(The Cass County Democrat Missourian ,November 16 1979 )
When school opened, first year Rich Hill Football Coach John
Denny must have been more concerned about fielding a team than how many games
they’d win. You see, at
the time Denny only had 12 able-bodied players competing for 11 positions.
Forget the platooning, we don’t play 6-man football in the state. The
situation improved. About a Nineteen “newcomers” joined the team over Labor Day
weekend. 12 players “stuck”. “We worked
real hard on conditioning”, Denny Said. “Some of them left us.”
When the
Tigers traveled to Adrian Sept. 7, only the “original 12” were eligible to
play. “I fully
expected us to get clobbered,” Denny admitted, “But somewhere along the line
the kids didn’t expect it.” Rich Hill
lost 13-0. Adrian finished the season at 7-2.The Tigers
practiced Saturdays and Sundays to get in the allotted number of sessions so
the rest of the players would be eligible to play the second game. They fell to
Windsor 7-6 in game two.
Then Midway
came to town. The Vikings, of course, are defending Class 1-A state titlists. Midway won
13-0, but it was only 6-0 until the closing seconds of play.“Midway
didn’t play very well,” Deny acknowledged, “I think (Midway Coach Laural)
Hobick’s a tremendous coach. It’s an honor to be on the same field with him.” The Midway
loss was a costly one. Doug Isaacson, the Tigers’ talented running back, broke
a bone in his shoulder, but Phil Kesterson stepped in for Isaacson and picked
up over 800 rushing yards in 6 ½ ball games.
The
freshman really came through,” Denny said. Freshman
quarterback Tom Sutcliffe and classmate Brain Tabor teamed for the winning score
in the 34-28 victory over Osceola- Rich Hill’s first. The same duo accounted
for the go-ahead score in their 20-6 victory over Miami.
Denny said
of 180-pound senior linebacker-fullback Roger Rigdon, “He was more than just a
key for us. I can’t say enough about him. We wanted to give him the ball more
but he was just so good at blocking.” Denny called
175-pound junior slotback-running back Bill (Bubba) Sutcliffe the second best
athlete on the team. He expects big things from him next year. Chuck
Duffield, a 220-pounder and Ray Audula, a 195-pounder were the Tigers top live
men but Denny was proudest of Bart McClaughry – a 6’1”, 130-pounder who was called
upon to play offensive tackle. He’d never
played football before, but he worked real hard. He did it on all guts alone.”
I think we
have super kids here,” Denny said. “The kids deserve all the credit. Maybe he was
being a bit modest. The former Lillis High School mentor should be commended
for motivating his youngsters to “give their all. Following a
44-0 victory over winless Kansas City West Friday, the Tigers finished the year
at 4-6. Included among their victories was a 12-7 triumph over the Archie
Whirlwinds- contestants in the Class 1-A state play-offs.
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