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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 1999)
The Battalion Sports Page 9 • Monday, September 6, 199^ earner colonial Jn authoritii brutal n ■nonstratesii =sian authoriv “^store order ir *ient said, called an enit-;: “ w the situaii: rces surrour. e U.N. Miss. >ooting into' ring out. The ble for the A. of Indonesia: ur'rtsfffi |“We have a whole heap >f good receivers. I can only come in and just be a part of that.” —Bethel Johnson on his role in A&M’s offense “Every time I go out ^ there, I expect to make , gn 8 '"t?y them, and everybody else Tnity. "There * tr>'to force:. > nal commiir. race tion is starting to feel that way too.” —Terence Kitchens on gaining confidence after kicking two 50-yard plus field goals It’s popular. But they got Batt]61 a popular loss tonight.” left six par e first phase: n, a contestr‘ ; coalition ar der Sonia Gak he country ;- ae violences lections hasj —Dante Hall on Louisiana Tech’s passing attack ng comp Election Coe ill said E; n very peace!-- ■ low 55 pe::r- ig for 145 iec:;- if the 543se: ?’ ,ise of parliair' 3 - Team Tennessee Florida State Penn State Florida Texas A&M Michigan er intaotM- Nebraska of elect* , 3. Wisconsin into aemalDtdrQ- Georgia Tech Oct 5 ineM- Georgia L2. Arizona )ct. 21. hjjHUUfidH L3. Ohio State L4. Arkansas L5. Virginia Tech .6. Alabama 17. UCLA L8. Kansas State 19. Purdue 20. Marshall 21. Virginia 12. Louisville 13. N.C. State 34. Colorado State 25. Texas Record (1-0) (1-0) (2-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-0) (2-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-D (0-1) (1-0) d-0) (1-0) (1-0) (0-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-0) (1-0) (2-0) (1-0) (1-D Big 12 Standings North nours for aur special he event to T‘r W L PF PA owa St. 1 0 33 7 Missouri 1 0 31 28 Nebraska 1 0 42 7 Kansas St. 0 0 0 0 Colorado 0 1 14 41 Kansas 0 1 13 48 South Dklahoma St. 1 0 24 7 Texas A&M 1 0 37 17 Texas 1 1 89 40 Dklahoma 0 0 0 0 Texas Tech 0 0 0 0 Baylor 0 1 29 30 Bayou Breakout GUY ROGERS/Tiik Battalion , Junior place-kicker Terence Kitchens kicks a second quarter field goal against Louisiana Tech University. Kitchens finished the game with three field goals, including two over 50 yards. [ Aggies show balanced attack in 37-17 opening win against Louisiana Tech ; BY AL LAZARUS The Battalion SHREVEPORT, La. — After a seemingly endless supply of hype, hope and wide-eyed opti mism surrounding the Texas A&M Football Team as it headed into the 1999 season, the Aggies did a funny thing in their opener against Louisiana Tech Universi ty Saturday night in Shreveport: They lived up to the expectations — and then some. Using a balanced — yes, bal anced — offensive attack against the Bulldogs, A&M rolled to a 37- 17 win in front of 40,328 fans at Independence Stadium. The Aggies got 252 of their 471 total yards in the air and 219 on the ground. “We’ve got a lot of weapons on this team, and we’ve got to utilize them,” senior quarterback Randy McCown said. “And we can’t do that running the ball every play, so we really tried to spread things out and get every body the ball.” The talk throughout spring drills and summer two-a-days centered around the Aggies’ passing game, and McCown and A&M’s highly-touted group of re ceivers did not disappoint. McCown had the top passing game of his career, completing 17-of-28 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Sopho more Bethel Johnson caught four passes for 106 yards and scored a touchdown in his first colle giate game. Junior receiver Chris Taylor picked up where he left off last season, catching three passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. While expectations surround ing the Aggies’ passing game have been high since spring drills, the same could not be said for A&M’s kicking game, which raised question marks more than anything else. But junior place-kicker Ter ence Kitchens, whose experience before Saturday’s game consist ed of one extra-point last year against the University of North Texas, went a long way in giving the Aggies some much-needed reliability at the position. Kitchens connected on a 50- yarder and a 51-yarder in the first quarter, giving the Aggies a six point lead. “I was glad the coaches were confident enough in me to send me out there, especially on my first one of the year,” Kitchens said. “That makes me a lot more confident for the rest of the year.” Kitchens admitted he was looking for something less chal lenging on his first opportunity. “Coming into the game, I was kind of hoping my first one would be an extra point,” he said. “But he asked me if I want ed to kick it, and I said, ‘yeah.’” He went on to kick one more field goal and four extra points, giving him 13 points for the game. A&M coach R.C. Slocum said he was not surprised at Kitchens’ performance. “All summer long, since two- a-days started, he’s been really consistent in practice,” Slocum said. “We say what you do in practice carries over into the ball game, and he did about what he’s been doing in practice.” On the ground, the Aggie trio of seniors D’Andre “Tiki” Harde man and Dante Hall and sopho more Ja’Mar Toombs combined for 159 yards, with McCown scrambling for another 43. McCown spoke highly of bruising fullbacks Hardeman