“Themer, are you ready for some LIONS football?”
“Sure, Power!” “O.K. Meet us at our house at about 11:00 a. m., and the girls can go in one car and the men in the other.”
Saturday morning came quickly, and off we went from the Power house on Scenic Circle. The weather was slightly cool but promised to become nicely warm and sunny. About 45 minutes of driving and talking found us at the Student Center to buy some team apparel, and then we found our buddy, Derryle Peace. We “kiddingly” asked him to give us a ride on the “mini-tram” to the new Alumni outdoor pavilion near the field. Amazingly, he did so and showed us a few sights along the route and told us some funny tales— and we reciprocated. Along the way, we also met up with Sam Walker, the former Basketball Coach and still friend, who now works with Alumni Relations, as does Derryle.
At the pavilion, which is fantastic, we ate and drank our Alumni meals and drinks, visited with other “old-timers” about our ages, made a few new friends and renewed a few others, before it was time to make our journey the rest of the way to Hawkins Field in Memorial Stadium. We followed the band in and crowded our ways to the fancy reserved seats that Harry always seems to be able to reserve! The Hawkins Family (field named after their Dad) sits in front of us, and Jody Todd-Hunter and family always sit to our left. A former “star,” Dudley Slice, always sat a little to the back and left of us, but he was on the field for the introduction of the 1972 National Champion Team and never made it to what once were his “family seats.” Georgia & Harry Power and Don & Vivian Themer sat back and stood up and sat back and stood up as we came close to scoring—but to no avail. Back-and-forth went the two teams A & M Commerce vs. Houston Christian and they seemed pretty evenly matched. Entering the game, the Lions were ranked #2 in the Southland Conference Standings, and the Huskies of Houston Christian were not far behind. But, things would change!
Houston Christian scored first with a field goal, after a nice defensive stand by our Lions, but with 5:01 left in the first half, our guys followed a short punt by Houston with a tightly spiraled touchdown pass and a high, good PAT kick to take a lead of 7—3. We would never again trail, although things looked a little shaky after the Lions squandered a chance for another touchdown, or at least field goal, with some shaky decisions that cost a 10-seconds run-off that kept us from having time to get off a final play near the goal line!
The 1972 and 2017 National Championship Teams were honored at Halftime, and I got to talk to a former Forney High School Choir Director—Scott SURFACE— father of MICHAEL SURFACE, who was #40 for the LIONS and who had attended Warren Middle School and Forney High School in Forney before moving to Greenville High as a member of “Class of 2021.” There, he had been a 2-time All-District Defensive End and a 2-Years All-State (Bass) Choir member. He was “red-shirted” his first year in Commerce and is now playing his first year of eligibility as a Lion and receives significant playing time! Father, Scott, is a choir director at Wesley Methodist Church in Greenville and plans, I think, to retire from teaching in a year or two!
The Lions Band was mighty impressive at halftime, as they always are, and their show was worth the price of admission. They had a singer, who will surely be rich in the music world some day.
The second half saw Texas A&M Commerce score 17 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter and 7 more in the 4th to win 31—3. The Lions had almost double the total yardage of their opponents— about 400 to 200— and also led 22 to 11 in first downs!
The next game is against Incarnate Word (conference) and will find our guys entering the contest in 1st Place, undefeated in Conference play!
The Lions are now 5 wins and 2 losses over-all and 3 wins with 0 losses in Conference Play—Division I for the first time, and there are at least 3 Forney Players, and another with Forney roots, on the team!
We finished the outing with a nice after-game meal in Rockwall, talked and teased some more, and vowed to make some more football games this season and then keep making the trip to Commerce for basketball and softball games. Hope to see you there!
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