Sunday, July 20, 1997

South takes victory

By BILL HART / Abilene Reporter-News

Rory Peacock played his first ever game at center Saturday night and wound up as the South's most valuable offensive player.

The center is an eligible pass receiver in Six-Man football and Peacock, a running back-quarterback at Woodson, caught three passes for touchdowns to help the South (Texas) post a 34-28 victory over the North (non-Texans) in the All Americas Bowl at Elmer Gray Stadium before an estimated 1,300 fans.

But two area athletes came up with the key play that sealed the victory. The North, which trailed 26-6 at one time, had fourth-and-three from the South 11 with less than a minute to play.

Shawn Cochran of Arthur, Neb., threw a short pass to Trent Chrisman of McCool Junction, Neb., but he was met at the line of scrimmage by Craig Steele of Sidney and Jim Kostiha of Gordon and was stopped for no gain.

"They had been throwing short and we knew they didn't need much for a first down, so we figured they'd do what they did," said Kostiha. "I yelled to Dusty (Miller of Zephyr) to watch for it on his side, so we had it covered."

Steele and Kostiha have committed to Hardin-Simmons University, while Peacock is McMurry bound.

"We had 23 backs and receivers and only three lineman, so Rory asked us if he could play center," said South coach Steve Woods of Abilene Christian High School. "I think it helped him get open because it made it harder to cover him."

The South jumped to a 16-0 lead after its first two series. ACHS' John Estes IV threw a 43-yard on-the-button pass to Peacock who had gotten open for the first score. Then Steele threw a 3-yard strike to Matt Strickland of Lueders-Avoca to make it 16-0 with 9:18 left in the first quarter.

But after that, the offense struggled.

"I think the players may have let up after that, thinking it was going to be easy," Woods said. "I probably did, too, because we started experimenting with players."

Luke Kucera of Litchfield, Neb., ran three yards on the first play of the second quarter to cut the lead to 16-6, but two series later, Estes found Peacock open for a 21-yard touchdown pass and a 22-6 lead.

Shannon Hopkins of Strawn, who booted three extra points, added a 31-yard field goal to make it 26-6, with 7:02 left in the first half.

But the North made some adjustments at halftime and almost pulled the game out. The South helped with three fumbles.

Estes completed 17 of 29 passes for 153 yards, but the North tackled him behind the line seven times, totaling 69 yards in losses.

A fumble led to Lucera's 3-yard touchdown run that cut it to 26-12 and Strickland was tackled in the end zone for a safety.

But Estes and Peacock were not through. After Henry Kendricks of Chillicothe returned a punt 28 yards to the North 9, the combination completed a 6-yard pass for the score, thanks to a great catch by Peacock.

"I just outjumped their guy, who almost intercepted it, but I got it just before he got it," Peacock said.

"That touchdown was all his (Peacock), he made a terrific catch," Estes said.

But the North came back again. Cochran threw a 20-yard pass to Calvin Downey of Melrose, N.M., and Dan Graham of Milligan, Neb., who had missed his first three extra points, connected this time to make it 34-28 with 2:55 left.

The South came out in the spread and on third down, Miller fumbled a pass at the South 23, setting up the North's last hope with 1:46 left. But Steele and Kostiha took away all hope with their fourth down play.

"We didn't change anything at halftime, we kept doing the same thing, but with different personnel," said North coach Dale Means. "We did a good job against their spread, we just came up a few yards short."

Tootie McNeil of Lake Arthur, N.M., was the North offensive player of the game and Kucera was named the defensive player. This was the second straight year that Texas has won the game.