Opinion > Star Staff
What Gives: Raccoons give it a real run before getting run over
By J. David Barron
That's one way to beat up the big bad dude on the street. Walk up to him and bust him in the mouth.
'Course, you can also just tick him off that much more. In that case, better run!
That's just what Frisco did to John Tyler on Friday night in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs at the new Taj Mahal for Football in Allen. For the first 20 minutes, the Raccoons were running like they just stole your dog's food, running all over Big, Bad John for a 21-10 lead with less than two minutes to go in the opening half.
Treating the forward pass like it was something only bad kids did on a date, Frisco jumped out to a 7-0 lead without ever lifting the ball as high as a chin strap. All the way down the field. Then the Raccoons did it again after John Tyler tied it to go back up 14-7. Once JT had to settle for a field goal, Frisco did it again. JT couldn't get off the field on third down.
Behind their First Team All-State quarterback, Greg Ward, the Lions began roaring. But the Raccoons hissed right back, intercepting Ward for the first time this season in well over 150 pass attempts to set up near midfield with a chance to go up by 18 at the break. Back came an INT the other way, then the Lions' law firm of Ward, Ross, Liggins, Flowers, Woods and Bowser went to work. Yah-Zer!
JT could run, too, and soon after that, Big, Bad John caught the Raccoons and opened up a can on their head. After a 35-7 eruption, CUJO - John Tyler's alternate ego - started getting ready to take on another Frisco power this Friday.
John Tyler has a long and rich history of football greatness. The Lions' pedigree even touts the single greatest high school team EVER in the history of the State of Texas schoolboy football - JT's first championship team of 1973. Featuring no less than NFL Hall-of-Famer Earl "The Tyler Rose" Campbell who stopped off at The University of Texas and picked up the Heisman on his way to Canton, Ohio, the same squad also counted among its ranks no less than SIX other players who went on to NFL training camps. That's SEVEN players off the same high school team in the NFL. Four others besides Campbell - Ronnie Lee of the Miami Dolphins, Zack Guthrie of the Philadelphia Eagles, Gary Don Johnson of the San Diego Chargers and Andrew Melontree with the Cincinnati Bengals - made the Pro Bowl! The only two that didn't amount to anything in The League happened to be Earl's baby brothers - the twins, Steve and Tim. All they could count as their football accomplishments were really nothing more than just being very good Longhorns.
That '73 JT team also had as its quarterback a young man named Larry Hartsfield, who won First Team All-America honors the next year in leading the Tyler Apaches to the national JUCO championship. For two years Hartsfield qb'd his teams to an undefeated Class 4A state title (the largest classification at the time) then a national championship for a combined record of 29-0. Yeah, he was pretty good, too.
Then there was fullback Lynn King. He was talented enough to play for Penn State, but opted for the state pen. He was meaner than a rattlesnake with a hangover.
I remember that team well as an 8th-grader at Tyler's Moore Junior High. Dad and I traveled to all five playoff games. JT took on undefeated Plano in the bi-district round and welcomed the Wildkitties to Rose Stadium with a 35-0 beat down! On one play, Campbell carried no less than six plain o' players on his back across the goal line. It was hilarious. And jolting. No team beat 10-0 Plano like that in those days. We folks in the Rose Capital of the World had an idea we were witnessing something special.
The regional round saw JT lose the coin flip and have to go to Conroe to take on the 11-0 Tigers in their den. Conroe was a lot better than Plano, but Gary Don made a monkey out of the Tigers' all-state 300-pound center on their attempt to go ahead midway through the fourth quarter, and caused a fumble. JT recovered, then drove down for the winning score, 10-7.
The quarterfinals saw the Lions again lose the coin toss and have to play in Fort Worth against Arlington Heights, who touted a do-it-all stud named Mike Renfro. You might remember him if you were a fan of the Luv Ya Blue Oilers back in the day of Bum and Earl and backup QB Oliver Luck, daddy of current NFL wonderkid Andrew Luck. Renfro was all they had, though, and Big, Bad John romped, 34-12.
The semis were on the banks of the Brazos in Waco, against a seriously good team in Arlington Sam Houston. The Texans were also 13-0 and relied on a tenacious defense led by future NFL DB Ronnie Burns, who went on to Baylor fame with Melontree, Lee and Gary Don. With the game tied 7-7 in the fourth, Hartsfield faked to Earl, then rose up and flicked a dart over the middle for a 5-yard completion to Lee. He did the rest, romping nearly 70 yards for what proved to be the winning score. JT held Arlington Sam on the next possession, then came a play that people are still talking about.
