Fortunately for Temple, that win didn’t keep its status for very long.
A week later in College Station, the Wildcats got a 9-yard touchdown run from Quentin Tuck with 39 seconds left and hung on to knock off favored A&M Consolidated 35-34, a victory that propelled Temple to a 6-0 record in 13-5A for its first outright district championship in a dozen years.
Almost a year after Monsen’s Wildcats earned those breakthrough wins, they’re in need of a similar performance as they take an 0-3 record into their District 12-5A opener against A&M Consolidated (1-2) at 7:30 tonight at Tigerland Stadium.
“It was exciting for us to win those games, because those were the two teams that were favored in our district,” Monsen said. “But last year was last year, and this is a (Consolidated) team that’s picked to be near the top again this year.”
Although Monsen would have liked for Temple to have tasted victory in its three non-district games, he’s more focused on making sure that the Wildcats learned enough in losses to Cedar Park, Leander and No. 2 Plano to make those lessons pay off in the form of 12-5A wins.
Then again, maybe looking at recent history isn’t such a bad thing - Temple did take a three-game losing streak into district play last year before it ripped off six straight victories.
“The Bryan game last year, you really can’t say enough about how much of a confidence builder that was for us,” Monsen said. “Then the A&M Consolidated game was definitely a battle of both teams going up and down the field, and it was a great win.
“For us, it really starts Friday night with a new season and we’re excited to get started.”
On the opposite sideline will be coaching veteran Jim Slaughter, who, like Monsen, isn’t too worried about his team’s sometimes-shaky play in non-district competition.
Of course, A&M Consol managed to complete pre-12-5A play with a win, making up for double-digit losses to Round Rock McNeil and Houston Cypress Woods by blasting Austin Westlake 44-23 at home last Tuesday.
“It was a big win, and it had been a while for us,” said Slaughter, a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor. “There’s no doubt that we needed to win, and last week all of our hard work paid off.
“The win sure was nice, but what counts is district. We definitely have been preparing ourselves for district, because this is the true football season.”
Both Temple and Consol present challenges that the other team is worried about.
Slaughter says he’s concerned about the quick-strike ability of the Wildcats’ Wing-T offense - somewhat similar to what the Tigers run - and the speed and toughness of their defense.
“Because of the quality of Temple’s athletes, you can stop them on first down and second down, then on third down they can go all the way,” he said. “If you start gearing on one thing, they have other weapons that can hurt you. You have to try to contain (Temple junior running back Lache) Seastrunk, but you have to pay attention to No. 13 (senior receiver Tevin Reese).
“Temple probably has the best defense we’ve lined up against. The way they’ve played, we think they should’ve won two ballgames.”
A&M Consolidated always plays Temple tough, so Monsen has a long list of things that concern him about facing the Tigers on their turf.
“Consolidated beat Westlake as bad as Cedar Park did, and they have improved a lot,” he said. “They’re always very well-coached, they’ve got speed and offensively they’re as good skillwise as anyone we’ve seen.
“Everyone we play has a big front seven on defense, but Consolidated’s linemen and inside linebackers (6-1, 225-pound Taylor Kieschnick and 6-2, 215-pound Adam Rea) look like they’ve lived in the weight room. And their rover (Xavier Nelson) is 6-2, 200.”
Seastrunk has paced Temple’s offense thus far, rushing for 488 yards and four touchdowns on 54 carries. He’s been complemented by fellow backs Daniel Carr, Marcus Jones and Kane Thomas.
The passing combination of quarterback Kevin Lock and Reese has connected 16 times for 220 yards, but the Wildcats haven’t gotten many other receivers into the mix.
As for Consol’s offense, Slaughter didn’t get the production he was looking for in the first two games, so he promoted sophomore running backs Chris Nutall and Clinton Banks for the Westlake game.
The move paid immediate dividends. Nutall rushed for 96 yards and caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Patrick O’Quinn, and Banks added 33 yards and a touchdown run.
“Our offense had been very inconsistent - big plays, but no consistency,” Slaughter said. “They (Nutall and Banks) made a big difference and really quickened the pace of our offense."
And for the team that prevails tonight, that victory certainly will quicken the pace of its push for the playoffs.
gwille@temple-telegram.com
