CLEARING ONE OF THE big hurdles on the road to the Lone Star conference, East Texas downed Sam Houston State 57 to 33. Rugged line play made the difference. The burly Lion forward wall opened gaping holes in the Bearcat defense for a host of speedy backs to scamper through for long gains. On pass plays the blue and gold clad lads up front gave quarterback and passer James Gray ample protection as the ball-handling wizard fired a trio of touchdown passes. On the other hand, the defensive ET linemen gave up only 12 yards to the Bearcats' ground thrusts, and a pair of hard-hitting ends, Duncan Thompson and Carroll Holliday, kept Sam Houston's great passer, Don Gottlob, off-balance on many of his tosses, six of which were intercepted. The Bearcats opened scoring midway in the first quarter when Halfback Mac Moore galloped 77 yards on a screen pass play. ET struck back when Gottlob, unable to get a pass away, was tackled in his own end zone by Holliday and Bruno Ashley. A few plays later Gray passed to End Tommy McCormack for 41 yards and a touchdown. This put the Lions in front to stay. McCormack scored two touchdowns and Bill Self, Judd Ramsey, Bob Williams, R. C. Moore, Glynn Johnston and Lloyd Corder racked up one each to account for the Lions scoring. This game was Homecoming for East Texas exes. The stadium was packed for the exhibition and the halftime activities of fourteen high school bands from all parts of East Texas.