Only about four minutes remained in the game when Earl took a handoff up the middle, met Burns head-on in the hole, and busted him helmet-to-helmet with a hit so violent that Burns folded like an accordion. Earl stepped on his chest, then galloped 60-some-odd yards to close out a very misleading final score of 22-7.
The championship came against one of the state's reigning bad boys at the time, Austin Reagan. All of Tyler, it seemed, tried to fit inside the 8th Wonder of the World, the Astrodome. We wanted to see if Big, Bad John could really do it and win it all. Starting the fourth quarter, we were beginning to worry. Reagan led 14-7. But JT got it together behind Hartsfield and Earl. The Lions drove down and tied it, then with about three minutes to go, got it again with it all on the line.
Super Man wears No. 20, we were fond of saying back then, which was the same number he went on to wear to Heisman glory for Darrell Royal. Time and again on that championship drive, Campbell took the ball and moved the pile, yard by yard, all the way down the field. John Tyler Coach Corky Nelson might as well have taken the stadium address over and just told everybody what each play was going to be. Everyone knew. It was going to be Earl up the middle, Earl to the left, and Earl to the right. The Reagan Raiders were clawing and scrapping and spitting and swinging, but they just could not stop the force of nature they had watch morph before their very eyes.
On 3rd-and-goal from the 2, Earl slammed into the line of scrimmage one final time. And it was done. The greatest football team ever to strap on pads in Texas high school lore won its championship - by the slimmest of margins in three of their five playoff games. That's how good it's always been in Texas.
The Fighting Raccoons of Frisco were plenty good, too, Friday against Big, Bad John. Gave 'em a fat lip and a lack eye the likes the Lions haven't had this year. Not even in their Week 2 (only) loss against Lancaster did John Tyler get so man-handled where most of the pounding is done. Frisco led at the half, 21-17, and owned the line of scrimmage against JT, running 40 plays to only 14 for the Lions.
Unfortunately, the Raccoons just couldn't quite match the firepower JT trotted out onto the field at the Taj Mahal of High School Football last weekend. Frisco shouldn't feel bad. JT has been winning that way for a long time.
Now it's Centennial's turn.
J. David Barron is a staff columnist for Star Newspapers. Reach him at dbarron@starlocalnews.com.
'Course, you can also just tick him off that much more. In that case, better run!
That's just what Frisco did to John Tyler on Friday night in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs at the new Taj Mahal for Football in Allen. For the first 20 minutes, the Raccoons were running like they just stole your dog's food, running all over Big, Bad John for a 21-10 lead with less than two minutes to go in the opening half.
Treating the forward pass like it was something only bad kids did on a date, Frisco jumped out to a 7-0 lead without ever lifting the ball as high as a chin strap. All the way down the field. Then the Raccoons did it again after John Tyler tied it to go back up 14-7. Once JT had to settle for a field goal, Frisco did it again. JT couldn't get off the field on third down.
Behind their First Team All-State quarterback, Greg Ward, the Lions began roaring. But the Raccoons hissed right back, intercepting Ward for the first time this season in well over 150 pass attempts to set up near midfield with a chance to go up by 18 at the break. Back came an INT the other way, then the Lions' law firm of Ward, Ross, Liggins, Flowers, Woods and Bowser went to work. Yah-Zer!
JT could run, too, and soon after that, Big, Bad John caught the Raccoons and opened up a can on their head. After a 35-7 eruption, CUJO - John Tyler's alternate ego - started getting ready to take on another Frisco power this Friday.
John Tyler has a long and rich history of football greatness. The Lions' pedigree even touts the single greatest high school team EVER in the history of the State of Texas schoolboy football - JT's first championship team of 1973. Featuring no less than NFL Hall-of-Famer Earl "The Tyler Rose" Campbell who stopped off at The University of Texas and picked up the Heisman on his way to Canton, Ohio, the same squad also counted among its ranks no less than SIX other players who went on to NFL training camps. That's SEVEN players off the same high school team in the NFL. Four others besides Campbell - Ronnie Lee of the Miami Dolphins, Zack Guthrie of the Philadelphia Eagles, Gary Don Johnson of the San Diego Chargers and Andrew Melontree with the Cincinnati Bengals - made the Pro Bowl! The only two that didn't amount to anything in The League happened to be Earl's baby brothers - the twins, Steve and Tim. All they could count as their football accomplishments were really nothing more than just being very good Longhorns.
