Thursday, September 25, 1997

TSU coach sees good, bad and ugly of team

By Ted Dunnam / Abilene Reporter-News

Craig Wederquist must think that an eerie Twilight Zone experience has sent him back to the Western Athletic Conference.

The first-year Tarleton State head coach saw his team drop a 34-29 decision in the season opener to New Mexico Highlands. Two weekends ago, the Texans pulled out a 31-22 victory against Southeastern Oklahoma State.

But this past Saturday, the offensive numbers that are readily associated with WAC games were unveiled themselves when the Texans held on to defeat Harding (Ark.) University, 49-46.

"When you're sitting there with a 42-13 lead at halftime, having only given up 32 yards rushing, you feel pretty good," Wederquist said. "And if we would have played the play-action pass a little better, it would have been 42-0.

"At halftime, I told our guys the biggest thing we needed to do was stay focused because were were executing all three phases of the game like we wanted to. I just wanted us to play consistent, and we did for the most part.

"The thing we didn't do well in the second half was tackle. They had three big plays for 136 yards, and in the second half we missed 12 tackles."

Although the Texans never trailed in the second half, Harding scored with 4:32 left in the game to make it a 3-point contest.

"I'm gray enough in the hair to know what can happen in games like the one Saturday," Wederquist said. "I've been on a team that was down by 28 and won by three. When I was at Colorado State, we were up 34-0 against Idaho and they just roared back and won 38-34.

"There were about five minutes there in the second half where they (Harding) just totally dominated the momentum. On their 80-yard touchdown run, we hit the guy four yards behind the line of scrimmage and missed three other tackles before he scored."

But despite the shaky second half, Tarleton State is 2-1 at a time when many thought it might be 0-3 at this point of the season. A defense which was considered only average prior to the start of the season was dealt a big blow when middle linebacker and leading tackler Chad Hierholzer was lost for the season to an injury.

"We've got 55 new faces on this team that are redshirt freshmen or younger, and we've only got eight seniors." Wederquist said. "We knew we had a real chore ahead of us. Plus, we're playing the sixth toughest schedule in Division II. Tarleton State has never taken on this kind of schedule before.

"But it's a credit to the kids how they've responded. To be able to come out and dominate Harding like we did got us a little shell-shocked. But the kids can look back at that film and see that it's not scheme or coaching that won that game but what they did themselves.

"You can't look at our stats and say Chad Cole or Lamont Randle or Loften Swint is the one guy getting it done for us. Everybody's contributed.

"We were hit with the penalty bug so bad the first two ballgames, and we eliminated that this past week. Every time you've got a new head coach, you've got to win some close games. We had a struggle on our hands at Southeast, but came away with a big win.

"Two plays beat us in the New Mexico Highlands game or we would be 3-0. Harding was 2-0 coming in here and had played extremely well the week before so I was extremely surprised how many points we put on the board."

Tarleton is now averaging 36 points per game but is likely to get its toughest test to date this week when the Texans travel to Central Oklahoma.

"Next to A&I, they probably play better at home than any team in this conference," Wederquist said. "They've got a nine-game home winning streak and a phenomenal homecoming record."

And Tarleton State will catch the Bronchos for homecoming -- a game generally considered a victory for the home team before the game is even played.

Prior to the 1997 season, Central Oklahoma probably believed that setting its homecoming for this week was a good idea. The Bronchos may learn otherwise Saturday.

LSC Players of the Week

Wide receiver Chris Brazzell of Angelo State and free safety Trent Grona of Tarleton State are the South Division players of the week.

Brazzell had 11 catches for 216 yards in the Rams' 34-30 win over Northeastern State, including the game-winner with 35 seconds left. Grona had 10 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the Texans' victory. His four interceptions lead the LSC.

North Division players of the week are Harding tailback Chris Pierson and Central Oklahoma linebacker Craig Dorn. Pierson carried the ball 21 times for 215 yards and three touchdowns against Tarleton, while while Dorn had 15 tackles, an interception return for a touchdown, and one quarterback sack in UCO's 28-0 win over Abilene Christian University.