Sports: Winnfield Senior High School Football Tigers, 1981, Winn Parish, LA. Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: November 11, 1981 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American (This was no doubt the greatest and most exciting game in Winnfield High School football. The weather was extremely cold and the Jonesboro stadium was full, with standing room only on the visiting Winnfield side. I had convinced my wife to attend the game with me and she thought it was a basketball game we were going to, so she dressed accordingly. When we arrived at the game, she almost refused to sit in the stands with me. At halftime, she threatened murder and divorce, whichever she could accomplish first, and fortunately, Kathy Brewton, who was sitting next to us, overheard and came forth with a pair of wool socks and wool gloves. Had Mrs. Brewton not been there for the rescue, I probably would have missed the greatest comeback victory in the history of Winnfield sports. Coach Doug Moreau states in the article that he did not chew the team out, but he did catch one fan leaving at halftime as the Winnfield team was leaving the field for the dressing room. The fan was a former Winnfield star from years past and Coach Moreau got in his fact and told him that the boys hadn't given up and what a fine example he was giving up in front of the team. The fan sheepishly returned to his seat in the stands. I sensed a problem when the boys came out on the field for pre-game warmups. There was no spirit and they seemed to be awful nervous. Everything they tried in the first half backfired. But, few left the stands at half as the feeling was two-fold, stunned, yet faithful. I think that all the fans were shell-shocked, but confident that we had a chance, especially after we finally scored late in the first half and converted the two point attempt. When the Tigers returned to the field in the second half, there was a sense of "get down to business". Those kids looked so focused you could tell they were on a mission. And they were. This game was no doubt the most exciting comeback effort in the history of Winnfield High School and a game Winnfield fans will never forget. Tigers Stage Miraculous Come-Back To Winn Beats Hodge 34-29 "Winning is 95 percent inspiration and five percent perspiration." Vince Lombardi. That, in a nutshell, is why Winnfield Senior High School is the 1981 District 3-AA Champs. The Tigers of third year boss Doug Moreau, overcame a 29-point deficit in one of the most dramatic and miraculous contests in Winnfield football history to earn that crown. Riddled by mistakes for the first 24 minutes in the title game with Jonesboro- Hodge, it seemed almost certain Winnfield was doomed. Three straight lost fumbles all resulted in Jonesboro-Hodge points. The Winnfield-Jonesboro match has traditionally been an exciting contest, but this one was by far the best. The game has also always been a determining factor in the district. Last year, Winnfield had to win by nine points to make the playoffs, they didn't, they won by only two, 14-12. The year before that, they beat Jonesboro in an overtime battle 7-6, for the district title, and one year earlier they claimed a victory for the crown. Friday night's come-from-behind victory gave the Winnfield based pack their third outright district crown in four years. Last year they shared it with Jonesboro and Mansfield. Fans should have known some strange things were going to happen when Jonesboro won the toss and elected to kick. On the second play from scrimmage Winnfield fumbled at their own 28 yard line. Six plays later, Richard Williams scored on an end-around from 11 yards out. He also provided the PAT kick. Winnfield then ran five plays before coughing up the pigskin again. This time Jonesboro moved the ball 53 yards in 14 plays into the end zone. The drive was capped when quarterback Anthony Anderson bootlegged the ball in front of J-H fans from two yards out. Again Williams kicked the PAT. With 47 seconds left in the first quarter and Jonesboro leading 14-0, Winnfield ran two plays and lost the pigskin again. Just 13 seconds later, Jonesboro got their third score in the first quarter on a 41 yard pass from Anderson to Williams, who pulled in the toss despite three Winnfield defenders in the area. The PAT was not good. The visiting Tigers of WSHS ran two plays in the fading seconds of the first quarter, before they again fumbled. Fortunately, this time the ball was recovered by center Ken Maloy a few yards up field. Winnfield