2 more Lions plead guilty in fight

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Two Penn State football players pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor charge in connection with an on-campus fight last year, resolving the last of the major legal problems for current team members.

Linebacker Navorro Bowman and defensive tackle Phil Taylor pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge in exchange for prosecutors' dropping more serious assault charges.

"You're never pleased to have to plead to anything," said Taylor's defense attorney, Ron McGlaughlin. "But from the standpoint that the matter is finally over with, I think it worked out appropriately."

The players were sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service by Centre County Judge Bradley P. Lunsford.

Taylor, who will be a junior in the fall, and Bowman, who will be a redshirt sophomore, had been kicked off the team while their cases were pending.

Sports information director Jeff Nelson said he has not received any update that would indicate either player's status with the team had changed.

Bowman and Taylor are among a number of Penn State football players who have been charged over the last year in connection to assaults.

Although authorities said more than a dozen players were seen on video surveillance near the altercation, police ultimately charged three players with beating a Philadelphia man who was attending a party at the campus student center Oct. 7.

Defensive tackle Chris Baker pleaded guilty to simple assault earlier this month and was sentenced to probation. Cornerback Knowledge Timmons, who was charged for an altercation after the fight, was placed in a probation program that will allow his record to be expunged upon completion. *