A Crowded Field

NOTE: Click HERE to view the season record

To start the 1987 season, Judson would once again have a meeting with Marshall. This time, it would be Marshall’s turn to break in a new coach. And, it would once again be both teams’ turn to experience a scoreless tie at Northside Stadium. Judson then followed by shutting out both Lee and Madison, before spotting Churchill a TD in a 17-7 win in Converse that, as it turned out, decided the District. That’s not to say that some other teams weren’t having a say in all this. That’s just the way things worked by the end of season that saw the following:

• Judson’s Earl Kauffman kicking a 57 yard FG in the game with MacArthur at Converse, after having kicked a 58-yarder against MacArthur just the year before.
• Roosevelt finishing at 7-3, losing to Lee (8-7), and then, in its last two games, to Churchill (6-2), and then Judson (12-7), in which Judson’s Earl Kauffman, midway through the 4th Quarter at Blossom and with the Rockets trailing 7-6, caught a pass following a high snap on a FG attempt and got six points instead
• Judson experiencing somewhat of a 1979-like offensive power-failure in the final two games of the regular season
• Fox Tech finishing 10-0, just ahead of 9-1 Sam Houston following a 10-7 showdown
• Madison clinching a losing season in the late-going
• East Central holding its own at 5-5 in the same district with Judson
• Holmes and Clark still doing their thing, but with Taft, coached by former Huskies Defensive Coordinator Mike Haynes in only the Raiders’ second year of play, finishing 6-3-1 after upending Clark earlier

Semifinals
Plano 29 Permian 21
Stratford 30 Willowridge 16

Final
Plano 28 Stratford 21

The playoffs, however, would be another matter. Clark beat Fox Tech fairly convincingly, in the 1^st Round, but only after Tech gave their followers reason for hope for the better part of the 1^st Half before caving in. Sam Houston, on the other hand, beat Holmes 13-10 in the 1^st Round; Churchill, leading 17-0, survived a 16-point comeback by Reagan, and Judson came back from a 14-7 Halftime deficit to beat Crockett 31-14 in Converse. For the most part, however, Judson still seemed to lack a certain amount of offensive fire, and the defense seemed to be giving up some big plays in the late going. Needless to say, the meeting with Willowridge in Fort Bend County promised to be interesting, if not perilous.

Judson held Willowridge to only a FG to end the Half trailing 3-0. The Third Quarter, however, was a disaster, as the roles were reversed from what they were when Judson visited Mercer Field with Dulles in 1983, and had an impressive "2^nd-half surge." Willowridge was the one this time to get the breakaway 2^nd Half, and quickly had a 17-0 lead. The Rockets managed to regain a little of their composure and eventually make it 17-8 in the 4^th, but, for the most part, Willowridge seemed to have Judson’s number throughout the game. In the end, the only thing the Rockets had going for them was Mr. Paschall, always the eternal optimist, win or lose.

The next week, Churchill and Clark met for the "City Championship" at Alamo Stadium. Clark got off to a quick 14-0 lead very early in the game, Churchill made it 14-13 by the Half, and then 16-14 as the 4^th Quarter progressed. Aided by the scrambling and passing ability of soon-to-be Pitt QB Alex Van Pelt, Churchill climbed out of its hole and into a bus to the Houston area for a meeting with Willowridge, who was at that moment across town "borrowing" Judson’s stadium in order to put down, with a 28-7 count, a vaunted Mission passing attack that had, the week before, bombed Sam Houston 34-6. Churchill went on to lose 14-12, but had moved into FG range as time ran out but with no time-outs to stop the clock, in what would be Jerry Comalander’s final game before being named the new AD for Northeast ISD . Willowridge then had a 30-16 ending the following week in the ‘Dome against Stratford, who then met defending Champ Plano at UT for the finals. Plano returned Stratford’s 1978 favor, and won 28-21. Most ironically, Plano had a running back named Craig James.