Associated Press: 1977 Nebraska football spring game

Kunz Saves Husker Red LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -Defensive lineman Lee Kunz nailed fullback Keith Steward at the goal line to stop a two-point conversion try and preserve the Nebraska Red team’s 23-21 victory margin Saturday in the Spring Red-White intrasquad football tilt. Tim Wurth, leading rusher and scorer for both teams from his White unit’s I-back slot, moments before had scored his second touchdown of the day to put his mates within a pair of points to knot the contest and just 1:35 remained on the clock. Tom Sorley, quarterback-ing the White unit, set up’ that Wurth touchdown with a late fourth-quarter scamper covering 26 yards. The Red team, led by the 8 of 12 passing of Randy Garcia and the 4 of 7 tosses by back-up quarterback Ed Burns, represented the first and fourth Cornhusker units and the Whites were roughly equivalent to the second and third squads. Earl Everett of the White team and Frank Lockett of the Red contingent provided the 13,038 fans with the afternoon’s most electrifying moments, Everett ripping off a Spring game record 96-yard kickoff return in the first quarter. In 1963, Kent McCloughan ran a kickoff back 88 yards for a touchdown to establish the record Everett bested Saturday. Lockett’s dash for the Red unit covered 74 yards on a punt return in the third stanza. Other Red scoring came on a 1-yard plunge by I-back Rick Berns, a Burns to Lockett pass covering 39 yards to give Lockett a share of scoring honors with Wurth, and Billy Todd’s fourth quarter field goal covering 36 yards. Kicking proved the difference in the scoring, as Dean Sukup of the Whites added a field goal from 21 yards out to the two Wurth TDs and Everett’s record-backing scoring dash, but missed a pair of conversions also. Wurth, just 5-7 and 175 pounds, led rushers with 64 yards in 10 carries. For the Red unit, Berns had 37 yards in 13 carries and fullback Dodie Donnell ran 49 yards in 8 tries. Garcia’s passing leadership accounted for 84 yards and Burns added 63 on the strength of his arm. Sorley’s passing for the Whites accounted for 62 yards as he hit on 5 to 10 o tosses.