and Toombs. “They’re awesome,” McCown said. “They take a lot of pressure off of everybody, they just bang it in, and let the time run off the clock.” On the defensive side of the ball, cornerback Jason Webster led the Aggies with 10 tackles. The Wrecking Crew seemed to get along fine without Rich Coady, Warrick Holdman and Dat Nguyen, limiting the Bull dogs to just 10 rushing yards on 20 attempts. After scoring 30 points and racking up 308 yards in the first half, the Aggies’ offensive ■ GUY ROGERS/The Battalion^ Senior quarterback Randy McCown scrambles from a Louisiana Tech » defender. McCown completed 17-of-28 passes for 252 yards and two TDs.t prowess disappeared in the sec ond half, making for some tense moments when Tech was driving and the Aggies were clinging to a 30-17 lead. But the Aggies’ de fense held the Bulldogs in check, and one more A&M touchdown finished off the Bulldogs. “In the first half, that’s the* best we’ve looked in a while,”* McCown said. “But we’ve got toJ play that way both halves. Fortu-* nately in the second half, we got’ away with not playing up to par.” itomotive b u! bright indiv>‘ lajors for P' Johnson, Kitchens impress in debut game S DOUG SHILLING on to full' is include^ .port, prog rar bout our P a ' lent headq^ coai eoe GUY ROGERS/The Battalion Sophomore wide receiver Bethel Johnson leaps for a pass against /.ouisiana Tech. Johnson had four catches for 106 yards and one TD. i HREVEPORT, La. — Welcome to Texas , A&M Football Bethel Johnson and Terence * Kitchens. Glad you could finally make it. After months of waiting, the new Aggie wide receiver and place-kicker didn’t take long to make their presence on the field known as both con tributed right off the bat in Sat urday night’s 37-17 defeat of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. In his first game as a starter, Kitchens was thrown into the fire immediately. Just 5:31 into the game, he was asked to do something that he had never done before in a game on any level — make a 50-yard field goal. With Coach Slocum’s blessing, Kitchens went out and kicked his first collegiate try right through the uprights. Slocum said he was excited with the job Kitchens did. “I felt great about Terence,” he said. “What a way to start a career. In the first quarter, I asked him, ‘How do you feel’. He said, ‘I can make it;’ so 1 told him to go get it, and he did.” Kitchens liked kicking 50-yarders so much that six minutes after his first collegiate try, his second try was — that’s right — a 50-yarder. His first one must have been too easy because he added a little spice to the second. This time Kitchens made like he was in a Larry Bird/Michael Jordan commercial as he hit his 51-yard attempt off the right upright, then off the crossbar and over. It was the longest field goal for A&M since Kyle Bryant kicked a 51-yarder against North Texas in 1997. After his run-in with the crossbar, Kitchens decided to stay on the easy road, kicking a 26- yard field goal as time ran out in the first half and four extra points as he capped off a successful debut. “My main goal is to go out there and make every kick I can no matter what the yardage,” Kitchens said. “It does feel good to go out and have a good game under my belt.” After Kitchens’ field goal show, Johnson stepped into the spotlight. He entered his first game with immense pressure on his shoulders. He entered this season as the most hyped player since Bran- ndon Stewart transferred from Tennessee to A&M in 1995. He was supposed to be A&M’s last piece in its receiving puzzle. With all that pressure, Johnson might have been setup for a disastrous opening. Wrong. He made his presence known on the Aggies’ second drive. After catching a hitch pass, John son blew by his defender and turned the play into a 15-yard gain. On the Aggies’ first drive of the second quar ter, Johnson jump started the offense when he hauled in a 46-yard pass from quarterback Randy McCown, outleaping the Tech defender for the ball. Four plays later junior running back Dante Hall took it 18 yards for the Aggies first touchdown. . “I was so happy for him to see him final ly come out and show what he could do,”‘ Hall said. “I knew he was going to live up to the hype.” Right before the half, Johnson set up another Aggie score when his 33-yard catch moved the Aggies up at the Tech eight with three seconds left in the half to set up Kitchens’ third field goal of the game. Johnson then put the icing on the cake when ; he caught the first touchdown pass of his career with 47 seconds left. In all, he ended the night with four catches for 106 yards and one touchdown. With all of the hype before the game, Johnson said he was happy with just getting a game un-7 der his belt. “I had the feeling like I had to get some of the pressure off of me with the hype they have had ; on me earlier in the year,” Johnson said. “After . today, I officially feel relief” Before his first game, Johnson was still an un- » known commodity to fans and opposing teams * alike. Afterwards though, sophomore fullback Ja’Mar Toombs said that it won’t be so easy to keep a wrap on Johnson. “We [the team] all knew,” Toombs said. “No- ! body else knew but us. He was like a secret. I guess our secret is out now. ” i Doug Shilling is a junior agricultural journalism major.