Monday, November 8, 1999

Tanuvasa picks
up sack slack

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Defensive end Ma'a Tanuvasa broke out of his sack slump yesterday in the Denver Broncos' 33-17 victory at San Diego.

Tanuvasa (Mililani) sacked Chargers quarterback Jim Harbaugh twice in the fourth quarter for losses of 5 yards at the San Diego 28 and 3 yards at the San Diego 12. He has co-led the Broncos in sacks with 8 each of the past two seasons.

Tanuvasa now has 2.5 sacks on the season and 21 tackles.

Meanwhile, former Hawaii kicker Jason Elam had four fi eld goals (55, 44, 41 and 24 yards) and three extra points for the Broncos.

Elam, Denver's all-time leading scorer, has made 16 of 21 field goal attempts this season and all 17 point-after tries.

Ink Aleaga (Pac-Five) got his second straight start of the season at weak side linebacker and made three solo tackles as his New Orleans Saints suffered a 31-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But Chris Naeole (Kahuku), who had started 23 consecutive games at guard, did not play because of a knee injury suffered the previous week against Cleveland.

Tight end Itula Mili (Kahuku) caught what would have been a 1-yard touchdown pass from Jon Kitna in the third quarter of Seattle's 37-20 victory at Cincinnati.

It would have been the second regular-season touchdown of Mili's career but an offensive pass interference call against running back Reggie Brown nullified the play.

Backup nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen had a solo tackle for the Bengals.

Running back Adrian Murrell (Leilehua) had 10 yards on seven rushing attempts and 19 yards on three catches in Arizona's 12-7 loss to the New York Jets.

Olin Kreutz (St. Louis) started his ninth straight game at center for the Chicago Bears. His line allowed three sacks as the Bears defeated Green Bay, 14-13.

Backup linebacker Kurt Gouveia made a solo tackle for Washington as the Redksins dropped a 34-17 decision to Buffalo.

Defensive tackle Esera Tuaolo (Kailua) played but didn't record a tackle as the Carolina Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-7.