Halftime
The team left the field and waved to the crowd as they
went. You could tell they were very
pleased with the support. Pistol Pete came by the section and was
mobbed by a bunch of kids. The Aggie Pride Band performed with the Sundancers, the Cheerleaders, and the flag
corps. At one point, the Band set
down their instruments and line danced.
These groups also said goodbye to their seniors. Meanwhile, the Jaguar Cheerleaders came back from the concessions with Frito
pies. Some little girls waved to them as
they went down the stairs to the field. Looking
at the scoreboard stats, the Aggies had a bunch of penalty yards (I’ve seen
conflicting amounts in a couple of sources, I don’t know what’s right), but they
were great on third down conversions.
Even more interesting, after finishing off my large Dr. Pepper, I
watched the halftime show and didn’t need to go to the bathroom until after the
game.
Third Quarter
The Aggies got the ball to start the second half. They worked a good drive downfield. Most of the yards went through the air,
including another great catch by Jaleel Scott
(and he took a hard shot making it). I
think there was only one rush in the series.
But being pass-happy has its drawbacks, in this case, an interception in
the endzone. No problem. DeMarcus
Owens intercepted it right back a couple of plays later.
During a break, again at the endzone in front of me, a
golfer was brought out for a contest. He
had to pitch tennis balls with an oversized wedge through the uprights from the
15 yard line. He got three of four. That was pretty good. The team didn’t do as well, as there was a
sack and a pair of dropped passes. Then
my radio went out with no power. Ha, I had
prepared for that and busted out my backup.
During the change of the possession, the cheerleaders went
by with a box of t-shirts to throw into the Student Section. On their way back, the people in the cheap
seats wanted a cut too, but one of the guys showed that the box was empty. One kid at the rail still wanted the box and
waved for it. The guy almost gave it to
him, but pulled it back. Jaguar mascot Southpaw returned to the field after a
break and the kids waved to him. Pete
would come back too in the quarter.
Also, there was this guy in a good suit and tie wandering around during
the game. He walked past me once, and I
should have asked if he was looking for the Prom.
Punter, Peyton
Theisler, took a cheap shot after a kick, which backed up the Jaguars. The Aggie defense held. On the change of possession, Tyler Rogers found Jason Huntley on a deep ball down the sidelines to get into Jaguar
territory. Two pairs of rambunctious
little boys started annoying the hell out of me at this point, as they played
around me. I would have moved if there’d
been somewhere else to go. And Tyler got
sacked to end the quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Southpaw started dancing with some little Aggie fans. This guy was a good mascot. Hey, I just noticed that the Aggie Women’s Basketball team was
sitting in the Visitor’s Section. There was
Tamera William again. Unfortunately, she left early (big mistake on
her part, along with anybody else who left early). Down at the rail next to the field, I could
see Gia Pack, high scorer from the game today. I think another one of last
season’s squad was with her, Moriah Mack. I think it was her. This girl was all smiles and standing and
cheering the whole time. Mo never did
any of that when I saw her playing. I
almost feel cheated. She has a great
smile.
The fourth quarter started off with a 39 yard Dylan Brown field goal to give the
Aggies a 16-7 lead. After two blocked field goals last week,
special teams really came together for this game. The Jaguars came right back with a long drive
that ended and a touchdown, 16-14 Aggies. Moriah was upset. She was really into the game. The wave started in the crowd, but that died
as everyone got angry over an uncalled pass interference penalty on the Aggies’
next possession. The drive continued,
though there was another uncalled pass interference. The Aggies got into the Jaguars’ red zone
anyway. The crowd was really getting
into it by this point. Moriah was
dancing. (She was in front of me. It was hard to miss seeing her.) Southpaw was done for the night here. He waved goodbye to the kids, who ran to the
rail to see him off.
It was fourth and four on the Jaguars’ 17 yard line. The Aggies went for it with a pass to the
endzone to Jaleel. The ball came out as
he landed out-of-bounds. Turnover on
downs. Yeah, this was a questionable
play call. Really questionable. It became even more questionable as the
Jaguars moved the ball right downfield.
A bomb to a wide open receiver, who then broke a couple of tackles, put
them inside the Aggie 10. The defense
held here and Jaguars had to settle for a field goal. 17-16
Jaguars with five and a half minutes to play. Athletic
Director Mario Moccia probably started thumbing through his rolodex at this
point, looking for available coaches.
The kids that were bugging me left with their parents at
this point. Thank goodness. However, pretty much everyone else committed
to staying for the end. The Aggies moved
the ball downfield in clutch fashion.
They converted on three third downs, including a third and ten reception
by Johnathan Boone and Rogers on a
keeper on a third and one. With a ball
inside the Jaguars’ 20, the players started waving their arms to quiet the
crowd, who were all standing by this point.
The fans and the players were now working as a unit. We were all in this together.
Larry Rose III took
a rush to inside the 10. During a
timeout, the cheap seats started chanting, “Let’s go Aggies!” Rose then converted on a third and one by
half a ball length. Sure, they were in
easy field goal range, but a touchdown would force the Jaguars to go the length
of the field, so going for it here was appropriate. Tyler scrambled and rolled out. He fired a shot into the endzone to a diving Connor Cramer. Touchdown Aggies! There it was!
The Winning Play right in front of me!
Let’s hear it for endzone seats!
The two-point conversion failed. After such a long drive, the Aggie defense
only had to hold for 30 agonizing seconds, but hold they did. Our final: Aggies 22, Jaguars 17. The
team charged the field. The Student Section
spilled out on to the field and met them in the middle. Maybe it wasn’t a Chicago Cubs level victory, but this was the biggest football win
for Las Cruces in nearly 60 years. The
crowd briefly tried to tear down the goal posts, but thankfully thought the
better of it. (The last time that
happened, somebody lost a finger.) Mario
was probably out there screaming, “Don’t do it!
We can’t afford it!”
I decided to stay up in the stands and watch. It felt like the players’ and students’
moment, as well as the long-time fans.
Right in front of my section, one of the Jaguars’ players was on the
field getting a talk from what I presumed was his parents. I’m not sure if it was a lecture or they were
consoling him. Their coach was retiring
after this game, so I’m sure there was some emotion on their side to send him
off with a win. At least, they didn’t
lose to a team and fans that didn’t really care about the outcome.
Suddenly, Brooke
Salas and Zaire Williams from
the Women’s Basketball team walked past me, coming up from the field. Apparently there were no hard feelings about
Brooke nearly accidentally beaning Zaire during the game. I would have liked to have congratulated them
on having a good game, even in a loss, but never got eye contact, so I decided
I shouldn’t bother them. Then the guy
behind me called out to them and congratulated them. I give up.
The color commentator on the radio and former player, Cory Lucas, had to leave the air for a
moment from tearing up. The voice of
Aggie sports, Jack Nixon, who’s
never called an Aggie football team going to a bowl game in his very long
career, said “It seemed like this day would never come.” An official from the Arizona Bowl was on with Jack during the halftime show. It’s not guaranteed, but they wanted us if we
won.
“Making History” was the motto for the day, as Tyler Rogers
more-or-less told the team right before the winning drive. I’m sure I speak for everybody in saying it
was great to be there for this win. I
really hope this helps the program, especially next year when they’re
unaffiliated with a conference. They’ve
suffered for so long, a little light at the end of tunnel seems in order. I hope the city can finally feel a little
pride in their football program. It’s
been so easy to get down on NMSU athletics, even programs that have done well,
because the football team was bad. Maybe
everyone will finally start raising their expectations and cheering for the
team wholeheartedly knowing that good things can happen.
I’m keeping this ticket and not redeeming the coupon on the
back.
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