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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2000)
Monday rOctoto; donday, October 2, 2000 Sports Page 7 ART VILLANUEVA/Thh orms at the opening le Gypsy Dance The- world. Shariy, the >m the Ukraine, wherei assistant •epartment of Mental He! tardation. “Do you spi trie kid six to nine monk Or do you use that mon? he community?” y ill children end upin^ on system. Of the 5,524c rduth Commission sysla yercent were diagnosed! h needs, the newspapers trying to control her so resident Mattie Dixon ear-old David to juvei elp." Dixon said. lf ) do.” n is not always an optioi f the state’s mental hospii ave been cut since 1992. 'i vate psychiatric hospita,t e of financial problems,ao' inkeswoman for Texas L 1 n 1998, Texas had 47 >; rspitals. Today, there air.jf THE BATTALION TECH MAROONED AT KYLE FIELD FOOTBALL “MIP25 11= a= 9=1 <3= f^nTFpea.GOD 0= “ 0= 9= 0= 0= 110=(*MiI?iTO llflotes Florida St. (42) NebTaskaftiSr Virginia Tech? Clemson Michigan Miami -l: Ohio St;:~ Oregon IB 3 09= 03= ©= 00= 09= 00= 00= Florida Washington TCU Auburn UCLA M So Mississippi So California Georgia CC 202 Mississippi St. 2*l5 Tennessee 223 Northwestern Oregon St. 242 Wisconsin 25l Notre Dame Si RUBEN DELUNA/Tm Battalion By Bree Holz ■ T//e Battalion Iii front of the second largest crowd in Kyle Field history, the Texas A&M football team de feated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 33-15 on Sat urday. But the victory was more than just another mark in the win column. It was a victory filled with emotion, and finally,.peace of mind. “There was no doubt we were emotionally ready for the ballgame, and I thought we played hard,” said A&M coach R.C. Slocum. It is the seventh time in eight meetings at Kyle Field that the Aggies have beaten Texas Tech. During the game, the Aggies wore all ma roon uniforms, in place of the traditional ma roon and white, for the first time since the 1996 defeat of the University of Oklahoma, 33-15. “I thought it was appropriate for the Maroon- Out with our fans wearing maroon all the time,” Slocum said. A&M got things going with an early score dur ing its first possession of the game. Running back Joe Weber scored from 14 yards out early in the first quarter. Place kicker Terence Kitchens’extra point put A&M up 7-0. The A&M special teams began to dominate midway through the first quarter when defensive back Michael Jameson intercepted a pass from punter Michael Rosiles at the A&M 16-yard line. Jameson raced 76 yards to the Tech 8-yard line, resulting in a 32-yard field goal from Kitchens. Jameson, who has been injured most of the season, was excited about his return to Kyle Field. “It felt like torture being injured on the side line,” he said. “It felt great to come back for my first home game after being injured.” Tech found momentum and quickly scored at the start of the second quarter on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Kliff Kingsbury, cutting A&M’s lead to 10-7. A&M’s defense Held Tech scoreless for the rest of the half. With 4:19 left on the clock, the Aggie offense struck again, thanks to a blocked punt by defensive back Jay Brooks. Brooks recovered the ball on the 2-yard line, setting up a touchdown by running back Richard Whitaker. The block was Brooks’ second in as many games. After the first half in which the Aggies led 16- 7, the Wrecking Crew had held Tech to only 3 yards rushing. “Coach [Mike] Hankwitz came in with an ag gressive game plan today,” said linebacker Ja son Glenn. “We were much more aggressive than we were against this offense last year.” A&M’s secondary struck again in the third quarter when sophomore defensive back Ter rance Kiel intercepted a pass from Kingsbury at the Aggie 13-yard line. Nine plays later, Kitchens kicked a 40-yard field goal to improve A&M’s lead to 19-7. The Red Raiders recovered quickly, narrow ing the gap to 19-15 early in the fourth quarter. On Tech’s next possession deep in A&M ter ritory, the Tech offense attempted to convert a fourth down and one. But Tech wide receiver Car los Francis dropped a wide-open pass from Kingsbury on the goal line. The costly mistake proved to be the turning point in the game. “He