Haka'd at the big dance!

[bullrock]

Congrat's Trojans. It was a good game. The Rockets just didn't have the size to stay with you. They did have the heart though. I was proud of them. They played Rocket Ball today and came up short. The score doesn't really matter when you leave it all on the field. I'm gonna contact my local Congressmen and see if we can't sort these classifications out by size. Not the of the student body, but the size of the students body. Them were some big boys. I'm not sure I would stand toe to toe with them for three hours.
AMCDAD, they did exacrly what you said they'd do. I truly thought we could overcome that but they proved to be too much.
Trinity, you have a class program! Enjoy your trophy. Something tells me it won't be your last one.
Next year..........................:cool:
PS...can ya'll keep the big hawg on your sideline from now on? He created a big stir in our stands today.

[gritty52]

Thanks there bigrock!!! The Rockets played with alot of heart and class!! I'm not going to say I told you so , but those big boys were in great physical shape weren't they? Thanks again and that was a hell of a scare you guys put into us in the first quarter. Yhanks alot and good luck! PEACE:D :D :D !!!
P,S I didn't know the hawg was on your side until I heard the commotion.. Did he fall on his own or did he have help???

[bullrock]

He fell?

[bullrock]

You know what they say? You walk into a hornets nest, you're bound to get stung!!!!!!!!!11111;)

[gritty52]

Don't know what he was thinking!!!

[bullrock]

I have to hand it to him. He was pretty bold for coming over there. We all noticed him when he began his move towards our stands. To answer your question though, he had a lot of help falling. I was an eye witness.;)

[jrdaniel]

I was thinking the same thing AMC was thinking last weekend - those biguns are gonna wear down in the 4th quarter. Number 76's legs bowed in under all that weight! The linemen didn't run down field much, made the first block count instead of sticking and staying, or else they might have gotten tired. Great coaching.

I think the only facets of the game Judson won was preparation and turnovers. We got out-adjusted after the first quarter, totally lost the special teams battle, and were held in check on offense. Trinity made some HUGE 3rd down plays and some nice catches in the secondary. Even though we did give up those catches I think the defense did a pretty decent job considering the time on the field in the second half. Had we taken care of business on offense maybe it would have been closer. Gotta give credit to Trinity D for holding us in check the last 3 quarters.

The one thing out of the whole game I didn't care for was trying to score in the last seconds up by 14. You can look at that either way though - classless move by a coach or a coach letting his kids play one last play for the season and for some, career. Probably the latter, not that big of a deal.

Very proud of these Rockets in their loss to Trinity in the State Championship.

[eingedikid]

Although the ET defense got the stops when they needed to, and kept us in check fairly well, in some ways I think the Judson offense, as shaky as it has been all season, actually peaked at the right time, weird as it may be to maybe say that, and may have played its best game today against a superior team. I was impressed with the way Bouldin engineered drives downfield after we went down 20-14 and again after we went down by 14. Obviously, ET rose up when they needed to and shut us off, but I was truly impressed with some of the moves that Bouldin put on the ET defense at times. It was almost like we saw a preview of the Judson offense for next season.

[The Great Evaluator]

I saw it coming all week. Judson fans were sure that the heart that their kids had would prevail. It was very hard not to mouth off to much during the week after hearing about all the state championship experience Judson had. The truth is none of that mattered today. Neither did Trinity's 13-1 record vs. Judson's 10-4 record. Both teams were 0-0 in a 1 game playoff for all the marbles. Never doubted Trinity's hogs would wear down Judson. O.K. a twinge of doubt after the fumble return but going in at halftime at 14 all changed that. Trinity was fairly sloppy, 2 passes should have been picked off. They were lucky to overcome both those and the fumble return and still won by 14. Judson has a great program but of the teams they've brought to a state championship this one was by far the least spectacular. They clearly got there on guts and it was almost enough to steal a championship but the better team won. I give Judson a lot of credit because they knocked off a team that i had my doubts that Trinity could beat. My prediction was
Trinity 31 Judson 21 so the game score was close to what i expected but the way it got there wasn't. The Trojans offensive line has to be one of the best i've ever seen. There was some physical abuse that just wasn't right at times. I give Judson all the credit in the world for hanging tough but in the end they just didn't have the horses. I know they'll be back because of their tradition and young talent but this was Trinity's year.

