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

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Doing his touchdown dance, Dave Burks is con- gratulated by Chris Corder. Nash ' s pass tied the Fair- dale game with 48 seconds left and sent it into over- time. Fairdale ' s, Jeff Speedy and the Falcons ' Dave Smith (23), Greg Alvey (44), and Gary Ryan (51), converge on this fumble in the second overtime. Dave Smith recovered and the Falcons won 13-7. Helping the referee signal touchdown, Jerry Meyer stands with the ball after catching Opie Harreld ' s pass for the winning touchdown. Joe Milliner (28) watches the action. The Falcons won their first playoff game the hard way, a double-overtime, 13-7 victory over Fairdale. 113 of those. A fumble, two pass intercep- tions, and penalties stopped Falcon marches and sent the game into the locker room at halftime, deadlocked with neither team scoring. The trend continued in the 3rd quarter and the game appeared headed for over- time when both teams missed field goals. But with 1:08 remaining in the game, Fair- dale ' s quarterback, Jeff Speedy, spotted Jeff Carter all alone on the BD 35 and hit him with a pass. Carter ran untouched to the end zone for a 53-yd. pass play and a 7-0 lead. Falcon followers were rudely awakened to the fact that their team was about to be put out of the playoffs. However, one was left wondering which team had scored when he turned to the BD bleachers to see the crowd rising to cheer their team on. There was no time for panic on the part of the BD bench as they drew up a play while the teams were kick- ing off. The kick was returned to the 44 and a face mask violation moved the ball to the Fairdale 38. With only 48 seconds showing on the clock, the Falcons wasted no time. Opie Harreld pitched to Denny Nash, Jr. coming around on the reverse to the right side. Nash ran to the line of scrimmage, halted and fired a long bomb past the Fairdale defenders into the arms of David Burks who sped into the end zone. With the Falcon fans going bananas, Kavin McGrath kicked the key extra point to send the game into overtime. BDhad first possession at the Fairdale 10 but lost 11 yards in three tries and the 27-yd. field goal was to the right. All Fair- dale needed was a field goal for the victory. With a third and six. Speedy rolled right and headed for the end zone. He was finally stopped at the two, but from the dif- ficult angle, on the right side of the field, Fairdale missed the field goal, giving BD new life. BD drew first blood with Jerry Meyer making a super catch on a 6-yard pass by Harreld. The extra point was to the right, so all the Bulldogs needed was a touchdown and a conversion for the vic- tory. But on 3rd down, the ball popped loose and defensive back, Dave Smith, pounced on it to give the Falcons their first playoff victory, a 13-7 double overtime thriller over Fairdale. In this game they rightfully were tagged with the nickname of Cardiac Falcons . Varsity Football 45

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The come- back kids Something special was needed to keep the Trinity victory in the background and a special game it was, for a victory over Valley would give Coach Denny Nash his 100th victory as a head football coach. It is a feat rarely accomplished, and Coach Nash would be the only coach in Jefferson County with this honor. The players seemed determined to do their part and on the third play of the game, Opie Harreld hit Joe Milliner with a 63yd. pass play to give the Falcons their first score. In the second quarter, Greg Alvey intercepted a Viking pass and returned it to the Valley 5. Three plays later, Harreld scored from the 1 and Kavin McGrath ' s second conversion gave BD a 140 half- time lead. Feeling that was not enough, the team took the second half kickoff and drove 52 yards in 16 plays for another score. The tally came on Tom Spencer ' s 1-yd. run. Valley then took the ball and marched 85 yards for a score, with 2 BD penalties keeping the drive alive on the 9. The Falcons counteredwith Tom Spencer ' s 2nd touchdown on a 31 -yd. screen pass from Harreld. Valley came back to score on a 10-yd. pass. After the barrage was over, the Falcons were 28- 14 victors over the Vikings and Coach Nash had his 100th victory in his 14th season at BD. All the team needed to cap their second undefeated regular season was a victory over the Tigers. St. X had lost four games during the year and found out the night before that they were out of the playoffs. They knew the only way they could go out winners was to knock off the Number one team. St. X took a 6-0 lead into the locker room at half time on Terry Cooper ' s two field goals. The last one, coming on the last play of the half, was a 52-yarder, believed to be the longest in Kentucky high school football. The Falcon offense sputtered most of the night, it was not until 6:09 remained that they came up with the big play to get through the Tiger game as quarterback, Opie Harreld, lined up as halfback. Nash pitched to Harreld who ran to his right Going absolutely nowhere is this St. X runner who is wrapped up by Tony Steuer (65), Don Mingus (80) and assisted by Dennis Mount (73). The Falcons ' before turning and firing across field to Nash who scooted over the goal line for an 18-yd. pass play. Kavin McGrath ' s conver- sion gave the Falcons a 7-6 lead and they appeared on the road to another victory. St. X had other ideas, however, as a BD punt was returned 72 yards for a score by Mark Eberenz with only 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining. It appeared it would be the second straight year the Tigers had beaten the Falcons on a kick return. But BD had other plans. David Burks nearly broke it open on the kickoff return before being brought down at the BD 45. The Falcons then reached into their bag of tricks again for something called flea- flicker-left. Harreld threw a 10-yd. pass to senior, Chris Corder, but as the defenders moved in for the tackle, he turned and flip- ped the ball to Joe Milliner who raced to the St. X 5. On the first play, Harreld spotted hopes for their second undefeated season were shat- tered in the St- X upset, 13-7. Milliner open in the end zone, but as he turned to catch the pass, he slipped on the wet, artificial turf. Harreld was then sacked for a 5-yd. loss and offsetting penalties brought up the game ' s final play. Harreld threw to Nash who looked for a receiver on the split-end pass. Seeing no one open, he headed for the end zone. Nash was finally brought down on the 5 after a noble effort. Even though they were no longer un- beaten, they gave the fans their money ' s worth in earning the nickname of the Never-Say-Die Falcons in the 13-7 loss. The Fairdale game was the team ' s first playoff game since 1973 and the Falcons were picked to win their first playoff game ever. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs had other ideas. The black and white defense kept Fairdale under control the first half, allowing only four first downs and 30 yards rushing. BD piled up nine first downs and 183 yards rushing, with Joe Milliner getting 44 Varsity Football

