Best sport memory, part one

In yesterday’s exciting blog, I wrote about one of my worst sporting memories.

Today, I would like to share with you one of my more memorable memories from my competing days, with another in the next couple of days.

The first one came as a junior at good old Heavener High School. For those of you who do not remember, I was a quarterback. A slightly slow and chubby quarterback. But not bald back then, a full head of flowing blonde hair, by gosh!

I would like to point out that I believe the old Craigman holds at least two school records! The first is for interceptions in a game. Five, count em, five! You have to work awfully hard to throw that many interceptions in a game, you know.

The second is interceptions in a season. No, you don’t want to know. But enough about me and my records.

We had a very good offense that year, although the defense had some holes Roseanne Barr could run through. We had good running backs, and line and I could throw a decent pass. We also had some receivers with good hands and the ability to somehow run down some of my quackers.

The game was at home against Vian. We were 2-2 or something like that, Vian was about the same. The Wolverines always had talent back then, but we had beaten them for several years because we were tougher and better coached.

Vian had a good running back named Bobby Wright, who would later set a state record for touchdowns. He was just coming into his own, not that we were all that worried. Every other time we played him, he would get sent to the sidelines several times a game from hits, some hard, others not so hard.

The Wolverines had a new coach that year in Rick Jones, who would become one of the better coaches in this part of the state.

Bobby Wright and his brother Scotty, a freshman fullback, started off hot. Bobby was a stud, around 5-10 or so and weighing around 190. He was strong, fast and hard to tackle, which we found out quickly.

Early in the game, somebody had him tied up. I came up from my safety spot intent on laying a pounding on Bobby that would make him see stars for the rest of the night. I don’t know if I have hit somebody so hard, but all it did was knock him free and about six seconds later, he was in the end zone.

We realized this was not the typical Vian team. Soon, we trailed 20-6, and things did not look good for the Wolves.

But while Vian’s defense grew stout later in the year, we were able to move the ball on the ground and through the air. My buddy Scott Hairrell caught two touchdowns that night and the second moved us within a touchdown.

Late in the game, Vian was pinned back in its own territory. Bobby got the ball on a pitch and somehow we corralled him in the end zone for a safety. We got the ball back and moved down the field, eventually scoring a touchdown to take the lead.

When Vian got the ball back, instead of playing the usual offense, the Wolverines went into some spread formation, which was a big relief to us. We stopped them one last time and won the game, 22-20.

At the time, it didn’t seem so memorable. But that was the last regular-season game Vian lost for the next three years. The Wolverines won their district and went deep into the playoffs that year and made the state finals the next season.

They also got more than a little revenge a year later, beating us 56-16.