The second round (Area) playoff football game in 1993 between the Pilot Point Bearcats and Jacksboro Tigers at Pennington Field in Bedford Texas is one of my all-time favorites. Our Coaches absolutely knew it would be a battle. If you read the articles leading up to the game Coach Jerry Jones constantly said it would take our best effort to beat the Tigers. Jacksboro was 9-1-1 on the season only losing to state ranked and media darling Boyd Yellowjackets in a close game 28-21. Jacksboro knew how to win, and they were coming off a 1-point win against Archer City which told us they could win a tough game against a tough opponent.
I’m not sure even the Coaches could have predicted exactly how evenly matched the two teams were. The game was literally back/forth/back/forth/back/forth. Jacksboro marched down the field and scored and we answered…three times in the game. I can honestly remember at halftime feeling like this game could go either way. I knew at halftime it was going to take everything our team had to pull it out in the end. It was the kind of game you could only dream of as kid growing up loving the game of football in Texas. It must have been an absolute heart breaker to lose this game. Our team was fortunate to come up on the victorious side. In the end a couple of two-point conversion passes from Chad Cole to Chris Franklin were the difference in the final score as we won an absolute thriller 23-20.
My “fifteen minutes of football fame” would come a little later, but the best play I ever made occurred late in this game. Jacksboro had the ball with 4 minutes left in the game. They only needed a field goal to tie us and advance due to a lead in penetrations inside the 20-yard line. Jacksboro drove to our 41-yard line. Their Quarterback, Doug Hunt, scrambled and targeted their best receiver Nathan Clay at our 15-yard line. I played cornerback and was responsible for covering him as he ran a deep crossing route designed to lose the defender (me) in traffic. He was a step behind me and I could sense that if he caught the ball Jacksboro would likely win the game. Just as the pass was coming to him, above my head, I jumped up + reached back with my left arm to tried to at least knock the ball down. I intercepted the ball with my left hand as my momentum was taking me in the opposite direction. I was known for having good hands, but this was the best and most clutch catch I ever made. Rusty Hall, sports editor for the Sherman Democrat, wrote it best “Jacksboro’s hope ended when Jon Little reached back and made an amazing 1-handed grab on a pass from quarterback Doug Hunt intended for Nathan Clay at the Pilot Point 15.”
As soon as we had run out the clock there was a huge sense of relief. The Cardiac Cats had yet again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. I’ll never forget our Head Coach Jerry Jones coming straight to me when the final horn sounded. We hugged it out and he told me how much he appreciated us winning that incredible game.
One of the greatest traditions of Pilot Point football, in my opinion, is post game on the field of play. Friends and family congregate on the field and either congratulate or console their friends and family. My favorite moments came from these post game congregations. It’s awesome to see how proud your friends and family are of the effort you just put in for your community. I certainly didn’t expect to get a better hug than I got from our Head Coach that evening, but I was completely wrong. I remember my Uncle Roger, a former Marine and collegiate basketball player who just about everyone looked up to a 6’4 250lbs+, dashing across the field and picking me up and squeezing the life force out of me. It was awesome to see how proud he was, and it was awesome to be able to breathe again after he bear hugged me. I’m glad David Lewis was in the right place at the right time and mentioned that moment, in his editorial that week, in the Pilot Point Post-Signal (see below).
So, we continued our unbeaten streak on the year, improved to 12-0, and were on to Round 3 of the playoffs vs the Kerens Bobcats. The challenge of winning a very hard fought and emotional game is following that up the next game. Inevitably it’s difficult to muster up enough physical/mental strength to reset and perform at your best time and time again. So, everyone was curious to see how we would react in the next round of the playoffs…
Go Bearcats!
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