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Wrecking Crew forces eight USL turnovers to erase memory of ’96 loss
By Chris Ferrell
Sports editor
Without saying a word, senior guard
eve McKinney summed up the entire af-
rnoon for the Texas A&M Football Team.
As he sat back with a confident smile, his
shirt did all ofthe talking for him. Its sleeves
rreatingedii ere cut off and it was drenched with sweat,
lould beai)l:| id the three words printed on the front of i t,
,REAKTHEIR WILL,” said everything that
aeded to be said about the day.
The Aggies broke the University of
uthwestern Louisiana’s will early and of-
inin every phase of the game as they rolled
a 66-0 victory Saturday at Kyle Field to
enge last season’s 29-22 loss to USL.
e thel
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e based on
iat national;
“It was very important to come out and
get going right away and say, ‘Hey, this is a
different deal here. We’re not going to give
you a bunch of opportunities here to do
something with,”’ coach R. C. Slocum said.
“And I think we did a good job on both sides
of the ball of taking control of the game and
really getting the game over fairly early.”
The breaking of wills started with the
defense.
After getting off to a slow start two weeks
ago against Sam Houston, the Wrecking
Crew held the Ragin’ Cajuns to 32 yards in
the first quarter, limiting them to just 14
plays on four possessions.
“I was excited because normally it takes
a while for our defense to start clicking,” se
, ircrlavM derek demere/The battalion
,u 'Sophomore tail back Dante Hall returns a punt 70 yards for a touchdown Saturday
referenfe gainst Southwestern Louisiana. The punt was the second Hall has returned for a touch-
'7:00 ' Iwn in his career.
nior defensive end Brad Crowley said. “We
came out the first drive and just stuck it to
them and didn’t stop the whole game and I
was real pleased with that.”
Junior linebacker Dat Nguyen said the
defense improved over the off week.
“Overall, I think we’re making progress
every week,” Nguyen said. “Overall I think
we looked aggressive, everyone was flying
to the football. That’s what we try to em
phasize all spring, all summer, in camp also.
Eveiybody flies to the ball is pretty much the
tradition of the Wrecking Crew.”
USL could not find an answer for A&M’s
defense. The Ragin’ Cajuns put the ball on
the ground seven times, losing six of them
and threw two interceptions, the first one to
sophomore cornerback Sedrick Curry and
the second to junior corner Shun Horn.
The turnover bug struck one last time for
USL as sophomore linebacker Sean Coryatt
returned USL running back Baron Roger’s
fourth quarter fumble for A&M’s final
touchdown of the day.
The only bright spot of the day for USL
came when junior wide receiver Brandon
Stokley became the school’s all time recep
tion leader with 176 career catches. Howev
er, it was quickly turned into their biggest
loss of the day when Stokley, the team’s
main offensive threat, tore his ACL shortly
before halftime.
The Ragin’ Cajuns finished the day with
245 yards of total offense and no points. The
Wrecking Crew has yet to allow a touch
down through two games this season.
Then the A&M offense took its turn.
It took the Aggies just 1:44 to cover 59
yards on five plays as junior quarterback
Branndon Stewart kept from 1 -yard out to
give A&M a 7-0 lead.
“Truthfully, we could have killed those
guys and they knew it from the first play,”
McKinney said. “We scored on our first
five drives.
“We got out there the first drive and we
were like ‘All right, we’re going to score a
touchdown, no messing around with these
guys. We’re going to break their will from the
first drive and keep on breaking it.’ That’s
what we tried to do.”
They were successful, racking up 399
yards of offense. Three hundred twenty-one
of those came in the first half.
A&M scored on eight of their first nine
possessions including their first five.
“It always feels better to have points on
you
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By Jamie Burch
Staff ivr iter
The only thing spicy about the Ra-
i’ Cajuns brand of football was All-
nerican wide receiver Brandon Stok-
r.Now that Stokley is most likely lost
the year, it appears fans in the
amp land will have to stomach a
nd season.
Stokley was injured late in the first
Tof the Aggies 66-0 blowout win over
thwestern
uisiana (0-3).The
lior wide out
light five passes
60 yards.
USL head coach
id Brandon’s fa-
jer, Nelson Stok-
said he fears the
r receiver may
lost for the re
minder of his ju-
Dryear.
think he tore his ACL,” coach
nkley said with an obvious look of
istration in his eyes. “They (the team
ctors) will reexamine him tomorrow,
it, it doesn’t look good.”