ran a good route and he had the ball, but he just dropped it,” said A&M wide receiver Chris Taylor. “Sometimes that happens, hut that really broke their back.” The Aggies regained control after the dropped pass when quarterback Mark Farris connected with Robert Ferguson on third down for a 15- yard gain. Before the completion, A&M was only l-of-9 on third-down conversions. “Those 3-and-outs were really getting to us,” said running back Ja’Mar Toombs said. “We were getting frustrated, but we just kept plug ging and plugging at it.” With A&M at the Tech 16-yard line, Farris found Ferguson again, this time for a 13-yard gain, to put the Aggies on the 3-yard line. The pass, intended for Dwain Goynes, was deflect ed, forcing Ferguson to make the play. Toombs put the ball in the end zone to in crease A&M’s lead to 26-15. After the score, the Red Raiders were deflat ed when defensive back Sammy Davis intercept ed another Kingsbury pass at the Tech 48-yard line. Whitaker then broke for a 38-yard run to the Tech 12-yard line. Toombs scored two plays lat er, putting the Aggies up, 33-15. Glenn led the Wrecking Crew with three quarterback sacks, 11 total tackles, two forced fumbles and seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Brooks also contributed with seven tackles, a blocked punt, and a broken-up pass. The Tech defense came into the game ranked No. 4 nationally in total defense and was allow ing just 200.5 total yards per game. The Aggies produced 345 total yards, the same as Tech. BERNIE GARZA/Thk Battalion Sophomore defensive lineman Ty Warren stands over Texas Tech tailback Shaud Williams after senior linebacker Roylin Bradley made the stop in Saturday action. T ootball Texas Tech’s It was the sweetest of wins on Saturday when the Aggies took the first step to ward avenging their subpar 1999 season with a 33-15 win over Texas Tech. Texas A&M answered lin gering questions from last season’s three conference losses that began when the then-No. 5 Aggies were upset 21-19 in Lubbock. Could A&M win a game in which it did not control the clock? Would A&M’s passing game be strong enough to carry the team in critical moments? Was the defense capable of containing a high-powered passing team? Could A&M coach R.C. Slocum keep the Kyle Field winning streak alive? The Aggies answered all those questions Saturday at Kyle Field. The only question left unanswered was how the Aggies would react if they fell behind in a game. A&M never got a chance to find out, scor ing on the first drive and letting the defense protect the lead for the remainder of the game. But it was the Aggies' play late in the game that gave the greatest measure of the game. att soundsystem eser, and Bock Aggie soccer falls to Big 12 nemesis Nigh t > only *.By Jason Lincoln • The Battalion ser, and Bock A Speakeasy its Longnecks ie Couch Band eai . pUy! ■eet, /an 0569 EDS '■ WACO — For four years Baylor spoiled -Texas A&M’s hopes for a regular season ‘Big 12 Championship. Sunday the Bears '.appeared to put another hurdle in the way ywith a 2-1 win. £ The Aggies had never won in Waco en tering the match and had not had a regular 'season win against the Bears since 1996. 'That string was not broken Sunday, as a vpair of timely second-half goals gave them 'the win. v The game immediately started as a bat- £tle of the midfield as each team struggled 'for possession and shots on goal. \ Baylor appeared to take the early ad vantage, but Esther Thompson made four 'strong saves to keep Baylor scoreless 'through the first half. '* Alyson Miles and Gina Castellano tried Ho put Baylor on top early. Miles got a one- on-one shot on goal midway through the opening period and drilled the ball into the \ waiting arms of Thompson. Castelleno I followed it up by firing a shot 30 yards to !