Arizona Western College - El Matador Yearbook (Yuma, AZ)

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'I ,AW 96' f We 1 Aga iti00 M t. ,, 3 at ' ,,Xf W 4 d 1 a W ,Way ,Q W Va 5 an . M PM te Z , an QW 5 W Frazle Wee ,,.. 'CMM W f ' We proce point Thi Howe in th point haifti We on a d ' his 6 secoi Cox. Ce versi hand extra M fx g r X r scori ll Wi r r g W r r y erroi On Nov. 25, 1r972g,Ari2ona Western College Coach 2 tio? Ray Butcher was nervously pacing the sidelines wait- one-, ing forthe openingSunkist'Ei Toro Bowikickoff. r r y f nn r Law r-ri-,etr'1Fifth-yeatrahead coach had good reason to ved? worryas the contest wasrone ofthe most important in in the schools nintefrtyeartootbailhistory, C Sum l Some tworhours latertas thegbritiiant running of fron froshrvsensationf iaarry' Bates andftrrlther blocking ofrofs in th fensive guard rJohn'Segretti,g,hadrljust trounced Fort Scott' Comrr1aQnityrrr,Coilliege,of' Fort Scotty Kansas, 36-87to capture the 1972 N.lCllAl-Xfnatiogntaf C champion- shipfootbailygarnre.yg nnno 2 in - , C C Beforefrryreceiving an invite ssl to, peffiicipate in the tYurnaWgayme1the Matadorshad to yfinishfthe season undefeatednwhilchr theyttdid, anaynaa tobe one of the nation's toprtwo-ranked teams in the NJCAA footbaiipollg e r fef r C v r g r ' ' The' , Charnpiognship game appearance was Westernssecond in four years. ln'l969 AWC played Northeastern Okiahoma ASLM forthe national cham- pionship only to see fatal mistakes turn the Savant- nahQGa.tripintoa nightmare. 4 r g During the next two years,ithe Matadors were de- prived of additionralr trips to Savannah as Mesa CAriz.j Community' College ambushed AWC 17-14 in 1970 while San Diego Mesa upended the Mataciors 7-0 in 1971. g Q However, it was different this year as the Matadors breezed through a nine-game scheduie unbeateb and untied. Two of those wins came over Mesa Community and San Diego Mesa--the two teams who deprived Western of additional trips to Savannah. Q53 tx Se .te ss asf s - ss ea so

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... Again CWGSTEFWS- d6T6r1Se,,ro'se.to.t'h:e.o,ccasion...as the lvlaradorslillmared ,ther 'BGBITS to 'lust .63 'yards offense. Bates was 'AWC'gs -top offensive man scoring two touch- downs+includinga,46-yardjaunt., i A 1 - , g AWC clinched the conference crown 'the following weekend when theymanharedled visiting Glendale Com- munity College 28-6 to become the .first team in Arizona Junior College Athletic Association to win back-to-back conference crowns. A V ln order to reach the Su-nkist-El Toro Bowl, which was to be held at the Kofa Nlemorial Stadium in Yuma, the Matadors had to dispose of an extremely underrated San Diego Grossmont crew. -- The Griffinscame into the game with a 1-7 record. However, they didn't play like a team with a losing mark as both teams entered the fourth quarter deadlocked at 6-6. ln the final stanza, Western took the advantage of two poor punts to punch across two TD's earning an 18-6 victory. During the game,.the.lVlatadors established a school record of 11 fumbles. The Grossmont victory was AWC's 18th straight and set up the showdown with Fort Scott Community Col- lege in the Sunkist-El Toro Bowl.

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ft x X. 9' S it K 5 if ll Ne? ,Q KK Q U 5 Qi in K ' 0 ' ' 'l 1 e an Q Against Fort Scott in the Sunkist-El Toro Bowl it took the Nlatadors a while to get going, but once they did the Greyhounds couldn't find a way to stop the fireworks. The Matadors received the opening kickoff and were promptly stopped by an aggressive Fort Scott defensive line led by mammoth Cliff Frazier, a 276-pound All-American Tackle, Western was forced to punt and Fort Scott proceeded to block Brian Adam's punt for a two point safety, That was all the scoring in the first quarter. However, the Matadors offense began to click in the second period and the Westerners put 15 points on the scoreboard to hold a 15-2 lead at halftime. Westerns first TD in the second quarter came on a 33-yard sleeper pass from quarterback Den- nis Coleman to Leonard Thompson while the second tally came on a one-yard plunge by Jerry Cox. Center Steve Petrucci scored a two-point con- version when he had a blocked pass drop into his hands while Rick Savedra kicked the first of four extra points to round out Western's first-half scoring. Western then capitalized on two Fort Scott errors early in the third quarter to put the na- tional championshiptrophy on ice. A fumble, early in the second half, set up a one-yard plunge by Cox while a poor punt ignited Larry Bates' three-yard scamper to pay-dirt. Sa- vedra kicked both point afters. ln the final quarter Thompson added an in- surance TD when he hauled in a 24-yard pass from Coleman giving AWC a 36-2 advantage late inthe game. kickoff, junior college football. f i spirationalplayer. 'QV' . .Q t V +- Qdw, .ist K wr! ,t ,.c5l f Fort Scott came back to score its only TD following the ensuing The championship victory also gave Western a 19-game winning streak-the longest such skein in ln post game presentations, Bates was named the game's outstanding offensive player while Segretti re- ceived an award as AWC's most in- ? fi . ' 'E QF!TUHDsum K 0 -1 f -rrir r 43'ti'iiiive 1 -JiljLLIUllDqg, f- s or ' - ri'e X - 'fffil fiiqg iirgtirfis 1111 f 'if' ' liitsfgfii C dy 'ff,!i5'i 'f W Y J 'FQ' 74, ' ff l.,-- rzflr. xkkffmqflrft T ,ir it r i li' iii i yew is ' :gi ei r -1 4 i fxfgrzslf 15744, liii -T Weil A, .L if