Spotlighting Past State Champions

[Bullaholic]

Seems like offseason may be a good time to recall the glory of the past by reviewing facts and stories about a past state champion team each day. Anybody is welcome to be the first to submit a past state championship team for review each day, not just me, so everyone can contribute, but I think we need to be careful not to get multiple teams on mutiple threads going each day.

Today--Who can tell us about the 1985 4A State Champion Sweetwater Mustangs? Players? Coaches? Stories? Game?
What made them so good? Anything of interest.....

[Sweetwater Red]

What made them so good? Mike Welch.
RB/FS.

[Bullaholic]

I probably should know, SW Red, but where did Mike Welch play in college and did he go on to the pros? Also--do you know what kind of offense the 85' team ran? Who was the coach? Who did they have to beat on their way to the title?

[Bullaholic]

1985 4A Championship Game Summary

"Abilene Reporter"

Mustangs win state crown
Sweetwater crushes Tomball

By Bill Hart/Sports Editor
December 22, 1985

Fort Worth — To stop Tomball, all Sweetwater had to do was stop quarterback Lance Pavlas and running back Bubba Greely, something no team has done this year.

But the prized twosome hadn’t met the Sweetwater defense before either. Now, they’re acquainted with all 11 Mustangs.

And as a result, the 1985 Class AAAA state championship went home to Nolan County Saturday as the powerful Sweetwater Mustangs rolled to a decisive 17-7 victory over Tomball before 12,021 fans at Amon Carter Stadium.

Greely, the all-time Class AAAA career rusher with 6,496 yards, gained only 59 yards on 11 carries. One was a 51-yard touchdown in the third quarter that sliced Sweetwater’s lead to 10-7.

Pavlas, eyed by numerous major colleges, was rushed all day by the Sweetwater defense and completed only 3 of 15 passes for a scant 32 yards. He was sacked nine times and was intercepted four times.

Safety Mike Welch, who also blocked a field goal attempt, got three thefts in the fourth quarter; and Chris Davis had one in the third that led to the Mustangs’ insurance touchdown.

"I’ve never coached against a team that has as much speed as Sweetwater’s secondary," said Coach Lynn Ethridge of Tomball. "We played bad today, but they (Sweetwater) had a lot to do with it."

The front four of Ron Petty, Ruben Ortega (and Kyle Hooper), Israel Vera and Jon Riggs, linebackers Bruce Carrington, John Richardson and Danny Escobar, and backs Welch, Anthony Norman, Davis and Patrick Goodman held the Tomball offense to six yards rushing and one passing by halftime as Sweetwater jumped to a 10-0 lead.

Tomball finished with 110 yards rushing and a total offense of 142 yards. Sweetwater totaled 339 yards.

Turnovers, which had plagued Sweetwater all year, turned out to be big plays for the Mustangs.

Israel Vera fell on Pavlas’ fumble at the Tomball 26 on the second play of this sunshine-filled afternoon and it set up Bobby Adkins’ 25-yard field goal.

The Mustangs drove 79 yards the next time they had the ball for a 10-0 margin. Quarterback Neal Hoover hit Anthony Norman for gains of 27 and 15 yards, then optioned for gains of 10 and 11 yards. The last keep put the ball at the Tomball seven and two plays later, Rufus Smith stepped out of a tackle behind the line and broke around right end for the touchdown.

Adkins’ kick made it a 10-point spread with 3:29 left in the first quarter and Tomball was on the mat, waiting for the count.

But, the Mustangs let them up. They failed to make a first down at the Tomball four, needing only a yard, when Tom Hargrove was thrown for a yard loss.

Carrington, three plays later, sacked Pavlas inside the one on a third down play, but he was flagged and Tomball got a first down at the 23.

The Mustangs got the ball at their 25 and drove to the Tomball 32 in six plays, but two passes went incomplete and Tomball took over.

Greely got his touchdown on Tomball’s first possession of the third quarter and Doak Hardee’s extra point made it 10-7 at the 9:13 mark.

"We had the momentum from the start and we sure didn’t want to lose it," Stapler said, but the Mustangs came close.

First, Donald Barrientez, who returned an interception 90 yards last week against New Braunfels, picked off a Hoover pass at the Tomball 20 and ran it back 17 yards before he was tackled by Hargrove.

Sweetwater’s defense held again. However, the usually sure-handed Welch fumbled a punt at the Sweetwater 15 and Hardee recovered for Tomball.

That’s when the Sweetwater defense went to work. Kyle Hooper, who worked out only for a short time Tuesday because of deep bruises, sacked Pavlas for a six-yard loss. Two passes were well off the mark and onto the field trotted Hardee to try and tie the score with a 38-yard field goal.

