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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1996)
msssss^mmm^ mm Pag November 11 The Battalion a 1 1> / il JL o Page 7 Monday • November 11,1 996 the blue scree: For more inf( 515. jesday Aggies send Bears back into hibernation, 24-7 isociation: The: neeting at 7 p.- r or more infonr; astle at 696-331 By Jamie Burch The Battalion Saddled with a 4-5 record en- . , , . taring Saturday’s contest book fair of :' 0 l 0 against Baylor University, the Jm 10,11 Texas A&M Football Team had u e| Way ' Fc two objectives for the game — , ! l ( . line a , reaching the elusive .500 mark -ai d figuring out which quarter- beck is more adept at moving rograms: Hie Aggie offense, Branndon 'O'ting:: stewart or Randy McCown. Spring 97 pnj The A&M running game sup- > p.m. in 35t p] e( j half of what the team was linking for, rushing for 369 ykrds in a 24-7 victory over the is a Battal B, ars - The A gg ies ’ ground ex lists nonfP| os i° n little for Stewart or faculty eif’» c Cown to show, especially s. Items slitr- d no later tlI Texas A&M 24, Baylor 7 i advance of date. Appl es and noli! its and will net’s Up. If estions, pit: 'sroom at i onal Whafs are on Thei b page eb.tamu.edi I&M 0 Baylor 7 0 14 10 0 0 0 — 24 — 7 A&M Baylor 'First Downs 19 12 Rushes-yards 55-369 38-58 Dassing yards 120 124 fcomp-att-int 6-18-0 12-28-0 Return yards 0 0 Dunts-avg. 4-46 11-49 ffumbles-lost 1-0 2-0 Renalties-yards 6-60 2-27 ■ime of possession 31:07 28:53 ilwrslt I-DAVE irvoyDd I-DAVE ir Crt infer -DAVE Seor^e ih Dr. -DAVE during the second half. Trailing 7-0 at halftime, the Ag gie offense ignited in the third quarter. After forcing Baylor to punt on the first series of the half, A&M took over the ball on its own 48-yard line. On their second play from scrimmage, sophomore tailback Eric Bernard broke free and scampered 40 yards for a touch down. The score remained 7-6 af ter a failed point-after attempt by placekicker Kyle Bryant. Two possessions later, the Aggies would stick to the ground game. Using a combination of tail backs, A&M capped off a 65-yard scoring drive with a four-yard touchdown run by sophomore running back D’Andre Hardeman to grab its first lead. A spectacular catch by se nior wideout Albert Connell in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion put the Aggies up 14-7. The Wrecking Crew held the Baylor offense at bay in the sec ond half. A&M limited Baylor to 53 offensive yards in the half, while amassing seven tackles for lost yardage, including four quarterback sacks. Senior noseguard Eddie Jasper said the key to A&M’s defensive performance was Baylor’s deci sion to stray from its game plan. “For some reason in the sec ond half, they completely went away from their running game,” Jasper said. “If you can’t run, I don’t think you can win the big game. But we like playing passing teams because it’s open season on quarterbacks.” After a 40-yard Bryant field goal extended A&M’s lead to 17- 7 early in the fourth quarter, the Aggie running game exploded once more. On second down and five from the A&M five-yard line, Hardeman burst through the Baylor line and sprinted 95 yards down field for an insur ance touchdown. The play was the longest run from the line of scrimmage in Aggie history. Hardeman said all he was thinking about was reaching the end zone. “I just turned upfield and headed for the end zone,” Hardeman said. “I thought about the possibility of some one catching up, but I just put it in my mind that I wasn’t going to let anybody catch me.” A&M Head Coach R.C. Slocum said increased game experience for the team’s younger players made a difference. “You get better when you play,” Slocum said. “Each time you play, you learn something else, and they’ve learned a lot.” It was Baylor that drew first blood in the contest. Surprising the Wrecking Crew with a pass ing attack, Baylor scored on a 13-yard touchdown