If you watch it long enough, football – the game, played as it should be played – exhibits a remarkable consistency. Whether it's 1954, or 2009, when the best teams are involved, it comes down to making a play.
In Waco, on Saturday, the Klein Bearkats made a couple of plays. With nine seconds left in the game, the Bearkats were on their own seven-yard line, trailing, 29-21. In those nine seconds, with no time-outs, they made it from their seven to the Abilene High one. Going 92 yards in three plays (one a spike to stop the clock) in sudden-death is a stunning example of football's consistency at the playoff level.
Then Abilene made a play – a bigger play – and, with it, won the game that put them into the state championship versus Katy next Saturday. With no time left, a Klein receiver made a catch at the Eagles' 13 and fought toward the end zone. The Eagles made the tackle at the one-yard line, ending the game much the same as an Eagle team 55 years earlier had ended a big game.
In 1954, Abilene was playing Houston's Stephen F. Austin High School, in Houston, for the state championship of Class AAAA. The score was tied, 7-7, and Austin had just missed a short field goal. Abilene got the ball at the 20-yard-line with 5:49 left in the fourth quarter. Coach Chuck Moser was not optimistic. "I didn't think we could score again," he said. "It seemed like everything was turning against us."
Instead, the Eagles, led by quarterback H.P. Hawkins, stormed 79 yards to the Austin one-yard line. It was third down. Hawkins dived straight ahead on a quarterback sneak and crossed the goal line. But then the ball was rolling free. The Mustangs recovered in the end zone. The officials huddled, ruled it a fumble, and awarded the Mustangs the ball at the 20. The Eagle offense came off the field and Hawkins trotted up to Moser.
"I expected him to come out of the game heartbroken, maybe even in tears," Moser said. "I was afraid he'd lose his confidence. But instead he came up to me, put his arm on my shoulder, and said, 'Don't worry, Coach, I'll get a touchdown for you.' "
Here, from my book, "Warbirds – How They Played the Game," is the way the rest of the game went:
"The Eagle defense, playing ferociously, stopped the Mustangs on three downs and Matthews had to punt into the wind. On the crisscross return play, Henry Colwell wound up with the ball at the Eagle 45 and found a lane down the sideline. He ran 55 yards and scored easily with 2:40 remaining in the game.
"Eagle fans erupted as Colwell sprinted toward the end zone, but back upfield, there was a flag. Abilene was called for clipping. In barely a minute, the Eagles had had two touchdowns called back. The referee stepped off the penalty and placed the ball on the ground at the Abilene 31-yard line. If there was to be Eagle tenacity, this was the time for it. One more time, the Eagle offense came back onto the field. On the scoreboard behind the end zone, the clock showed 2:40. A state championship was 69 yards away.
"Eagle left end Twyman Ash, No. 81, during the season had earned a nickname, 'Old Glue Fingers,' because the tall blond senior who was also a starter on the Eagles’ basketball team never dropped a pass. In the championship game, Hawkins had gone to him only once. But now, with the title on the line, Hawkins threw twice to Ash, once for 38 yards and again for 17. After five plays, the Eagles were poised at the Mustang 16, with a little over a minute left on the clock.
"Hawkins called another pass. He took the snap and rolled right. Colwell, split to the right, went down and out. Millerman from his left halfback position went straight down the field between the safeties. Ash followed along behind and found himself open. But Mustang defenders had caught Hawkins. They threw him for a 13-yard loss back to the 29-yard line.
"Now there were 56 seconds left. Ash trotted back to the huddle and told Hawkins he could get open again. “We were trying to split their safeties,” Hawkins said. “We had a split to the right, Twyman on the left and Jim (Millerman) running a flag up the middle to split the safeties.” Hawkins called the same play. On the sideline, sophomore Glynn Gregory was getting ready to try a field goal.
"The Eagles came to the line. Hawkins took the snap and rolled right. Both Colwell and Millerman were covered. Mustang coach Kotrola had dropped one of his defensive ends into secondary coverage, giving him five defenders covering three receivers. 'The first two guys weren’t open,' Hawkins said. Then he saw Ash at the five-yard line. He threw.
"The ball was high, but Ash leaped, arched his back and snared the ball on his fingertips between two defenders. On the sideline, Reporter-News photographer Don Hutcheson caught No. 81 in that fully extended instant that became probably the most reproduced photo in Abilene media history.
"As he came down, Ash had a step on the defenders and hustled five yards into the end zone. There were no flags. The Eagles led, 13-7. On the sideline, the Eagles were jumping up and down. Someone in the excitement came back with an elbow that caught Moser squarely on the brow above his eye, splitting it open. Blood gushed, but Moser quickly found a towel and pressed on the gash as he watched Hawkins kick the extra point to make it 14-7.
"The Victory Bell rang and rang. A drained crowd watched the Eagles kick off and bat away the Mustangs’ last efforts and then it was over. The Abilene Eagles were the Class AAAA state champions . . . . "
Abilene went on to win two more state championships, in 1955 and '56. Now, 53 years later, the Eagles have an opportunity to win another. It remains to be seen if they will. But at Waco, on Saturday, they showed they have the old consistency.
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