The Rockets started the 1985 mission with Marshall in Converse, and Marshall rammed 12 straight points at Judson before the Rockets had ignition and took the lead at 14-12 before Halftime, and then held on for the win. The Rocket offense really got going after that, and was looking pretty good going into a Saturday night game with Madison at Blossom. This time, the roles seemed somewhat reversed, as Madison’s offense was struggling, although their defense seemed more than adequate. The Rockets grabbed a quick 7-0 lead, but then Madison slowed the pace down enough, and then tied the game at 7-7 just before the Half. The Rockets regained the lead at 10-7 midway in the 3^rd Quarter, but everyone could pretty much see that, for all the heat that the Rockets generated, the only "light" was an additional 3 points. Which meant that what happened next wasn’t all that surprising, as the two teams traded TD’s, with Madison, beating the clock just enough to give the Rockets that "exhausted and scared gazelle being chased by the cheetah" feeling. So, Madison thus had a 21-17 win. The Rockets, probably in a funk somewhat the next week, struggled in the 1^st Half against Churchill in Converse, but came back for a 14-3 win. Meanwhile, Clark gave the Huskies a little "cat scratch fever," as well as a little heartburn if not heartbreak, with a 14-13 win as a result of a missed PAT very late in the game, and looked to be in their district’s driver’s seat.

The next week in Converse, the Rockets managed to beat Roosevelt (suffering from several untimely injuries and thus in the process of clinching its first losing season since practically the beginning of time) pretty convincingly, but only after showing indelibly that the defense was somewhat suspect. This was a somewhat disconcerting discovery. On the other hand, although the defense would give up much more yardage than we were really used to, they did seem to get big plays when they counted, for the most part, anyway. Also disconcerting for the Roosevelt game was that Mr. Paschall was not there to help us any, because he had to go in for some minor surgery. Fortunately, we won anyway. But it for sure wasn’t nearly as fun. A cold front blew in very late in the afternoon leading up to the late-season non-district meeting with Central Catholic, and by game time there was a pretty steady, very cold downpour. Aided by numerous turnovers, Judson took a 20-0 lead at the Half and then, right after Halftime, scored again on another very short drive. It was at that point that both coaching staffs and the zebra’s decided that it was best for everyone to get the hell out of there, since it was pointless continuing in such conditions in a game that had no league bearings for either team (for the game the Rockets had 167 yards, all on the ground, and 7 First Downs, versus the six yards and one First Down for Central Catholic). Not so for Madison and Churchill, and most everyone else around the area. I got back into sheltered conditions just in time to hear Madison come back from a 5-0 Halftime deficit for a 15-5 win and a conditional lock on the district championship, pending their performance with Roosevelt the next week . The Rockets finished the regular season quite severely against Lee, and seemed to be peaking at just the right time once again.

Semifinals
Permian 10 Cy-fair 7
Yates 34 Holmes 7

Final
Yates 37 Permian 0

Once again, Clark finished at 10-0 and Holmes finished at 9-1. Consequently, the roles being reversed for Judson and Madison, they thus swapped opponents from the previous year’s 1^st round of the playoffs. Since Madison had a somewhat off-spec 7-3 record, few people seemed to really pay all that much attention leading up to their game with Holmes. Everyone figured that Holmes would pretty much wax them. On the other hand, the marquee match-up was Judson-Clark, this now being their third meeting, all of them in the playoffs, and both teams having similar progress in building their programs into respectability. Once again, however, the roles were reversed, and Clark, minus key running back Derk Harrington, was no match as the Rockets gutted and skinned the cats 38-13 in a "Saturday Night Massacre" at Northside, while over at Blossom and minus the live radio coverage, Holmes had to come from behind to beat Madison 21-17 in a classic see-saw battle. The next week, Holmes gained a high degree of Region IV respect by going to Fort Bend County and beating undefeated and sixth-ranked Willowridge 12-7. The game really wasn’t that close, as Holmes built the lead deliberately and confidently with two FG’s and a TD before Willowridge finally scored with time running down. Judson, in spite of being out-gained in yards, got some good defensive plays in getting past LBJ at Alamo Stadium. Meanwhile, East Central, which had been in the playoffs every year since being locked out by Nixon in 1981, up and beat an undefeated Edinburg, 20-0 at Alamo Stadium. Clinging to a 6-0 lead fashioned by two 1^st-Half FG’s, they took advantage of some Edinburg turnovers beginning midway in the 4^th Quarter, and came away with a shocking win, and a 3^rd–round appointment back at Alamo Stadium with Judson. Judson once again came up with some big defensive plays, and came away with a 28-13 win in the historic playoff meeting between the two East Bexar County nemeses. It was one of those games where East Central got better as the game wore on. After this season, the Rockets would once again be seeing a lot more of the Hornets, because the UIL realignment had East Central in the same district with the Rockets once more.

A 35-29 win for Holmes over undefeated Alice set up a "City Championship" meeting with Judson and Holmes, coached by JISD resident Gary Malesky. Although the Huskies had to hang on after grabbing a 28-7 lead, everyone could by now see that Holmes had some special talent and tactics that could match up with anyone. Nevertheless, the Rockets were favored going in, and there were also several people that had been looking more at what Clark did to Holmes and then what Judson did to Clark. On the other hand, I tended to look more at how Judson matched up with Madison, and how Madison in turn matched up with Holmes. On that latter basis, I figured both teams were going to have an interesting afternoon, especially since this was for the State Quarterfinals, and I was not totally convinced of the Rockets' long-term chances, given what still seemed to me to be some unanswered questions concerning the Judson defense.