run by tail back Dexter Ford on its first pos session to grab the early lead. The scoring drive was twice sustained with 22-yard pass completions on third down and long situations. While the A&M offense re mained in a lull throughout the first half, Baylor came up empty on several scoring opportunities. Late in the second quarter, Bear placekicker Kyle Atteberry missed a 39-yard field goal attempt. In the third quarter, a Baylor offensive pass interference call erased a 14-yard completion and a first down at the A&M 22- yard line. The Bears then came up empty when Atteberry missed another field goal at tempt from 54 yards out. Stewart, who completed just 3 of 11 passes for 52 yards in : -y -7,^ | ||§jg i Y y? T- Tim Moog, The Battalion Sophomore tailback Eric Bernard breaks loose from a pack of Bear defenders Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium. yards. Tailbacks Sirr Parker and Dante Hall also got in on the action, running for 63 and 76 yards, respec tively. The Bears were held to 58 rushing yards on 38 attempts. The Aggies (5-5 overall, 3-3 in the Big 12) can still be eligible for a bowl berth with victories over the Univer sity of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in their final two games. Tim Moog, The Battalion Sophomore tailback Dexter Ford is engulfed by members of A&M's Wrecking Crew. The Aggie defense limited Baylor to 58 rushing yards. 1996 Big 12 Conference Football Standings the first half, was taken out of Conference Overall the game with 8:12 remaining in the second quarter with the W South Division L Pet. PF PA W L Pet. PF PA Aggies trailing. Texas 4 2 .666 228 137 5 4 .555 306 208 However, redshirt freshman Texas Tech 4 3 .571 175 137 5 4 .555 245 172 Randy McCown, last week’s Texas A&M 3 3 .500 126 107 5 5 .500 303 190 hero against Oklahoma State, Oklahoma 3 3 .500 165 235 3 6 .333 234 337 failed to jumpstart the Aggie of- Baylor 1 5 .166 127 195 4 5 .444 207 234 fense, completing just 1 of 3 passes for 11 yards. A&M Oklahoma St. 1 North Division 6 .143 122 264 4 6 .400 205 310 recorded just 16 yards of of- Colorado 6 0 1.000 197 109 8 1 .888 295 182 fense in the second quarter. Nebraska 6 0 1.000 299 48 8 1 .888 419 90 Stewart started and played the Kansas State 5 1 .833 162 130 8 1 .888 290 140 entire second half. Kansas 2 4 .333 129 206 4 5 .444 258 278 Hardeman finished the game Missouri 1 5 .166 106 240 3 6 .333 187 308 with 121 yards on seven carries while Bernard ran 21 times for 115 Iowa State 1 5 .166 187 215 2 7 .222 273 337 Longhorns take control of first in Big 12 South (AP) — The Texas Longhorns picked a good time to show their hearts, something fans were be ginning to question. The Longhorns could have added to a season of unfulfilled dreams by allowing Texas Tech to rally past them in Saturday’s Big 12 South Division showdown. The Red Raiders came back from 28-3 and 35-18 deficits, but the Longhorns (5-4, 4-2) held on for a 38-32 victory and moved into the division lead. The Raiders (5-4, 4-3) dropped to second place. “We learned from our mis takes,” Texas fullback Ricky Williams said. “We were sick of people saying we were under achievers and didn’t have heart. We knew that wasn’t true. And we knew what we could do.” Texas Tech narrowed the Longhorns’ lead to 35-32 in the fourth quarter but the Long horns used 4:11 of the clock to set up a 53-yard field goal by Phil Dawson with 51 seconds left in the game. That meant a field goal couldn't tie the game and possi bly force overtime. “This time, we weren’t worried at all,” Taje Allen said. “I don’t know why. I guess we learned how to play all 60 minutes.” The Longhorns almost blew a 21-point lead before beating Baylor a week ago and they did blow late leads to Notre Dame, Virginia and Oklahoma. They came away smiling this time. “You probably just saw one of the greatest shootouts of ’96,” Texas coach John Mackovic said. “That was one heck of a football game.” How the Big 12 South Division stacks up What each school must do to claim the Big 12 South title Texas must beat Kansas and A&M or could win with a loss and some help. Tech must beat Oklahoma and hope (iT? Texas loses its two remaining games. Oklahoma must beat A&M and Texas Tech and hope for a Texas loss. A&M must beat OU and Texas and hope that with a Tech loss to OU. gi jfjjf m» in jPii ■HI \ trainer WOMW'S training 74,99. 