1997: One and Done

NOTE: Click HERE to view the season record

CC Carroll (5-5, 5-1)
September 5, 1997: Buccaneer Stadium, Corpus Christi
Occasionally the Space Shuttle launches only after a brief hold at the 31-second mark, which is the last really safe time to have one that won't result in a full-scale scrub. A similar situation happened to the Rockets at Buccaneer Stadium when the Tigers put the Rockets on hold by scoring on the first play of the game with a 74-yard pass play and PAT. The hold continued for a few more minutes, as the Rockets went nowhere on their first offensive series. On the Tigers' next series, however, Judson's Garrick Moreno tackled the Tigers' Keith Frazier in the end-zone for a Safety, the Rockets were given a "GO" for launch, and they picked up the count. Following the free kick, things happened quickly, and they had liftoff by driving down for a 1-yard run for a TD to take the lead, which was stretched to 10-7 following a Chris Post run for two (2) points. The Rockets scored 14 more points before the 1st Quarter expired, by virtue of a 10-yard Post scoring run, a 9-yard TD run by QB Quill Redwine, and two (2) PAT's by two (2) different Kickers. They extended the lead in the 2nd Quarter with a 15-yard TD pass and a PAT, and finished their scoring in the 3rd Quarter with a 3-yard run and PAT. The Tigers also closed out their contribution to the score in the 3rd Quarter with a TD and PAT. The Tigers were limited to 78 yards on the ground although they did pick up 135 yards through the air. The Tigers lost two (2) fumbles, and the Rockets lost four (4). The Rockets picked up 133 yards through the air on a 4-of-7 effort. Meanwhile, the majority of the damage was done on the ground, where the Rockets picked up 310 yards contributed by seven (7) different ball carriers.

Marshall (1-4, 1-8)
September 12, 1997: Converse
Bryan Dausin, in his first season at Marshall following his very successful stay at Roosevelt, brought the Rams to Converse this Friday evening, and the Rockets passed one of the more successful systems tests ever conducted with Marshall. The Rockets got on the board with a 7-yard TD run by Adrian Barnes with less than three (3) minutes gone in the 1st Quarter, this coming at the end of a five-play, 48-yard drive that was facilitated by a 45-yard kickoff return by Damon Washington. The PAT kick would fail, as would a conversion run, which came with 6:27 to go in the 2nd Quarter after Redwine hit John Joern for a 33-yard pass play for the score. A 62-yard scoring drive ended with a 6-yard pass from Redwine to Robert Laymon with 5:22 to go in the 3rd Quarter, and once more the PAT failed. In the 4th Quarter, the Rockets drove from their 10-yard line to the Rams' 7, and Jon Villastrigo nailed a 24-yard FG with 5:01 left to finish the scoring for the day. The Rams picked up only 93 yards on the ground and nine (9) through the air, and had minus three return yards. The Rams were able to stay in the game with a 39.3-yard punting average when compared with the Rockets' 31-yard average, but they could not overcome the 253 yards the Rockets picked up on the ground, 124 of those contributed by Brushaud Callis on 14 carries. Adrian Barnes would contribute 77 yards, gaining of 16 and 17 yards on the Rockets' 3rd-Quarter scoring drive. Redwine completed 5-of-9 passes for 94 yards. The Rockets and Rams both lost a fumble for the only turnovers of the game.

Ellison (10-0, 5-0)
September 19, 1997: Converse
The Eagles, ranked No. 8 statewide by the Associated Press, swooped into Converse for a duel with the Rockets, and proved that Rockets can run afoul of birds of prey. The Eagles' Reggie Duncan opened the scoring on a 42-yard run with 86 seconds gone, and Ellison was up 7-0 after the PAT. Brushaud Callis then answered for the Rockets on a 5-yard run with 6:21 left in the 1st, and Villastrigo's PAT tied things. Ellison retook the lead on a 6-yard run and PAT with 2:05 to go in the opening Quarter. The Rockets tied things again on a 3-yard Chris Post run and Villastrigo kick with 5:39 left in the Half, and Reggie Duncan responded with a 13-yard run for the score, and the Eagles led 21-14 with 4:00 left. With 2:04 to go the Eagles extended the lead on a 1-yard run and PAT, and the Rockets answered with 55 seconds left in the Half with a 39-yard scoring pass from Redwine to CJ Johnson and a Villastrigo kick, giving the Eagles a 28-21 advantage at the break.

