Wish I could've been alive during these games that y'all are mentioning. I bet that kind of high school football was second-to-none.
And so the mass exodus to 3A begins...
- Thread starter Diamonds are forever
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The playoffs were a monster back then as they were not split. Plus it seemed that the east could hold their own back then with the west none of the typical blow outs you see know mostly by the west over the east.
The following schools were all 4A at some point in the past 25-30 years..
and kinda hard to believe
Jacksonville
Havelock
Northeastern
No Nash
Rocky Mount
Kinston
Hunt
Fike
Beddingfield
Eastern Wayne
Southern Wayne
Goldsboro
Triton
Smithfield-Selma
Oxford Webb
Henderson Vance (split to make So Vance & No Vance)
and kinda hard to believe
Jacksonville
Havelock
Northeastern
No Nash
Rocky Mount
Kinston
Hunt
Fike
Beddingfield
Eastern Wayne
Southern Wayne
Goldsboro
Triton
Smithfield-Selma
Oxford Webb
Henderson Vance (split to make So Vance & No Vance)
Times in general were much simpler back in the day. In the 1980's most teams did not throw the ball that often and passing schemes were not very sophisticated. The west coast offense was just coming of age in the NFL.
A lot of option offense even at the 4A level and a premium was on defense. Our coach always preached scoring thr 3rd point which was 15. Our D was very good and he felt if we scored 15 we would win most of our games and we usually did.
It would be unheard of today but the first day of practice I sorted through a drum of used cleats and found a matching pair of Riddells. As a receiver we didnt have gloves - it was bare hands all the way. Players certainly didnt expect all the fancy equipment like they have today.
If you didnt win your conference you might not make the playoffs. In 1981 we finished second to Jacksonville in conference but went into the playoffs as the 3rd ranked team in the state. Luckily we had 2 representatives that year.
We sure did. A bitter cold evening. If I recall correctly TS had a very good running back - Richardson???
I also beleive Terry Sanford was ranked #2 in the state at the time. Heck of a first round matchup - #2 and #3.
NHHS had 1 NBA (Kenny Gattison) and one NFL player on that squad. Clyde Simmons was a long time professional defensive end and is in the top 20 all time sack leaders. And those two weren't even the best athletes and players on that team.
All is good on the West side..Heard you are retired now. Hope you are takin it easy and those Scots don't kill you for jumping on their bandwagon and brining them bad luck LOL
Very good point. I was thinking of the more eastern or rural/semi-area area teams but forgot about those schools. Crazy to me a bunch of Fayetteville teams in 3A. However, the craziest to me is NHHS in 3A...just something so wrong about that. I heard once that in 1965 they were one of the 3 largest enrollment high schools in NC. Not sure if true but seems likely.
Terry Sanford lost in title game to South Meck in 81..S Meck was coached by Jim Seacord who I played for at Hoggard
Yes retired. Enjoyed it.
Go Scots is my bestie.......You thank he's hilarious on here. You should see him in person. Looks like a character from The Hee Haw Show
Good times!
That would be Rondro Boney who played RB and linebacker. He was a physical specimen and a great athlete.
The Hoggard guys you speak of are the Tootoos. Larry, Stanley, Henry and maybe a couple more. Great football players and very good people - even for Hoggard guys
The Hoggard guys you speak of are the Tootoos. Larry, Stanley, Henry and maybe a couple more. Great football players and very good people - even for Hoggard guys
Go try Dude, you're not man enough to upset me. This is a discussion board Dude.
They also had a One Man Show over at Laney that year. I think his name was Mike Jordan.
Mike graduated in 1981. The team Middle is referring to was the 81-82 team. NHHS was 25 - 0 heading into the playoffs before losing to TS. The football and basketball teams lost a total of 3 games that year - 2 to Terry Sanford.
I know this is a football site but I played against Post 50 in the 1980 American Legion playoffs. You may remember Paul Williams and Dyke Anstead plus a few guys from McColl SC, including Mike Currie.
We also played against Scotland in the 1982 high school playoffs. You may remember Mitch Wells and Shannon Sellers.
By the way I will say I am a Fayetteville native and my allegiance is to Fayetteville. I do own a house in Wilmington off Middle Sound thus my old user name. I pull for Hoggard as far as Wilmington is concerned. I remember when Hoggard played in the Fayetteville conference in the day. They were always good and very physical back in the day.
Yeah. I graduated with Paul in 81. Dyke graduated in 79 and he played on the 77 State Championship team . I also remember Mitch and Shannon.
Not sure about NB. Their Middle Schools are not sending up the talent they did a few years back.
The 5A class is coming regardless, maybe not now but it's coming. It's called population growth and unless we adopt China's law of limiting how many kids you can have it is only a matter of time.
In November 2013 they relaxed the one child law to allow two if one parent was an only child. They amended it but did not end it.
Have heard rumblings of nine with a "non traditional" playoff class. Few years ago some complaints from 1A schools that subdividing did not help the very smallest schools and thought three champions in 1A should be reviewed.
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