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On December 5, 1969, Tampa Stadium served as the site for a district battle between two unbeaten teams each seeking their first state title.
Clearwater (10-0) hoped to return to the state Class AA finals for the first time since 1964. Brandon (8-0-2) sported the best record in its relatively short history and were on unfamiliar ground. At stake in this contest, a trip to the state semifinals.
The two schools were quite a contrast in styles. Brandon made their mark in 1969 on defense, shutting out eight of their ten opponents. The Eagles allowed only three touchdowns the entire season, but were not quite the scoring machine, either. Brandon averaged just 15.9 points per game, and recorded two scoreless ties against Hillsborough and Plant.
Clearwater, meanwhile, rolled up the points, scoring 323 points in 10 games. Its defense, by contrast, gave up an average of 11.2 points per game.
Clearly, Brandon's defense would have to carry the day against the potent Tornadoes offense. The two teams slogged it out in the game's opening quarter, playing to a scoreless tie through the first 12 minutes. A huge play on special teams by Brandon, however, helped open the scoring in the second quarter.
Return man John Rayburn brought a punt back deep into Clearwater territory early in the quarter to set up Brandon with terrific field position at the Tornadoes 20. Running back Lane Exum carried on each of the next five plays, finally capitalizing from one yard out to give Brandon a 7-0 lead.
The defense then proceeded to blow the game wide open for the Eagles. An interception by Larry Bass on the next Tornadoes possession once again set up Brandon in Clearwater territory at the 47. This time, Rayburn found his way into the end zone on an eight-yard run to extend Brandon's lead to 14-0.
On the ensuing drive, John Lacer picked off an errant screen pass by Clearwater quarterback Frank Duncan and returned it 14 yards for Brandon's third touchdown of the quarter. A missed extra point left the score 20-0 in favor of Brandon.
The Eagles essentially shut down Clearwater's vaunted offense all game long. Brandon surrendered just 43 yards rushing -- 21 on one play in the third quarter. The Tornadoes were able to throw the ball somewhat successfully, gaining 130 yards through the air, but had four passes intercepted.
On the other side of the ball, Brandon was able to control the clock by running the football while completely eschewing their passing attack. The Eagles' 217 yards of total offense came entirely on the ground. Quarterbacks John Snowden and Mike Burnett attempted five passes between them but failed to complete a single one.
It didn't matter, however, as Brandon's defensive domination kept Clearwater off the board with the exception of a third-quarter touchdown run, a fourth-and-goal scamper from the 1 by Tyson Sever. The Eagles held on from there to capture a 20-6 victory over the Tornadoes.
The win propelled Brandon into a semifinals showdown in the Orange Bowl against Miami Jackson High School (11-0). In Jackson, Brandon would face a similarly defensive-minded team that had shut out five opponents during the season.
A mere 6,000 fans showed up for the contest in the 75,000-seat Orange Bowl on Dec. 12. Those in attendance saw a hard-fought 7-6 triumph by Brandon.
Lane Exum scored Brandon's lone touchdown in the second quarter and the Eagles carried a 7-0 lead into the fourth quarter. Brandon's defense characteristically saved the day when it mattered most.
A touchdown by running back Moses Moore brought Jackson within one point. The Generals chose to go for two -- and the lead -- instead of kicking. Brandon's Jim Dorsey sacked quarterback Willie Hayes back at the 20 to preserve the lead and ultimately the win for the Eagles.
With the victory, Brandon joined Robinson High (1963) as the only Class AA Tampa-area schools to have reached a state playoff final in football.
The Eagles' dream run finally reached an end at the hands of Leon High School (12-0) on December 19 in the Class AA championship game. In front of 20,000 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Leon High rushed for 245 yards and overcame a 14-7 deficit, rallying in the second half to defeat the Eagles, 24-14. For the second week in a row, the once stout (but perhaps fatigued) Brandon defense surrendered more than 200 yards on the ground.
While the loss ruined Brandon's hopes for a championship and an undefeated season, the Eagles finished 10-1-2 and produced one of their most memorable seasons ever.
"It's welded the entire community together, having this fine winning football team," Brandon Principal Lyle Flagg said 40 years ago. "Our winning tradition has begun."
A pair of undefeated teams battling it out for a Class 4-A district championship made for a dream matchup. The differences between the two teams made for a sportswriter's dream. The headline on the Nov. 7, 1979, front page of the Tampa Tribune sports section simply read: "The Game: It's the Country Boys vs. the City Slickers."
