Bishop David High School - Crosier Yearbook (Louisville, KY)

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Falcons roll on Ihe Saturday afternoon contest with Shawnee at Iroquois field proved to be tougher than the Falcons had expected. A much-improved Shawnee team shut down the BD running game forcing the Falcons to an air attack and big plays to bomb the Indians. Running back, Joe Milliner, scored three times on a five-yard run and TD passes of 17 and 8 yards. Mark Faulkner scored on a 15-yd. pass from Denny Nash off a fake field goal. Dave Smith returned a Shawnee punt 59 yards for another touchdown. Jeff Dalton ended the barrage with a 33-yd. pass reception from Nash. Kavin McGrath kicked 5 of 6 extra point at- tempts for the game. The defense registered its first goose egg of the season behind strong performances by Gary Ryan and Rick Ramirez. The after- noon ended with the Falcons on top by a final score of 41-0. The Litratings had the Western Warriors rated above the Falcons as BD fell from the top 20 for the first time in a long while. That was all the team needed to get ready for the hotly contested neighborhood rivalry. It was a defensive battle all the way with neither team getting a break, that is, not until the 4th quarter when senior defensive end, Rick Ramirez, getting his first start of the year, respo ded with 2 con- secutive fumble recoveries inside the 25- yd. line. After the first one. Western was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Kavin McGrath missed a 17-yd. field goal. Ramirez quickly recovered the ball again. This time junior, Joe Milliner, ran twice for 12 yds. Senior, David Lally took a screen pass 10 yards to the 2-yd. line. From there, Milliner took it over for the score and McGrath ' s conversion gave the Falcons a 7-0 lead. BD wasn ' t out of the woods until Dennis Mount blocked a Western Punt at the end of the game with 16 seconds left, to assure the Falcons a 9-0 victory. The following Saturday, BD traveled to Iroquois field to meet the undefeated, un- scored upon DeSales Colts. Rather than being upset, the Falcons put together what was probably their finest game of the year as they destroyed the Colts, 23-0, behind the superb play of senior running back, Tom Spencer and quarterback, Opie Harreld. Spencer ran 22 times for 93 yards and caught 3 passes for 28 yards. Harreld completed 8 of 14 passes for 143 yards. The black and white broke DeSales ' spirit the first time it had the ball. BD took the kickoff and marched 87 yards for a score, with Spencer running for the touchdown from 12 yards out. Tte key play was a 10-yd. pass from Harreld to senior, Keith Scanlon on fourth-and-six from the DeSales 36, rather than punting as the 40 Varsity Football Colts had expected. In the second half, Kavin McGrath kicked a 28-yd. field goal. Greg Butler slipped behind the Colts ' defense to receive a 7-yd. touchdown toss from Harreld. The scoring and game ended on a controversial note. On the last play of the game, Denny Nash, Jr. took the pitch-out from Harreld and then threw him about a 5-yd. pass. As the defenders moved in for the tackle, Harreld faked inside, then ram- bled to the outside for a 36-yd. touchdown run. The play brought charges of running up the score from DeSales ' coach, Ron Medrick. But neither coach could deny that the Falcons had dominated the younger Colts enroute to a 230 win. BD took on the Butler Bears in a fiercely contested match that showed in the game ' s 198 yards in penalties. BD had complete control of the first half as they built up a 20- lead. Tom Spencer scored twice on a pair of 3-yd. runs and a McGrath conver- sion gave BD a 13-0 lead. In the final minute of the half, speedy David Burks, returned a punt to the 7-yd. line. He then caught a 7-yd. pass for the touchdown and the kick gave the Falcons their 20-0 lead. In the second half, BD ' s only sore came on Denny Nash ' s 26-yd. pass to Jerry Meyer in the 4th quarter. Butler failed to complete a pass until the last two minutes. They completed a pass to the 10 and with one second showing on the clock, tossed a 3-yd. touchdown pass to avoid becoming the Falcons ' fourth straight shutout victim. The final score of the game was 27-6. BD journeyed to Owensboro, Kentucky for their second road game of the season against the Panthers of Daviess County. The Falcons barely got out of town alive as miserable weather and pouring rain nearly put a halt to BD ' s perfect record. Quarter- back, Opie Harreld, was able to unleash a 19-yd. pass to senior end, Keith Scanlon, who made a super catch in the end-zone.

