Same here until I blew out my knee in the biggest game of the year to that point (against No .1 and undefeated defending champs Picayune). We only ended up going 14-0 and won the state championship that year. And were ranked #14 nationally by USA Today so I didn't miss much. Not to brag, but our defense was nasty. Offense got most of the glory because of Shane Matthews and Kez McCorvey, but our defense, led by Terrell Buckley, was the heart of our team. We opened the season with 3 straight shutouts including over Emmit Smith's Escambia High, which was the only game all year where he failed to gain 100 yards rushing. We ended up with 5 shutouts and only gave up double digits once, not counting the defensive and special teams TD scored against us. I know I'm sounding like Al Bundy with his 4 touchdowns at Polk High (who were also the Panthers), but when I read you also played MLB, it took me on a trip down memory lane.
Wow, sounds like you were on one of those rare teams with phenomenal talent and results. You’ve got good reason to be reliving those memories. Thanks for sharing. I didn’t play HS football, but my JR and Sr years, we had incredible talent, too. I went to West Jeff, and ‘82-‘84, we had Garry James (grad ‘83), the Montgomery brothers (both played at U Houston and NFL), Thurston Harrison (DB Tulane), and multiple others I can’t even remember anymore. Many made it to play college ball, and I think I once counted eventually 8 made it to the NFL(some just briefly), with GJ being the biggest household name.