"Out here in Plant City, we're kind of the country folk," says former Plant City High head football coach Hank Sytsma, "with Plant being the city folk, so to speak. We were both 8-0 and everyone got caught up in it."
Sytsma refers to the hype surrounding the showdown for the District 7 title between Plant and Plant City, respectively the No. 4 and No. 6 ranked teams in the state. This would be the first time since the 1950s that two undefeated teams would meet to decide the champion. Interest in the contest had reached new heights in the week leading up to the game, scheduled to be played on Plant's home turf, Dads Stadium.
The stadium on Plant's campus could comfortably handle 7,500 fans, a number that raised red flags with the Hillsborough County School Board due to the immense interest in the game coming from fans of Plant City.
The previous week, County Athletic Director Wayne Williamson suggested spacious Tampa Stadium would serve as a more suitable location for the game. The idea of losing a home game -- and home field advantage -- at such a crucial moment bothered both Plant Principal Jack Marley and Plant Head Coach Roland Acosta, who doubted interest in the game would warrant a change of venue.
"We can handle up to 10,000 and I don't think we'll have more than that," Marley said.
For his part, Acosta predicted "there will be less people than you might expect."
The School Board disagreed, voting to move the game from Dads Stadium to Tampa Stadium. Anyone wanting to see the contest would have the opportunity.
"Common sense tells you that we needed to change the venue," Sytsma recalls. "I think the initial reaction by Plant is that they were ticked about the game moving, but it was good for both programs. We wanted everyone to see the game and the big thing was, the kids got the exposure and opportunity to play in a venue like Tampa Stadium."
There would be plenty of parking, plenty of available tickets and plenty of hype leading up to the game.
"It was in the papers and on television all that week, every day and night," Sytsma says.
People were drawn to the off-field contrasts between the two teams, despite their many similarities on the field. Both were defensive-minded teams that had given up a combined 80 points in 16 games. On the other side of the ball, each squad averaged 20-plus points per game. Sytsma describes his Plant City squad as a hard-working bunch who loved to play the game.
"We were pretty balanced on both sides of the ball," he says. "They weren't spectacular, but they played the game right."
Acosta predicted victory in this game for one reason: experience.
"Our kids have watched Plant win big games before and they've played in some big wins themselves," Acosta said. "We don't need any home field advantage to win."
On Nov. 9, 1979, all the hype and controversy surrounding the relocation of the game gave way to a simple battle between two teams with one goal: a district championship.
In front of an estimated crowd of 23,620 -- a Hillsborough County high school record -- the two schools played a game that lived up to all the anticipation. Both defenses succeeded in making life miserable for the opposing offenses, as neither team found success in sustaining drives.
An early Plant City fumble led to Plant's first touchdown, a 10-yard run by Reggie Walker to give his team a 7-0 lead. The score would remain that way until the third quarter, when Plant City turned a Plant fumble to their advantage.
Rudy Guion scored from six yards out to cap a 58-yard drive, and Plant City seemed poised to tie the game. Plant City kicker Chuck Everidge, however, pushed the extra-point attempt wide left, and instead of tying the game, the Raiders trailed the Panthers, 7-6.
With just 5:53 left in the fourth quarter, Plant running back Harold Ricks iced the game on a 39-yard touchdown dash up the middle to give his team a 14-6 lead.
Plant City got as close as the Plant 37 with 2:43 left in the game, but turned the ball over on downs and never regained possession. Plant defeated Plant City 14-6 and captured the District 7 championship.
A heartbreaking defeat for Plant City, but an experience that Sytsma says has proven unforgettable now 30 years later.
"When I see some of the kids from that team, that's something we always come back to," he says. "It was a big thing for the school, the city, the fans, but also for the players themselves. I don't think I've seen anything like that game since -- having over 23,000 for a high school game -- that would require a venue change or that so many people have gotten wrapped up with. And it was a well-played, close game that could have gone differently."
The city slickers vs the country boys. Plant vs Plant City. More than 23,000 in attendance at Tampa Stadium. A district championship hanging in the balance.
It was, as Sytsma says, "the perfect setting for the perfect storm."
On December 20, 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 were in their final day of preparation for a mission that would send them on man's first trip to the moon, more than 220,000 miles from Earth. At the same time in Tampa, 41 football players from Tampa Jesuit were preparing for another historic mission: to become the first football team from Tampa to win a state high school championship.