Losing Stokley for the season would
an even bigger blow to the Cajuns
an Saturday’s 66-point spread or
ir three consecutive losses.
“We don’t have many weapons of-
isively,” coach Stokley said. “And he
is one of them. Actually it was tough
us to get him the football a lot be-
ase we hadn’t had anyone else step
?and be effective at wide receiver.
“So, that’s gonna take another
apon away from us on offense and
i don’t have many. We might not
ve any now.”
In just two seasons at USL, Stokley
d captured all but one receiving
ord. The one Stokley didn’t own, he
Mured Saturday afternoon against the
gies. On a 33-yard reception to begin
second quarter, Stokley passed
>yde Butler, 171 catches (1989-92), for
nue, or
183 for
)intment| >st receptions in USL history by a re-
ver. Stokley ended the day with 176
: eer receptions for 2,529 yards.
But Stokley’s accomplishments far
exceed the past history of USL. Prior to
his knee injury, the phenom wide re
ceiver was closing in on several of the
NCAA’s career records, including ca
reer receptions and yards.
The wide out came in as freshman
known to outsiders as ‘the coach’s
son’. Many doubted his abilities, be
lieving Stokley made the squad be
cause pops was the one holding the
whistle. Ignoring the doubts and mis
guided assumptions of the Cajun
faithful, Stokley went out and per
formed the only way he knew how.
En route to becoming the most pro
lific freshman receiver in college foot
ball history (1995), Stokley caught 75
passes for 1,121 yards and nine touch
downs. All of this in just his second year
of organized football.
“I just went out and did what I had
to do,” Stokley said. “I played my game
and everything just flowed pretty good.
So, their really wasn’t anymore pres
sure on me [being the coach’s son].
“I already put on a lot of pressure
myself as it is to perform every game
that the outside pressure doesn’t get to
me much.”
Stokley exceeded those tremen
dous feats in his sophomore cam
paign. He finished with 81 catches for
1,160 yards and seven touchdowns.
Stokley had five 100-yard plus receiv
ing games, including a span of three
straight of such efforts.
One of the century marks came
against the University in Houston, a
game in which Stokley grabbed nine
passes for 189 yards, not including a
58-yard touchdown pass he threw on a
reverse pass.
But now, after playing just three
games in his junior season, Stokley
must sit idly by, watching from the
sidelines. “It’s gonna be real tough,” a
saddened Stokley said. “I’ve never had
any injuries my whole life. In high
school and college I played every
game. This is the part of our schedule
we have to win. We’re playing teams we
can beat and should beat and I’m
gonna be on the sideline.”
A&M returns to AP Top 25
The Top Twenty Five teams in The Associated
Press college football poll, with first-place
votes in parentheses, records through Sept.
20, total points based on 25 points for a first
place vote through one
point foi
a 25th place
vote and previous ranking:
Record
Pts Pv
1.Florida (32)
3-0
1,699 3
2.Penn St. (28)
3-0
1,675 1
3.Nebraska (7)
3-0
1,601 7
4.Florida St. (1)
3-0
1,530 5
5.North Carolina (2) 3-0
1,475 6
6.Michigan
2-0
1,412 8
7.Ohio St.
3-0
1,287 9
8.Auburn
3-0
1,180 12
9.Tennessee
2-1
1,158 4
1 0. Washington
2-1
1,148 2
11. Iowa
3-0
1,062 13
1 2. Michigan St.
3-0
968 17
13. LSU
2-1
805 10
1 4. Virginia Tech
3-0
770 18
1 5. Washington St.
3-0
767 19
1 6. Colorado
1-1
725 15
1 7. Clemson
2-1
547 16
1 8. KansasSt.
2-0
495 20
19. Georgia
3-0
444 25
20. Stanford
2-1
403 21
21. Alabama
2-1
329 11
22. Texas A&M
2-0
290 —
23. Brigham Young
1-1
215 —
24. UCLA
1-2
181 24
25. Arizona St.
2-1
177 14
Others receiving votes
Air Force 1 29, N.
Carolina St. 73, Southern Miss.
66, Pitts-
burgh 26, Wyoming 18, California 11, Col-
orado St. 11, Oregon 11, Kansas 10, Texas
9, Oklahoma St. 8, Arkansas 7, Kentucky 6,
South Carolina 6, Miami 5, Southern Cal 5,
Toledo 4, Boston College 1, Georgia Tech 1.
