South Carolina seniors turn losing into winning

Posted 5:54AM on Thursday 3rd January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina quarterback Phil Petty couldn't think of a better way to leave the field after his final college game. ``No, I don't know if there is,'' said Petty, holding his Outback Bowl MVP trophy after the 14th-ranked Gamecocks held on to defeat No. 22 Ohio State, 31-28, on New Year's Day. Petty and other Gamecock seniors were carried off the field following the team's second-straight bowl victory. Coach Lou Holtz said the team planned that the night before, designating which underclassmen would lift which seniors. After all, this senior class had been lifting South Carolina the past two years. ``Our seniors have set a record for wins in a two-year period and also have the record for most losses in a two-year period,'' an excited Holtz said. ``That wasn't their fault, but they did them in the proper order.'' When Petty was a redshirt freshman in 1997, he couldn't imagine what was ahead. The team went 1-21 in 1998 and 1999, and fans blamed Petty, saying he was too slow with too little arm strength. Others wanted for a more dynamic leader. Petty's mother, Loretta Sweeney, said she and her son had seen the depths of college football. ``Now we're close to the mountaintop,'' she said. She had almost spoken too soon. After her son had thrown two touchdown passes and Andrew Pinnock ran for two scores to put the Gamecocks up 28-0, Ohio State quarterback Steve Bellisari had run for one fourth-quarter score and threw for three others to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining. But another South Carolina senior, cornerback Sheldon Brown, made a saving interception on Bellisari's final chance. Four plays after Brown's 37-yard return, sophomore Daniel Weaver hit a fluttering end-over-end kick that almost ran out of gas before crossing the goal post for South Carolina's victory. Petty joined the mob scene of Gamecocks celebrating at Raymond James Stadium. They had won two straight bowl games for the first time in 108 seasons of football. Their 17-7 mark an amazing turnaround was the best two-year stretch in South Carolina history. ``Two years ago, my sophomore year, I heard talk that I might not be good enough to play in this league, and that our team might not be good enough,'' Petty said. ``But I think we redeemed ourselves. We bounced back and had two great years.'' South Carolina tailback-receiver Ryan Brewer, the MVP of the Gamecocks 24-7 Outback victory over Ohio State in 2001, was grateful for the leadership and trail set by Petty and the seniors. ``That's special. Those guys needed to leave with a win, something special, and it's something to remember,'' Brewer said. Leadership was everywhere this season. Brian Scott, a senior receiver, had left the field on crutches earlier in bowl week, but caught seven passes for 83 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown. Scott, whose 16-yard touchdown reception from Petty with 1:22 remaining gave the Gamecocks a 14-9 victory at Georgia on Sept. 8, said Petty asked him each day how he felt. ``I told him, 'I'm fine, I'm playing,' '' Scott said. ``This was our last game.'' Holtz doesn't expect the success to end here. He has said that despite all the key departures, he expects the Gamecocks to be better in 2002. They'll have to go a long way to find clutch players like Brown, the cornerback who didn't think he'd get the chance to make a game-saving play. On the sidelines, he found roommate and fellow senior cornerback Andre Goodman to wait out Weaver's kick. When the ball tumbled through ``I couldn't do anything but hug my roommate,'' Brown says, ``because we've been through so much here.''

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