The First Season: Part 10

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EDITORS NOTE: This is the 10th and final installment of a story series looking back at the 2011 football season.

PREVIOUSLY IN THE FIRST SEASON SERIES: PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8 | PART 9

On November 19, 2011 there were mixed emotions in San Antonio. There was excitement for another UTSA game in the Alamodome mixed with a sense of sadness that the inaugural season was coming to an end and the best the Roadrunners could hope for was a 4-6 finish.

It was a busy weekend for UTSA athletics. On Friday November 18, UTSA's women's basketball coach Rae Rippetoe Blair notched her 300th career win with a 61-54 triumph over Florida International in the Convocation Center. In Conway, Arkansas the UTSA Volleyball team was in its final Southland Conference tournament. On November 20 the Roadrunners and Texas State would meet for the tournament championship game. Texas State would shock the Roadrunners to claim the NCAA tournament berth.

Back in San Antonio, the football season finale would pit the Roadrunners against the Minot State Beavers. Minot State--making the trip down from Minot, North Dakota--was in its first season as a Division II independent after moving up from the NAIA ranks after the 2010 season.

Like the Roadrunners, Minot State had played nine games leading up to their trip to San Antonio. The Beavers had opened the season with five straight losses. After winning two in a row in October, Minot State had lost two in a row leading up to their trip to San Antonio. If the Beavers could notch a third win it would ruin the party of the Roadrunners in San Antonio.

The plain fact was that the party in San Antonio, if not ruined, had been dampened by results on the field. The Roadrunners entered the inaugural season finale with a 3-6 record. Since starting the season 2-2 the Roadrunners had lost four of their previous five as they took the field to face Minot State.

One thing that had been consistent was that the people had come to the games. 32,369 filed into the Alamodome for the final game of the season. That brought the total attendance for the season to 213,126. The average of 35,521 set a new NCAA record for a team's inaugural season. Once again UTSA had broken a record set by South Florida back in 1997.

What would the finale be for the Roadrunners and the 32,369 in attendance. At a little after 1 p.m. on November 19 that question began to be answered.

Minot State won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. At 1:04 p.m. Sean Ianno set the ball on the tee and kicked off to the Beavers. Minot State received the kick at their two yard line and returned it 22 yards to their own 24.

The Beavers opening drive made it to the UTSA 28 yard line. On third and 14 the Beavers quarterback Bryce Jorgensen attempted a screen pass. UTSA's Jason Neill was not the intended target but it was Neill who ended up catching the ball.

Neill had only the turf of the Alamodome ahead of him and returned the interception 67 yards for a touchdown. There was 12:01 left in the first quarter and UTSA led 7-0.

Minot State would punt on their next possession but were able to pin UTSA back to their own 14 yard line. David Glasco picked up nine yards on the first two plays. The Roadrunners needed one yard to pick up a first down.

On the next play, Evans Oktocha picked up that needed yard and then 76 more for a rushing touchdown. UTSA had increased their lead to 14-0 with 7:46 left in the first quarter.

The Roadrunner defense forced another punt on Minot's next possession. This time UTSA would open the drive at the Beavers' 48 yard line with 5:40 left in the opening quarter. It took UTSA less than three minutes to march those 48 yards and push their lead up to 21-0. The third touchdown of the afternoon came when Kam Jones took a 22-yard run into the endzone with 2:52 left in the opening quarter.

Despite only having the ball for 4:17 of the opening quarter, UTSA closed it out with a 21-0 lead for the first time since the opening game two months before.

Minot State got on the board with their second drive of the second quarter. The Beavers scored on a two yard run at the 8:53 mark to cut the deficit to 21-7. It was the ninth play of the Beavers drive and it proved to be the only points of the second quarter for either team.

After the Spirt of San Antonio performed their last show of the 2011 season the two teams returned to the field for the second half.

Minot State tried to capitalize on their momentum with an onside kick to open the third quarter. The Beavers recovered the onside kick but their offense was unable to pick up a first down and had to punt to UTSA.

UTSA's first drive of the third quarter began at their own 12 yard line with 13:54 left on the clock. The Roadrunners took eight plays to go 88 yards for their fourth touchdown of the afternoon. Eric Soza and Brandon Freeman connected on a 33-yard touchdown pass on the eighth play of the drive. There was 10:08 left in the third quarter and UTSA was back up by 21 points, 28-7.

The Roadrunners added another touchdown at the end of the third quarter. This time it was Josiah Monroe who caught a 14-yard pass from Soza and turned it into a touchdown. As the game turned toward the fourth quarter UTSA led 35-7.

"“Well we finally broke that game open. We were ahead in the first half, but I still didn’t feel good about it," UTSA Head Coach Larry Coker said after the game. "I just can’t say enough about our players and the coaching staff."

UTSA's first drive of the fourth quarter ended with the sixth touchdown of the day for the Roadrunners. David Glasco scored on a two-yard run with 9:04 left in the final quarter. Ianno added his sixth extra point to give UTSA a 42-7 lead.

Coker put the second and third string in for the Roadrunners to close out the fourth quarter. UTSA's final drive of the season would begin with 6:22 left in the fourth quarter. It ended with a five yard run by Nate Shaw with 22 seconds left. Ianno added a seventh extra point and UTSA closed out the inaugural season with a 49-7 win.

"We’re very proud of what we were able to accomplish this year. We’re a long way away and we know that, but we made some big strides," Coker said. "We have a barometer from this year about where we are and where we need to go."

The Roadrunners sent their lone senior, Safety Mark Waters, out with a victory and set the stage for the seasons that would come. By 2012 the Roadrunners would be in the Western Athletic Conference for one year before finding a home in Conference USA in 2013.

Even 10 years after the inaugural season there are still "Firsts" for the Roadrunners to attain.

Perhaps 2021 will be the season in which UTSA has its first kickoff return for a touchdown or first shutout victory. Maybe the 11th season will bring the first bowl win or first berth in a conference championship game. That is still to be revealed.

What is known is that the 2011 Roadrunners still loom over the program a decade later. It is on the foundation of the inaugural season that the Roadrunner program was built into what it is today.

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