A healthy-sized crowd showed up at Alamo Stadium on a classic, cloudless day and moderate temperatures. Judson, this time, was assigned to the visitors’ side. Holmes started the game with a time-consuming deliberate drive, using their by-now patented and deadly passing attack. What was quite unnerving from the start was to see QB Wilbur Odom step back in the pocket and, with seemingly all the time in the world, have time to spare in deciding who to throw to (Keith Cash or his twin brother Kerry, perhaps Lance Hilliard, Johnny Walker or two or three other possibilities, or for a little variety, maybe hand off to Jerry Arcenaux instead) from one play to the next. Not good (for Judson at least). The Rockets were slow in getting started offensively, so Holmes had some quick opportunities to add to the lead. Midway in the 2^nd Quarter, Holmes was at the Rocket 20-yard line when Judson’s Mike Madkins intercepted in the Endzone, but only after holding the Rocket fans breathless some more as he juggled the ball as he came down. Fortunately, he held on, and Judson was finally able to move downfield for a score just before the Half. Judson came out of the dressing room in the 3^rd Quarter and quickly moved downfield for its first lead of the day. Holmes quickly countered and, with a two-point play, regained the lead. Judson countered once more, and likewise got a two-point play for a 22-15 lead heading into the 4^th Quarter. Then, the Rockets finally had the Huskies backed up somewhat and, following a short punt, cracked the Endzone six plays and 34 yards later on a 9 yard sprint by Roland Cravey with precisely 9:00 left. Although it was finally starting to look pretty good, for some reason when I saw the clock saying exactly 9:00, I got this funny feeling that we were maybe about to see something that had not been seen in awhile, at least in Region IV. Sure enough, Holmes answered back quickly with another 8-point response and, with a little over 7 minutes left and a six-point differential, we knew for sure we were headed for some kind of white-knuckle, sweaty-palm finish. Or, put another way, I was starting to get that "exhausted-and-scared-gazelle-chased-by-cheetah" feeling again. On the Rockets' next series, they moved the ball well enough, but ended up wasting a Down by having to recover a bobbled snap. For some reason, also, the band percussion unit never got going when Mr. Paschall started the HEY!! HEY!!, and the crowd seemed kind of distracted so that the overall effect was out of whack for one of the few times (the collective "scared-gazelle" effect, maybe). So, the Rockets had to punt with about 5:30 to go, and we all knew what to expect next: Odom, the Cash twins and Co. knocking on the Ten Yard Line near the south Endzone. To the Rockets' credit, they actually managed to bring up 4^th Down. However, 4^th Down meant nothing for the kind of offense showcased that afternoon. So, when the Judson cheerleader, began yelling into the mike, "One More Time!!…One More Time!!…One More Time!!" with many of the fans joining in, Rick White and me included, I, with an already seared conscience perhaps, distinctly heard this wicked chuckle as an interior locution of sorts. Sure, I had my hopes that the Rockets would hold. But, I had this really bad feeling

Being closer to the North Endzone and on the front row, I could see neither the play(s) nor the zebra’s reaching for the sky. Not to worry. I got to hear the roar across the way in due order. With 4:09 to go and with the offense finally untracked and (in its own way, at least) on an equal footing with the Dog ‘Pack’s offense, we were actually still in a good position, especially since, if we scored, it would probably be with very little time left. Well, that idea went bye-bye, along with the ball, when we (and I do mean WE---this was a TEAM effort) fumbled the kickoff and, just like Madison had done the year before, Holmes then somehow held on to it the rest of the way, and we had to pretty much stand around like idiots as we waited to lose (not that the team and coaches on the field weren’t still trying to figure out some way to get one more shot---either way, I for one felt like the loser on the Weird Al "I Lost on Jeopardy" video), while the crowd across the way continued to get louder with every tick of the clock. Known as the "gazelle-being-suffocated-in jaws of cheetah (make that Huskie)-after-being-run-down" effect. Not fun. But, I’ll tell you this much: Similar to the two recent losses to Madison, I had no regrets having the honor of seeing this game, or, if it had to happen, losing to the Holmes team, coaching staff and the community they represented. They were and still are a class act. Any Rocket with any empathy whatsoever couldn’t help but appreciate precisely how it must have felt across the way as time expired. After all, we’d been there. And, in spite of the final result, it was another "Rocket Pride" moment, because we could have very easily folded completely in the 1^st Half with a team like Holmes had that day. But, we didn’t.

The next week Holmes returned to Alamo Stadium, once again to a sunny, cloudless, day, but about 30 degrees colder. Yates also made a return to Alamo Stadium with a team full of third-year starters with a bad taste still in their mouth following their loss to Judson. Actually, Yates was hoping to get Judson for this Semi-Final Game, and was actually willing to come to Alamo Stadium, even if they had the option of playing in the Dome (or somewhere closer to Houston), in order to do so. As is usually the case in such affairs, the several thousand Huskies were joined by a healthy contingent and assortment of Region IV banished. For the better part of two and a half Quarters, it appeared that the Huskies were on the verge of coming out of hibernation and taking the advantage away from Yates. However, Yates was on a mission, they weren’t to be denied, and consequently, Holmes ended up with the same exact blowout score (34-7) they received from Port Arthur Jefferson in Austin in 1980. Mojo kicked a field goal in the ‘Dome as time expired and defeated Cypress-Fairbanks 10-7. At Texas Stadium the following week, Mojo was no match for what Yates had, and quickly saw a 9-0 Halftime deficit balloon into a 37-0 final (make that Final) score. They ‘were flying along, and hit something in the air.’ DOA, in other words. Indeed, mountain lions (aka Panthers) are no match for lion Lions, especially the ones belonging to Jack Yates in 1985.