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Sports
THE BATTALION
Aggies dig out of first-half deficit
Second-half charge buries Miners
By Jason Lincoln
The Battalion
Ja’Mar Toombs knew it all along. Nothing
in the first half would matter if he could get
the ball in the second. Never mind that Texas
A&M trailed at halftime at Kyle Field to a
non-conference opponent for the first time
since 1992. Never mind that the Texas-El
Paso offense moved the ball with little oppo
sition. He just needed to get his hands on the
ball. Then everything would be all right.
Toombs did just that, scoring three short
touchdowns and catching a trio of passes for
41 yards to lead the Aggies to a 45-17 victory.
"Big man here (Toombs) came in [at half-
time] and said, ‘Just relax. I’ll take care of
it,’” said offensive lineman Chris Valletta.
“After he scored that first touchdown, he
came up to me and said. Told you.’ ”
UTEP’s momentum came to an abrupt halt
to start the second half when it tried to con
vert on a fourth and one in A&M ten itory.
The Wrecking Crew would have nothing of
it, and linebacker Jason Glenn came up with
the stop.
The A&M offense came on the field to set
up a 2-yard touchdown run by Toombs.
Toombs added to his point tally after Jay
Brooks blocked a punt by the Miners’ Glen
Beard that gave A&M the ball at UTEP’s 1-
yard line. It was routine for the 275-pound
fullback to take it into the end zone.
After that, the Aggies could not be stopped
at Kyle Field, scoring 17 more points in the
final quarter, including six more by Toombs,
who put it in from the 2-yard line.
“It’s pretty much automatic,” Toombs
said. “If we get that close, we know we’re go
ing to score, especially when we get three
cracks at it, but we only need one.”
Unlike the previous two games, A&M
brought a different attack to Kyle Field for the
Miners’ and its final game before conference
play starts against Texas Tech in two weeks.
Until now, the Aggies’ highlights came
from the passing combo of quarterback Mark
Farris and wide receiver Robert Ferguson. Sat
urday, Ferguson was limited to a single catch
for A&M’s first touchdown. Bethel Johnson
provided the impact play at receiver, catching
a career-high eight catches for 74 yards.
A&M also established a presence in the
rushing game early. The Aggies scored their
remaining five touchdowns on the ground
with 236 yards. Sophomore running back Joe
Weber led the ground attack with 95 yards on
11 carries.
Weber scored A&M’s second touchdown
by running the ball 30 yards down to the
UTEP 16 before punching it in to put A&M
up 14-7. Farris was the Aggies’ second-lead
ing rusher with 54 yards, showing the pres
ence of mind to escape sacks and scramble
for first-down yardage.
“If we win, I don’t care if I don’t throw for
any yards,” Farris said. “I’m not really con
cerned about numbers. Tonight I ran the ball
a little more than usual. That’s the way it is.
One week it’s somebody, the next week it’s
going to be someone else. That’s how it needs
to be, because they can’t key on anybody.”
UTEP did not key in on any player on of
fense. Instead it focused on putting the Ag
gies’ young secondary to the test. Senior safe
ty Michael Jameson was out last week,
recovering from a sprained ankle, and junior
cornerback Jay Brooks lost his starting role
to his roommate Sean Weston. A&M fielded
two freshman and two sophomores for its en
tire defensive backfield.
The Miners attacked it early, passing for
168 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
"Going into the game, I knew that with the
youth and the injuries to the secondary they
were going to complete some passes,” said
A&M coach R.C. Slocum. “I didn’t imagine
they’d be able to keep the ball like they did,
but I attribute that to the poor tackling.”
The Aggies' top-rated linebacker unit
See UTEP on Page 3B.
CHAD ADAMS/Tm Battalion
Texas A&M quarterback Mark Farris looks for wide receiver Robert Ferguson in the
Aggies' 44-1 7 win over Texas-El Paso.
UTEP preps A&M for Tech
3 door
ou knew it
was going
to be an in
teresting evening
for the Texas
A&M football
team when the
University of
I ifexas-El Paso*
drove 58 yards for
a touchdown on its first possession.
Well, at least it turned out to be an in
teresting half.
Trailing 17-14 to a team like the
Miners is not what a quality football
team should do, but the Aggies’ reac
tion in the second half is.
J In the first 30 minutes, A&M was
■playing a soft-zone defense that was
■giving too much cushion to Miner
■quarterback Rocky Perez, who simply
■took what the Aggies gave him. Perez
■slowly picked the young A&M sec-
■ondary apart, racking up 17 points and
■213 yards of offense.
The Aggie offense played well
■enough in the first two periods, match-
ling UTEP score for score, but it was
■not fooling the Miner defense as it
■thought it could going into the game.
During the break, however, the
1 A&M coaching staff decided to let the
■Wrecking Crew get aggressive in the
■second half, and the decision paid im-
Imediate dividends.
On the ninth play of the Miners’
■first possession of the second half,
iUTEP coach Gary Nord went for it
Ion fourth-and-one, but was stuffed
|by the Aggie defense. A&M then
iscored 31 unanswered points to seal
I the 45-17 win.
