Field Goal

- Alex Lachman hit a 43-yard field goal with no time left on the clock to lift visiting Johns Hopkins over Thomas More, 31-29, in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs Saturday. "I could tell by the sound it was good," Hopkins freshman long snapper Reid Vanderlinden said. "I looked up as it went past the line and knew it was going through." The win marks Hopkins' second upset of a previously undefeated team. The Blue Jays (10-2) handed Hampden Sydney (10-1) a 23-7 loss in the opening round Nov. 21 and moved beyond the first round for the first time in school history.

The kick knifed through the thick fog and split the uprights at Memorial Stadium, giving the Colts a 10-7 victory in sudden-death overtime. In a flash, fans swarmed the field. Down came the goal posts. Up went Toni Linhart, on someone's shoulders. Linhart's 31-yard field goal defeated the rival Miami Dolphins late in 1975 and all but clinched Baltimore's first of three straight AFC East titles. It was the kick of a lifetime for Linhart, who died Sunday morning of cancer, at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium . He was 70. One of only six Austrian-born NFL players, Anton Hans Jorg Linhart signed with the Colts in 1974 after one season with the New Orleans Saints and an 11-year soccer career in Europe.

DALLAS WEEK in Washington, and shades of George Allen: the window shades he used to draw as the Redskins practiced for the dreaded Cowboys.The Redskins are practicing in solemn secrecy this week to meet an America's Team that is next-to-last in the NFL in total offense and 25th in rushing defense.The Texans' headliner is quarterback Troy Aikman, who has a golden arm, blond hair, a platinum contract and no posse. Touted after a 13-game career as the second coming of Joe Montana, Aikman ranks 24th in the league.

Ravens veteran free safety Ed Reed has never embraced a conventional approach. So the Louisiana native wasn't keen on the idea of retiring after a Super Bowl victory in front of his family and friends. Following the Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Reed declared in the locker room emphatically that he has more football left in him. "This is not it," Reed shouted. "This is not it. I'm not done. " Reed, 34, has battled multiple health issues, including a torn shoulder labrum and a nerve impingement.

BOWIE -- American International quickly has learned to dread its visits to Bowie State.In 1988, the Bulldogs' Cinderella trip to the NCAA Division II playoffs was made possible by a last-minute victory over AIC in the first meeting between the schools. Bowie State (3-5) will watch the 1991 postseason from the sidelines, but yesterday it posted another comeback win over the Yellow Jackets (3-3-1) from Springfield, Mass., this time by 20-17.Bowie State's offense was ineffective for all but a handful of series in the first 54 minutes, but the Bulldogs drove 90 yards in nine plays for the winning touchdown, the final 36 yards coming on a pass from senior quarterback Jason Herold to Tom Butz with 2:51 remaining.

ANNAPOLIS -- On a day in which Navy's passing game was grounded, it took an effort from two backup running backs to save the Midshipmen from an embarrassing loss.Running backs Jason Pace and Dominic Flis combined for 164 rushing yards, as the Midshipmen rallied yesterday to beat Villanova, 23-21, before 21,491 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.Quarterback Alton Grizzard was presented the game ball for becoming Navy's all-time offense leader (he amassed 159 yards, to give him 4,553 for his career)

What went right -- The Ravens held the Colts to two field goals after Peyton Manning had them as close as the 5- and 23-yard lines on separate possessions. DT Haloti Ngata and LB Terrell Suggs stuffed Joseph Addai on consecutive downs inside the 10 to force the Colts to settle for a 23-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri on the first possession. An 18-yard punt return by Cory Ross late in the quarter set up the Ravens for their first points, a 40-yard field goal by Matt Stover on the first play of the second quarter.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Just when Towson State thought its second-half rally would be enough to win yesterday, American International College mounted a comeback of its own.The Tigers fell, 19-17, on a 20-yard field goal by AIC's Brian McManus with 23 seconds to play.The loss dropped Towson's record to 5-4. It winds up its season next Saturday at home against Southern Connecticut.It was only the second victory in eight starts for AIC, which still has two games to play."With a young football team like we have, it's hard to get them up for a team that's 1-6," said Towson coach Gordy Combs.

BOWIE -- A 23-yard field goal by Virginia State's Robert Okonkwo on the last play of the game lifted the visiting Trojans over defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Bowie State, 20-17, yesterday.The victory improved Virginia State's (3-1 overall) CIAA Northern Division record to 2-0 and made Bowie State (1-2 overall and 0-2 in the CIAA) a long shot in its try for a second straight conference title."This loss really hurt us," Bowie defensive back Steve Smith said.

PHILADELPHIA -- In the end of this 93rd meeting between Army and Navy, it was the faces and the embraces that told the story: the tears and sobs of defeat as Navy safety Chad Chatlos and his dad, George, embraced on one side of the field, and the cheers and screams of victory as Army kicker Patmon Malcom and his family embraced on the other.Minutes earlier, Chatlos and his Navy teammates watched in disbelief as Malcom's 49-yard field goal with 12 seconds left gave Army an emotional 25-24 win over the Midshipmen before a crowd of 65,207 at Veterans Stadium.

