Tigers

Marple Newtown lost the game, but that didn't get coach Jim Smith down. "I'm as pleased as can be, even though it was a loss," he said after his team fell, 33-10, to state power Wilson of West Lawn Friday night at Broomall. Smith said his club should profit from the game. "We have improved since last week (a season-opening loss to Academy Park). We still have to get more yards rushing. " Wilson, a suburban Reading team that was ranked No. 2 in the state last season, mixed a ground attack with accurate passing to win its third straight this year.

The Detroit Tigers head to Yankee Stadium for the playoffs, knowing all too well how close they were to winning the AL Central title and opening at home. Needing one more victory to clinch the division, the sagging Tigers lost their final five games of the season. They wound up with the wild card after yesterday's disappointment - wasting a six-run lead and then watching All-Star starter Kenny Rogers lose in relief 10-8 to the last-place Kansas City Royals in 12 innings. "We got beat," Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson said.

The Tigers set a club record last night at Detroit's Comerica Park, and as one might guess, it was a negative one. By losing, 7-4, to the Cleveland Indians in front of an announced crowd of 13,908, the Tigers fell to 17-50 - the worst 67-game start in team history. The 1996 team was 18-49 en route to a 53-109 finish. It also was another come-from-ahead loss. For the 11th time in the past 13 games they've had a lead, the Tigers lost. They are 7-19 in games in which they've led. The Indians entered the game with an American League-worst 10-23 road record, but had the good fortune to be playing the Tigers, now 6-27 at home.

The last time Del Park coached a basketball team, there were no footprints on the moon, flower power was in, and Sgt. Pepper was no more lonely than the next guy. It was long enough ago that his current team might not even know about these references. But make no mistake, Park is back in coaching, full-throttle. After a 23- year absence from coaching (his last job was at Conestoga in 1967-68), which Park left to spend more time with his family, a driven Park takes over a Tigers program that has struggled in recent years and hasn't posted a winning season since 1985.

The season ends for Marple Newtown tomorrow, and going by the record, it has not been a good season for the Tigers. They will go into their final Central League game against Conestoga with a 2-15 league record, 4-19 overall. But Friday, Marple pushed Lower Merion, tied for the league lead, and got an inspirational effort from a player who had his role redefined in midseason. Rob Magliano and Marple Newtown proved, at least for one night, that winning is not always the only thing that matters.

Marple Newtown coach Vince Clarke says his school has never been a basketball power. With only two players returning to this year's varsity team, that isn't likely to change soon. But if the 1989-90 Tigers play with the intensity Clarke encourages and believes he sees at this early date, they probably will be spoilers on at least a few occasions. "They really have a willingness to work," Clarke said. "That's probably been the hallmark of this team so far. " COACH.

The Marple Newtown girls' baskeball team raised some eyes around the Central League when the Tigers won their recent opener, beating West Chester East, 55-50. East, which reached the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament, was picked to be a strong team in District 1 again this season. "That was a good win for us," said Tigers coach Ray Johnston. His club now stands at 2-0 overall heading into this afternoon's Central League opener against visiting Upper Darby. Johnston particularly liked the way his team handled itself on the boards against the tall and physical Vikings.

There wasn't anything unusual about the outcome of Friday night's Ridley- Marple Newtown basketball game. Ridley's Green Raiders won, 73-63 - as expected - to improve to 18-2 overall and 14-1 in the Central League. What was unusual, however, was how Ridley won. Instead of using their usual impenetrable defense, the Green Raiders had trouble all night with the Tigers offense, and without senior guard Bill Bair's career-high 28 points, Ridley could have been in jeopardy of its second league loss in a week (Penncrest upset Ridley Feb. 3)

Head bowed as he stood near the midcourt stripe in the Cherry Hill East gym, Al Dyer shuffled his feet as well-wishers took turns offering their congratulations. The Woodrow Wilson coach searched for the right words to describe his feelings after the Tigers dismantled Timber Creek, 67-31, for the South Jersey Group 3 girls' basketball championship. "My mind's all over the place right now," Dyer said almost apologetically. "This is the third straight year we've gotten to this game, and the last two we got our [butts]

Abington Friends coach Steve Chadwin knew that the Germantown Friends team his players would face in the championship game of the Friends School playoffs would bear little resemblance to the one that lost to the Kangaroos by 10 points during the regular season. "It's hard to explain," Chadwin said. "But I told our kids that they (Germantown Friends) would have a mental edge, that they would be tougher, that they would want it more than they did a couple of weeks ago. " Chadwin's words turned out to be prophetic.