THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090750
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 258 lines
A controversial call to decide a state championship.
A superstar upstaged.
A super team upset.
Overtime.
Those were some of the examples provided by our staff writers when asked to recount their most memorable high school football games.
The writers have viewed more than 2,000 games combined dating back to the 1930s.
It's not always great teams and great players that make for the most memorable games. They can happen anytime, any place - perhaps even tonight.
That's part of the beauty of sports. The games go on - except in baseball - and with them go our minds and hearts. Nov. 24, 1932 Maury 7, Wilson 6
It was a day to remember in the Great Depression, the day of the Maury-Wilson Thanksgiving Day football game, a high school rivalry that had been going on since 1919.
This time it was something very special.
The state championship was on the line and a record 11,000 fans jammed old Bain Field in Norfolk.
It was to be the final high school game for Wilson quarterback Clarence Parker, later to become famous as ``Ace'' Parker - college All-American, All-Pro and MVP in the NFL and a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He played with a cast on his passing hand. He had broken two fingers on his right hand in practice several weeks before.
Maury won with one swift stroke two minutes into the game.
On the third play, the Commodores' quarterback Herb Hudgins tore loose on an 84-yard touchdown run with 210-pound tackle Ben Dodge and Joe Thomas, the speedy halfback from Lamberts Point, throwing key blocks. Lonnie Seay kicked the extra point, 7-0.
Wilson recovered quickly. In the the second quarter, after tackle and captain Julien Butler recovered a Thomas fumble in Maury territory, Parker fired a pass to Gordon Moore on the Commodores' 15. This set up Parker's touchdown pass to Kotchy Hollowell, who made a miraculous catch at the goal line.
Parker, however, missed the placement for the extra point by inches.
The Presidents camped in Maury territory the entire second half, reaching the one-yard line in the third quarter and the one-foot line in the final period. Each time the beefy Maury line made a magnificent stand.
Wilson claimed the ball crossed the line on the last drive, pointing the finger at Lou Northrop, the referee.
In 1980, 48 years later, Northrop of Norfolk said he was still taking a ribbing every time he went to Portsmouth to play golf.
``There was a lot of feeling about the game, and I thought the criticism directed at me was unjust,'' Northrop said. ``There were two other officials in the game. But (the fans) wouldn't let me forget.''
Parker never forgot.
Did the ball go over?
``Twice,'' Parker replied.
- ABE GOLDBLATT Sept. 6, 1974 O. Smith 20, G. Bridge 6
This was my first game as a full-time writer at The Virginian-Pilot. But it wasn't the score or the by-line that made it memorable. It was the rain. The driving, unrelenting, all-day rain.
By late afternoon, every game in Tidewater had been called off. Every game except Oscar Smith at Great Bridge.
It seems Wildcat coach Billy O'Brien, in the final season of his brilliant 22-year career, was desperate for an edge. The Tigers, coached by former Great Bridge assistant Fella Rhodes, had stunned the Wildcats, 22-16, in the 1973 opener.
O'Brien didn't want to lose to his former staffer at home. Oscar Smith, O'Brien reasoned, had superior team speed and a better passing game. The rain would work in Great Bridge's favor.
Incredibly, some 2,500 fans sat through the downpour. But I don't know what they saw. There was so much water on the field that it was impossible to see the yardlines from the stands. Every tackle produced a small tidal wave. The ball occasionally floated away from the spot where it was marked.
For three quarters, O'Brien's strategy paid off as the teams sloshed to a 6-6 tie.
Two-time All-Tidewater wide receiver Emmanuel Upton out-slicked All-Tidewater safety David Floyd to catch a 47-yard pass from Donald Lane for the Great Bridge touchdown and Greg Sherrill skittered 67 yards through the marsh for the Tiger score.
But in the fourth quarter, all Sherrill broke loose.
Sherrill, a slippery junior who would go on to become the all-time leading rusher at Oscar Smith, scored on runs of 11 and 6 yards as the Tigers left Great Bridge in their wake.
