1967 Sabinal Yellowjackets

If the 1966 team was a district dark horse, then the 1967 Yellowjackets were the district favorites hands down.  This team returned 8 starters on offense and 8 on defense from a 9-1 team.  Coaches Henry Sollers and Frank Neely added a few new faces and produced one of the greatest Offensive teams Sabinal has ever had to go with the previous years top defensive showing.  This team scored a whopping 389 points in the ten game season and allowed a mere 120.
The starting lineup for this team included returning all-district players Tommy Foster, Bobby Hargreaves, Delton O’Bryant, Billy Kring, and Richard Chapman.
Opening the season before a packed house on a Saturday night in D’Hanis, Sabinal trailed 12-0 at halftime as the Cowboys were trying for an upset of the highly regarded Yellowjackets.  We never heard what was said at halftime but whatever was spoken worked as Sabinal rallied for a 32-12 win to begin their new winning streak.
They rolled over Brackettville the next week 39-16, followed by a 52-16 victory over Natalia, Bandera 36-8, Comfort 56-20, Marble Falls 34-13, Johnson City 40-12, St. Louis of Castroville, 53-16, and then trounced Medina Valley 41-0 to set up their district title showdown with Judson, in Sabinal.
Judson also had a good nucleus back from its district champion team and they had been studying Sabinal football films every week trying to find a weakness and the legend goes that they found one.  The Yellowjackets had one of the finest backs in South Texas in Bobby Tom Hargreaves and he and Bill Bales had been both running up huge yardage numbers in their nine wins so far.  The story goes that a young Judson Assistant Coach had been watching Hargreaves exclusively trying to find some way to slow him down, and noticed that each time he would get in his stance, if he put down his right hand he would get the ball, if he put down his left hand he would NOT get the ball. 
What an edge that could be for a defensive lineman or linebacker.  They were taught to watch for that and even used this in their practices to prepare for the Sabinal team.  I do not know if that story is true or not, but the Judson Rockets did one fine job of slowing Bobby Hargreaves and really did maul him every time he got the ball.  One irony of this game, is that Bill Bales, Sabinal’s other great running back, had 32 yards in TWO carries against Judson, one step from breaking away both times by shoestring tackles, but because he fumbled on his last carry, he didn’t play another down as halfback in this crucial game.  A coaching error or blunder?
In this gem of a football game, one of the finest I have ever seen at the high school level, both teams entered very well prepared and ready to display their talents.  Judson had a big, experienced offensive line and two good running backs of their own, Ken Venuto and Jimbo Masters.  Venuto was shut down by the Sabinal defense for most of the game but in the 3rd quarter he broke loose for a 14 yard gain to the Yellowjacket 30, and then a piling on penalty cost Sabinal another 15 yards.  In six plays the Rockets drove the final 15 yards and took the lead 7-0.
With the way their defense was playing, it looked like that would be all the Rockets needed to win the game.
Sabinal had driven the ball into Judson territory three times and had even scored a TD in the second quarter on a pass from Dusty Parker to Tommy Foster, but it was called back because of an offside penalty.  Another legend of this game is that the flag was not thrown until AFTER the TD pass was caught, and both teams and coaches knew this but the play remained as it was called. 
In the 4th quarter, with Sabinal unable to move the ball on the ground they began to pass and did have success through that venue.  But just when they would get something going a penalty or dropped pass would stop their drive.  With time running out, Sabinal facing a 3rd and 8 from their own 34 yard line, Dusty Parker threw up a prayer of a pass to near midfield.  The Judson defender moved in front of Tommy Foster to intercept, and I can still see Tommy, behind the shorter player, plucking the ball out of his hands and turning up the field all the way for the TD. 
The fans went crazy and the bedlam could have been heard in Judson.  Sabinal was ahead on penetrations, ahead in first downs, and a tie would give them the district title because of either one of those statistics.  We all believed a kick would be made for the extra point to tie the game.  After a timeout, to settle not only the team, but also the anxious crowd down, the Yellowjackets went out on the field and lined up for a two-point conversion for the outright scoreboard victory.  Everyone held his or her breath as the play unfolded, and…..failed.  Sabinal trailed 7-6 with a little over 2 minutes to play.
They held Judson to minus yardage but used up their last timeouts to get one last gasp at the win.  Needless to say they did not get within field goal range before time ran out and the Rockets had stolen yet another district title from Sabinal.
Everyone sat in stunned silence on one side of the field while on the other side of the stadium all you could see was red and white and the Judson fans celebrating on the field with their team.  I was so disappointed I almost began crying, and a lot of students and players did, but looking back years later I can say that everyone was so proud of this great team and even though they lost yet again to arch rival Judson, what a testament to the talent of these high school students to go through two seasons with 9-1 records and amass all of the great statistics and honors they did.
Co-Captains Dusty Parker and Billy Kring were the true leaders of this team and guided them through this milestone season.  I remember looking for them after this game but only glimpsed them briefly as they headed off the field, with their helmets on and heads down.  I was told after the game, and after all the fans had cleared away,  ALL of the Judson players came over to the Sabinal locker room and congratulated them on the great game they had just played and said they were glad they did not have to play Sabinal again.  They already knew they were moving up in classification the next season.  But what a testament to sportsmanship that is.
I can’t say enough about what this team meant to me.  It was wonderful watching my brother play on this great team and how I wished I could have been out there with him and his teammates.  They were the inspiration for our Junior High team as we went through our season with an 8-0 record trying our best to copy what the Yellowjackets did on Friday nights. I don’t know how many fans were there that night but I can tell you it was the largest crowd I have ever seen at a Sabinal Football game and I imagine each and every one have their very own special memory of that game.

These two teams, to me, exemplified what high school football is all about and how it can boost the spirits of each student, and every citizen of the town and especially ex students who know what it takes to reach the lofty goals these teams achieved.
These two teams never received the fame they deserved and we will always wonder what could have happened if they had made the playoffs, how far they might have gone.  But for the Judson Rockets we will never know, but I know they will always rate very high on my list of greatest teams in Texas.