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foreshadow sensational season Ihe football team went into the 1977 season with high hopes. The present seniors had lost only one game their freshman year and the juniors were un- defeated in their stay at the school. The Falcons ' chances for making the playoffs were much greater for this season with the new district alignment. No longer would one loss keep the black and white out of the play-offs as had happened in the past. The team went to Lexington on August 26th to get the 1977 season under way. There they were met by a wet, sloppy field and the tough state power, Bryan Station. The Falcons were outplayed much of the night and fell behind 3-0 in the second quarter on a 28-yard field goal following a fumble. Later in the period, however, Mike Harreld spotted David Burks several yards behind the defense and unleashed an 84- yard touchdown bomb to give the team a 6-3 lead. In the second half the defense continued to rise to the occassion to thwart the Bryan Station drives. In the end, the Falcons won the defensive war in Lex- ington by a final score of 6-3. The squad came home to face a tough Doss team and their superb running back, Shawn Donigan. Coach Dan Leasor was back to head the defense for the Falcons after a one-year stint as the Doss Dragons ' Attempting to intercept this pass against Shawnee, defensive bacl , Dave Smith, couldn ' t quite hold on. But the Falcons had no problem holding on to a 41-0 victory. Praying that the play will be successful. Coaches McAnally and Nash instruct Opie Harreld in head coach. After a 3-point victory in 1975 on a last-second field goal, and a 3-point victory in overtime last year, what could be expected but a 3-point victory in double overtime this year? Trailing 14-0 going into the 4th quarter, the Falcons had a long way to come back. Quarterback, Opie Harreld tossed a 6-yd, TD pass to David Burks, Joe Milliner broke loose for a 51 -yd. touchdown run, and Kavin McGrath kicked two key extra points to put the black and white back into the battle. With both teams failing to score in the last 8:59 of play, the game was forced into overtime. Doss received the ball first and scored on second down from the 10-yd. line. Then BD got its chance. Tom Spencer ran for six and three yards to the one. From there Harreld scored on a sneak and McGrath ' s conversion tied the game at 21. In the second overtime the Dragons ' 26-yd. field goal attempt was low and partially blocked. BD took over and Kavin McGrath became the hero as his 32-yd. field goal went through the uprights on fourth down. The Falcons showed a trait many felt that re- cent teams lacked as they came from behind to take an exciting 24-21 victory over Doss. the DeSales game. That night, the Falcons whipped previously unbeaten and unscored upon DeSales, 23- Defensive coordinator, Dan Leasor. appears to be praying as he signals defensive instructions during the Western game Varsity Football 39

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FOOTBALL RESULTS Won 12 Lost 2 BD 6 Lex. Bryan Station 3 BD 24 Doss 21 BD 41 Shawnee BD 9 Western BD 23 DeSales BD 27 Butler 6 BD 7 Daviess County BD 27 P.RP. 6 BD 10 Trinity 7 BD 28 Valley 14 BD 7 St.X 13 BD 13 Fairdale 7 BD 20 Southern 10 BD 13 Trinity 21 Leaping for a pass in the Butler game, is end, David Burks. Despite the large amount of penalties, the Falcons managed to leap over another hurdle in their quest for a state title, handing Butler a 27-6 setback. Clearing the way, quarterback, Opie Harreld, leads running back, Greg Butler, upfield for valuable yar- dage against Daviess County. The Falcons left Owensboro with a muddy and hard-earned 7-0 vic- tory. Being tracked down, running back, Dave Lally, eludes this Western Warrior for a slight gain. The Falcons won this one 9 to 0. Another Falcon threat ended on the 1-yard line in the 4th quarter. The BD defense poured it on in allowing the opponents to get no closer than the 25-yard line. The Falcons battled their way out of the rainstorm with a 7-0 victory, j Varsity Football 41