The Greatest Games I Ever Saw Outside of Pennsylvania
Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Phil Myers | February 11, 2023
(Note: I will be working on multi-part articles regarding all of Pennsylvania’s greatest games I’ve seen from the 1960s through 2022. All of these game recaps are from my memory, my notes, and some research which included newspaper articles from the Albany Herald, Valdosta Times, and Indianapolis Star. Pictures used were from the Albany Herald, the Indianapolis Star, and the IHSSA programs. Since I am a staff of one, time did not permit me to look up every player I witnessed to see where they went to college and if they played in the NFL. So, obviously I may have missed a few and for that I apologize.)
Wayne County 7 Dougherty 6 – On Saturday night November 27, 1976 the Wayne County Yellow Jackets defeated the Dougherty Trojans in a steady downpour at Dougherty’s home field in Albany. The game was a Georgia state AAA quarter-final playoff contest between a pair of 10-1 teams. What made this game so unique was that it was not only played in a downpour, but the field was covered with water up to several inches deep in various places as the game wore on because it had rained all day Friday too.
Dougherty scored in the first quarter after capitalizing on a turnover, but the snap on the PAT squirted through the holder’s hands which ended up being the difference in the game. Wayne scored in the second quarter after a turnover when Dougherty was driving. The Yellow Jackets sailed 70 yards in 5 plays and converted the PAT. As the field conditions became worse neither team could do much. The Trojans caught a break in the 4th quarter when the snap on a Wayne Co. punt slipped through the punter’s hands at the Jacket 35. Dougherty then completed a pass for a first down but the receiver fumbled the ball away at the 24. They never threatened again.
For the game, there was a total of 10 first downs with Wayne Co. having 8 of those. The Yellow Jackets outgained Dougherty 151 total yards to 77. Both teams could pass very well, but conditions were not conducive to passing. As the result, each team only completed one pass with only 5 passes being attempted between the two teams combined. Lindsay Scott, one of Wayne’s wide receivers, went to the University of Georgia and was the 13th overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in the 1982 draft. Jerry Aubin quarterbacked the Dougherty Trojans and was the first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1978 baseball draft. Wayne County lost to Warner Robbins the next week. Warner Robbins ended up winning not only the state championship, but the mythical national title also.
Valdosta 3 Thomasville 0 – On Friday November 21, 1975 the Thomasville Bulldogs, who were the two-time defending Georgia AAA state champs and defending national champ, hosted the Valdosta Wildcats in what was one of the best slobber-knocker football games in Georgia history. Most of the stats for this hard-hitting contest were practically even. First downs had Valdosta with 12 and Thomasville with 11. Total yards had the Wildcats with 217 and the Bulldogs with 210. There was no scoring in the first half although both teams had somewhat threatened by driving into enemy territory.
In the 3rd quarter Valdosta’s talented quarterback, Buck Belue, completed a 36-yard pass on a drive that led to a 30-yard FG to put the ‘underdogs’ ahead 3-0. Belue went on to play for the University of Georgia and led them to a National Championship in 1980 along with a guy by the name of Herschel Walker. Belue also played baseball at Georgia, averaging .356 for his career and was part of the Montreal Expo organization for 3 years. He later quarterbacked the USFL’s Jacksonville Bulls for a couple years.
In the 4th quarter, Thomasville drove to the Valdosta 9 and faced a fourth down and three. The coach elected to go for it instead of trying to tie the contest with a short field goal, but the Bulldog running back was stopped inches short. A Valdosta turnover later in the quarter gave the Bulldogs another chance to score, but the Wildcat defense once again came up big. The game ended when Valdosta intercepted a double reverse pass, giving the Wildcats the 3-0 win before over 11,000 boisterous Georgia high school football fans.
Dougherty 28 Valdosta 26 – On October 29, 1976 the upstart Dougherty Trojans hosted the number one team in Georgia, Valdosta, before an overflow crowd of 11,500 fans. Both teams were undefeated at 3-0 coming into the game, but no one at this time of the year gave Dougherty much of a chance against the nation’s winningest high school football team. Still the Trojans had a pretty darn good team and they proved it throughout the game.
