Temple High School - Cotton Blossom Yearbook (Temple, TX)

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Cats climb tcontt-l It was a COld miserable night with rain and a strong north wind when the Wildcats arrived at Buckley Stadium, but nothing seemed to matter except the dis- trict championship. The team showed a great effort as they took over before the Kangaroos even knew it. Jesse Cavil, 'defensive back, said, til think we just went out and did the job. Everyone gave 100 per cent effort. In the first quarter the Wildcats showed some of their outstanding razzle-dazzle when Quarterback Kyle Harmon faded back handing the ball to Anthony Johnson who ran untouched and unseen for the first touchdown. Byron Gray added the ex- tra point making the score 70 Minutes later Killeen tried a quick kick. The entire Wildcat front line broke through to block the kick and Bryan Smith recovered the ball on the Killeen three. Johnson, again, afterthreetries, brokethrough making the second touchdown. Gray kicked the extra point. Temple added a third score in the final quarter when Charles Young made a tre- mendous effort and lunged into the end zone. Gray again kicked the ball making the score 21-0. The district crown belonged to the Cats and the steady but difficult climb to the top began. The Cats first toe in the state playoffs ,was Cypress-Fairbanks of Houston. The Cats became one of the 16 teams left in the playoffs after a steady, wel l-played 21-7 victory over Cy-Fair. Young, Johnson and Carl Robinson each scored a touchdown and Gray made all the extra points. One knot. in the thick rope dis- appeared and only four remained. The most exciting and unforgettable playoff game was the battle between Tem- ple and Sherman for the regional title. The game with a final score of 26-26 was won on penetrations. It was a last minute catch. penetrations, interceptions and well-ex- ecuted on-sides kick that made it possible forthe Catsto advance to the semi-finals. Seniorfree safety Jeff Davis, who ex- ecuted the on-sides kick said, I didn't 1 think I' 'd be in a game that meant more to on e d I d EverythIng seemed to 90 Sherman s H aggeaway when they Won the tOSs and home field and the toss to recere the football ???Ia-gAlthough Temple made the first touch- . V down of the game the haIf-tIme score was , argvSherman 2. OTempIe 14 DurIng the tourth quarter the deter- mined Wildcats turned the game aroUnd. Sherman made a touchdown and missed theextra point, making the score 26-14. The game seemed out of reach but the loyal fans could be heard shouting, Re- member Bryan Remember Bryan! With 3: 30 left In the game the Cats turned on the BigBlue Machine. Like a streak of blue Iightening with red Spa'kS' NO' 28' 16xWinter Sports Charles Young, caught a Harmon pass and ran for a touchdown making the score 26- 20. Gray' 3 extra point was blocked. Only1:59to go and the excited crowd of 13,000 were on their feet. Everyone ex- cept the Sherman Bearoats expected an on-sides kick. Jeff Davis kicked the pigskin and Glen Molett recovered the ball on the Sherman 50. The Cats moved the ball down the field, every tick of the clock counting. With 10 seconds left In the game third down and about 7yards from the goal, Harmon threw the ball to tight end Lester Ward who caught it for a won- derful six points. Again the extra point was missed tying the score 26- 26 The decision of the officials based on which of the two teams had the most pene- trations, declared the Wildcats the win- ners. Temple had six penetrations. Sher- man had five. Head Coach McQueen said, It's unfor- tunate that our last extra point was blocked, but we knew we had things under control. I'm proud that we never surren- dered. The Sherman game was the one where 48 Minutes to Play. . . A Lifetimeto Remember showed its true and real meaning. Another knot on the rope disap- peared and three remained. After the Sherman game, the Cats next quarterfinals opponent was the Highland Park Sootties of Dallas. Carl Robinson opened up the scoring by rushing 92 yard for the 6 points. Gray made the conver- sion, making the the score Temple 7, Highland Park 0. Junior Alfred Truesdale intercepted a Soots' pass. Another touch- down was scored with Gray making the extra point. Highland Park made a touch- down and at half-time the score in Baylor Stadium was 14-7. In the third quarter Harmon rushed four yards for a touchdown making the score 21-7. Later Cavil intercepted a pass that Molett turned into a touchdown. The Soot scored late in the fourth quarter, but too late for a scoring drive to begin. The final score was the Wildcats 28, Scots 14. Another knot in the thick rope was removed and. only two remained as a re- minder to the challenging ascent. The Cats win over the Scots pushed them into the semi-finals against Lubbock Monterey. The Wildcats plowed down the Plainsmen with an impressive score of 35- 0in Baylor Stadium To start