Oscar Smith used the win as a springboard to a 7-3 season and a co-district championship, one of the high-water marks of the program.
- CHIC RIEBEL Nov. 16, 1979 Norview 20, Hampton 19
Richard and Tweetsie Reinerth, two of four Reinerth brothers to play football for Norview in the 1970s, were the heroes of this improbable Pilot victory.
Norview was playing nemesis Hampton in the Eastern Region playoffs at Todd Stadium, and Bob Tata's Pilots had lost seven in a row to the Crabbers, including a 50-6 shellacking three years earlier in which Hampton was hurling deep passes late in the game to run up the score.
Hampton fans taunted Norview's followers after the rout. ``You ain't got no damn football team,'' one fan said over and over.
But on this night, Norview trailed, 19-14, with six minutes left and had the ball on its 1. Moreover, starting quarterback John Holloway had been sidelined with an injury on the previous possession.
Norview ground out a couple of first downs, but with a minute left, was still on its 25.
The losing streak appeared all but certain.
Then, after most of the crowd of 3,000 had packed it in, came a pair of miracles. Tailback Orlando Goodhope, who rushed for 152 yards that night but had thrown only one pass in his career, heaved a 68-yarder to John Breeden that put the Pilots on Hampton's seven.
Tweetsie, inserted when Holloway was injured, then hit his brother Richard with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 32 seconds left that began a wild celebration.
It was the only reception of Richard's career.
The Reinerth brothers hugged and the few remaining Norview fans streamed onto the field following the victory, Tata's first and last against Hampton.
``When we were on the one, I told the kids to just try to go out with a little class,'' said Tata, now a member of the House of Delegates from Virginia Beach.
``I never thought we could come back. It took some superhuman efforts to win that one.''
- HARRY MINIUM Sept. 3, 1982 Cox 37, Princess Anne 36
It was my first high school football assignment with this newspaper, and it looked like a mismatch - the season opener between preseason No. 1 Princess Anne and projected punching bag Cox.
But it was a thriller instead of a laugher. The game featured 73 points and four fourth-quarter touchdowns, and it was decided by a last-minute defensive play.
Princess Anne's Jose Silver opened the scoring with an 84-yard punt return. The lead seesawed for the first three quarters, with Princess Anne taking a 24-22 edge into the fourth after a 78-yard halfback option from Maurice Williams to Silver.
Cox kept plugging away behind workhorse tailback Kenny Dickens, who scored early in the fourth to put the Falcons back in front. A two-point conversion pass from Tim Zimmerly to coach's son Joey Habit made it 30-24.
Princess Anne quarterback Gary Minson scored moments later, but the two-point conversion failed and the game was tied, 30-30. At that point, Princess Anne had scored five touchdowns to Cox's four - but had no conversion points while the Falcons had six.
Cox marched right back, and seemingly had the game in hand when Dickens scored again with 40 seconds left. Taco Fraioli's extra point was good - the only kick conversion of the game - and Cox led, 37-30.
With 24 seconds to go, Minson connected with Silver on a desperation, 64-yard scoring bomb, giving Silver 161 yards on just four receptions.
On the two-point conversion attempt, Dickens - who had 193 yards, three touchdowns and two 2-point conversions - came up big once more. Playing defense for the first time in his high school career, the senior smothered Minson behind the line of scrimmage to seal the upset.
- CARL FINCKE Oct. 14, 1988 Kellam 46, Princess Anne 36
Two winless teams combined for 877 yards, 39 first downs and 12 touchdowns in the highest-scoring Beach District game in history.
But that is only part of this game's lore.
With another frustrating season frittering away, Kellam coach Harper Donahoe looked at the records - both teams were 0-6 and Princess Anne had lost 18 straight - and boldly proclaimed this ``The Toilet Bowl.''
Crude, perhaps. But effective.
Kellam, which had scored only three touchdowns all season, got a district-record six rushing TDs from Gerald Davis and claimed the coveted Ceramic Toilet Award.