Wishful thinking.

Jon Riggs drew the block inside and that freed Welch to rush the kick and block it. Carrington picked it up and ran the Mustangs out of trouble to the Sweetwater 44.

A punt gave Tomball the ball at its 13, and two plays later, Davis came up with his interception at the 14.

"They put a guy in motion and I went across with him," Davis said. "The Pass was thrown a little behind the receiver and I was able to step in front and get it."

A run got a yard, then a pass went incomplete before Hoover hit Hargrove for the touchdown with 11:49 left.

"They doubled our wide receivers and Neal and Tom kept working until Tom was able to get free. They deserve a lot of credit for heads-up play," Stapler said.

Welch stopped the next three Tomball possessions with interceptions, the last one coming with 2:02 left at the Sweetwater 20. Tomball’s only penalty came on the play for tackling Welch out-of-bounds, and the Mustangs ran out the clock to win their first ever state title.

Lewis Myers was Tomball’s top rusher with 66 yards on 10 carries, while Hargrove had 58 on 12 attempts for Sweetwater and Aundre Walker had 54 on 11.

The only thing that went wrong for the Mustangs came after the game when their order of chicken dinners was late arriving and delayed their arrival at home for a downtown victory celebration Saturday night.

However, the Mustangs and their fans will be celebrating this championship for a long time.


Sweetwater 10 0 0 7 - 17
Tomball 0 0 7 0 - 7

First Quarter
S - Bobby Adkins, 25 FG.
S - Rufus Smith, 5 run (Adkins kick).
Third Quarter
T - Bubba Greely, 51 run (Doak Hardee kick).
Fourth Quarter
S - Tom Hargrove, 14 pass from Neal Hoover (Adkins kick).

S’wter Tomball
First downs 19 10
Yds. Rushing 49-184 34-110
Yds. Passing 155 32
Passes 9-17-1 3-15-4
Fumbles lost 1 1
Punts 5-31 6-38
Penalties 3-30 1-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

SWEETWATER RUSHING: Hargrove 17-58, Walker 11-54, Hoover 9-45, Maurice Marshall 6-12, Smith 3-12, Mark Redden 3-2.
TOMBALL RUSHING: Myers 10-66, Greely 11-59, Pavlas 13-minus 15.

SWEETWATER PASSING: Hoover 9-17, 155 passing, 1 TD, 1 int.
TOMBALL PASSING: Pavlas 3-15, 32 passing, 4 int.

SWEETWATER RECEIVING: Anthony Norman 5-87, Welch 2-28, Hargrove 2-40, 1 TD.
TOMBALL RECEIVING: Greely 2-16, Jim Tilley 1-16.

[RMAC]

wow....Sweetwater threw the ball 17 times in this game!

[GetRDoneStangs]

where did Mike Welch play in college and did he go on to the pros?

He played at Baylor and did not play pro. I am not sure if it was because he tore his knee playing a pickup game of basketball or not.

His nick name was "Tha Baby Faced Assasin"


What made them so good? Mike Welch.
RB/FS.

[Sweetwater Red]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
I probably should know, SW Red, but where did Mike Welch play in college and did he go on to the pros? Also--do you know what kind of offense the 85' team ran? Who was the coach? Who did they have to beat on their way to the title?

Welch played at Baylor. While there with
Thomas Everett...Baylor was considered
to have the best secondary in the
nation.
He didn't get drafted although pretty
much everyone else did that played in
the secondary.
Sweetwater ran the wishbone offense
and 4-3 defense.
The coach was W.T. Stapler.

Bi-district beat Borger 48-0
Regional beat Cleburne 42-0
Q-finals beat Lubbock Estacado 31-13
S-finals beat Austin West lake 21-21
(penetrations 4-2 ? I think)

[SWMustang]

I think you're leaving out a playoff game against Monahans.

[SWMustang]

Originally posted by Sweetwater Red
Welch played at Baylor. While there with
Thomas Everett...Baylor was considered
to have the best secondary in the
nation.
He didn't get drafted although pretty
much everyone else did that played in
the secondary.
Sweetwater ran the wishbone offense
and 4-3 defense.
The coach was W.T. Stapler.

Bi-district beat Borger 48-0
Regional beat Cleburne 42-0
Q-finals beat Lubbock Estacado 31-13
S-finals beat Austin West lake 21-21
(penetrations 4-2 ? I think)

Welch hurt his knee in a pick up basketball game against Kenneth Norman.