1981: On The Verge of Greatness

NOTE: Click HERE to view the season record

Late that spring, the Judson baseball team demonstrated their version of "Rocket Pride," as they made it all the way to the State Tournament in Austin for a 5-0 loss in the Semi-final meeting with the defending champ. Truly another "Rocky"-like effort throughout the season, they had come back numerous times from way down late in the games to win. As Coach Harold Sinclair said in a newspaper interview, their philosophy was to simply put the ball in play and let the other team make the mistakes. The poise and the patience demonstrated was a major source of hope for how Judson could do overall in the new district. And, Judson would need all the confidence and "HEY!! HEY!!" they could get, in view of what lay immediately ahead come the following September.

It was no big surprise that Holmes and Churchill were at the top of the preseason polls for the San Antonio area. Since they had pretty much "performed" to expectations the previous season and finished in the middle of the pack in 32-5A, had experienced somewhat of a late-season drop-off, and furthermore were fielding a Sophomore-laden team, the Rockets were pretty much off everyone’s radar screen going into the season. The season opener with East Central also promised to be rather perilous for Judson, what with the growing appetite of the Hornets for a second visit to the post-season, combined with the hiring, as Head Coach, of Raymond Rapp, who had coached Churchill to an 8-0-2 season in 1971 and the 7-7 tie with Lee in which the Volunteers advanced, based on penetrations, and finally passed (and, with Ferrara, Kramer and Co. passed a lot at) their Final. Furthermore, it was the Hornets’ turn to play host.

Sure enough, Judson got stung with 14 quick, unanswered points in the opening Quarter. Judson would score before Halftime, and again in the 3^rd Quarter to tie the game, but East Central broke the tie early in the 4^th Quarter and hung on for a 17-14 win, thus handing the first season-opening loss to Judson since the "bad old days." Of course, at this point there were several people starting to wonder if those days, like an old "friend," were about to return for a visit or even take up residence, at least for a while. Especially since, even if Judson beat Burbank the next week or not, the Rockets stood a good chance of dipping to 1-2 shortly, given the game with Churchill at Blossom in Week Three. And, if they didn’t win against Burbank……..

I came down to see the Burbank game in Converse in what, similar to the season before, would probably be one of the few games I would see because, unlike my first two years at TAMU in which it was easy to stagger visits every 3-4 weeks to alternate between games at Kyle Field and Judson home games, the new district and schedule threw all that out of kilter. Oh, well, I guess I needed to try to wean myself of the Rockets anyway, since at that point I still figured I’d be moving out of state after finishing at TAMU. Either way, I came to see if Judson could redeem itself with Burbank. What I saw, instead, had me really wondering. Burbank, which had never since come even close to duplicating its 10-0 performance in 1978, held Judson to a 3-0 Halftime advantage. The only good thing about it was the fact that Ricky Balderas was pretty impressive in kicking the 42-yard FG. Then, midway through the 3^rd Quarter, Sophomore QB Allen Dear handed the ball off to a Judson back, who then threw the ball downfield and into the Endzone---right into the hands of a Burbank "receiver," who was immediately hit with a tackle that jarred the ball loose, which Judson then pounced on for a TD. You know the saying---if it weren’t so serious (relative to football, at least), it would have been funny. But, at least we got to add to the lead, although the PAT failed. The next time on offense, Judson stalled at mid-field, Burbank blocked the punt, but also did a pretty good number on the kicker, which of course gave Judson a First Down. Judson immediately answered with a TD pass. Balderas, who only 30 sec earlier was writhing on the field, apparently in pain, was then sent out limping, ostensibly to "try" the point after. Burbank should have picked up on this kind of cue, but they didn’t, and Judson got two points off the fake. Judson would score again in the 4^th Quarter, thus giving the Rockets their first win of the season. For the game, Burbank had a net total of 3 yards offense. The defense played well enough, but then again, this was Burbank---a team Judson demolished 53-0 the year before en-route to a 6-4 finish. The game with Churchill, therefore, was shaping up as a possible "Saturday Night Massacre."

Indeed, the Rockets soon found themselves at 1-2, but they managed to preserve a larger amount of their dignity against Churchill, losing 14-0. Churchill was held to only 70 yards on the ground. Then again, not to worry, with Senior Cody Carlson calling the shots. Furthermore, Judson had only 30 yards on the ground. Interestingly, though, Sophomore Allen Dear had nearly as much yardage as did Carlson. Once again, Judson came out looking much better against Churchill than they looked going in. Nevertheless, Judson was 1-2 and, unless they wanted to finish at 5-5 or worse, they needed to pick up an extra game somewhere along the way. The prospects at this point weren’t all that encouraging considering that Roosevelt and Madison were getting off to very good starts. The next week Judson had built a 19-0 lead by the last part of the 3^rd Quarter against MacArthur, which was in the process of going 0-10, only to have to hang on for a 19-12 win, in spite of picking up over 300 yards on the ground. The next week in Seguin, a fumble at the 10-yard line, just after Halftime, set the Matadors up for an easy TD and a 10-0 lead. Suddenly, toward the latter stages of the 3^rd Quarter, the Rockets finally had ignition, and made it 10-8 following the 2-point try. Later, Balderas, who likewise kicked a three-pointer the week before, got another one, thus giving Judson an 11-10 lead. Seguin would score again to make it 18-11, where it would remain with time running down. Following a fumble recovery, however, Judson somehow managed to conserve the clock on the 30-yard drive, with a few time-outs, "chain-gang" stops, and a Fourth-down pass completion for Judson’s only air yardage on the evening to set up a 1-yard TD and another two-point play with only 8 sec to spare. Thus, with the 19-18 win, Judson was somehow able to pull itself out of a sub-.500 situation, at least for the moment.