Coming out of the break, the Eagles immediately regained a 14-point advantage on a 1-yard run with 2:01 gone in the 3rd Quarter. The Rockets brought the differential back to 7 on a 19-yard Post run and Villastrigo PAT with 37 seconds gone in the final period, and the Rockets then played "beat the clock by scoring on the final play of regulation and nailing the PAT. The score was set up after the Rockets reached the 14-yard line with three (3) seconds left. On the next play as time expired, the Eagles were flagged for pass interference, which gave the Rockets the ball at the 2 with "four zeros" on the clock. Redwine connected with Thomas Price for the score, Villastrigo drilled the PAT to tie the game, and the game entered into overtime. The Eagles got to go first, and they regained the lead on a 7-yard TD run by Duncan and Rocky Danners' seventh-consecutive PAT. On the Rockets' turn on offense, the Eagles' Greg Robinson recovered a Brushaud Callis fumble at the 12, and that was that. 'They were flying along, and hit something in the air.' The Eagle(s), however, lived to tell about this particular collision.

The Eagles picked up 346 yards on the ground in this collision, with Duncan gaining 265 of those on 19 carries. They completed 4-of-6 passes for 53 yards and no INT's. The Eagles lost three (3) fumbles, but a 40-yard punting average helped mitigate their impact. The Rockets, however, punted twice for only a 29-yard average and while they likewise experienced no INT's, they did lose four (4) fumbles, with that final one literally finalizing things. The Rockets picked up 281 yards on 60 plays, with Callis providing 139 and Barnes getting 71. Redwine also completed 10-of-21 passes for 146 yards. Being only a non-District game, this was considered to be a relative success for the Rockets that provided some valuable Development Flight Data and enabled them to get to MECO (Main Engine Cutoff) and the work that lie ahead on orbit (ie, District play). Nevertheless, the noticeable collision with the Eagle(s) during what had been up to that point a very good launch required that the Flight Crew and Flight Directors spend a larger part of the 1997 mission examining videotape and looking for structural and/or systemic damage. Otherwise, the eventual re-entry could prove to be a little rough.

The Chargers quickly changed that coming out of the break when Glasscock took off on 1 69-yard run and Laverne nailed the PAT with only 22 seconds gone. The Rockets then countered with a 56-yard pass play from Redwine to Callis and a Villastrigo PAT at the 8:24 mark of the 3rd. Not to be deterred or ultimately denied, the Chargers knotted things once more with 43 seconds to go in the Quarter on a 14-yard run followed by the PAT. This score came after the Rockets turned the ball over after threatening on a 3rd-and-6 at the Charger 28. The Rockets nevertheless got the advantage back one more time 93 seconds into the final period on a Redwine run for 11 yards, and the PAT gave the Rockets a 28-21 lead. At this point, it appeared that the Rockets would manage to pull away just as they had in the previous meeting with the Chargers, in which Churchill likewise kept knotting the score up until late in the game. The Chargers, however, were in no mood whatever to play to this same script twice in a row. Consequently, with Judson at the Churchill 29-yard line and facing a 4th-and-2, Redwine was stopped a yard short when Mike Huggins brought him down the way a single hyena can occasionally bring down a wildebeest (which was all the more impressive because Redwine's speed could hardly be characterized as that of a wildebeest---a cheetah would probably be more appropriate). This enabled the Chargers to go down and tie the game one more time, this time on a 38-yard run by QB Robert Burns and a Lavergne PAT with 4:47 to go in the game. Just as the Rocket contingent was getting comfortable with the possibility of a 2nd-straight OT scenario, the Chargers picked off a Redwine pass at the Judson 35 and returned it to the 4, and with 2:04 to go Lavergne hit on a 22-yard FG. The Rockets could not sustain an answering drive, and the Chargers had zapped the Rockets for the 2nd-consecutive time in Converse.