Dougherty initially led 14-0 in the second quarter and 14-7 at halftime. Valdosta scored early in the third, but Coach Nick Hyder made a critical error. One of only a few he ever made as Hyder is a legend in Georgia winning 7 state titles and 3 national championships at Valdosta. His overall coaching record was 302-48-5 before he passed away suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 61. Hyder elected to go for two points and the pass fell incomplete.
The teams traded scores the rest of the game. On Valdosta’s next score, the Wildcats had to go for two points again and the subsequent run failed to find the end zone. Valdosta cut Dougherty’s lead to 28-26 with under 5 minutes to go, but they never saw the ball again as the Trojans converted a couple of nerve-wracking third downs to keep the ball away from the dangerous Wildcat offensive unit. Jerry Aubin, Dougherty’s QB, and Buck Belue, Valdosta’s QB, each threw for 2 touchdowns and ran for another.
Dougherty 24 Central of Thomasville 21 – October 29, 1976 is a date that will live in Dougherty Trojan fans and players’ minds forever, at least those that were part of or attended this Georgia H.S. game. It was one of, if not the biggest, come from behind wins in the history of Dougherty High School football. The undefeated Central Yellow Jackets, who were the home team, scored three of the first four times they had the ball to take a 21-0 lead halfway through the second quarter. They then intercepted a pass deep in their end of the field to prevent the visiting Trojans from scoring with less than 2 minutes remaining in the half. That was where the Central’s domination ended and Dougherty’s domination began.
On the next play, a vicious hit by the Trojan defense forced a fumble back into the end zone where a Dougherty player fell on it for a touchdown with only a minute and change left on the clock. That cut the Yellow Jacket lead to 21-7 at the half. The Trojans scored twice in the third to tie the game at 21, then half way through the fourth quarter Tim Carter kicked a 27-yard field goal to give Dougherty the lead for the first time. It was the first field goal he ever kicked. Central got the ball three more times but could not mount any sort of drive. The Yellow Jackets were held to a total of 38 yards for the second half after moving the ball at will most of the time in the opening half.
Dougherty’s coach, Luther Welsh, said after the game that his team was fired up because reportedly Central had sent the team candy suckers and the coaches baby rattles during the week leading up to the game. Donald Laster, Dougherty’s 6’5” tight end, who caught a touchdown pass in the game went on to play college ball at Tennessee State. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the 13th round and played on their 1982 Super Bowl Championship team when they beat Miami. He also played with Detroit in 1984 to end his brief NFL career.
Dougherty 13 Central of Thomasville 10 – Central hosted this Region 1-AAA Georgia playoff championship game on Saturday November 20, 1976 and the house was packed to see the rematch. A coin flip decided home field since Dougherty, Central, and Valdosta ended up in a 3-way tie for the season. Central had beaten Valdosta earlier in the week on Tuesday and had to turn around and play Dougherty 4 days later. Dougherty had the bye due to beating both Central and Valdosta during the regular season.
This game did not follow the script of the first time they met when the Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 21-0 lead and then were stifled for the rest of the game, losing 24-21. Dougherty scored the first 10 points of the game in the second quarter, but Central answered with 10 points of their own in the last two minutes of the first half to tie the game.
As the fourth quarter opened, Central held the Trojans at the one-yard line with a brilliant goal line stand. But a quick three and out gave the ball back to Dougherty in great field position. They capitalized by driving to the Jacket 14 and kicking what turned out to be the game-winning 31-yard field goal with about 8 minutes left. Central answered by driving to the Trojan 15, but their 32-yard FG attempt fell just short of tying the game with a little over 3 minutes left on the clock. The Yellow Jackets threatened again with time running down, getting to Dougherty’s 29. But the Trojans garnered a 20-yard sack on 4th down to seal the deal.
Valdosta 17 Jess Lanier 16 – On Friday September 21, 1990, the now 4A powerhouse, Valdosta, GA hosted Jess Lanier, a 6A team from Bessemer, AL. before 8,000 fans and a live SportsChannel America audience. The Purple Tigers of Jess Lanier had a huge offensive line that averaged over 300 pounds a man. Their defensive front averaged just under 300 pounds. The Alabama squad jumped off to a 14-0 lead in less than five minutes, gaining 117 yards in only 4 plays. But Valdosta’s coach, Nick Hyder, made a couple of minor adjustments on defense and the Purple Tigers only gained 112 yards the rest of the game.
