Game Source: S.H.S. Cypress (11/17/1967)
Both schools entered the game undefeated. Sabinal was 9-0 and Judson was 8-0-1. Judson tied Southside 6-6 in a non-district game.
Judson came into game having only give up 39 points for whole season.
Henry Sollers, SHS head coach, said, "Man, I saw where they (Judson) had 79 players out for the team and kept 25. Seventy-nine is more boys than we have in school."
In the first quarter, Sabinal had a 20 yard scoring pass from Dusty Parker to Tommy Foster called back due to a 5-yard penality.
Sabinal scored in the final four mintes of the fourth quarter.
This game broke Hargraves 12 game scoring streak.
Ken Venuto, Judson running back, rushed for 102 yards. Venuto finished second in individual scoring in the district behind Hargraeves.
Over 2,000 spectators in attendence.
The win gave Judson the District 30A Championship.
Judson moved up to Class AA the next season (1968).
From http://www.judsonrocketball.com/1967.html
Sabinal
November 10, 1967: Sabinal
Once again, the Yellowjackets entered the matchup with the Rockets at 9-0. This time, however, they had an offensive juggernaut, averaging over 40 points a game. The Rockets, on the other hand, entered with an 8-0-1 record but, more importantly, an unblemished record in District 30-A. In addition to a sterling Defense, the Rockets also had an improved Offense this time. Nevertheless, the Jackets once more seemed to have the edge on the Rockets, given their offensive numbers turned in by James Hargreaves and Bill Bales, and the fact that with an offensive output like they had, it usually becomes more difficult for a really good defense to maintain goose-eggs, because frequently the only way to get a game over with is to let the clock run by letting the other team move the ball and eventually pick up in many cases "garbage time" scores. The Jacket Defense, in other words, was just as good as in 1966. The Judson Rockets, nevertheless, perhaps once again had a certain amount of developing US Space History on their side. Approximately 38 hours earlier, NASA successfully launched the unmanned Apollo 4 in the first test of its Saturn V Moon Rocket. The test sent the Command Module to an apogee of a little over 10000 miles, and about ten (10) hours later the spacecraft splashed down to conclude the first-ever "all-up" test of a new American space vehicle. Meanwhile in Texas, Judson was about to conclude the fourth and final year of its Class 1A Rocket Program and was looking to go out with a bang and probe new heights in a prospective post-season. But first, they had to avoid being stung by the Yellowjackets on a soggy field in Sabinal.
The Rockets were able to neutralize the Jackets’ ground threat, but the Jackets went to the air instead and had a fair amount of success with it. The opening period was scoreless, but in the 2nd period the Jackets appeared to have taken the lead on an aerial hookup from QB Dusty Parker to Tommy Foster. An apparent offside call, however, nullified the score. The Jackets then missed on a 30-yard FG attempt. All told it caused the 1st Half to end in a scoreless tie.
In the 3rd Quarter, the Rockets were finally able to mount their only serious drive of the day. The major pickup in the 70-yard drive came on Ken Venuto’s 26-yard gainer. The drive was aided by a 15-yard piling- on call against the Jackets that moved the ball from the Jacket 30 down to their 15. It nevertheless took the Rockets six (6) plays to get in from there, which came when Mike Jaksik punched in from one (1) yard out. Jimbo Masters drilled the PAT, and the Rockets had a 7-0 lead. The Rockets, spurred on defensively by Arthur and Alfred Andreoli, Mike Graff, David Farley and Gary Tschoepe, continued to neutralize the Jackets’ ground combo of Hargreaves and Bales, but finally, with the game going critical in the waning minutes of the final period and the Jackets facing 3rd and 8 from their own 30-yard line, Dusty Parker put the ball up, and Tommy Foster, with a Rocket defender immediately in front of him and prepared to get the INT, snatched the ball away and took off for the endzone to close the gap to 7-6 with just over two (2) minutes to go. At the time, the Jackets were ahead 2-1 on penetrations, but they nevertheless chose to go for the win instead. The Jackets called a timeout to settle everyone---the crowd included---down a little bit, and then attempted the pass for two (2) points. It came up incomplete, and the roles were reversed with the Jackets reduced to stunned silence and the people dressed in red going ape instead. The Jackets used some superior clock management by using their remaining timeouts and moving the Rockets backward on their impending series, the Jackets got one (1) final shot on offense but to no avail, and the Rockets picked up a "GO" for the postseason.