On paper last Friday night, it should have been a toss up between the Pleasanton Eagles and the Cuero Gobblers. According to the Cuero injury list, it looked as if Pleasanton had a slight edge. On the actual football playing field, it was a tale of two halves. At the end of the day, a “snake bit” Pleasanton team let another one slip away, in a season, which the unthinkable continues to occur.

Missed opportunities and questionable play calls was another story and another chapter in the Friday Night Lights-2011version. Every time it seemed as if the Eagles were going to get over the hump of bad luck vs. the Gobblers, something went wrong. From being held at the 1-yard line, to fumbling a ball on another hot drive, nothing went the Eagles way.

With the recent college talk about the Texas A&M Aggies, the phrase the “12th” man comes to mind. For just a quick minute, I must give a thought or two on the atmosphere at Eagle Stadium last Friday night.

After attending the road game in Aransas Pass two Fridays ago, it was impressive how the 150+ fans really motivated and cheered the Eagles on from start to finish. From standing up for many parts of the game and cheering, to chanting fiercely “defense-defense-defense”, I was very impressed with what

I saw and you could tell it did motivate the squad.

The stage was set, as the Touchdown Booster Club along with the Pleasanton Express had advertised a “Green Out” in reference to all Eagle Fans wearing Green. The message was taken well, as 90% of the stands were in Green and showed up in large numbers. The only issue I was shocked at was a lack of a “home field advantage type crowd”.

Anytime you are playing a team such as Cuero at home, it’s called home field advantage for a reason. When you can hear “Go Big Green” blared over and over from 250+ Cuero side of the stands, there is something wrong. I do have to give credit to the Pleasanton High Scholl student section. I did hear them try to start up cheers numerous times, but unfortunately the 800+ people in the stands didn’t follow.

All in all, just as I urged this community last year during basketball season, here is a challenge this season:

Make Eagle Field one that will be hard to play in. Many times the Eagles needed just that extra shove of support to get over the hump, but very rarely did I see anyone stand up or chant defense, etc like a week ago on the 130-mile trip to Aransas Pass. Being at home is an honor and an opportunity you cannot look over. So in the future, let’s have a “12th man”, lets have an atmosphere that is one that will be to our advantage when we are in a close game again so hopefully we can get over that small hump of miscues and bad luck.

Conference Shuffle- In the college scene, all anyone is talking about is the conference realignment shuffle. Being in a family that is split down the middle with half liking the Horns and half liking the Aggies, everyone knows what side I have decided to follow. Having season tickets for 9 years, the Horns are my team although I never did get to attend college there. Most of my hours came from Palo Alto and Texas A&M Kingsville-San Antonio.

It is official this week that Texas A&M is headed to the SEC. While I have plenty of opinions on this; I have just a few points to make. Weather they were to stay or leave, the Longhorn Network is here to stay which is the reason many are complaining. One other point, many Aggies claim they are excited to go to a much better and powerful conference. In A&M’s 12+ years in the Big 12 (weaker/less respected, etc), how many Big 12 Championships has A&M ever won? Are you ready for the answer- 1. That’s right, just one. As far as football is concerned, A&M will make strides down the road as they should be able to recruit a little better being in the SEC, but will they compete? Recent history does not favor the side of the Aggies.

We might know more, as the Ags meet the Hogs Saturday at Jerry World in Arlington. Saturday, there could be more than just 5,000 fans chanting “Big 12, Big 12” like the Oklahoma State faithful did last Saturday in their come back victory. You could have half of Jerry World in a sea of Razorback Red making you think twice, if you made the right decision! After all, we know what Arkansas did to Texas A&M last season.

Cuero 23, Pleasanton 8

First quarter CUER- Stoney Schoenfield 69-yard run (Logan Goebel PAT), 10:26.

Second quarter CUER- Logan Goebel 27-yard field goal, 10:26. CUER- Chris Papacek 55-yard run (PAT failed), 7:11.

Third quarter PLEAS- Albert Mares 45-yard fumble recovery(Zade Llamas pass from Luke Walters), 8:26.

Fourth quarter CUER- Lane Balfanz 2-yard run (PAT good), :20.

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: CUER- Papacek 20-127-1TD, Schoenfield 7-69-1TD. PLEAS- Arevalo 18-49, Walters 6-16. PASSING: PLEAS- Walters 28-47-1INT. RECEIVING: PLEAS- Jandt 6-68, Arevalo 10- 46, Sorola 3-42, Llamas 2-38. RECORDS: Cuero 1-4 (1-0), Pleasanton 1-4 (0-1) Defensive Leaders: Total Tackles- Engelmann 17, Woodall 12, Garcia 9, Smith 9, C. Smith 9. Caused a fumble- Engelmann 1, Woodall 1. Defensive TD- Mares 1.

Jourdanton 47, LaPryor 0

First quarter

JOURD- Aaron Lopez 30-yard run (Brent Tymrak PAT), 7:18.

JOURD- Kye Burris 11-yard run (Tymrak PAT), 2:46.

JOURD- Burris 29-yard run (PAT failed), 1:20. Second quarter

JOURD- Burris 10-yard run (Tymrak PAT), 9:30.

JOURD- Lopez 23-yard run (Tymrak PAT), 8:39.

JOURD- Chase Harrison 17-yard run (Tymrak PAT), 5:19.

Third Quarter JOURD- Ian Chachere 9-yard pass from Chase Harrison (PAT failed), 6:48.

TEAM STATISTICS

STAT LEADERS

RUSHING: LP- Martinez 8-15. JOURD- Burris 5-64-3TDs, Pacheco 6-61, Lopez 3-56-2TDs, Oropeza 7-42, Harrison 4-39-1TD. PASSING: LP- Martinez 3-10-48. JOURD- Hurt 1-4-23, Harrison 1-1-9. RECEIVING: LP- Rios 1-41. JOURD- Lopez 1-23, Chachere 1-9-1TD. RECORDS: LaPryor 0-5, Jourdanton 4-0.

Eagle Football Awards

Red Carpet

Team Defense

Offensive MVP

Jacob Arevalo

Defensive MVP

“D”-Line/LBs Special Teams MVP

Beto Garcia Scout Team Offense

Kevin Bazan Scout Team Defense

Zach Fox