Next came Madison’s second visit to Judson’s "School Stadium" (their first visit being when they "borrowed" the stadium for a game two years before). Judson grabbed a 7-0 lead by Halftime, but then Madison came back and asserted itself enough to take a 14-7 lead as the game wound down. Following an interception at their 5-yard line and with less than a minute left, the Mavericks elected to take a safety rather than punt deep in their territory. Judson, however, returned the free kick to the 34 yard line and, following a 15-yard personal foul call on Madison, set up at the Madison 19. Four consecutive misfires, nevertheless, actually gave the ball back to Madison to take a knee with. So, Judson once again found itself at .500, both in district and for the season, in spite of out-gaining Madison in yardage, 201 to 150, but also penalties (120 to 45). The next week, Judson went up I-35 to San Marcos, where Ricky Balderas converted on another FG as a result of the ‘Snakes’ fumble on the opening kickoff. San Marcos would then tie it at 3-apiece going into the 4^th Quarter. For the game, Judson limited San Marcos to only 150 yards total offense. The only potential problem with that, however, was that Judson had 62 yards---57 on the ground and 5 in the air (I’ve often wondered how they can actually detect that kind of yardage). Nearly half of those 57 yards came with just under 6 minutes to go when J.J. Lewis took the handoff, following a short San Marcos punt (one of the 16 total that took place), for the winning score.

I came down the next week to see the game with Roosevelt. Roosevelt was coasting along still-undefeated overall but, in view of their tendency to shoot themselves in the foot, and this being their first visit to Converse since the 15-14 heartbreaker in 1978, combined with the fact that Judson, although mired somewhat in an offensive backwater at the moment, was at least maintaining their "Rocket Pride," I sensed that a very interesting transaction was in the works. Judson opened the game with a time-consuming drive aided by Roosevelt penalties, which brought the Rockets close enough to make another Balderas FG. Roosevelt then fumbled on the first play after the kickoff, which Judson recovered. Two plays later, Judson fumbled, Roosevelt recovered, followed by the water sprinklers inexplicably popping up on the Roosevelt end of the field and switching on. I can still hear the stadium announcer say "….hey, wait a minute….hey, somebody turn those off!!------that’s not supposed to happen!" Indeed. The play was suspended for the better part of the next 2-3 minutes or so until someone could be found to switch them off. When play resumed, Roosevelt went "three and out," and went back to punt. Looking at the way Judson was stacked up front to charge through the line, I along with most everyone else, could pretty much see what was coming, as they blocked the kick, which was then snatched in mid-air and taken in for the score. Following the missed PAT, Judson led 9-0. This was how it remained until the 4^th Quarter, when Roosevelt was finally able to score with about 6 minute to go. Figuring it would be a real white-knuckle finish, more likely than not in favor of Roosevelt (in view of their output in the last few possessions), what we saw next was quite astounding, as the Rockets managed to somehow keep the clock moving and, in spite of gaining very few yards each play, somehow retain possession long enough so that, by the time they had to kick the ball away, there were less than 15 ticks remaining and Roosevelt needing to go nearly the length of the field. Judson thus held on and, very suddenly, had transfigured the entire season, at least for the two teams on that ½-damp field. Roosevelt out-gained Judson in yardage 210-110 (Judson’s yards split fairly evenly between air and ground) but, although I had seen Judson play good defense since 1977, what I saw that evening was awesome, to say the very least.

In the final week of the season, Churchill added to Lee’s suffering with a 57-22 win as the Chargers finished another perfect season. Roosevelt, mad as hell and more than willing to let someone know about it, inflicted a similar score on MacArthur, as the Brahmas completed a "perfect" season of another kind. That is, if you like season-record "symmetry" between first and last. The Rockets, meanwhile, clinched their second-place finish by beating Clemens and, as if to indicate that this was actually the beginning rather than the end, scored on the final play of the game, and hence, the season. By season’s end, the Rockets were ‘doin’ all right, gettin’ good grades’ (on the field, at least). And, for the first time in nearly two years, the Rocket faithful were reachin’ for their ‘shades,’ for the future was suddenly lookin’ bright.

As anticipated, Holmes and Churchill squared off in a re-match of the previous year’s "City Championship." This time, however, the ‘Horns beat the Aggies, after a two-year hiatus, and the Chargers and the Northeast ISD thus also came out on top (21-14), likewise after a two-year hiatus. Churchill then lost two weeks later to Jack Yates in a 40-31 affair at Rice. Yates, like so many other recent southern bracket teams, then failed the Final, this time with Lake Highlands, 19-6.

The UIL somehow saw fit to place the Rockets back into the district with their former 29-4A buddies, starting with the 1982 season. That is, until they successfully petitioned to stay put. This was brought about partly due to an arrangement that allowed Eagle Pass to take Judson's place (otherwise Eagle Pass would have been returned as a designated "win" for Holmes, Jay, Marshall; etc. a prospect they rightfully were not too pleased with). Judson, in turn, replaced San Marcos in the district with the Northeast ISD teams (Churchill; etc) and San Marcos, as they desired, moved in with the teams from Austin.

To this day, no one can understand the UIL’s logic of moving Judson back to the previous district (or, for that matter, moving Eagle Pass back to what had become a Northside ISD slaughterhouse). What would have been even worse is that, even with a new 64-team playoff format that would be inaugurated, East Central, who was starting to take Judson's place as the bully in that district, would have, along with Judson, probably consistently locked some other fairly good teams out of the playoffs (Harlandale had a very strong team in 1985, but so did Judson and East Central. Go figure). To this day, many people still wonder if there were some groups that perhaps felt threatened by what they saw as an upstart that was about to crash the soon-to-be 27-5A party. I guess we'll never really know for sure. Either way, it's quite ironic what happened next.

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