Halifax County High School - Haliscope Yearbook (South Boston, VA)

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Dragging down a Roxboro tight end, Dean Coates and Moses Foster stall a passing attack which was the Rockets only offense. The Comets won the game 27-0. Riding a Cave Springs ballcarrier to the ground, Kenny Benassi makes the final tackle in a goal line stand that marked the deepest penetration the Springers made the entire night. DREAM ESCAPES MIGHTY COMETS Fate thwarts Comet hopes It was a good year and it was a bad year. It ' s fourth and goal for the Comets on the one yard line! To have done so much and not to have reached the ultimate goal. Ready! Hopes, aspirations, and dreams of many years were to either be, or never to have been at all. Slant tight! Everything said go. Set! A corps of able veterans. Bingo! Bingo! A big, husky line. Hut one! Large, speedy backs. Hut two! Coaches who knew how to win. Hut three! An excellent building year behind them. It ' s a power play up the middle! Everything said go. There ' s a big pileup on the goal line! The word was out—they wanted it all. The state. It ' s going to be a close call! But fate heard the word. No! They didn ' t make it! The ball goes over! blocker Billy Burton as both dare the defense in the early going of the Fleming game

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Stalking a terrified Liberty runner, Earl (Tank) Royster prepares to add another tackle to his statistics column. Squeezing through a hole in the James Wood line behind a block by Micky Puryear, Donald Testerman breaks into the open on a night that didn ' t find the Comets doing that very often. They lost 7-6. 16 Varsity Football Varsity Football 1971 HCSHS 27 Person County 0 HCSHS 8 E. C. Glass 13 HCSHS 6 George Washington 23 HCSHS 20 Cave Springs 0 HCSHS 6 James Wood 7 HCSHS 46 Liberty 0 HCSHS 39 Martinsville 12 HCSHS 14 William Fleming 12 HCSHS 40 Amherst 6 HCSHS 21 Armstrong 0

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BLUES ARE SUPER IN ALL BUT WINS Comet stats overpower district “If anyone had told me in August we ' d lose three games, I ' d have told him he was out of his mind. Thus spake Donald Testerman, Sunkist First Team All-American fullback and Most Valuable Back in the Western District and the Northwest Region. The comment came in the locker room following an impressive 21-0 Comet victory over Armstrong High School of Richmond. That game brought to an end a season that-kad been very good to many individuals such as Testerman, but had been a more than anticlimactic denouement to a dream held by all Comet supporters; that dream being a state championship, and that denouement being a 7-3 season. Nevertheless, the season had exploded into action with a triumphant 27-0 victory over Person County High. Then the dream ended. Two quick losses to E. C. Glass and George Washington sank all hopes, then two weeks later a close loss to defending state champion James Wood patted earth on a buried dream. Though the Comets finished third in the district, statistics told a different story. The Blues led the district in 15 statistical categories, ahead of GW who took 11. They possessed the most potent overall offense and rushing offense, which tallied 227 points while the defense held the opposition to 73. Though the passing game failed to set any district records, it did set a school record of 236 yards in one game, beating the previous record of 180. The biggest offensive story of the year, however, was Testerman, who rushed for 1466 total yards — a new record by 300 yards — and scored 114 points while averaging 6.1 yards a carry. Twice during the season Testerman rushed for 263 yards in a single game, a record by 30 yards. FHe also caught 12 passes for 230 yards, completed 6 passes, averaged 34 yards per punt, and handled punting and kickoff return chores. Post season All-Western District honors went to Testerman, Jim Chappell, Danny Ray, West Fuller, Stanley Wilkins, Jack Crews, James Delaware and Kenny Benassi while Testerman, Ray and Crews made the All-Northwest Region Team. Testerman and Crews, who snared 53 tackles from his defensive tackle spot, were selected on the All-Virginia State first team. At the All-Sports Banquet in April Head Coach Coleman Starnes, who had been aided by Assistant Coaches Ronnie Ramsey, Charles Craddock and Bill Vanney, announced that Testerman had been voted by his teammates Most Valuable Back and Most Outstanding Senior while Jack Crews was voted Most Valuable Lineman. Up and over two Amherst defenders, fullback Donald Testerman sails to another score in a 40-6 triumph. Skirting around end and behind a block by Danny Ray, Moses Foster readies for a collision with a William Fleming defender. The Comets squeaked out on top 14-12. Orders, orders is what football is all about. Flead Coach Coleman Starnes instructs two gridders during an afternoon practice in the stadium. In his five years as head coach, Mr. Starnes has brought a cellar team to a reputation as a perennial title contender. 18 Varsity Football