What is encouraging for the Aggies
I is the fact that they have the confi
dence to come back from a deficit —
any deficit — and win it.
Games like Saturday ’s are a litmus
test for football teams. The Aggies
have proved so far this season that they
can perform in three different situa
tions — a hostile environment (Notre
Dame), a total blowout (Wyoming)
and a come-from-behind victory
against a quality team that will contend
for the WAC title (UTEP).
A&M now has a week to prepare
for the opening of Big 12 Conference
play against undefeated Texas Tech, a
week which it will need. The Aggies’
secondary and defensive line are still
critically thin from injuries, and the
bye week should help heal some
bumps and bmises.
Tech’s new head coach, former Ok
lahoma offensive coordinator Mike
Leach, who lit up A&M last year for
51 points, was probably licking his
chops when he saw the passing num
bers UTEP put up against A&M in the
first three quarters. But he would be
well advised to keep any confidence
he has in check.
Both Wyoming and UTEP were
predominantly passing teams, just like
the Red Raiders. But both of them
came to College Station, where the
young A&M secondary was afforded
a confidence boost from a home crowd
while they learned.
That will translate into the Tech
game when the Aggie secondary will
be bolstered by a sellout crowd and the
return of senior free safety Michael
Jameson from an ankle injury.
CHAD ADAMS/Thf. Battalion
Sophomore running back Joe Weber dives for the end zone in the
first quarter against UTEP.
Ags end Kansas’ perfect season
By Bree HoLz
The Battalion
After being defeated in its first Big
12 Conference match of the season
Wednesday against Missouri, the
Texas A&M volleyball team bounced
back to sweep the University of
Kansas on Friday night, 15-8, 15-13,
15-9 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
A&M’s record moves to 5-3 (1-1
in the Big 12), while Kansas posted
its first loss of the season and moved
to 9-1 (1-1 in the Big 12). *
“Defensively, we stayed really ag
gressive,” said A&M coach Laurie
Corbelli. “We didn’t stop two of
Kansas’ best hitters, but I was pleased
with our overall performance.”
The Jayhawks jumped to a quick
2-0 lead in the first game of the
match, but A&M quickly gained mo
mentum and scored nine straight
unanswered points. Kansas was
forced to call a timeout with the score
at 9-2, but the Aggies responded with
three more points.
The Jayhawks began chipping
away at A&M’s lead and held the Ag
gies to nine game points before se
nior middle blocker Heather Mar
shall put the game away with a kill.
In game two, the Aggies posted
the first two points, but Kansas
quickly settled down and began tak
ing control of the game. A&M
moved to a 6-4 lead when Kansas
called a timeout, but the Jayhawks
carrte back and tied the score at 6-6.
A&M moved the score to 11-7,
but the Jayhawks answered by scor-
See Volleyball on Page 3B.
No. 8 soccer team escapes UNT bar-
By Reece Flood •
The Battalion
The Texas A&M soccer team’s three-goal rally in the second
half of Friday night’s game against North Texas helped the No.
8 Aggies go on to a 4-3 overtime victory at the Aggie Soccer
Complex.
Sophomore midfielder Jessica Martin ended the game with a
goal three minutes into the first overtime. The goal marked the
end of an Aggie scoring drive that did not begin until midway
through the second half.
A&M found themselves down 2-0 at halftime despite out-
shooting the Mean Green 12-3. It was only the second time this
season the Aggies did not score in the first half of a game.
A&M soccer coach G. Guerrieri said he was not happy with
the first half performance and let the women know what they
had to do to win.
, “Half time was not PG rated,” Guerrieri said. “Basically it
was a gut check for us. We went in and said, ‘We’re playing well,
but to win games you’ve go to do more in the last 20 yards.’ ”
Junior forward Anne Tamporello got things rolling for the
Aggies with A&M’s first goal. Senior defender Amber Reynolds
broke away from North Texas and passed the ball to Tamporel-
See Soccer on Page 3B.
CHAD ADAIVIS/The Battalion
Freshman midfielder Kristen Strutz dribbles
toward the UNT goal in a 4-3 overtime victory.
Olympic Debut: The Sydney Games debuted the first-
ever Olympic triathlon. Combining three established
Olympic events, swimming, running and cycling, the inau
gural race drew more than 300,000 spectators. The event
was so successful, it has already been announced as part
of the 2004 Athens Games.
Six golds for Thompson: 27-year-old Jenny Thomp
son swam the anchor leg for the gold-medal-winning
400 freestyle relay team. The most golds by a U.S. fe
male athlete.
TV Schedule: Monday, September 18, 2000
NBC:
•10 a.m. to Noon — Swimming; Water Polo
• 7 p.m. to Midnight — Gymnastics (Men’s final); Swim
ming; Rowing; Equestrian
• 12:41 to 2:11 a.m. — Women’s volleyball; canoeing
MSNBC:
•10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — Women’s basketball; softball; rowing.
CNBC:
• 5-9 p.m. — Boxing; women’s weight lifting
Setting the Standard:
• In only two days of swimming
competition in Sydney, four
more world records were bro
ken than in all of the ‘96 Atlanta
Games.
Swimming: 8 new world records
USA
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Fra
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