New Braunfels (9-1, 6-1)
October 3, 1997: Unicorn Stadium, New Braunfels
If the experience with the Chargers weren't enough, the Rockets would soon have a malfunction that nearly resulted in catastrophe. The Unicorns were also somehow managing to prove that they could fly as well, and it was neither legend nor myth. Indeed, the Rocket Crew and Flight Directors were left having to perform an evasive maneuver to let the Unicorns pass (which they were doing frequently as of late), only to discover that some attitude control thrusters had short-circuited, causing the Rocket vehicle to tumble out of control briefly. The incident occurred during the Rockets' first visit to New Braunfels since 1975. The Unicorns on their opening drive went 83 yards in 14 plays, with a critical play being a 20-yard pass from QB Kliff Kingsbury to Eric Graves at the Judson 4-yard line. Graves fumbled into the end-zone, where Guard Randy Jonas alertly pounced on it for the score. Kingsbury missed the PAT, and the Unicorns were up 6-0 at the 5:39 mark of the 1st Quarter. After the Rockets continued to have trouble moving the ball, the Unicorns burned the Rockets with a quick 5-play, 86-yard drive. The big play was a Kingsbury pass to Graves at the Unicorn 45, from where Graves went untouched for the TD with 6:16 left in the Half. A pass from Kingsbury to Scott Simpson for two points upped the count to 14-0. In the 1st Half the Rockets had only three (3) First downs and 54 yards total offense, with 34 of those coming on the ground in 19 plays.

Roosevelt (3-4, 4-6)
October 11, 1997: Blossom
As was also the case when Gemini 8 began tumbling uncontrollably in orbit when some attitude control thrusters misfired, through competent and confident decisions and actions by the Flight Crew and their FOD (Flight Operations Directorate---aka Rocket Coaching Staff), the Rockets regained attitude control, and a Rocket-like attitude-control known as Rocket Pride soon began to prove itself once more. The first Detailed Test Objective (DTO) in a somewhat modified mission plan was a Saturday evening meeting with the Riders at Blossom, which was played on a muddy field and during a slow drizzle that had persisted for several days. As a result of the muddy conditions, a larger part of the middle of the field had no grass, courtesy of the Brahmas and Volunteers the previous evening. Consequently, while attempting a punt in one of the mud-riddled areas midway through the 2nd period, TR fumbled the snap and the Rockets recovered at the Rider 17-yard line. Brushaud Callis scored from nine (9) yards out shortly thereafter, and the Villastrigo PAT was good with 4:27 left in the 1st Half. In the 2nd Half, TR completed a 63-yard drive with a 1-yard run by Richard Pequeno with 7:11 left in the game, but the PAT failed when it went wide left, and this is how the game ended. TR picked up 106 yards through the air on 4-of-13 passes and one (1) INT. On the ground they netted 129 yards, with Anthony Holiday getting 111 on 15 carries. A 3-punt, 34-yard average helped keep the Rockets in check, but although they did not lose any of them, five (5) fumbles probably slowed them down somewhat, especially in view of the conditions. The Rockets had no turnovers whatever and only fumbled the ball once. They had eight (8) punts for an average of 31.5 yards, were "O-fer" through the air on four (4) attempts, and on the ground they only got 169 yards, of which 107 belonged to Callis on 23 carries, but the Rockets escaped with their first successful maneuver following the series of funky events. The Rockets were thus able to continue with the mission, but everything from that point on would be a moment-by-moment affair.

