Like no game before it

Friday around noon, local football fans were talking about that night’s season opener against Beckville at Roughrider Stadium.

Much of the conversation centered around fears about the record August heat and the danger it might pose.

Many discussions centered on 2001 alum Michael Montgomery who had been recognized for his outstanding A&M career and NFL work with the Packers along the defensive line—his motivational speech will be a highlight of the season.

A handful of savvy fans expressed worries about the Tatum run offense, one predicated on the “Veer” and the “Midline,” two versions of the old option attack that causes young defenses like Center’s all kinds of problems.

A few fans talked about the last two opening nights, both against these Tatum Eagles. Both were dramatic shoot-outs with the teams splitting the wins, both featuring combined points in the high 80s, matching the temperature at kick-off.

“I bet these teams won’t score the kick-off temperature tonight,” one fan said at the athletic boosters’ tailgate party before the game. “They not combining for 104 tonight!”

He was right. Nowhere close. The ‘Riders outlasted the Eagles 80-63 for a combined total of 143 points.

That’s usually the way it is right before history is made. Oh, every now and then you know it’s coming. In 1961, when Roger Maris tied Babe Ruth with 60 homers, everyone in the country knew “the moment” was about to happen.

But much more often, history’s moments land on your shoulder like an unannounced bluebird ... or pile into your truck from nowhere like an out-of-control deer.

Friday night at Roughrider Stadium was one of those for certain. And given the resulting history that was made, the evening was eerily calm.

“They started out on their feet and totally into the game,” senior cheerleader Sayre Hall said of the home crowd. “But as the third quarter dragged on, they kind of lost interest. Or it at least it sounded that way.”

Maybe it was sensory overload: after all, the action never slowed down until the last four minutes (the longest stretch without a clock stoppage). Maybe it was the irony of a very fast game seemingly dragging along: any football game with twenty-two kick-offs will struggle to keep a steady tempo.

Or maybe the home fans got tired of watching the Tatum offense. It forced the Center defense to stay on the field a vast majority of the night.

On the positive side, the playing time allowed several Rider defenders to rack up some numbers: seniors Brandon West and Jaxon Parker, Junior Timothy Johnson, and sophomores Cody Adkinson and Jose Marques each had double digit tackles (with Adkinson leading the way with 19).

But on the negative side, the Tatum offense was on the field 33 minutes, almost a quarter longer than the Roughriders. The Riders only stopped them on three drives.

So, it would seem understandable that Center fans would be a little disinterested. After all, the visiting Eagles kept the ball for almost three quarters, gained over 600 yards while scoring 63 points on their Roughriders.

So ... exactly what should they have been excited about? What history was made Friday night?

Check this out: Senior Quarterback Cash Cross passed for 224 yards and four scores. Half those touchdowns and more than half the yards would go to senior receiver Lance Wilburn. The other two were to juniors Travis Belen and Tiki Robinson.

Kaden Dixon kicked off his senior season with 282 yards rushing and three TDs. Cross would add 217 more yards on the ground and three TDs of his own. Senior Jermain Hunter added a touchdown on a 76-yard kick-off return. The team converted three 2-pt conversions and Carlos Hernandez would be a perfect 8 for 8 for placekicks.

Add all that up, and what-do-ya-got? 80 points. Of the 1,099 11-man football teams in the state of Texas, no one scored 80 points this week. The Riders hold the statewide scoring lead.

In the first game of its 102nd year, the Roughriders scored more points than any Center team in the prior century- plus-one.

As Abraham Lincoln would’ve said, “These gentlemen scored four-score points.”

And they scored that record-smashing, state-mark-setting number in only nine minutes and 35 game seconds. That’s two minutes and twenty-five seconds shy of one quarter.

“I’ve never seen 80 points in one game,” head coach Rick Meeks said during postgame. “That’s a lot of points.”

Of course, there are real defensive concerns. “Obviously, we have work to do on defense,” Meeks said. “We’re young on that side of the ball; we only have three returning starters and we’re starting some underclassmen. Still, I’m proud of their resilience. They made those guys spend lots of plays scoring their points, and lots of teams—the frustration would get to them, and they’d fall off. Our guys never did that.”

The Roughriders take the win into Spring Hill Friday night to take on the 0-1 Panthers, a team they scored 63 points on last season.

So, there is much to be excited about with this team. Still, it was almost eerie how quiet the stadium became as the third quarter progressed. The crowd was watching history explode—80 points and 969 all-purpose yards—but there wasn’t much sound coming from the stands.

“Maybe they’re shocked,” one of the cheerleaders said. “Maybe they don’t understand what’s happening out here.”

Almost certainly. The teams combined for a gaudy 143 points, 39 more than the temperature in Fahrenheit.

Center gained only 31 yards fewer than 1,000. They would score more than any Roughrider team before it. And as hard as it is to believe, those fans watched their team score more points in one game than twenty past Center teams did... DURING THE WHOLE SEASON!

But that’s often the way it is as history is made. We all leave, and the lights go down.

And a little while later we say, “What just happened?”