De Leon — Some residents were making their late rush to church, while others were headed for a day of leisure. It might be described as a typical Sunday morning for this Comanche County community.



Only hours before, most of the inhabitants were in Waco cheering their De Leon Bearcats in a game they hoped would bring the Class A state football championship. The Bearcats fell short, and they were a prime topic of conversation as their followers filed out of church.



There was more praise for the team’s season-long play than disappointment with the 17-8 loss to Barbers Hill.



Some of the cars still were soaped with "Get an Eagle" or "Win State" and a trio of youngsters were playing catch with a football on the church parking lot, apparently getting ready for the future.



And with 18 underclassmen on this year’s roster, that future looks bright.



The Bearcats were not totally downcast as they ate a post-game meal in Waco Saturday night and perhaps redheaded tackle Daryl Ward summarized the loss best when he said, "They took advantage of their breaks and we didn’t."



Barbers Hill, which tied for the state championship in 1971, used a fumble to score a field goal and then took advantage of a penalty after it had already punted to score an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter.



De Leon, on the other hand, took a fumble and marched to the Barbers Hill 26 in the third quarter before it stalled. At time, De Leon was down, 10-8.



Bearcat coach Jack Waggoner, who has been nominated for Texas High School Coach of the Year and the prestigious coaching position of the North All-Stars in the coaching school game this summer, thought speed was the difference in the game.



"Their speed really paid off on that long pass," Waggoner said. "We just haven’t faced a 4.5 receiver and don’t have the speed to stay with one that fast."



The play Waggoner was referring to was the 55-yard pass that appeared to be overthrow, but Mark Mayfield caught up with it just beyond two De Leon defenders and got to the Bearcat five, setting up a touchdown that pushed Barbers Hill’s lead to 10-0 in the second quarter.



Both Waggoner and Ward thought Barbers Hill was a better ball club than Schulenburg, the team De Leon beat in the Class A finals last year, but not by much.



"They’re better because they beat us," Ward said. "They’re a good club but they were a bunch of talkers."



Ward said he enjoyed the last two years. "It felt great winning it all last year, but I’m proud of this year too. Sure, we started slowly, but this squad had a lot of determination and we deserved a shot at the state championship."



Linebacker Bruce Hodges thought Barbers Hill was physical, but not as physical as Mason, De Leon’s bi-district foe. "They didn’t do anything new and they executed well," he said.

Other De Leon comments:

Coach Waggoner: "These kids had set their goal at the first of the season to win the state championship. They deserved to win because they worked hard all season. When you deserve to win and don’t win, that’s when you see the tears. It just hurts a little deeper. I don’t think De Leon has ever or will ever see a team that will hit as hard as this one."



(On offsides on punt late in game, which gave Barbers Hill a first down and the Eagles a chance for the clinching touchdown) "That certainly didn’t help things. They went right down the field and scored. But I think the turning point was they just had a lot more speed than we did. I guess you could call that offsides a turning point."

Quarterback Joe Bob Huddleston: "We had a good team. We made a lot of mistakes we shouldn’t have made. We just didn’t get it together, I don’t know why. They have a good team."



(On season as a whole) "It was a long road. We got here (to the final) - we just didn’t make it.



(On getting to state championship after two losses in first two games) "We’re about the only ones who thought so, but we thought we could (go all the way).

Back Rocky Hardin: "We gave all we had. We just couldn’t get this last one. We played a good team. I think if we played them again, we might beat them.



(On halfback pass touchdown which narrowed gap to 10-8 before half): "I wasn’t surprised. Steve’s a good end. I was a little surprised he was so wide open."