Seguin (1-9, 1-6)
October 17, 1997: Converse
The Rockets' efforts at salvaging the mission continued in Converse in a meeting with the Matadors. The Rockets scored three (3) Touchdowns in each of the 1st and 2nd Quarters, and Villastrigo was perfect on all six (6) PAT's. Villastrigo was perfect on the two (2) PAT's the Rockets got in the 3rd Quarter, which complemented nicely the two (2) TD's. The Rockets were once gain perfect in the final period after Chris Post raced 61 yards for the final TD of the contest. The Rockets limited the Matadors to four (4) First Downs and 44 yards of total offense, while picking up 446 yards on the ground. Callis contributed 174 of those on 14 carries, with the balance provided by seven (7) other ball carriers. Redwine completed 2-of-3 passes for 60 yards and no INT's. The Matadors likewise experienced no INT's, and both teams lost one (1) fumble.

Lee (3-7, 0-7)
October 25, 1997: Blossom
The Rockets were successful, for the most part, in dealing with QB Zac Colvin and the Vols' passing attack in this Saturday evening affair at Blossom. The Rockets opened the scoring with a 25-yard run by Callis for a TD, and Villastrigo added the PAT at the 7:50 mark of the 1st Quarter. The Rockets extended the lead in the 2nd Quarter on a scoring runs by Post and Thomas Price for 5 yards and 26 yards, respectively, with the Price coming around left end on a reverse. Villastrigo was good on both PAT's. With 2:01 left in the 3rd Quarter, Callis sped 80 yards for another TD, and Villastrigo added the PAT. With 6:57 left in the game, Vols responded with a 2-yard Colvin run to narrow the gap to 28-6. The PAT was blocked. The Rockets answered this with a 12-play, 72-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard run by Shawn Manuel with 1:50 to go, and the Villastrigo kick followed. The Volunteers picked up 83 yards on the ground, and Colvin completed 17-of-28 passes for 151 yards and no INT's. For that matter, neither the Vols nor the Rockets had any turnovers. Meanwhile, the Rockets picked up 453 yards on the ground and five (5) through the air, with the five (5) coming on a 1-of-4 effort by Redwine. Callis contributed 295 of the rushing yards, with the remainder once again picked up by seven (7) other Backs.

Madison (7-3, 4-3)
October 31, 1997: Converse
The status of the Rockets' mission was still moment-to-moment, and one of the more challenging moments following the earlier events came in this Halloween meeting in Converse. In the 1st Quarter, the Mavs' Jared Robertson intercepted a Redwine pass and returned it 29 yards to begin a drive that stalled at the Rocket 4-yard line, where Matt Duke was good on a 22-yard FG with 4:53 to go in the opening stanza. Madison then reached the Rockets' 26-yard line, the Rockets held and took over on downs, and then drove 74 yards in 14 plays to take the lead on a 25-yard Barnes run and a Villastrigo PAT with 70 ticks remaining in the 1st Half. The Mavs then had their own version of a launch coming out of the break, and they regained the lead on a 1-yard run by Guiden Herron. The two-point conversion attempt was no good, and the Mavs led 9-7.

CJ Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff to the 37-yard line, and three (3) plays later Chris Post scored on a 56-yard run as the 4th Quarter began. It was then the Rockets' turn to attempt a two-point conversion, and it was likewise the Rockets' turn to fail in the effort. After Madison was forced to go three-and-out, Johnson returned the punt 23 yards, and Adrian Barnes scored shortly thereafter on a 44-yard run. The PAT was good, and the Rocket had upped the count to 20-9 with 8:31 to go in the game. The Mavs were then stopped on downs at the 38, and with 35 seconds to go Callis ran it in for a 37-yard TD, and the PAT was good. The Rockets were flagged for an un-sportsmanlike on the TD because the zebras apparently felt that the way Callis kind of high-step pranced the final 15-yards or so like the pros occasionally do was a little too showy for NCAA rules football, and this brought the Rockets' total in penalties, which apparently were the culprits in short-circuiting several efforts in the first three (3) Quarters, to 87 yards.

