The Battalion
Sports
Page 9 • Monday, September 6, 199^
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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)
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(0-1)
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(1-0)
(1-0)
(0-0)
(1-0)
(1-0)
(1-0)
(1-0)
(2-0)
(1-0)
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L
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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.”
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Johnson, Kitchens impress in debut game
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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.