In this town, it remains a sepia-toned nightmare: Billy Cundiff's 32-yard field-goal attempt in the chill of Gillette Stadium drifting left, left, left - so far left you thought it would smack one of the cheerleaders. Cundiff has never recovered from that miss in last year's AFC championship, the one that left the Ravens in stunned disbelief and the New England Patriots headed to the Super Bowl with a 23-20 win. Funny thing is, Justin Tucker can't get away from that miss, either.

- Ultimately, it was a special teams play that lifted the Ravens into the AFC championship game. For much of Saturday's 38-35 double-overtime win over the Denver Broncos, however, it appeared that special teams would be the Ravens' downfall. The Broncos' 5-foot-5 Trindon Holliday became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same postseason game. He also set NFL records for the longest kickoff return (104) and punt return (90) in postseason history.

In a playoff upset for the ages, the Ravens thrilled fans who had embraced their underdog status by defeating the Denver Broncos in double overtime Saturday on a lengthy field goal by their rookie kicker. The Ravens will move on to either Houston or Foxboro, Mass., for the AFC Championship Game next Sunday evening. And linebacker Ray Lewis, who plans to retire at the end of the season, will continue his 17-year career for at least another week. Ravens cornerback Corey Graham intercepted Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning late in the first overtime to set up the game-winning 47-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

When the best game that almost every Ravens' player had ever been a part of was finally over, Joe Flacco threw his hands in the air, Justin Tucker emphatically pumped his fist and Ray Lewis dropped to his knees, reduced to tears. Tucker's 47-yard field goal 1 minute and 42 seconds into the second overtime ended a thrilling and exhausting divisional round playoff game and sent the Ravens into the AFC championship game for the second straight year. The 38-35 victory over the Denver Broncos earns the Ravens a date with the winner of Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.

Baltimore's football teams haven't always lost on last-ditch field goals, as per the past two weeks. Sometimes, they've blocked those kicks. In 1978, with eight seconds remaining and the Colts leading 7-6, Denver tried a field goal. But defensive tackle Mike Barnes crashed through the Broncos' line, leaped and slapped the ball with his right hand, saving the day against the defending AFC champions. Thirty-four years later, Barnes recalls the play. "I knew I was going to block the kick when we lined up," the one-time Pro Bowl lineman said.

Deactivated for the previous five contests, Richard Crawford picked an opportune time to make a lasting impression for the Washington Redskins. The rookie cornerback's 64-yard punt return set up rookie kicker Kai Forbath's 34-yard field goal that propelled Washington to a 31-28 win over the Ravens at FedEx Field Sunday. The outcome was significant as it kept the Redskins one game behind the New York Giants in the NFC East and one game behind the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears for the last wildcard berth.

LANDOVER -- Rock bottom.That is where the Washington Redskins landed yesterday after they were beaten by a St. Louis Rams team that had not won a game since the last day of summer, 70 days ago.The Rams shoved the final bit of dirt in Washington's face when Jeff Wilkins kicked a 25-yard field goal with four seconds left in the game for a 23-20 victory at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.That's right, the Redskins can no longer even count on beating a 3-10 team in their new stadium.After a 3-0 start at Jack Kent Cooke, the Redskins (6-6-1)

ROCKVILLE -- A hard-hitting Loyola defense contained Georgetown Prep's J. R. Purnell on most of his 16 carries yesterday.But give him an inch, and he'll run forever, or at least the 80 yards he needed to jump-start the Little Hoyas (8-1) of Montgomery County, ranked No. 20 by The Washington Post, in a 10-7 win over No. 9 Loyola (4-3).Trailing 7-0 with 8: 51 to go in the first half, the 5-foot-9, 195-pound Purnell (127 yards) broke up the middle on first-and-10 at his own 20 and blew by the Dons' defense for a touchdown.

It was the anatomy of failure for the Ravens' punt team, a costly breakdown at the most inopportune time. Two minutes into overtime of a 31-28 loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday at FedEx Field, the Ravens allowed a 64-yard punt return to Redskins cornerback Richard Crawford that directly led to a 34-yard game-winning field goal by kicker Kai Forbath . "We just didn't cover the punt the way we were supposed to," running back ...

It wasn't simply the disgust of watching the Pittsburgh Steelers, their most hated rival, come to their stadium and revive their season while temporarily delaying the Ravens' bid to clinch a playoff spot. That surely hurt but it was the manner in which it happened and what it means going forward that left the Ravens quietly trudging out of their locker room Sunday night, some shell-shocked and searching for answers, others proclaiming that they had just beaten themselves. In a season where the Ravens have consistently found ways to win, regardless of how much they struggled and how bleak things looked, they discovered a deflating way to lose.