That '73 JT team also had as its quarterback a young man named Larry Hartsfield, who won First Team All-America honors the next year in leading the Tyler Apaches to the national JUCO championship. For two years Hartsfield qb'd his teams to an undefeated Class 4A state title (the largest classification at the time) then a national championship for a combined record of 29-0. Yeah, he was pretty good, too.
Then there was fullback Lynn King. He was talented enough to play for Penn State, but opted for the state pen. He was meaner than a rattlesnake with a hangover.
I remember that team well as an 8th-grader at Tyler's Moore Junior High. Dad and I traveled to all five playoff games. JT took on undefeated Plano in the bi-district round and welcomed the Wildkitties to Rose Stadium with a 35-0 beat down! On one play, Campbell carried no less than six plain o' players on his back across the goal line. It was hilarious. And jolting. No team beat 10-0 Plano like that in those days. We folks in the Rose Capital of the World had an idea we were witnessing something special.
The regional round saw JT lose the coin flip and have to go to Conroe to take on the 11-0 Tigers in their den. Conroe was a lot better than Plano, but Gary Don made a monkey out of the Tigers' all-state 300-pound center on their attempt to go ahead midway through the fourth quarter, and caused a fumble. JT recovered, then drove down for the winning score, 10-7.
The quarterfinals saw the Lions again lose the coin toss and have to play in Fort Worth against Arlington Heights, who touted a do-it-all stud named Mike Renfro. You might remember him if you were a fan of the Luv Ya Blue Oilers back in the day of Bum and Earl and backup QB Oliver Luck, daddy of current NFL wonderkid Andrew Luck. Renfro was all they had, though, and Big, Bad John romped, 34-12.
The semis were on the banks of the Brazos in Waco, against a seriously good team in Arlington Sam Houston. The Texans were also 13-0 and relied on a tenacious defense led by future NFL DB Ronnie Burns, who went on to Baylor fame with Melontree, Lee and Gary Don. With the game tied 7-7 in the fourth, Hartsfield faked to Earl, then rose up and flicked a dart over the middle for a 5-yard completion to Lee. He did the rest, romping nearly 70 yards for what proved to be the winning score. JT held Arlington Sam on the next possession, then came a play that people are still talking about.
Only about four minutes remained in the game when Earl took a handoff up the middle, met Burns head-on in the hole, and busted him helmet-to-helmet with a hit so violent that Burns folded like an accordion. Earl stepped on his chest, then galloped 60-some-odd yards to close out a very misleading final score of 22-7.
The championship came against one of the state's reigning bad boys at the time, Austin Reagan. All of Tyler, it seemed, tried to fit inside the 8th Wonder of the World, the Astrodome. We wanted to see if Big, Bad John could really do it and win it all. Starting the fourth quarter, we were beginning to worry. Reagan led 14-7. But JT got it together behind Hartsfield and Earl. The Lions drove down and tied it, then with about three minutes to go, got it again with it all on the line.
Super Man wears No. 20, we were fond of saying back then, which was the same number he went on to wear to Heisman glory for Darrell Royal. Time and again on that championship drive, Campbell took the ball and moved the pile, yard by yard, all the way down the field. John Tyler Coach Corky Nelson might as well have taken the stadium address over and just told everybody what each play was going to be. Everyone knew. It was going to be Earl up the middle, Earl to the left, and Earl to the right. The Reagan Raiders were clawing and scrapping and spitting and swinging, but they just could not stop the force of nature they had watch morph before their very eyes.
On 3rd-and-goal from the 2, Earl slammed into the line of scrimmage one final time. And it was done. The greatest football team ever to strap on pads in Texas high school lore won its championship - by the slimmest of margins in three of their five playoff games. That's how good it's always been in Texas.
The Fighting Raccoons of Frisco were plenty good, too, Friday against Big, Bad John. Gave 'em a fat lip and a lack eye the likes the Lions haven't had this year. Not even in their Week 2 (only) loss against Lancaster did John Tyler get so man-handled where most of the pounding is done. Frisco led at the half, 21-17, and owned the line of scrimmage against JT, running 40 plays to only 14 for the Lions.
Unfortunately, the Raccoons just couldn't quite match the firepower JT trotted out onto the field at the Taj Mahal of High School Football last weekend. Frisco shouldn't feel bad. JT has been winning that way for a long time.
Now it's Centennial's turn.
J. David Barron is a staff columnist for Star Newspapers. Reach him at dbarron@starlocalnews.com.
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