143# 52 Soccer falls to Nebraska in Big 12 championship round, 1-0 ii Staff and Wire Reports 91 The Texas A&M Soccer Team overcame draining fatigue and cold weather conditions Sunday in the final of the Big 12 Conference Championships, but it could not overcome its toughest obstacle — the University of Nebraska. Playing in a cloudy, blustery 37- degree climate, the sixth-ranked Ag gies fell 1-0 in double overtime to the fifth-ranked Cornhuskers at the Anheuser-Busch Conference and Sports Centre in St. Louis, Mo. Lindsay Eddleman’s goal with less than two-and-a-half minutes remain ing in the contest sealed a hard- IR RIPPER 'S CROSS; rtAINW* • Reg. 79.^; % 123 2^' •OMlff* nuuNiN* 1499^1362829 Stew Milne, The Baitalion Members of the A&M Soccer team bundle up on the bench to keep warm at the Big 12 Championships. The game time temperature was 37 degrees. earned victory for Nebraska. A&M was unable to avenge its only regular season conference loss, a 1-0 setback to the Cornhuskers Sept. 29. The Aggies returned to play Sunday after eduring a tightly-contested semifinal match against Baylor on Saturday, a 5-4 A&M overtime victory. Despite allowing a season-high four goals, A&M capitalized on mul tiple-goal efforts from Bryn Blalack and Kristen Koop to advance to Sunday’s final. While the second-seeded Aggies enjoyed a first round bye, Baylor (17-3-1) defeated the University of Texas 3-1 on Friday to earn a matchup with A&M. The Aggies fell behind 2-0 to the Bears after 29 minutes, but Koop would cut the lead in half with a goal at the 34:02 mark. However, Courtney Saunders’ second goal of the match just 77 seconds later would post the Bears to a 3-1 halftime advantage. “Baylor played terrific,” A&M Head Coach G. Guerrieri said. “They came out and played well and put us in the hole for a lot of the game. Courtney Saunders, over the course of two games, appears to be the player of the tournament, which is saying some thing considering how well Bryn played today.” A Blalack goal at the 56:41 mark followed by another Koop score six minutes later would knot the game at three. Saunders gave the Bears the lead again with her third goal of the match in the 65th minute, but Blalack drove a penalty kick in for a score to send the match into overtime. Blalack’s direct kick goal 4:57 into the extra frame won the game for A&M. The score marked her fifth hat trick of the season and her 10th game-winning goal. “I couldn’t be more pleased with the courage and confidence our players played with to come back three separate times to pull off this win,” Guerrieri said. “To be down two goals at halftime and one goal late in regulation, and then pull something out in overtime, is quite an accomplishment that will have a positive effect on our program in the future.” A&M senior defender Tina Robin son was named Defensive Most Valuable Player of the Champi onships and was also named to the All-Tournament team. Joining Robinson on the team were A&M senior defender Sandy Edwards, ju nior midfielder Diana Rowe and for wards Koop and Blalack. First-round pairings for the 1996 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championships will be announced today at 5 p.m. by Kathy Lindahl, chair of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Committee. The announcement will be televised live by FoxSports Net work affiliates. Stew Milne, The Battalion A&M senior forward Kristen Koop drives past a Baylor defender before passing off Saturday in St. Louis.