out the scoring, Tailback Molett , swept right and picked up 24 yards to move the ball to the Monterey 12. Robin- son hit the line 3times in succession and the result was 6 points for Temple. Gray added the point after and with 6: 09 left in the first quarter, Temple led 70 After a narrowly missed Harmon to Davis pass, Johnson raced 54 yards for another 6 points. Gray addedthe point after Late In the second quarter, Johnson rambled into the left side of the end zone on the belly play. Gray's kick was wide. Harmon ended the half with a fine twisting 18 yard touch- down run. Harmon drove into the end zone for 2 points to send the Wildcats to the locker room with a half-time lead of 280 Senior Al Pinohbaok added the final Temple tally with a 36 yard run on the final play of the game. The rest of the second ' half was plenty of sound defense on the part of Temple. Senior Robert Caughlin seemed to sum it all up by saying, Our defense did a heokuva job out there. We just played good. If we do it next week, weill be'on top of that mountain. And only one knot re- mained. The Austin weather was cloudy, cool, damp, and misty. The day was one that players, coaches, and fans from all over Texas had awaited since the start of the '76 Texas high school football season. The day was December 18, 1976 and the event was the AAAA state championship game The two teams Who had worked so hard and survived the tough play-offs were the Temple Wildcats and the San An- tonio Churchill Chargers. :9 UPPER LEFT: Trying to keep warm in tho Killeen game, Alfred Truosdalo my and Glen Molett 00 stand by the electric heaters. UPPER RIGHT: Resulting from tho dynamite tomatlon, a touchdown was soared by runnlng back Charles Young t281.Celobratingthetouchdown are guard Kenneth Donn tTn, center Bryan Smith tsot, tackle Bruce Smith 0'4, and split and Gary Tutor UBi- LOWER RIGHT: Wildcats Al Pinohbaok tam, Mark Mc- Queen um, Herbert Jenkins my, Mike Johnson am and Paul Thomas tSSt show that they are No. 1 In District 15- AAAA, copy and layout by klm pecbal and loesa calhoun Q t

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........................ Cats CIIITID tcon t. y Dropping back to pass, quarterback Kyle Harmon l1 OT eyes a Corsicana tackle. The Cats defeated the Tigers 28-0 to bring my; season record to 7-0. An effective defense and a choked offense oharaotenzed the Cats champIon- ship play. The defense was so effeotIve that they held the Chargers to only two I + + I IV-f'fChUl'Cth was also only able to notch two ' l fIrst downs In the openIng quarter as the l Cats shUt them out in these three periods. It was the second quarter that did the back RonnIe NIpper set up all 10 points ?ethle his puntIng kept the Cats In the h0le.g. The second half saw two big plays that could have gIven the Wildcats the football iiraoed 48 yards but not far enoughfor snx , pomts ' . e - Temple had good field posmon on the ChurohIll 3O bUt HarmOn was dropped for ; an eight yard loss. Molett had a 13 yard . . , . With arms and legs flying through the air, any'Jackson setback th le tryI ng to unload a halfback . . . last. Jim Camoun 05,, Todd smphens t65l. 6.9,, Mom pass on thll' d dohwn . - an and Silvester Youngblood l66T attempt to block a The next Temple opportunIty Came Copperas Cove Pm - when Robinson intercepted a Nipper pass - and came within a gnat' s whisker of six points. W The Cats stIll had a chance since they were on the Churchill 23 but Harmon was ' dropped for two more Iosses while trying to pass. Final score was Churchill 10, Temple 0, and the long climb was over The community 8 reaction to the win- ning Wildcats was just about: as eontIng as the games. They supported the Cats In numerOUsways. Giovanni s, afavorite pizza place for THS students, sold Temple playoffs Were compliments of American PrIntIng Company Texas Bank and Trust , sponsored a decorated oar parade before f1: the state finals game KTEM had a couple l' of top hits, McQueen s Miracle Men and I McQueen s Monterey Massaore. Temple wasliterally covered with cars and store windows painted in support of the Cats. The FHA sold spirit ribbons with the size increasing with each playoff victory. Newsmen at KCEN-TV supported the Cats by wearing giant spirit ribbons on the air. The traffic; to the games became increasingly heavy. The Quarterback Club sponsored buses along with the Blue Crew and various Temple businesses. On the way to the state game in Austin; l-35 looked busier than the 3:20 rush at the THS parking lot. Scouting was essential to the success of the season. Coaches Coleman, Hop- pers, McMurtry,. Kerezstury, and Morgan, assisted by 12 middle school coaches, scouted teams the Cats would face in coming games. Among these future oppo- nents, Killeen was scouted weekly. : ark ' Queen 612T runs an 09! - ' .' .PaulTyson Stadium. . . WV '21 03' is - 18lWinter Sports ' i g 3 icopy andlayout by kim pechal and loose calhoun