Meanwhile, the Valdosta Wildcats cut the deficit to 14-7 before allowing Jess Lanier a safety at the end of the half. Trailing 16-7, the home team scored a touchdown and a field goal in the third quarter to gain the lead at 17-16. The Valdosta offense kept the ball most of the last quarter and the defense staved off Jess Lanier’s offense when the Purple Tigers did have it giving the Georgians a hard-earned victory in a whale of a game.
The most ironic thing about the game was that both teams ended up winning their respective state championships with Valdosta being named to the USA Today’s Top Ten for 1990.
Andrean 35 Brebeuf Jesuit 27 – This 3A Indiana state championship contest was held on Friday November 29, 2013 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Andrean Fighting 59ers hail from Merrillville in the extreme northwest corner of Indiana. The Brebeuf Braves are an Indianapolis team. Andrean jumped out to a 21-0 lead and was up 28-14 at the intermission. Late in the third quarter the Braves scored two touchdowns in less than two minutes, but on the second TD, the PAT was missed leaving Brebeuf down by one point, 28-27 at the end of three.
The fourth quarter went back and forth with no one being able to score. Then the Braves began a drive late in the game getting near midfield, but DB Donovan Chandler intercepted a short pass and returned it 46 yards to the house to give the 59ers a 35-27 advantage with one minute remaining. Game over, right? Hold the phone. Brebeuf drove to the Andrean 21 and had time for one more play as one second was still on the clock. A desperate pass on the last play was a hair behind the receiver in the end zone and bounced off of his hand.
Both teams gained over 400 yards and there was only one punt the whole game. Andrean tight end, Tylor Petkovich, played ball at Illinois State. Their star linebacker, Josh Barajas, had committed to Penn State, but flipped and went to Notre Dame for a couple of years before transferring to Illinois State.
Columbus East 28 Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger 27 – On Saturday Nov. 30, 2013 the 4A state title game at Lucas Oil Stadium was a real barn-burner with a couple of wild momentum swings. This game also featured a pair of pretty good offenses that combined for over 860 yards. Markell Jones led the way for Columbus East with 197 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. Jones went on to Purdue, rushing for over 2,500 yards and scoring a total of 22 touchdowns in his career for the Boilermakers. The game started out all East as the Olympians built a 21-0 first half lead and appeared to be in control. But a funny thing happened on the way to the championship for the Olympians. The Saints of Bishop Dwenger came to play too.
The Saints began to shut down the Columbus East running game, and started to sustain some drives by being daring and cunning, which included going for it on fourth down in their own territory, faking a punt, and successfully running a flea flicker. By the end of the third quarter the score was tied at 21 and Dwenger showed no signs of slowing down. The comeback was complete when Dwenger took a 27-21 lead with 9:10 remaining thanks to a 55-yard pass that set up a short touchdown run. The Saints’ coaching staff, feeling they could do no wrong at this point, decided to fake the conversion kick, but Columbus East stopped the two-point conversion running attempt off the fake PAT.
East’s then offense came alive again and marched 73 yards to score with 3:42 left to take a one-point 28-27 lead. A wild and unusual play occurred with 54 seconds left. The Saints of Bishop Dwenger had driven to the Columbus East 49. Facing a third-and-14, the QB looked to pass, but was hit in the back and fumbled. A teammate recovered and gained 10 yards, but a Columbus East defensive back ripped the ball away, and the Olympians ran out the clock. Yes, there were two fumbles on the same play with the Olympians recovering the second one to preserve the win.
Warren Central 7 Carmel 6 – The nightcap in the Indiana state championships on Saturday Nov. 30, 2013 was the big boys, the 6A title match featuring the Warren Central Warriors out of Indianapolis and the Carmel Greyhounds. Both teams were 10-3 with Carmel beating Warren Central 21-15 earlier in the year. But the Warriors were on a revenge tour as the past two weeks they had beaten the other two teams that they had lost to during the regular season.
Neither team’s offense could get on track as the defenses played well. After Carmel kicked their second FG of the game with 5 minutes left in the third, things got very interesting late in the quarter. Carmel had the ball at their own 18 but fumbled it away with 14 seconds left. That’s when Jeff George, Jr. (yes, his dad played in the NFL) threw an 18-yard TD pass to give Warren Central the slim lead at 7-6. Carmel’s Austin Roberts, who went on to play at UCLA, appeared to return the kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. But an unnecessary roughness penalty was committed by a Carmel player and the go-ahead TD was negated. The Greyhounds tried hard to get into field goal range in the fourth, but couldn’t get there as the Warrior defense really clamped down.
