Football
Saturday, March 21, 2020
The best team I ever played
Reprint from 6/29/2008:
At Lawrence County in the 1960s we played against a lot of good teams and a couple of great teams.
There was BGA in 1966, led by Don Denbo and George Silvey. They were #1 in the state and nationally-ranked but I can't verify that last part. Just one of those things you hear and choose to believe. They had us 48-0 at half and that was the final score. (We did beat them the next year at our place, though, but they had lost a lot of players from around the country to graduation.)
There was Murfreesboro Central but, as I have blogged about earlier, we always had good success against them.
Lincoln County was always solid and gave us more fits than they did other teams.
Columbia had a good team in '67 under Jim Cartwright.
Cookeville with future Texas coach Mack Brown at tailback.
But the team I remember most was undoubtedly Franklin County under Coach Moose Bouldin. In the four years I was at LCHS these are some of the players FCHS had along with the colleges where they played:
Phillip Fulmer- Tennessee
Bobby Majors- Safety/Punt Returner- Tennessee
Jimmy Moss- OT- Tennessee
Bill Rudder- FB- Tennessee
Robert O'Neal- TE- Vanderbilt
Greg Mantooth- DT- Alabama
Robert Fraley- QB- Alabama (Robert was killed along with golfer Payne Stewart in a plane crash in October, 1995)
Ben Boswell- OG- Austin Peay
Wayne Sawyer- OT- Austin Peay
Larry Sawyer- OG- MTSU
Randall Miller- DB- MTSU
Raymond Bonner- DB- MTSU
They beat us 40-2 my freshmen year (we weren't very good that year, 2-8) with Bobby Majors at tailback, returning kicks, and punting. I think we may have led that game 2-0 after a bad snap over Majors' head.
My sophomore year we scored first, and last, but they scored 33 points in between to win 33-14. The first points of the game for FC was on a 10-yard pass from Greg O'Neal to Phil Fulmer. I don't remember how that happened but it did. I do remember hitting Jimmy Moss on a sweep and he never budged. Cracked my left arm about halfway between the elbow and shoulder but I didn't tell anyone until the season was over. Only problem it caused was that when I got hit on it the rest of the season my arm and hand would go numb and I would drop the next snap from center, every time.
In 1968 we hosted them for Homecoming. Not a good choice for Homecoming. They led 7-0 at halftime and had us backed up on our own 15-yard line when we ran a swing pass to the TB and I promptly threw it straight to Greg Mantooth and he walked in to make it 13-0. Final was 22-0.
The year I remember, though, was 1969. It had rained all day when we arrived in WInchester. As I look back at it, the softness of the turf may be the only thing that kept me from breaking any bones.
The score was 34-0 at halftime and we were not a bad team. The definitive play of the game was late in the first quarter. I was calling all of the plays that night and the only thing that worked at all were short passes and sweeps. I called our signature play, 727, which was a toss-sweep to Jackie Davis, our tailback. I led the play along with our pulling guard, Steve Cone, and all I remember is hitting someone and ending up face down in the mud. I looked up to watch the play and someone cut Jackie's feet. As he was about to hit the ground three helmets came out of nowhere and hit him simultaneously. He reminded me of a ball in a pinball machine as the hits went pow-pow-pow!
Jackie got up and took two steps toward the huddle and fell on his face. He got back up and headed for the wrong huddle then fell on his face. I went over and picked him up and helped him to the sidelines, him protesting all the while but his feet dragging the ground as he shuffled along. He was out.
Then it dawned on me. Our tailback just went out and would not be back. The only thing left to do was throw the ball. We threw it 35 times that night, which was a ton for back in those days, and moved up and down the field but could not score but 8 points. And, I was never hit like that before or since, in high school or college, and played every down as did most of my teammates. Final score was 34-8 and that was the only time I let anyone help me off the field after it was over. I was very glad to leave Winchester that night.
One pass play I remember most was on a rollout where Rudder was chasing me and another defender was coming at me as I neared the sideline (in those days you didn't run out of bounds to keep from getting hit, not if you ever wanted to play again). I jumped and threw the pass because I knew I would never get the pass away if I stopped and planted to throw. I remember being parallel and looking straight up at the sky right before I landed, still sandwiched between the two of them.
On Saturday morning I couldn't get out of bed, which wasn't unusual, but this was much worse. Usually by Sunday afternoon I can move around pretty good and would go over to the gym to watch the game film with some other players and run a little bit. This time it was Monday before I could even jog.
When Coach Staggs showed the film on Monday he didn't even stop it. He just let it run. After it was over he came over to me and shook my hand. That was the biggest tribute I ever received from a man whose opinion I greatly valued.
Franklin County was the best high school team I ever played against, especially my senior year. If there had been playoffs back then and we had been paired up to play them again I don't know if I could have made myself get on the bus. But, I am pretty sure they didn't go undefeated. I have trouble believing anyone would have beaten them on the night we played them. Maybe they were human against other teams.
