gabriel but he was held up at the line of scrim- mage. “T saw Clarkson over’ the middle and he made a heck of a catch for the touchdown.” Over. on the other side of the field, Coach Leo Cahill was glum as he talked to reporters about the loss. “Tt was a sad, sad situation,’ Cahill said. “We talked about the - play on the bench during the timeout and it was a ‘simple curt in pattern by beth ends. “T thought we had it.” double - - early in the quarter was set up by a - Jim Marshall on a.37- yard return of an in- tercepted Clements pass and: Leon McQuay on a nine-yard pass. from Longley scored the Toronto touchdowns. Zenon Andrysyshyn converted both and added two singles on missed field goal attempts. After McQuay scored -at 10:47 of the fourth quarter the listless Argos, began to show signs of life which increased when Marshall picked off his .second Clements pass on the Ottawa 29 and moved it ta the Riders’ 15 yard line. On the next play, Longley aimed a pass for Slade Willis but Mitchell icked it off at the nine. ttawa couldn’t move the ball and Toronto got it at centrefield on the punt, Ealey then moved the Argos with’ short passes and straightahead runs to the Ottawa four. But Riley and Fanucci got through. the os line and Riley turned Ealey around and the ball came oose and Fanucci fell on it ending the Argos 1977 season. SCORES FIRST TIME Ottawa scored the first time it got the ball as Clements marched his squad down the field smartly getting to the oneyard line with a delay pass to Tony Grbaiel. On the next play Holmes went over. : The Toronto offence continued to sputter even after Marshall scored on the interception late in the first quarter. The Platt touchdown second arkson catch on the 30 yard line where he was ruled out of bounds although he ran un- molested into the end zone. ' The Riders then moved the ball with ease but, were unable to score until Clements and Clarkson connected in the third quarter. The Riders had impressive half-time statistics. But after the Clarkson touchdown, the Argo defence took the steam out of the Ridrs who seemed to be coasting on their lead. And until McQuay scored, they had little to. fear from. the inept Toronto offence. [ Record breaking run: AUCKLAND (Reuter) — Australian Dave Chettle ‘recorded the world’s best time of. two hours, two minutes and 24seconds for a marathon Sunday but his record-breaking performance was overshadowed by doubts about the length of the course. Twelve of the starters, including second-place Franco Fava of Italy and third-place lan Thompson of Britain, shattered the previous worid best of 2:08.39 recorded by Australian Derek Clayton in 1969, The brilliant times immediately raised doubts about the length of the flat, waterfront course. Officials said ‘it was measured to International rules but a traffic officer, who later rode his motorcycle around the course, said his speedometre showed it to be 600 metres (646 yards) short of the standard marathon distance of 41.195 kilometres. (26 miles and 38 yards) Chettle finished one second ahead of Fava, while Thompson had.a time. of 2:03.31. Thompson said it was a pity there would always be doubts about the distance because even if another kilometre.(0.621-miles) had been run the times would still have been the fastest ever for a marathon. Toa passes on throws of 65 and 58 yards from quarterbackRalph Brock. Defensive back Vinee Phason ran 82, yards with a fumble recovery for a touchdown and running back Jim Washington . scampered three yards for a fourth touchdown. Bernie Ruoff com- pleted the Winnipeg scoring with a field Goal, four converts and a single. Rapp switched Bright, a college dropout, to running back earlier in the week from wide receiver. Bright carried the ball 15 times for 58 yards and caught four passes for 105 yards as he added some much-needed speed to the B.C. attack. -“T put the guy (Bright) in a heck of a postion,” -while throwin _Charuk, Rapp said. ‘“‘He played a tremendous game cor sidering the cir- cumstances.” . The Lions had plenty of opportunities to score. against Winnipeg as they repeatedly found themselves with ‘ex- cellent field position. Tagge was unable to finish off many of the chances and - Passaglia was good on four of six field goal attempts... Tagge completed 12 of a5 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns two in- ferceptions. He had a fourth touchdown pass, to called back because of offensive interference. DESPERATION BID Brock completed half his passes, 15 of 30 for 289 yards, with three misses coming on a desperation comeback attempt in the last two minutes, He had two touchdown passes and one interception. ~The game was tied 10- 10 after the opening quarter and the Lions took a 20-17 lead at the half. Winnipeg was ahead 32-26 after three