Standing in the way of the 10-1 Tigers in the Class A title game was another team seeking its first state championship, the Kathleen Red Devils from nearby Polk County. Kathleen entered the game with a 10-1-1 record, their only loss a 26-13 setback to in-town rival, the Class AA Lakeland Dreadnaughts. Leading up to the game, several Kathleen players were stricken with the notorious Hong Kong Flu, an epidemic that affected roughly 50 million Americans from 1968-69.
Unable to practice during the week were running backs Wayne Cockrill and Silas Bryant, as well as starting left tackle Colin Hunt. Kathleen coach Tom Atwell expected the players to be ready for the game, but worried about the flu spreading to other players.
"I just hope that the flu leaves us and all the players will be ready for the game," Atwell said.
While the Red Devils contended with the flu, there was great cause for celebration leading up to the game for the Tigers. On December 17, star running back Leonard George became the first black player to sign a full football scholarship with the University of Florida. Gators head coach Ray Graves called the 5-11, 170-pound Leonard a "talented athlete, a fine young man and a good student."
In nine regular-season games, George gained 1,525 yards on the ground and scored 20 touchdowns. In the first game of the playoffs against Palmetto, George dominated with 244 yards on 18 carries, reeling off runs of 86 and 63 yards, while scoring two touchdowns to lead Jesuit to a 21-7 win. The next week on the road in the semifinals against Walton High in Defuniak Springs, George ran for 170 yards and a touchdown in a 20-0 win. As the key to Jesuit's success on offense, the Tigers would need one more superlative effort from George to bring home the championship.
The game against Kathleen was in many ways the culmination of a dominant three-year run for the Tigers that featured an overall record of 29-5. A year earlier, the Tigers fell one game short of reaching the state finals, losing to Lake City. On a team loaded with seniors playing in the final game of their high school careers, the Tigers did not want to let their best chance at a title slip away.
Virgil Versaggi, an offensive guard and linebacker for the Tigers, remembers not getting caught up in the hype of the big game.
"The year before we made it to the semifinals," Versaggi tells me. "We didn't do anything special to prepare, went through the same routine that week. It felt like just another game."
But it wasn't just another game, at least not to the 8,500 fans at Tampa Stadium, 5,000 of whom supported the Red Devils. On the biggest stage of their young lives, however, the Tigers lived up to their expectation of success.
Jesuit bolted to an early lead in the first quarter, powered by the legs of their star running back. The Tigers won the opening toss and drove the length of the field in 11 plays, getting on the scoreboard via a 9-yard run by George. On their next offensive possession, the Tigers drove 89 yards, the biggest play coming on a 68-yard completion by quarterback Steve Krist. Gilbert that moved the ball to the Kathleen five-yard line. On the next play, George ran the ball in from the five for the touchdown. Jesuit's Steve Harlow missed the extra point, however, and the Tigers had to settle for a 13-0 lead.
Kathleen answered right back on their ensuing drive. Running back Wayne Cockrill, who had spent the week hampered by the flu, broke free for a 57-yard touchdown run with 10:35 remaining in the half. A missed extra point left the score at 13-6. Jesuit's next offensive possession stalled at the Kathleen 45. Following a punt, the Red Devils began another touchdown drive that covered 71 yards.
Quarterback David Bowden found Chambers on a 40-yard pass to the Jesuit 9-yard line. Bowden then found tight end Joe Goldsmith in the end zone for the score. Kathleen blew another extra point, however, so Jesuit maintained a one-point lead, 13-12.
It didn't take long for Jesuit to reverse the Kathleen momentum. On the first play from scrimmage on the ensuing drive, Krist broke loose and scored on a 69-yard rollout to put his squad up by seven. In a game of missed extra points, Harlow added yet another, so Jesuit took a 19-12 lead that would hold through the end of the first half.
With 6:33 left in the third quarter, Kathleen capitalized on a big play by its special teams, returning a punt 38 yards to the Jesuit 11-yard-line. On the next play behind a wall of blockers, Chambers ran the ball in for a touchdown to bring his team within one. Kathleen, struggling with their extra points, decided to run a fake instead. A successful conversion by Bowden tied the game at 19 and set up an exciting finish to the game.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Arnold Sheidler helped Jesuit retake the lead on a 2-yard touchdown plunge. Yet again, Jesuit missed the extra point, and settled for a six-point lead, 25-19. Not to be outdone, Kathleen relied on the big arm of David Bowden to move them down the field. Completions of 17 and 25 yards to Joe Goldsmith moved the Red Devils to the Jesuit 1-yard line. Chambers dove into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game to tie the game at 25. Kathleen lined up for its fourth extra-point attempt of the game, but Tony Kubena of the Tigers made arguably the play of the game by blocking the attempt by Roger Chambers to keep the game tied at 25-25.