RYAN ROGERS/The Battalion
Junior quarterback Branndon Stewart keeps for a 1 yard touchdown against USL. Stewart
rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more in the Aggies 66-0 victory.
the board early,” Stewart said. “It lets you re
lax a little bit more and you don’t feel as
much pressure.”
A&M’s quarterback tandem of Stewart
and sophomore Randy McCown proved
successful once again. Stewart finished the
day six of 11 for 105 yards, two touchdowns
and an interception. He also ran for two
scores. McCown was eight of nine for 76
yards and a touchdown.
Not to be outdone, A&M’s special teams
took advantage of the chance to break the
Cajuns’ spirit as well.
First, it was sophomore Dante Hall who
followed a wall of blockers down the right
side of the field and spun out of the grasp of
a USL defender to return a Chris Shaw punt
70 yards for a touchdown.
Punter Shane Lechler was next to get in
on the action pinning the Ragin’ Cajuns in
side their own 15 yard line on three of his
four punts.
Lechler’s punts and senior kicker Kyle
Bryant’s kickoffs pinned the Cajuns down-
all afternoon as USL’s average starting posi-j
tion was its own 24.
A&M’s total domination helped to erasej
the memories of last season’s game.
“It’s amazing the difference a year,
makes,” Slocum said. “I told the players it*
was a great lesson in life. Probably a year]
ago, pulling out of that stadium down in-
Lafayette was about as low as you can get4
This game was quite a bit different.”
The victory also helped put last sea-'
son’s slow start behind the Aggies. As op-»
posed to last season when the team’s con
fidence hit rock bottom, Saturday’s victory
has A&M flying high.
“When you go into the third game of the-
season being 2-0 instead 0-2, with two big!
blowouts like that, you’ve got to imagine-
how high our confidence is going,” McKin-!
ney said. “Right now, we feel like we can*
beat anybody. That’s the attitude we have to!
keep for the rest of the season.”
DAVE HOUSE/The Battalion
Senior Diana Rowe battles for the ball Sunday afternoon against Oregon, The Aggies won
the game 3-1 to improve to 8-0 on the season.
Blalack leads A&M sweep
By Stephen Boudreau
Staff writer
The third-ranked Texas A&M Soccer
Team (8-0,5-0) continued to roll with two
solid victories over Utah (3-6) and Oregon
(3-4) in this weekend’s GTE Aggie Soccer
Classic at the Aggie Soccer Complex.
Senior All-America Bryn Blalack electri
fied the crowd with her first hat-trick of the
season Friday night as the Aggies steam
rolled the Utah Utes, 4-0.
“The team just did an incredible job of
giving me easy opportunities,” Blalack said.
“When you’re in the position to place the
ball in the net, that’s what you’ve got to do.
The team was just phenomenal.”
The three-goal performance was the sev
enth in her college career.
Freshman Nikki Thrasher added the oth
er goal in the 74th minute with a blistering
shot to the top left corner of the net. The goal
marks the third of the season for Thrasher.
“Our attack is relentless. We never let
down in our pursuit of going and making
things tough for our opponents,” coach G.
Guerrieri said. “Our players are very aggres
sive and very attack-oriented.”
The Aggies outshot the Utes, 22-5, and
controlled possession of the ball for most
of the game.
Sunday afternoon against Oregon,
Blalack struck again.
Before a crowd of nearly 1,300 fans,
Blalack sent the Ducks back north empty-
handed. With two swift kicks, Blalack put the
ball in the back of the net twice in the 3-1 vic
tory.
“We scored good goals this weekend. We
had to in order to tally anything,” Guerrieri
said. “It’s a real credit to our players and ob
viously to Bryn, who scored the majority of
them. It shows we can do great things.”
Blalack broke a 1 -1 tie in the 79th minute.
The goal was set up with a pass down the left
sideline from senior Sonia Ibanez to fellow
senior Diana Rowe. Rowe took it off her right
foot and fed Blalack a perfect ball in the mid
dle of the penalty box. Blalack headed it past
Oregon keeper Amanda Fox and the Aggies i
never looked back. ]
Four minutes later, Blalack scored her «
70th career goal with a shot from the top of !
the box.
“We played a lot better as a team this
weekend. It’s just going to keep getting bet
ter as we gain more chemistry and experi
ence with each game,” Blalack said. “This
weekend was really good for us as far as tak
ing more strides on improving.”