quarters as Bright fumbled twice late in the quarter, leading to eight Winnipeg points. Ashort punt by Ruoff at the five-minute mark of the final quarter after he mishandled a punt snap led to a single by Passaglia and narrowed the Winnipeg lead to five points at 5:12. The Lions failed to move the ball when they had possession with eight minutes remaining, but four minutes later they THE HERALD, Monday, November 14, 1977, PAGE 5 Lions come close to losing crucial game got another chance, this time at their own 48 yard line. Tagge hit fullback Hugh McKinnis with an ll-yard swing pass for a first down at the Win- nipeg 51 and McKinnis gained two more yards on a draw play up the middie, . On second and eight from the Winnipeg 49, Tagge suddenly found Bright opened behind Winnipeg defensive back Chuck Wills, who had momentarily slipped on the rain-soaked artifical turd. Bright gathered in agge’s looping pass at the 30 and raced un- touched into the end zone for the deciding score. The Lions failed to complete a two-point conversions pass in an attempt td stretch their lead to three points. Winnipeg had the ball twice in the last 2:37,-but Brock was unable to get the Bombers close enough for Ruoff to have a shot at a game-winning field goal. The Bombers had 17 first downs and a net offence of 324 yards, compared to 12 first downs and 270 yards for the Lions. Washington rushed 17 times for 47 yards and Holmes caught seven passes for 178 yards. General manager Earl Lunsford of the Bombers said after the game that Riley's future in Win- nipeg will be decided early next year. Riley had speculated last week he would be fired if the Lions upset the Bombers. ‘attack, Clowns trick teachers tonight Basketball Monkeyshiries! That’s what local fans will see when the world famous Harlem Clowns bring their fantastic show to the local high school gymnasium tonight, Nov. 14 at 7:30 Bm. The globe-trottin; Clowns have been criss- crossing the United States and Canadian provinces as well as the rest of the world, for more than 40 years. For folks who like laughs with their sports, the Harlem Clowns have all the answers. From the time they take the floor to the tune of their theme song, “Sweet Georgia Brown” until the grand finale “baseball game” the Clowns are working their hardest to combine fancy ball handling and shootin with both lanned and spontaneous umour. Locally they are sponsored by the Caledonia High School Athletes as a fund raising project for the present school year. ; Opponents have as much fun as the Clowns because Onwer Al Pullins insists that his players “‘keep the game interesting”. Often the Clowns purposely pass up scoring opportunities and even toss the ball into the wrong “bucket” now and then. And the fans never tirel is a capacit audience out to wate them. The history of the Harlem Clowns goes back to 1934 when “Runt” out on their own. Pullins was a member of the first and original Trotters team, organized in 1929 by the late Abe Saperstein. Abe had just) five players and ins was the star scorer alon with Inman Jackson, bot considered by Abe as two of his greatest players in the long history of the world famous combine. Pullins, with 50 years of basketball] behind him, can’t even guess how many coast to coast trips he has made or how many| towns his teams haave with a barn’like gym in America to the world’s largest city, Tokyo, Japan . and its. huge Municipal Auditorium. tar Trotters team along with such other greats as Goose Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon and Marquis Haynes. American football Defensive play strong in American foothal Atlanta has had one ot the ‘National Football League's best defences al] season. And on Sun- day, that same Falcons defence, which has allowed the fewest points in the league, showed it wasn’t a had offence either. . Frustrated week after week by a punchless the defenders took things into their own hands against Detroit Lions, accounting for two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 17-6 victory that kept the Fal- . cons one game behind Los Angeles Rams in the National Conference West. The Rams whipped the hapless Green Bay Packers 24-6. In other games, New York’s teams split with the two expansion clubs, the Giants shutting out Tampa Bay 10-0 while the Jets absorbed a 17-0 blanking from Seattle Seahawks. Pittsburgh Steelers — held off Cleveland Browns 35-31, - Washington. Redskins edged Philadelphia Eagles 17-14, Baltimore Colts ripped Buffalo Bills 31-13, Miami Dolphins downed -New England Patriots —_—-17-5, San Francisco ‘49ers nipped New Orleans Saints 10-7 in ‘overtime, Chicago Bears slipped by Kansas City Chiefs 28-27, - Min- nesota Vikings ‘routed Cincinnati Bengals 42-10 Oakland Raiders topped Houston Oilers 44-29 and Denver