With just under eight minutes to play, Gainesville-bound Leonard George took over the game for Jesuit. George, who sprained his back during practice earlier in the week, proved instrumental as Jesuit marched down the field from its own 34 on a game-clinching drive. His touchdown dash from the three, followed by a successful extra-point kick by Steve Harlow, provided Jesuit with a 32-25 lead.
With time winding down, Kubena made yet another huge play to stymie Kathleen's comeback attempt, this time intercepting Bowden at the Jesuit 49-yard line.
"I was more surprised than anything when I got it," Kubena said. "I was just glad to get hold of the ball."
With the Red Devils unable to stop the two-headed running attack of George and Sheidler, the Tigers marched to the Kathleen 18. On the final run of his high school career, George shed two tacklers en route to an 18-yard touchdown run – his fourth rushing touchdown of the day -- with 51 seconds left to make the final score 39-25.
"I guess that was the best run I made," George said. "I think it was because by scoring it gave us all the points we needed to be sure to win."
In the post-game glow of his team's victory, Jesuit head coach Bill Minahan captured the sentiments of a city starved for a football champion:
"I feel as proud as a person could feel that we brought Tampa its first state football championship."
William Lawrence Smith -- better known as Larry Smith and a member of The Tampa Tribune’s All-Century Team -- helped lead the Robinson High School Knights to the state championship game in 1963. The powerful running back earned All-County, All-State and All-American recognition during his renowned prep career. He parlayed that success into stardom at the University of Florida, where he earned fame while recording 24 career rushing touchdowns and garnered All-SEC honors from 1966-68. A first-round selection in the 1969 draft by the Los Angeles Rams, Smith spent six seasons in the NFL playing for the Rams and Washington Redskins before calling it a career. Smith recently sat down to talk about the 45th anniversary of Robinson’s memorable run to the state championship game, and set the record straight about the most memorable play of his collegiate career.
Q. What was it like playing high school football in Tampa during the early 1960s?
A. It was a lot of fun. It was pretty much what everybody did around here on a Friday night. At that time, we didn’t yet have professional football. The University of Tampa was still a small college program. Friday night was a pretty exciting time for high school games during that period. As I recall for one of our home games that year, we had some 10,000 people in the stands. The stadium was completely sold out.
Q. Robinson was still a fairly new school in 1963, but that season it certainly eclipsed nearby Plant High School on the football field. How did it feel to emerge from Plant’s shadow?
A. Plant was a big rival, but we were far enough from the split that formed Robinson that we had started to develop our own identity. The rivalry was big a thing, but our focus was bigger. We wanted to try and win the state championship.
Q. In November 1963, the assassination of President Kennedy cast a terrible shadow over the season. What do you remember about that day and did you agree with the decision to play football games that weekend?
A. I just remember everyone had a sick feeling in their stomachs. We were playing Chamberlain High School that night. Clearly everyone on both teams felt impacted by the event.
Q. Can you describe what it was like to play for a legendary coach such as Holland Aplin at Robinson, and what it meant to your career?
A. I was very fortunate to play for a bunch of outstanding coaches. Holland Aplin was a terrific coach, and he also had a great staff. As players, we were lucky to have such good coaches. They were very innovative for the time. We threw the ball a lot and ran some unusual formations. We were a bit different than typical high school offenses of the day.
Q. Is there a teammate you had at Robinson who you look back on now and say, “I couldn’t have done it without him?”
A. Oh sure, that’s all of them. I think if you looked at us across the board as individuals, we really didn’t match up that well with other schools. As a unit, however, we really gelled and played well together. Everyone was very important to our success.
Q. What do you remember about the state championship game against Coral Gables?
A. It’s kind of a blur. As I mentioned, we never had more than 30 or 35 people dress out for a game. For the state championship, there was a rule that you could only dress out a certain number of players. Well, Coral Gables typically dressed out 100, so the fellas who couldn’t dress out for the game they let stand on the sidelines wearing their jerseys. They lined all the way down the field! It was quite an impressive sight. Their quarterback, Larry Rentz, had a big night, scored a couple of touchdowns. We came out on the short end of the stick losing on a late field goal, but oddly enough Larry ended up being my freshman roommate at the University of Florida. He was a good athlete and a good guy, so it worked out fine.
