A Shotwell Bucket List, in Hindsight

It remains to be seen if this season-opener with Northwest Missouri State will be memorable, but here’s the top games I'm grateful to have witnessed in Shotwell through the years:

      ACU 93, West Texas A&M 68 (2008) – Lost in the otherworldly stats is the fact that the losing quarterback (WTA&M’s Keith Null) threw for 598 yards and 7 touchdowns, just one of 45 school, LSC and national records set in this pinball game. I was texting scores to a friend in Dallas, who thought I was making some of it up.  Bad defense?  No, more like two of the best offenses in the nation at any level beating up on each other.  They wore each other out, with ACU running back Bernard Scott the headliner with 7 TDs and 292 yards rushing.

     ACU 26, East Texas State 0 (1976) – Fans expected to see ACU running back Wilbert Montgomery break Walter Payton’s career TD mark in the Homecoming game, which he did. Bonus highlight: teammate Ove Johansson’s 69-yard field goal, which would have been good from 73 yards and is still a world record at any level of football. I was on the ACU sideline as an Optimist sports reporter for ACU's student newspaper.

    ACU 36, Southwest Texas State 30 (1977) – On the way to ACU’s last national championship was this memorable nail-biter, which featured sophomore quarterback John Mayes come off the bench in the third quarter to ignore a broken thumb and pass the Wildcats to a thrilling win over SWT, coached by Jim Wacker.

    ACU 35, Wisconsin-Stevens Point 7 (1977) – ACU’s NAIA semifinal win came over a team led by one of the nation’s most prolific passers, Reid Giordana, who hardly looked like it that day. The game’s offensive MVP was ACU sophomore fullback Kelly Kent, who had to make an unscheduled trip to the locker room for some new equipment when a would-be tackler was left with only a handful of his athletic supporter while Kent rambled downfield for a touchdown, his garment unraveling in a long string behind him.  ACU's next win was a 24-7 victory over Southwest Oklahoma at the Apple Bowl in the now-demolished Kingdome in Seattle, Wash., which made them national champions.  As editor of the Optimist, I accompanied the team to cover the game, and got to play touch football one afternoon in the Kingdome, something nobody else can say they'll ever do again.

    ACU 27, Angelo State 0 (1976) – ACU quarterback Jim Reese throws for a then-LSC record 564 yards on a field muddied by a week of rain.

    ACU 46, Western New Mexico 13 (1977) – ACU tailback Alex Davis was steaming down the west sideline on what looked to be a 52-yard TD romp, when an opposing player – helmet off and holding a drink cup – stepped off the sideline to trip him. Officials awarded him the TD anyway. Boring game, but once-in-a-lifetime play, at least from a fan’s and reporter’s perspective.   

    ACU 56, Mesa State 12 (2007) – The Wildcats' junior QB, Billy Malone, was intercepted on the first play from scrimmage in ACU's first NCAA playoff home game ever, and the Mavericks return for a TD gave them a surprising lead.  The home team scored the next 56 points, one of the best answers ever to an early challenge from its opponent, and the Purple and White fans loved it.