CoachT Blog
At Lawrence County in the 1960s we played against a lot of good teams and a couple of great teams.
There was BGA in 1966, led by Don Denbo and George Silvey. They were #1 in the state and nationally-ranked but I can't verify that last part. Just one of those things you hear and choose to believe. They had us 48-0 at half and that was the final score. (We did beat them the next year at our place, though, but they had lost a lot of players from around the country to graduation.)
There was Murfreesboro Central but, as I have blogged about earlier, we always had good success against them.
Lincoln County was always solid and gave us more fits than they did other teams.
Columbia had a good team in '67 under Jim Cartwright.
Cookeville with future Texas coach Mack Brown at tailback.
But the team I remember most was undoubtedly Franklin County under Coach Moose Bouldin. In the four years I was at LCHS these are some of the players FCHS had along with the colleges where they played:
Phillip Fulmer- Tennessee
Bobby Majors- Safety/Punt Returner- Tennessee
Jimmy Moss- OT- Tennessee
Bill Rudder- FB- Tennessee
Robert O'Neal- TE- Vanderbilt
Greg Mantooth- DT- Alabama
Robert Fraley- QB- Alabama (Robert was killed along with golfer Payne Stewart in a plane crash in October, 1995)
Ben Boswell- OG- Austin Peay
Wayne Sawyer- OT- Austin Peay
Larry Sawyer- OG- MTSU
Randall Miller- DB- MTSU
Raymond Bonner- DB- MTSU
They beat us 40-2 my freshmen year (we weren't very good that year, 2-8) with Bobby Majors at tailback, returning kicks, and punting. I think we may have led that game 2-0 after a bad snap over Majors' head.
My sophomore year we scored first, and last, but they scored 33 points in between to win 33-14. The first points of the game for FC was on a 10-yard pass from Greg O'Neal to Phil Fulmer. I don't remember how that happened but it did. I do remember hitting Jimmy Moss on a sweep and he never budged. Cracked my left arm about halfway between the elbow and shoulder but I didn't tell anyone until the season was over. Only problem it caused was that when I got hit on it the rest of the season my arm and hand would go numb and I would drop the next snap from center, every time.
In 1968 we hosted them for Homecoming. Not a good choice for Homecoming. They led 7-0 at halftime and had us backed up on our own 15-yard line when we ran a swing pass to the TB and I promptly threw it straight to Greg Mantooth and he walked in to make it 13-0. Final was 22-0.
The year I remember, though, was 1969. It had rained all day when we arrived in WInchester. As I look back at it, the softness of the turf may be the only thing that kept me from breaking any bones.
The score was 34-0 at halftime and we were not a bad team. The definitive play of the game was late in the first quarter. I was calling all of the plays that night and the only thing that worked at all were short passes and sweeps. I called our signature play, 727, which was a toss-sweep to Jackie Davis, our tailback. I led the play along with our pulling guard, Steve Cone, and all I remember is hitting someone and ending up face down in the mud. I looked up to watch the play and someone cut Jackie's feet. As he was about to hit the ground three helmets came out of nowhere and hit him simultaneously. He reminded me of a ball in a pinball machine as the hits went pow-pow-pow!
Jackie got up and took two steps toward the huddle and fell on his face. He got back up and headed for the wrong huddle then fell on his face. I went over and picked him up and helped him to the sidelines, him protesting all the while but his feet dragging the ground as he shuffled along. He was out.
Then it dawned on me. Our tailback just went out and would not be back. The only thing left to do was throw the ball. We threw it 35 times that night, which was a ton for back in those days, and moved up and down the field but could not score but 8 points. And, I was never hit like that before or since, in high school or college, and played every down as did most of my teammates. Final score was 34-8 and that was the only time I let anyone help me off the field after it was over. I was very glad to leave Winchester that night.
One pass play I remember most was on a rollout where Rudder was chasing me and another defender was coming at me as I neared the sideline (in those days you didn't run out of bounds to keep from getting hit, not if you ever wanted to play again). I jumped and threw the pass because I knew I would never get the pass away if I stopped and planted to throw. I remember being parallel and looking straight up at the sky right before I landed, still sandwiched between the two of them.
On Saturday morning I couldn't get out of bed, which wasn't unusual, but this was much worse. Usually by Sunday afternoon I can move around pretty good and would go over to the gym to watch the game film with some other players and run a little bit. This time it was Monday before I could even jog.
When Coach Staggs showed the film on Monday he didn't even stop it. He just let it run. After it was over he came over to me and shook my hand. That was the biggest tribute I ever received from a man whose opinion I greatly valued.
Franklin County was the best high school team I ever played against, especially my senior year. If there had been playoffs back then and we had been paired up to play them again I don't know if I could have made myself get on the bus. But, I am pretty sure they didn't go undefeated. I have trouble believing anyone would have beaten them on the night we played them. Maybe they were human against other teams.
CoachT Blog