Each team experienced one (1) INT and zero (0) lost fumbles. The Mavs picked up 141 yards on the ground and 27 through the air on a 4-of-18 passing ledger, while the Rockets turned in 20 yards on a 1-of-8 effort. The Rockets picked up 324 yards on the ground, with Callis gaining 129, and Barnes and Post getting 79 and 71 yards, respectively. The Rockets, whose mission status up to this point was still tenuous, would next face a series of Go/No-Go milestones that would determine whether they could continue out of orbit for a full-up Division I lunar mission (ie, the post-season), or be required to come back in on what NASA terms an "alternate" mission.

MacArthur (8-2, 5-2)
November 6, 1997: Blossom
Two (2) Go/No-Go criteria needed to be met for the Rockets' mission to continue:

1. The Rockets would need to beat Mac; and,
2. New Braunfels would need to beat Churchill.

Although the Unicorns and the Brahmas had proven themselves fully capable of remaining in orbit and were already declared "GO" for the playoffs, the Rockets and Chargers were still in the same parking orbit, and the only way the Rockets could initiate their Translunar Injection (TLI) burn was for the Chargers to drop out of orbit and come back in on that "alternate" mission discussed earlier. And, after the situations that occurred earlier in the flight, the Rockets would need to undergo a thorough systems evaluation, and the Brahmas would be a major component of those tests. The check-out took place at Blossom on a Thursday evening, where Villastrigo kicked a 19-yard FG with 2:49 left in the 1st period. The Brahmas responded with a 20-yard pass for a score, followed by a PAT at the 10:15 mark of the 2nd Quarter. Just before the Half, a low center snap on a Mac punt set up a short drive that Chris Post finished with a 1-yard TD run. With the PAT the Rockets had the lead with 1:10 to go.

Redwine then scored on a 5-yard run with less than five (5) minutes gone in the 3rd Quarter, and the lead went to 17-7 after the Villastrigo kick. Mac answered with a 13-yard run with 2:21 to go. A fumbled center snap on the PAT forced the Brahmas to improvise and attempt a 2-point play, but this failed and the Rockets led 17-13. Momentum had definitely shifted in the Brahmas' favor, and with eight (8) seconds left in the 3rd period Mac took the lead on a 45-yard run. The PAT was blocked, however, just when it was becoming abundantly clear that this could be a critical factor in the Go/No-Go decision for the Rockets. Indeed, instead of still trailing by one, the Rockets were instead leading by one after Villastrigo hit on a 33-yard FG with 10:27 to go in the game. The Brahmas nevertheless regained the lead at 22-20 on a 28-yard FG with 5:38 left. With the memory of a failed 4th Down attempt in Week 5 still fresh, and also in view of some other considerations as well, the Rockets then elected to punt the ball away from their own 32 with 3:20 to go. The Defense held and, following the punt, the Rockets were back in business at the Mac 45 with 51 seconds to go. Redwine completed a pass to the Mac 4-yard line, and suddenly this was starting to look somewhat like the finish with the Brahmas at this same location in 1994. In contrast with the 1994 scenario, Villastrigo instead split the uprights with a 24-yarder with 14 seconds to go, and the Rockets held on for the win.

The Rockets thus met criterion No 1, and in doing so they prevented Mac from clinching a District title, which would have otherwise occurred by virtue of their one (1) sole loss previously and a victory over the Unicorns. The following evening, the Unicorns nevertheless provided criterion No. 2 for the Rockets when, just as they had done so many times thus far during their second and final season in 26-5A, they eliminated the Chargers by electrocuting them with a go-ahead score with twelve (12) seconds left in the contest, which once more was a result of the patented passing attack directed by Kliff Kingsbury. This came after the Chargers regained the lead with only 1:18 to go, and after the Unicorns had previously rallied from an 11-0 Halftime deficit. The Chargers thus dropped out of orbit, and the Rockets were given a "GO" for the burn.