Broncos «rallied for a 17-14 victory over San Diego Chargers. Atlanta . St. Louis Cardinals play the Cowboys at Dallas on Monday night. TRAIL AFTER THREE Trailing 6-0 after three quarters, ‘ Atlanta's efenders turned the Detroit game around, with Ralph Ortega returning a fumble 14 yards for a touchdown and Robert Pennywell Boing 20 yards with in- tercepted pass for another score. The Lions had beaten Atlanta nine consecutive and seemed on the way to No. 10 after Reggie Pinkney's end-zone in- terceplion halted a Falcon drive that had reached the Detroit sevenyard line. But’ then Ortega scooped up Rick Kane’s fumble and took it in for the ‘first touchdown with 8:02 left. Then, in the game’s final minute, Pennywell picked off a Greg Landry pass for the Falcons’ wrapup touch- down. Los Angeles stayed one game in front, using a all contro] game to beat Bay. Dave Elemendorf and Pat Thomas set up a touch- down and field goal with long runbacks of Packer, twnovers and Pat Haden passed for 146 yards. Green Bay quarterback Lynn Dickey suffered a broken leg on the final play of the game. Baltimore maintained its: onegame lead over Miami in the AFC East Green -by beating Buffalo while the... Dolphins were tagging New England \ ‘reserve running witha second consecutive dss, PICK OFF TWO The Colts used terceptions by linebackers Ed Simonini and Stan White to set up first half touchdowns by Lydell Mitchell and Roosevelt Leaks to beat the Bills, The Dolphins got by New England with back Gary Davis scoring one touchdown and scam- ring. 73 yards on a ickoff return to set upa Garo Yepremian field goal, Pittsburgh ended a two- game slide and moved into a first place tie in the American Conference Central: as Terry Brad- shaw passed for three touchdowns to beat Cleveland. But it was a costly victory with Brad- shaw, playing with a cast on his broken left wrist, was forced to leave the game when he injured his Jeft shoulder. © The Steelers built a 35- 10 lead and then had to hold off a furious Cleveland . comeback sparked by three touch- lown passes by reserve quarterback Dave Mays in- to running back Larry” Poole, Mays was replac- ing regular Brian Sipe, also forced to the sidelines with an injured shoulder. ’ Haven Moses caught two touchdown passes from Craig Morton, the last one with 1:18 remaining to carry Denver over San Diego. The Chargers held a 14-3 halftime Jéad but the Broncos _ rallied on . Morton touchdown passes of 33 and eight yards. The victory kept Denver tied for first place in the AFC west with Oakland. The defending Super .Bowl-champion Raiders came rom behind three times to overtake Houston. Clarence Davis’s three- yard touchdown in the third period put Oakland ahead to stay. Minnesota’s Fran Tarkenton set an NFL accuracy mark, com- pleting 17 of 18 passes for 195 yards to ignite the Vikings romp over Cincinnati. Tarkenton, who holds most of pro football's Passing records, injured his right ankle late in the third quarter and was carried off on a stretcher. Chuck Foreman scored three TDs and rushed for 133. yards for Min- nesota,now two games ahead of Detroit in the NFC Central division. The day's most dramatic finish came in Chicago, where Bob Avellini threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Greg Latta with three seconds left to play, supplying the Bears with their onepoint victory over Kansas City. The winning score came just 21 seconds after Ed Podolak’s 14-yard touch- down had moved Kansas City into a 27-21 lead. icago’s Walter Payton scored three TDs and rushed for 192 yards, pushing his season's total to 1,129, WIN FOURTH IN ROW San Francisco, which lost its first five games, won its fourth in a row, using Ray Wersching's 33-yard Field goal in over- time to edge New Orleans. Backfield partners Wilbur Jackson and De) Williams did the heavy work for thie ’4Sers. Jackson carried 24 times for 108 yards and Williams gained 110 in 25 carries. San Francisco guard Cas Banaszak broke his leg and, like Green Bay’s Dickey, will miss the remainder of the season. Mark Moseley’s 54 ard field goal with 3:41 eft to play lifted Washington past Philadelphia. The Eagles drove back but Horst Muhlmann's 33-yard field ‘oal try with 18 seconds eft failed and the Red- skins had their victory. Tampa Bay lost its 23rd consecutive game over two seasons, bowing to New York Giants. The Bucs were inside the Giants 15-yard line five times but couldn't manage a single point, New York’s only touch- down came on Bobby Hammond's short plunge after a bad snap on a punt gave the Giants session at the Tampa ay one. Jim Zorn threw a pair of touchdown passes and Seattle’s defence blanked the Jets for the first shutout in the expansion team's history. The Seahawks had 445 yards in total offence compared with 124 for the Jets.