The trophy, a real toilet taken off a boat, was donated by longtime Kellam benefactor John Matyiko.
Davis, a senior who had never scored a touchdown, was moved from fullback to tailback for this game. He rushed 25 times for 258 yards, the third-highest total in district history.
Princess Anne's James Rogers was almost as good. He carried 37 times for 249 yards and scored two touchdowns and three 2-point conversions.
The game featured six touchdowns of 40 yards or longer. Kellam finished 2-8; Princess Anne went 0-10.
- ROBIN BRINKLEY Nov. 25, 1988 Norcom 23, Wilson 22
This game had all the ingredients that make for a special occasion.
It matched archrivals Wilson and Norcom.
The Eastern Region championship was at stake.
And the Western Branch Stadium was filled to capacity.
As the nailbiter moved into the final two minutes, Wilson quarterback Aaron Sparrow threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Presidents a 22-15 lead.
Thirteen seconds later Norcom's Eric Moore took a kickoff back 78 yards for a touchdown.
With 1:29 left to play Norcom debated whether to go for a tie, sending the game into overtime, or attempt a two-point conversion.
With victory or defeat on the line, the Greyhounds went for two.
Quarterback Karlton Bell pitched out to running back Darryl Shamlee, who smacked into the end zone marker as he ran wide around right end for a Norcom victory.
- BILL LEFFLER Nov. 24, 1989 First Colonial 9, Hampton 7
The mighty Hampton Crabbers sauntered onto their home field of Darling Stadium winners of five straight Eastern Region titles, the most recent a 37-2 thrashing of First Colonial the previous year.
They thought they were going to kick booty.
Instead, they were the ones who were kicked as First Colonial's Trey Weis booted three 31-yard field goals, ending Hampton's dominance of Eastern Region football.
Weis commonly celebrated his field goals by jumping into the air, twisting around and touching rear ends with teammates Andy Miller and Fred Franks. They called themselves ``The Bun Bunch.''
They'd never jumped as high as they did on that brisk evening.
Could anyone imagine not scoring a touchdown against Hampton and winning?
First Colonial's underrated defense made Weis' efforts stand up by holding Hampton to 110 total offensive yards. Two late fourth-quarter defensive gems were key. Gary Brockett's interception of an Aaron Matthews pass in the end zone stopped the Crabbers with 6:19 left. Then Chuck Thompson tipped a pitchout by Matthews with 1:41 remaining and recovered the ensuing fumble.
First Colonial coach Frank Webster had blood slowly dripping down the bridge of his nose as he walked from the field. Seemed the postgame celebration got a little out of hand.
``We weren't intimidated,'' Webster said. ``The defense was great, the offense moved the ball when it had to and Weis did the job.''
- RICH RADFORD Nov. 8, 1991 First Colonial 17, Bayside 14
There was tension in the air - lots of it.
It was the final game of the season, the Beach District title was on the line, and the memories of a violent meeting the year before seemed as fresh as if they had happened the day before.
It was the kind of mood that makes high school football so exciting.
The year before, a bench-clearing brawl in the third quarter of First Colonial's 13-7 victory had forced a lengthy delay in the action.
Punches were thrown. It got ugly.
While many of the players this night were new, many more were in the middle of that scene the year before.
The game turned out to be everything it was expected to be.
First Colonial had to battle from a 14-7 deficit. Chip Boggs kicked a 31-yard field goal to draw the Patriots' within four, and quarterback Shawn Beasley scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard sneak.
The winning drive was aided by three Bayside penalties that had the Marlins' sideline boiling.
There was tension - nearly too much.
- LEE TOLLIVER ILLUSTRATION: [Illustration by] KEN WRIGHT/Staff
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/File photo
It was the final game of 1991 for First Colonial and Bayside, and
the Beach District title was at stake. First Colonial battled from
a 14-7 deficit to win, 17-14.
by CNB