Q. After the game, was there some satisfaction at what you accomplished as a team, or was there a greater sense of disappointment?
A. I think we thought we should have won the game. They were much bigger than we were, and probably deeper talent-wise, but we fought hard and played hard. There was a controversial call at the end of the game that could have changed things, but that’s football.
Q. You were a junior that season, so you still had another year to play at Robinson. How did the team fare the following season?
A. We had great expectations and I think we lost two or three games. We didn’t click quite as well. Everyone on the 1963 team participated, played a big role, and we had a close team atmosphere. We lost a number of key players, like quarterback Randy Smith, and some team leaders, like Jimmy Smith, Mike Godwin, and Mike Wall. So I think it was a typical turnover on a high school team.
Q. From Robinson to Gainesville to the NFL, your career has been filled with memorable moments. What is the most common play or game people mention to you about your career?
A. Everyone comes up to me and says they remember when my pants fell down at the Orange Bowl in 1967. It didn’t happen, and if everyone was there who said they were there, it would have been an overflowing stadium. We were playing Georgia Tech at the Orange Bowl. It was Steve Spurrier’s senior year and he’d just won the Heisman Trophy. We were actually just trying to move the ball out from our goal line a little bit, but I got some good blocking and broke free for a 94-yard touchdown run. We used to wear those old fashioned plastic hips pads that were separate from the pants. My hip pads started slipping up as I was running down the field. This created the illusion that my pants were falling down. I got a lot of press over this and I still hear it today, but it never happened.
Q. Do you still follow Robinson football?
A. I do, and I only live a few blocks from where I grew up, though I’m in the Plant district now (laughs). I follow the local football scene petty carefully. Even though I don’t go to many games, I’m very interested in the outcomes.
On Nov. 8, 1963, local politicians and business leaders prepared for a visit by President John F. Kennedy less than two weeks later. Meanwhile, the Robinson High School Knights, the top-ranked football team in Florida, prepared to host the Winter Haven Blue Devils in a battle of gridiron unbeatens. At 6-0, each school came into the game with championship hopes on the line.
Local interest in the contest bordered on a hysteria not seen since 1961, when 12,500 gathered for a game between Chamberlain and Lakeland high schools.
Robinson sold more reserved seats for this game in advance -- 2,510 -- than for any other game in school history, topping the previous high by nearly 1,900 tickets. A great deal of fans, in fact, were unable to purchase tickets, so many wondered why the game was not moved to the larger Phillips Field near downtown Tampa - but a previously scheduled game between Middleton and Blake high schools made this an impossibility. An additional 1,000 standing-room-only tickets, however, were made available to accommodate the masses.
Some enterprising Robinson students tried to take advantage of the situation as well by selling counterfeit tickets. The day before the game, however, school officials uncovered the scheme.
"The boys were caught and given proper disciplinary action," Principal Jack Marley said. "Not many tickets got out, and ironically, they sold them to their friends."
If the student scalpers understood the magnitude of the game, certainly Robinson head coach Holland Aplin did as well.
"Never have I had a game which means so much," Aplin said. "This game could mean everything. We feel like the game could come right down to the wire."
Winter Haven's head coach, Calvin Triplett, knew his squad would have their hands full in stopping Robinson's potent offense.
"It's going to be a rough one," Triplett said. "Frankly, Robinson has the best offense I've seen since I've been in Florida. There's no guesswork, they're a real fine ball club."
All told, more than 10,000 fans -- including Tampa Mayor Nick Nuccio -- packed into Robinson's Peters Stadium on Homecoming Night for what turned out to be a low-scoring, defensive contest. Robinson eschewed its aerial assault in favor of a running attack, attempting only four passes the entire game. Luckily, the Knights had a hammer of a halfback named Larry Smith to pick up plenty of yards on the ground.
"We felt we would have to run it down their throats," Aplin said after the game, "because we knew they would give our passers a rough time. That's the way we felt we could beat them."
The battles in this game took place at the line of scrimmage, and Smith struck the first blow for Robinson when he scored untouched on a 52-yard run with 9:37 left in second quarter. The score capped an 80-yard drive for Robinson and put the Knights ahead 7-0.
Robinson's defense truly helped carry the day by containing Winter Haven's running quarterback Bobby Downs. Downs, who would go on to play college ball for the University of Florida, entered the contest as his team's leading rusher with more than 500 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. The Knights held Winter Haven to just one scoring opportunity in the game while shutting down their star quarterback - his longest run of the day was 10 yards.