_the top of the goal, forcing Thompson to make a leaping save. As time began to run down in the peri od, the two teamed up. Castellano took another shot from deep outside, forcing Thompson to make a jumping tip. The ball landed just two yards from the goal, giving Miles a wide open net. But Miles’ kick popped up and over the goal. Thompson’s first-half, eight-save per formance came just two days after she chipped four teeth running into the post against New Mexico in A&M’s 3-1 win at the Aggie Soccer Complex. She would had a scary flashback with 10 minutes re maining in the half when she collided with a Baylor player while making a stop. “She loosened it (the temporary filling) when she kicked me,” Thompson said. “I guess I’ll just have to go get a permanent one this week.” A&M finally got an offensive break with two minutes remaining in the first half. Forward Heather Williams scored from nine yards out while crossing the goal, rolling the ball into the right corner of the net. Midfielder Jodie Mitchell was credited with the assist. “I was just trying not to get in the way,” Williams said. “We had some great pass ing and Jodie just played me an excellent ball. I just did what I had to do.” Baylor was able to answer midway through the second period when midfield er Cookie Day passed the ball inside to Emily Fukuchi, who rolled the ball past A&M’s second-half keeper, Angela Bark er, to tie the game. A minute later the referee overlooked a hands call inside the penalty box and gave the ball back to Baylor. With just four minutes remaining, Castellano finally found the net. An A&M player tried to clear the ball with a header, but Castellano buried it in the net. Baylor made better use of their second half opportunities to get the win. “They took two shots and hit the net and we took more shots and didn’t,” Guerrieri said. “But if you can’t take advantage of your chances, you don’t deserve to win.” Baylor would hold on to the lead to get its fourth straight win over the Aggies. “It’s a devastating loss because this is a game we shouldn’t have lost,” Guerrieri said. “There was no way we should have lost this game.” luck against Aggies ends Despite a rare double-digit win in the nor mally close-scoring series between the Ag gies and Red Raiders, the game was not de cided until the final minutes when A&M finally got some breaks. “This game over the years has had some strange twists and turns and bounces,” Slocum said. “I’m pleased to see we got a couple bounces go our way.” Tech scored early in the fourth quarter, mark ing the first time the Aggie defense gave up a sec ond-half touchdown in Kyle Field since 1999’s Kansas game. The momentum was building. Midway through the fourth quarter, Tech had the perfect opportunity to score, but the A&M defense held. In a five-minute sequence. Tech went from having the momentum to being put out of the game with an 18-point deficit. The rea son — a couple of those lucky breaks that, until now, always seemed to be in favor of the Raiders. That, and a couple of timely performances, showed that A&M is ready for the Big 12 season. “That was a tough one to lose,” said Tech quarterback Cliff Kingsbury. “I felt we were one play away from breaking it open. We just made too many mistakes.” In the first half. Tech controlled the ball and the clock, as it tried to wear down the Aggie de fense and catch A&M off guard. Early in the game A&M was haunted by re minders of last years loss. With the score 10-0, the Aggies could not help but remember the sec ond quarter of last year’s game in which they were unproductive on both sides of the ball and allowed Tech to get the lead that became the win. The Wrecking Crew did not disappoint this time around. Despite staying on the field for nearly two-thirds of the half, it managed to contain the pass-happy Tech offense. During that stretch. Tech was able to con vert 4-of-6 third downs. But the second half was a different story as Tech only made four of its next 13 attempts. In the process, the A&M offense put together a solid, balanced performance that came through in the end of the game. The two late scores that finished off the game showed A&M’s resilience and clutch ‘play that just might get it through the season with another perfect record in Kyle Field. The 18-point victory may have given Slocum his largest margin of victory ever Over Tech, but the game still lived up to its down-to- the-wire history. CODY WAGES/The Battalion Texas A&M midfielder Heather Wiebe and the Aggie offense were unable to get past Baylor in their first conference loss, 2-1, on Sunday. The Aggies have not beaten Baylor in four years.