ROQUES SPARKS BRUINS.Byline: Billy Witz On the kind of dark, dreary November afternoon that explains why there is a coffee bar on every corner in this city, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX turned somewhere else to jump-start its day. Ryan Roques Roques is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:
Roques' 81-yard kickoff return to the Washington 12 set up a Chris Sailer Sail´er n. 1. A sailor. 2. A ship or other vessel; - with qualifying words descriptive of speed or manner of sailing; as, a heavy sailer; a fast sailer s>. field goal. But he turned in the most dazzling play of the game on a 77-yard punt return In American and Canadian football a punt return is one of the punt receiving team's options to respond to a punt. A player (usually a second or third string wide receiver or running back) positioned many yards from the line of scrimmage will attempt to catch or pick up the ball for a touchdown with 41 seconds left in the half to put UCLA ahead 20-10 going into the locker room. It was the Bruins' first punt return for a touchdown since Paul Guidry's 70-yarder against Arizona State in 1995 and proved well worth the wait. ``Anytime you can get a big play just before halftime, it gives you momentum and puts a little doubt in the other team's minds,'' UCLA coach Bob Toledo Bob Toledo (born March 4, 1946, in San Jose, California) is an American football coach, recently hired as head coach at Tulane University. He is best-known as the thirteenth head coach at UCLA. , who for one of the few times this season found himself discussing a big return by someone he coaches. ``It was a crucial play in the game.'' On the punt return, Roques broke two tackles and left two more Huskies groping grope v. groped, grop·ing, gropes v.intr. 1. To reach about uncertainly; feel one's way: groped for the telephone. 2. for something to hold up their Apple Cups. ``We had a punt block on so I knew we were going after it,'' Roques said. ``I wasn't going to have much blocking. You just run to daylight.'' The kickoff return was much more straightforward. The wedge opened a gaping hole and Roques made one feint feint n. 1. A feigned attack designed to draw defensive action away from an intended target. 2. A deceptive action calculated to divert attention from one's real purpose. See Synonyms at wile. v. to his right at the UCLA 40-yard line, then cut back to his left and raced down the sideline, though not fast enough to avoid being caught from behind by kicker Craig Hawley. He came that close to becoming the first Bruin to return a kickoff for a touchdown since JoJo Townsell in 1980. ``I thought I was by him. I thought I broke his angle,'' said Roques, explaining the play with a smile to a more forgiving audience than the one he'll face Monday in film study. ``But that's a kicker. You can't let a kicker bring you down.'' The returns helped ease the disappointment of losing his starting cornerback job to Marques Marques may refer to:
The returns also reminded Roques, a fourth-year junior, how thrilling it is to have your hands on the ball. He came to UCLA as a running back, but after playing sparingly as a redshirt freshman, he asked to be moved to cornerback. He got his first significant playing time this year and was handed the punt-returning duties when Freddie Mitchell broke his leg and DeShaun Foster was sidelined with a knee injury. |
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