The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, October 02, 2000, Image 7

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    Monday rOctoto;
donday, October 2, 2000
Sports
Page 7
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THE BATTALION
TECH MAROONED AT KYLE FIELD
FOOTBALL
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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.
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'■ 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.