August 8, 1974
By Associated Press
ANAHEIM (AP) - "We did it in spite of ourselves, in spite of all of our mistakes," said a happy Coach Babe Parilli in the dressing room after the Stars had defeated the Southern California Sun 11-8 on a fourth-quarter touchdown.
The Stars overcame seven fumbles, one of them on the opening kickoff, saw a Sun touchdown called back, benefitted from Southern California missing all three of its field-goal tries and won with an offense that did nothing until late in the game.
"Our defense bailed us out," said Parilli of the unit that sacked Sun quarterback Tony Adams six times. "The offense owes them a lot of playing time."
The Stars, now 3-2, lost four fumbles, the first when Jim Ford fumbled the kickoff and Alonzo Emery recovered for Southern California on the New York 32.
After failing to budge the ball on two plays, Adams put Southern California ahead, hitting Ike Harris on a 32-yard touchdown pass.
New York's Moses Lajterman connected on a 32-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.
The score remained 8-3 until the Stars scored on a 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Sherman to tight end Bert Askson with 8:19 to go. It capped an 86-yard march.
Askson, who played with the Steelers three seasons ago, caught his touchdown right over the middle over Sun defender Jim Bright and Durwood Keaton and romped the last 10 yards into the end zone.
Still Looking
The Sun's latest kicker, Nick Dzepina, who joined the team only this week, missed three chances. The longest was from 52-yards away and when he muffed a 23-yard try the crowd booed.
"We're still looking for kickers," Sun Coach Tom Fears said.
"We looked at seven people last week - seriously. We've yet to kick our first field goal."
An unhappy Adams noted, "We have missed a lot of field goals."
Adams pressured all night, completed only 10 passes in 25 tries for 116 yards while Sherman hit nine of 20 for 143 yards.
The game's most spectacular Sun play came in the first quarter on a 37-yard screen pass from Adams to running back James McAlister, who took the ball just over the center, McAlister outran the New York secondary for an apparent touchdown, but it was nullified by an illegal procedure penalty.
Kermit Johnson carried 30 times for 137 yards for the Sun but his former high school and UCLA running partner McAlister had only six trips with the ball and complained about it.
"I only got the ball six times. In all the games I've played I've only carried the ball 19 times.
"I'm only out there for blocking."
Bob Gladieux was New York's top rusher with 48 yards in 11 carries.
The Sun suffered its third loss against two victories.
It was the second Sun home game and attendance was announced at 28,174, with 27,873 paid. The team has said it is only allowed 500 free tickets and under its agreement with 42,000 seat Anaheim Stadium must pay a percentage on any complimentary tickets issued above that.