Crockett (7-3, 3-2)
November 14, 1997: Converse
All the way down to the photo-finish in Week 10 that saved the Rockets from an aborted mission, the 1st-round meeting in Converse had the appearance, going in, of the one the year before with Bowie. The multi-score deficit that the Rockets also found themselves in during the 3rd Quarter, however, is where the similarity ended in this one. Whereas during the 1996 mission the Rockets also started their TLI burn to begin the Division I moon trip with a low-thrust warning, the 1996 glitch was nevertheless corrected in time, the Rockets throttled up, and they were on their way. The 1997 mission, however, had no such luck, the burn was terminated and the Rockets were forced into an "alternate" mission after all.

In the 3rd Quarter, the Rockets continued to have trouble moving the ball consistently, while the Cougars continued to eat up the clock and move the chains. Eventually, they were able to get close enough to add still one (1) more FG---a 32-yarder by Rodriguez----with 2:57 left in the 3rd. Then, with 7:29 to go in the game, the Cougars extended the lead to 25-7 with a 6-yard run and a successful PAT. The Rockets still had trouble on their next series, but they held the Cougars close enough to their own goal line that on the punt exchange the QB took a safety instead with 2:11 remaining. The Rockets answered quickly following the Free Kick with a 27-yard hook-up from Redwine to Max Price with 98 seconds remaining, but the pass for two (2) points failed. An onside kick was recovered by the Rockets, but in a reversal of roles from previous playoff encounters with Cougars, these particular pumas had the Rockets in burlap, forcing the Rockets to abort their post-season trip to the moon and call the 1997 mission a wrap. Through the air the Rockets picked up 102 yards, while on the ground they netted 122 yards. The Cougars, meanwhile, got 59 yards through the air while picking up 373 on the ground and with that, the Rockets were one-and-done in the playoffs for the first time since 1979.

The one bright spot, however, is that, for all the problems encountered earlier in the flight, the Rockets were able to make the best of their re-entry and landing by narrowing the gap toward the end, and the Rocket Program would still have plenty of resources left to make another try during the 1998 mission. All things considered, the 1997 mission was a qualified success. Meanwhile in Division II, the Unicorns advanced by virtue of a 27-21 Bi-District decision over San Marcos, and the grounded Rockets were left looking up to see if a cow (or in this case Brahma) could indeed "jump over the [Division II] moon"

Meanwhile, in Division I the Taft Raiders, with a 3-6 record (interestingly Holmes also had a rough start by losing its first four games but then roared back with five straight wins to clinch the top seed in 28-5A), took out Crockett in Round II, the Carroll Tigers----the Rockets' Week 1 opponent----in the Quarterfinals, and then performed creditably against another Tiger Team---this one from Katy----in the Astrodome. It is also interesting to note that the Ellison Eagles---whom the Rockets had the collision with in Week 3----also had a sterling season that likewise ended once more in the other Division I Semifinal. In other words, if the Rockets had settle for an alternate mission, at least it was due to teams that for the most part made a difference.

Although the cow (ie Brahma) didn't jump over the Division II moon, Mac did pretty good. The Brahmas started by knocking out the defending Division II Champs in a cold, wet wind under leaden skies in San Marcos, and from there they sailed along nicely, as did the Unicorns, who were still up to their 1997 tricks of getting in deep and then climbing back out in time.

For the first time since the inception of the Big 12, the Conference Championship game was held in the Alamodome. For all the overblown drama associated with it, it turned out that the game was an anticlimax of sorts that saw Nebraska blow out TAMU. Indeed, while that pseudo-drama was getting underway in the AlamoDOME, further up US 281 at the Alamo STADIUM some real drama----courtesy of the Unicorns and Brahmas----was wrapping up, as you can see below.