NCAA Division I Football
LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska guard Toniu Fonoti shattered the school record for “pancake” blocks with 32 in the Cornhuskers’ 41-31 win over Texas Tech.
Nebraska has kept track of the blocks that leave defenders flat on their backs since 1995. The school record had been 23, set by Josh Heskew against California in 1998 and Russ Hochstein last year at Notre Dame.
Fonoti had 10 pancakes in Nebraska’s first 13 plays of the second half Saturday as the Huskers drove for a touchdown and a field goal. He had 20 pancakes last week against Baylor.
The 6-foot-4, 340-pound junior from Hauula, Hawaii, holds the Nebraska pancake record for a season with 155, set last year. He has 128 this season with at least four games remaining.
National Football League
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) New England wide receiver David Patten became the first NFL player in 22 years to account for touchdowns by running, receiving and passing in the same game.
Patten scored on a 29-yard end around on the Patriots’ first offensive play, then caught a 91-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady with 8:56 left in the half.
Just 1:45 later, Patten caught a pass from Brady, then turned and threw a 60-yard TD pass to Troy Brown.
The last player to complete the TD triple play was Walter Payton in 1979.
CLEVELAND (AP) Matt Stover of the Baltimore Ravens set an NFL record Sunday by kicking a field goal for the 32nd straight game, beating the mark he shared with Fred Cox.
Stover kicked a 21-yard field goal with 5:11 remaining in the first half, pulling the Ravens within 7-3. The last time he didn’t make a field goal in a game was against Kansas City on Oct. 21, 1999.
Since missing a 37-yarder that day, Stover has made 62 of 68 attempts.
Stover tied Cox’s record last week against Green Bay. Cox set the mark for Minnesota from 1968-70.
The 33-year-old Stover began his career with the Browns in 1991 and kicked for Cleveland until the team moved to Baltimore after the 1995 season.
In 1995, Stover kicked 29 field goals to break his Cleveland club record for field goals in a season.
Olympics
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) About 300 people who signed up to volunteer or work for the Winter Olympics have been rejected because of criminal background checks.
Utah’s Bureau of Criminal Identification says about 3 percent of all Olympic applicants are failing background checks. That means thousands of more people could be turned away.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee is paying $10 for background checks that could total $1 million, making for the Bureau of Criminal Identification’s largest contract.
The FBI is independently screening some Olympic workers. SLOC president Mitt Romney and his chief operating officer, Fraser Bullock, are undergoing background checks after applying for national security clearance.
The checks are necessary to ensure the protection of dignitaries, athletes and spectators, Romney said Friday.
The Bureau of Criminal Identification searches state and national criminal databanks and also looks for outstanding arrest warrants.
Drug and alcohol-related convictions have accounted for the most rejections so far, said Nannette Rolfe, director of the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Other offenses that can bring rejection include convictions for assault, sex offenses, gambling, child abuse, robbery or weapons convictions, Rolfe said.
The system isn’t foolproof. Many volunteers come from overseas, where their criminal records, if any, can be hard to retrieve. And people with similar names can be mixed up.
Major League Baseball
DETROIT (AP) The housecleaning among Detroit Tigers coaches continues, with Lance Parrish the latest to be kicked out.
Parrish said Sunday that the Tigers told him that they did not want him back as third-base coach.
“I was very, very disappointed,” Parrish said from his home in Yorba Linda, Calif.” This threw me for a loop. They’ve given me some options, such as a minor-league assignment, but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’m going to wait and see what other options I may have.”
Earlier this month, the Tigers announced that hitting coach Bill Madlock and bullpen catcher Ron Nedset would not return for 2002.
A Tigers spokesman said it would be up to manager Phil Garner to comment on Parrish’s status with the team.
“I’m not ready to make a statement about that,” Garner said Sunday.
Parrish, the Tigers’ first pick in the 1974 draft, played catcher in Detroit from 1977-86 and won three Gold Gloves and six Silver Slugger awards.
Parrish began his coaching career with the Kansas City Royals in 1996 and continued it with the Los Angeles Dodgers for two seasons before returning to Detroit to be a coach after the 1998 season.
“I loved doing what I was doing and I definitely wanted to be a part of the Tigers at the major-league level, but life goes on” Parrish said.”Hopefully, something will work out somewhere.”