Winter Haven's defense came to play as well, holding in check a Robinson team averaging close to 35 points per game. As Aplin promised, his team concentrated on the running game to the exclusion of the pass. The strategy paid off throughout the game, but came to fruition in the third quarter when Larry Smith broke a 35-yard run down to the Winter Haven 6-yard line. Just two plays later, Smith scored on a 2-yard run to give Robinson a 14-0 lead that would hold to the final gun.
After the game, Aplin praised his team for giving a "110 percent effort. That's what it took to beat Winter Haven. They're the toughest team we've played this year and it took a great team effort on the part of our boys to win."
Robinson breezed through the remainder of its season, going undefeated en route to the regional championship. In the Class AA state title game on Dec. 13, Robinson squared off against Coral Gables High School at Phillips Field. In front of 15,000 fans -- the largest crowd to watch a football game in Tampa since 1949 -- Robinson appeared poised to win the state title as it held a 14-13 lead late in the fourth quarter.
With 20 seconds remaining in the game, however, a 35-yard field goal by Coral Gables kicker Larry Davidson cleared the uprights, leaving the capacity crowd stunned. The Cavaliers captured the game, and the state title, 16-14, ending Robinson's magical season in heartbreaking fashion.
Yankees-Red Sox. Michigan-Ohio State. Coke-Pepsi. Aniston-Jolie.
Heated rivals all, but frankly those feuds are child's play compared to the bitter rivalry that once took place annually on Thanksgiving Day in Tampa: Hillsborough vs. Plant.
Forty years ago, the Hillsborough Terriers and Plant Panthers had their 40th meeting on the gridiron. The clash was extra special because it was held for the first time at the newly opened Tampa Stadium. A then-record 16,500 fans were there, making it the most-attended high school football game in Tampa's history.
With a 7-3 record, Henry B. Plant High School entered the contest reeling from a defeat the previous week to King, a 6-0 setback that cost the Panthers a share of the city and Western Conference championships. In addition, the Panthers lost offensive standout Tommy Trent to a broken collarbone suffered during practice. Trent had scored eight touchdowns for the Panthers during the season, and his contributions would be sorely missed against Hillsborough High School.
Meanwhile, the Terriers entered the game with a two-game losing streak and their own set of problems. The day before the game, Hillsborough Coach Bernie Wilson wrestled with allowing two Terriers to play. Split end Ronnie Rodgers -- a potential All-America candidate -- and defensive standout Gene Brito had been suspended from the team for skipping class without permission. A unanimous team vote allowed them to play in the game, and the Terriers agreed to obey certain punishment standards in the future.
The game played out as defensive struggle. Plant's stingy defense forced Hillsborough quarterback Cecil Kent into three first-half interceptions. Chris Anderson provided Plant's only score of the game on a four-yard touchdown run with 2:46 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
Hillsborough's defense, which allowed 101 yards on the ground in the first half, rose to the challenge in the second half, allowing only five rushing yards. Trailing by seven near the end of the third quarter, the Terriers put together a 56-yard drive on the back of senior running back Roger McKinney, who carried five times for 49 yards during that series. Cecil Kent capped the drive with a two-yard touchdown run and the extra point tied the score, 7-7.
Late in the fourth quarter, Hillsborough’s Don Lynn blocked a punt by Plant’s Gary Segar, putting the Terriers at the Panthers’ 44 yard line. Hillsborough advanced to the 15 before calling on its star running back one more time.
With 5:48 remaining, McKinney's 25-yard field goal -- the first of his career -- sailed over the crossbar with little room to spare, giving Hillsborough a 10-7 lead. His superlative performance occurred despite twice leaving the field with leg cramps. After the game, McKinney gave credit to the wind for assisting on his game-winning kick.
"The wind was blowing from the right to the left so I kicked it to the right, and the wind did the rest," he said.
In his final high school game, McKinney accounted for 151 total yards and the game-deciding points. The senior finished his Hillsborough career by running 20 times for 151 yards on the day. The Western Conference and city scoring champion in 1967, McKinney no doubt cherished his records that year, but as the clock showed goose eggs that afternoon, he likely took great pride in one other achievement. In three years of high school football with the Hillsborough Terriers, he never knew the sting of defeat against the Plant Panthers
On December 5, 1969, Tampa Stadium served as the site for a district battle between two unbeaten teams each seeking their first state title.