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Joy of victory and agony of defeat After being down 10-0 at the half. Joel Milliner (68), Dave Lally (20), and Opie Han-eld (10) show the ex- citement in the air as the Falcons scored the go-ahead touchdown in the 3rd quarter against Southern, With their first playoff victory behind them, the Falcons went on to the regional championship. This game featured the last two teams to go unbeaten in Jefferson County, Both teams had been upset in the season ' s final game and had eeked out narrow, overtime wins in the first round of the playoffs, BD put themselves into a hole eariy. Southern took the kickoff and marched to the BD 21, A 3rd down roughing the passer penalty gave Southern a 1st down at the Falcon 10. Three plays netted only 1 yard, so Gene Hagan came in to boot a 25-yd, field goal and give the Trojans a 3-0 lead. BD then took control and appeared to be headed for a touchdown. But as Mike Harreld threw a pass from the Southern 45, Gene Hagan stepped in front of it and raced 65 yards, untouched, to the end zone. Hagan ' s extra point gave the Trojans a big 10-0 lead with 1:11 left in the first quarter. In the 2nd quarter, BD drove to the Southern 5, before penalties moved them back to the 25. A 4th down field goal at- tempt was off target and the Falcons went into the locker room still 10 points down. It was time for the famed black and white defense to rise to the occasion and pull another one out of the fire. The fans were still confident of victory with the Comeback Kids on the field. BD kicked off to Southern and wedgebuster, Peary Wilson, took out several Trojan defenders on the play, with a flying body block. In the ensuing pile-up, Gene Hagan coughed up the ball and Jeff Dalton jumped on it at the 33. The Falcons took the ball to the 1-yard line in 6 running plays, but a 5-yd. penalty ended the threat as a 4th down pass was batted away. Deep in their own territory. Southern punted only to their 39-yd. line. Harreld threw a 19-yd. pass to Joe Milliner, and on the next play, Milliner ran it across from 3 yards out to cut the lead to 10-7. The ensu- ' Ml- Looking for running room behind Joe Milliner (28), quarterback, Opie Harreld moves upfield as Southern ' s Gene Hagan (32) and No. 50 track him down. For the second straight week BD had to come from behind to win, this time over the Southern Tro- jans 20- 10. ing kickoff was a repeat of the first one with BD coming up with the ball at the Southern 16. On third down Harreld fired a pass to Joe Milliner. The Pass was high and Milliner was only able to deflect it. But there was secondary receiver, David Burks, standing behind him. Burks caught the ball at the 5 and stood there for a few seconds wondering if the play was legal. He decided to cross the goal line just in case. The tipped pass was perfectly legal in high school football and the Falcons were in control of the game, 13-10. In the 4th quarter. Southern made one last serious effort for victory. With a num- ber of spectacular plays, they drove to the BD 12. There, a missed handoff and the Falcons ' third fumble recovery of the half, at the 15-yd. line, ended the threat. BD got its last score when Southern ' s desperation pass of 4th down failed at their own 27. From there, Harreld took the ball in on three straight quarterback keepers, cross- ing the goal line with only 34 seconds left in the game. McGrath ' s conversion gave BD a 20-10 victory over the Trojans and 46 Varsity Football