[eingedikid]

I saw it coming all week. Judson fans were sure that the heart that their kids had would prevail......I give Judson a lot of credit because they knocked off a team that i had my doubts that Trinity could beat..... this was Trinity's year.
Everyone around the state was so focussed on and obsessed with Westfield that it put ET in the perfect position to end up doing what they did today---either with Judson or with WF. SGP did ding them 35-28 (I think), but that loss probably provided some valuable data for ET on their weaknesses and how to work around them---similar to how Judson responded to a 35-24 loss to Roosevelt in week 8 in Judson's first Championship season in 1983. Meanwhile, before and after that loss to SGP, looking at the impact ET was making in the Metroplex, in many ways it did seem to me that ET was the real team of destiny in D-1 this season---not WF or Northshore and a few others. It's for these reasons I was somewhat leery of the predictions of some of my fellow Rocket posters. Given the shaky status of the Judson offense all season, I knew it was going to take the same kind of Apollo 13-like Tiger team effort and would quite possibly require the kind of scores by the defense that took place today and also last week---and then some. That's actually one reason I glibly said at one point that Judson would either win 7-0 in OT in a classic defensive fight to the death, or it would be closer to what happened with Dallas Carter (31-14 Carter "win"). Well, it turned out to be closer to the Carter scenario, although today's performance was much better than that 1988 experience. Sure, the game wasn't as close as the score, but I think that's the only way that Judson was maybe going to pull it off today, in which the defense gets pushed all over the field but it somewhow manages to get some momentum-changing plays right when you think their toast. We did see glimpses of that today, but much more of that was needed to get through a full four quarters.

[The Great Evaluator]

Well put Eingekid. You're assesment of the game is fair and objective. You were also correct about SGP beating Trinity earlier this year. I thought both SGP and MacArthur (the other 2 representatives) from 6-5A were both better than the Judson team i saw today but my hats off to the Rockets, they hung in against an 0-line that hits you like a ton of bricks and held the Trojans to their lowest point total of the season 28. They have nothing to be ashamed of, they were clearly the team with the biggest heart of any team i've seen this year! Their were no losers, Judson came much farther than anyone expected. Lets not forget at one point of the year they were 4-4. Almost a complete reversal of 1992 when Trinity was forunate enough to make it to state after going 5-5 in the reg. season.

[eingedikid]

I thought both SGP and MacArthur (the other 2 representatives) from 6-5A were both better than the Judson team i saw today
I wouldn't doubt at all that those two could have beaten Judson---at least earlier in the season for sure. It's sort of the same situation we had with ET today: Our defense would have to carry the load, and our offesne would have to get the most out of whatever yards they do get. I'm really glad to see that Judson got its 200 and some offensive yards today. That's not too far off their season average. Given the fact that they were playing in rarified air in the twilight zone/terminal phase---also known as the Finals---one possible scenario I had fearfully filed in the back of my mind going into today's game was one of those 120-yard 5 First Down days like we got in week 7 with Churchill (14-0 Judson loss). I thought going into the WF game last week we would get 200 yards and WF would get 400---win or lose (we got our 200 yards but shockingly they got only 120). Nevertheless, I had that same kind of 400 for ET 200 for Judson statistical scenario in mind going into today--win or lose. Such has been the life of the offense in the Rocketland this season.

[da wiz]

agreed, i think judson was the BEST team we played in the playoffs,
BUT they were the 3rd best team we played all year, mac and sgp,.
were better, kudos to SGP they did something no one else could do,

and congrats to D-I state champs, THE TRINITY TROJANS,

[da hawaiian]

Judson was by far the best defense we've faced this year. I won't dishonor Judson by saying they weren't the best we faced. Any defense that long on the field that holds our Trojans to 200+ yards rushing (419yds total offense) is special. I'm glad they didn't get it going offensively, but I think they're one heck of a team. I'm not disagreeing with my friend Da Wiz that SGP was not a great team, but I think we've come a long ways after that loss. No way SGP sneaks up on us like that again. Kudos to a great Judson team. And what about that head coach of theirs. He had me ready to run thru walls. That's some motivational speaker they've got over there.

[dragonfootballfan]

agreed, i think judson was the BEST team we played in the playoffs,
BUT they were the 3rd best team we played all year, mac and sgp,.
were better, kudos to SGP they did something no one else could do,

and congrats to D-I state champs, THE TRINITY TROJANS,
was Mac really better than that Judson team? Did you see what Carroll did to them?

[TrojanHorse03]

Actually I think Judson was better than SGP and MAC. Trust me I was dead on this week(28-14 score even). I said as much, the team felt that SGP was a good team that they took a little lightly. I've continued to say Irving Mac wasn't in our class we gouged their D for 450 yds rushing, but like Judson they played with heart and created some turnovers to keep us from scoring more.