Cuero honors 1987 state championship team
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BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER
November 07, 2007 - Posted at 12:00 a.m.
CUERO - Cory Pargmann might not be able to remember what he ate for breakfast but he will never forget coming to the sideline on a cold, drizzly December night at Memorial Stadium in Austin.
"I looked up at the scoreboard," Pargmann recalled, "and I yelled to Jason Gonzales, 'In 6 minutes we're going to be state champions.'"
Pargmann's recollection of what took place during the 1987 Class 3A state final has faded some with time but not his appreciation for what the team accomplished by winning the school's third and last state football championship with a 14-6 victory over McGregor.
"In our eyes, we had it won before we even stepped on the field," said Pargmann, who started at linebacker and tackle.
Pargmann and his teammates will have the chance to share memories of the state championship season when they are honored during Cuero's District 29-3A game against Goliad on Friday at Gobbler Stadium.
The Gobblers had every reason to believe 1987 would be their year. Cuero had reached the state final in 1985 and '86 only to return home disappointed.
"We had some unfinished business to take care of," said Kirk Laging, who started at guard. "We took the initiative to get the job done. It's just like anything else in life. You don't give up. You lick your wounds and get it done."
The Gobblers rolled to the title in impressive fashion. Cuero went 16-0, outscored the opposition 695-126 and had a 6,540 to 1,222 edge in total yardage. Running back Robert Strait rushed for 3,515 yards and set what was then a national record with 52 rushing touchdowns.
"That team was very unique," said Pat Blessing, the head coach of the 1987 team, who is now retired and living in Hobbs, N.M. "I really believe any coach could have won a state championship with that team. As long as you didn't mistreat them and you hugged them and showed them you loved them they would respond. That team really had a love for each other."
Many of the players were members of the same youth teams and played football together from the seventh grade to the varsity. The bond they formed as teammates extended beyond racial and economic lines.
"It was just the camaraderie we had," said quarterback Wayne Mathis, who remembers teammates coming to his house on Thursday nights to eat hamburgers prepared by his mother, Eula. "We grew up together and we really felt like we would play for a championship. I think that's why we had so much success. We depended on each other. We were not going to let each other down."
Mathis did his part by throwing touchdown passes of 60 and 28 yards to wide receiver Carlos Taylor in the state championship game. Mathis, Taylor and his brother Trooper, Strait, Pargmann, Rodney Pedraza and Vic Rhodes played on all three teams that reached the state final.
"We had been there the last two years and everybody knew what we wanted," said Pedraza, who played fullback and linebacker. "We knew what we had to do to get it done and we weren't going to let anything stand in our way."
"We took care of business," Carlos Taylor added. "We had no crybabies on that team. We had played together for so long that we would just go out do whatever it took to get it done."
The players worked hard in practice but they also enjoyed what they were doing. Blessing's motto was, "Let's score half-a-hundred and have fun."
"The most important thing is we had fun playing football," Laging said. "You've got to enjoy what you're doing. We worked hard in practice but we had fun playing the games."
It was easy for the 1987 team to enjoy most of its wins as it won by 19 points or more until it reached the semifinals.
"We just worked, stayed focused and did the things we needed to win on Friday," Mathis said.
Cuero also won state titles in 1973 and '74 and reached the state final in 1970, '75, 1985, '86, 1993, '98 and 2004. Carlos Taylor and Pargmann have sons who played on the 2004 team and assistants Victor Mathis and John Fuqua were coaching in Cuero in 1985 and remain on the staff.
The 1987 players expect arguments about which Cuero team was the best to resume this weekend but they state an impressive case.
"We played pretty good defense and we had Wayne Mathis, Robert Strait and Rodney Pedraza in the backfield," Blessing said. "And if Robert hadn't been there, I have no doubt Trooper Taylor would have been an all-state running back. We had enough depth and enough talent with guys like Carlos Taylor. Those were great kids, they were good football players and good athletes. We had good linemen and great team speed. I think if you took the average speed of everybody who started - I mean even big Adam Arroyo who started on the line ran a 5-flat 40(-yard dash) - our team was a 4.8. I don't care if it's 1987 or 2007, speed wins."
Mike Forman is a sports writer for the Victoria Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6588 or mforman@vicad.com.