ran two plays in the second quarter before they were forced to punt. Jonesboro took the punt and drove the ball to the 11 yard line in five plays. The Tigers lost a yard and a down on a penalty and faced with a fourth and 12 at the 12, they settled for a 29 yard field goal by Williams. That gave Jonesboro a 22 point advantage with 8:45 left until intermission. The hosting Jonesboro pack got the ball back just seconds later when Winnfield fumbled the kickoff at their own 36 yard line. Nine plays and about four minutes later, Anderson found Melvin Thomas in the end zone all alone for another score. The PAT by Williams was good, giving Jonesboro a 29-0 lead and 4:14 until break time. That's when Winnfield finally got untracked. Beginning at their own 30, quarterback Greg Powell hit Benny Mitchell on a 22 yard reception. He then scrambled for 31 yards himself down to the Jonesboro 17. Three plays later Perry Myles ran into paydirt from five yards out. He also provided the two point conversion on a sweep to the right side. With 3:09 left in the second period, Winnfield found themselves down 29-8. The spirit of Knute Rockne must have been in the dressing room at halftime, because Winnfield came out at full speed. They opened the second half with a six play 80 yard drive into paydirt. The final play was a 59 yard pass reception to Sampson Collins. The defender plunged for the interception, missing, clearing the way for Collins to spring untouched into the end zone. The score came with just four minutes gone in the third quarter. The PAT pass by Powell out of the shotgun formation failed, leaving Winnfield behind 29-14. The Tigers brought the score to within nine points at the third quarter buzzer when Powell capped a 57 yard drive on the seventh play with an 18 yard TD toss to Earl Funches. The try for two points failed leaving Winnfield behind 29- 20. It looked like troubled times for Winnfield again in the fourth quarter when they fumbled a punt on Jonesboro's first possession of the last quarter. But the tables turned three plays later when running back Marvin Thomas lost the pigskin and Jess Grigg came up with the ball at Jonesboro's 31 yard line. Winnfield quickly turned the mistake into points. On the third play of the drive Powell hit Collins on a 69 yard TD toss when the defender slipped down. The PAT kick by Latham was wide, leaving Winnfield short by three points 29-26 with about 7:30 left in the game. The Tiger defensive unit held Jonesboro forcing a punt with 3:25 left on the clock. Winnfield then moved the ball into the end zone for the go ahead touchdown four plays later. Powell's first pass fell incomplete. He then connected on tosses of 12 and 20 yards to Collins and Mitchell respectively. Faced with a first and 10 at the Winnfield 28, Powell kept the ball up the middle, splitting tacklers and blockers for the score. Latham booted the ball through the uprights for the 33rd Winnfield point. The score left Jonesboro just 2:44 to come up with the winning touchdown. The hosting Tigers used six plays but were stalled when Anderson's pass intended for Williams was knocked down with 1:16 to go by Perry Myles. The Winnfield pack took over the ball and ran the clock out for the victory. An elated and relieved Moreau evaluated, "We were just too tight in the early stages of the game. We can't take anything away from Jonesboro, they prepared well for us. But we helped them out a lot, too. "We went into halftime and I didn't chew the boys out. I just told them the only way they could come back and win, was to be great. And they did. "I think the most important thing from the game was the boys proved to themselves they can be great, if they work hard and play together as a team," he concluded. "Everybody had a bad night. But we took a bad night and turned it into a great night. Our defense lived up to its name, 'The Wild Bunch'." "We didn't really do a good job tackling the quarterback, but he's an exceptional athlete. There in the second half we got a good pass rush, our linebackers were covering under and they were only able to complete one pass on our nickel defense." Moreau stated the past two weeks his pack has played a little sloppy against some weaker teams, and that may have been a factor. He was especially pleased with the crowd support of the Winnfield fans, who never gave up. The Tigers earned the right to stay home this week and will host the runner up Vidalia Vikings from District 4-AA. Jonesboro, on the other hand, will have to travel to the 4-AA Champions Ferriday.