Fort Wayne Snider 64 New Palestine 61 – On Friday Nov. 27, 2015 those in attendance at Lucas Oil Stadium were treated to perhaps the greatest game in the history of Indiana state championships. In fact, many of those fans think it may have been the best game they ever saw. New Palestine had won the 4A title in 2014 by going 15-0 and scoring 851 points, an average of 56.7 points a game. The Dragons scored 77 points in the finals to set an Indiana state record. The success factor moved them to 5A for the 2015 season but New Pal once again was undefeated, and this year they were averaging 61 points a game. Fort Wayne Snider had only one loss and averaged 47 points a game coming into this title tilt.
Time and space do not permit me to list everything that went down. Even the box score goes on a while as each team scored nine touchdowns. Suffice it to say, of the 18 touchdowns scored, 11 covered twenty yards or more. There were at least 14 state finals records broken including most yards in a game by both teams, 1,302. New Pal also set state final individual team records of 757 total yards and 501 passing yards, among others.
At the end of the first quarter the Panthers of Snider had stunned New Pal and led 21-0. At one point in the second the Panthers were on top of the Dragons 42-14. By halftime it was 42-21 as New Palestine scored with 3 seconds left. That was the beginning of 35 straight points scored by the Dragons. New Pal had tied the game by the end of the third quarter and amazingly took a 49-42 lead with eight and a half minutes left in the game. That TD began a sequence of six combined touchdowns in the last 8 ½ minutes of the game. Snider regained the lead very quickly at 56-49, but New Pal countered with two scores of their own to go ahead 61-56 with 1:03 remaining. After New Pal’s 8th score the PAT was blocked, and after their 9th score a 2-point conversion failed. One minute was more than enough time for the Panthers as they drove 68 yards and won this incredible game with 8 seconds left on a 3-yard run. This contest certainly was one for the ages!!!
Fort Wayne Snider’s quarterback, Isaac Stiebeling threw for 346 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass and ran for 3 scores including the game-winner. New Palestine quarterback, Alex Neligh, threw for 501 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also ran for 166 yards and 4 more scores. Duke Blackwell of New Palestine had 10 catches for 328 yards (a state finals record) and 3 TDs.
Damascus 21 Huntingtown 14 – This Maryland 3A semi-final game was played before an overflowing full house in Huntingtown on Friday November 29, 2019. Huntingtown was undefeated at 12-0 and Damascus was 11-1. The Swarmin’ Hornets of Damascus High used a tenacious defense and just enough offense to get by the Huntingtown Hurricanes. Damascus was led by 6’5″ 290 lb. Bryan Bresee, one of the top defensive linemen in the U.S. at the time. He went to Clemson and should be a 1st round draft pick in this year’s (2023) NFL draft.
Big bad Bryan Bresee in center of picture.
Damascus never trailed in a game that featured some of the hardest hitting you’ll ever see in high school football. They opened the scoring on their second possession when screen pass worked to perfection resulting in a 60 yard touchdown. The ‘Canes answered right back on a quarterback sneak for three yards to cap a 53-yard drive. After Damascus recovered a fumbled punt, the Hornets drove 38 yards in 7 plays scoring on a one-yard blast into the end zone early in quarter number two. With just over 5 minutes left in the half, Damascus downed a punt at the Hurricane 10. A penalty moved the ball back to the 5. Then Hurricane lightning struck as a perfect pass found the wide receiver a couple strides ahead of the defense which resulted in a 95-yard touchdown sending the hometown throng into a frenzy.
The third quarter appeared to be a chess match as each team vied for field position. The fourth quarter began with Damascus taking over at their 37 after a short punt. As the drive continued, the visitors faced a third and goal at the eight. That’s when the QB patiently waited for his receiver to break open at the back of the end zone and zipped the pass into his waiting hands for the game winning touchdown with 7:28 remaining. The Swarmin’ Hornet defense did its job as they recovered a fumble and later held the Hurricanes on 4th down to come away with the win in hostile territory. Damascus went on to win the Maryland 3A state championship a week later.
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