Stratford High School - Mnemosyne Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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a handoff to Halfback Craig Quarterback Mark Gabrisch closely as the Madison in. The Spartans rushed yards to demolish the Marlins 44-6. through the air, Noseman Chris 1711 delivers a crushing hit to s Michael Charles 1211, as David DeBesse 1411, Andy 1901, and Mark Lundquist 1601, to help out. On the sidelines, Safety Chuck Serafino 1201 and Head Coach Oscar Cripps take a break during the Lamar Consolidated game, a 48-6 Spartan victory. Holdingm off a crowd of LaPorte defend- ers, Tig t-end Robert King 1841 clears a path in the Regional playoff game, as the Spartans beat the Bulldogs 36-14. li 1 If varsity football 117

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M ri Tff , v.-fvmzl Efffqp' ,'f3Q . Q. wt A . . A .li . A .-Q1 Lasse' J :WN rushed by a 4-A ball carrier in a single season. So far, the team had come through the playoffs in a manner many had never seen, at least not since the early 1950's with some of the Abilene teams. Most sportswriters were talking about the Spartans being the best high school team ever and having the strongest offense ever. In the state finals game, Plano the defending state champion, was the opponent. Plano was one of those teams who always got lucky. ln an earlier round of the play-offs, they tied Tyler-john Tyler. They tied on penetrations and advanced on first downs, 18- 17. In the semi-final game against 'lt's something we've worked for -- for 4 years, 9 months a year! Odessa Permian, they won 6-3 by virtue of two field goals. Obvi- ously overpowered, they were hoping for miracles like that against Stratford. No miracles were to come their way. The final score was 29-13, and the Spartans had captured the state champi- onship. In five playoff games, the Spar- tans maintained at least a 16 point winning margin. The offense set records for the most yards gained taveraging 471 yards per gamej, the most points scored taveraging 34 points per gamej, and Craig james broke the alltime full-season rushing record, finishing the season with 2415 yards and a 10 yard per carry rushing average. The Spartans, which had in previous years only placed one or two players as All-District, domi- nated the team, as well as the All- Greater Houston Team, and five 116 varsity football -5' mr' Ji!! W' I U 'wi' . -1-rf' -...qnnw 'W' players, Seniors Craig james, run- ning back, punter, first team, jim May, tackle, first team, Ronnie Stukalin, split end, second team, Bubba Mattinson, linebacker, second team, and Wayne Har- pole, tackle, second team, all made All-State. How does it feel to win a state championship? Magnificent, said Senior Wayne Harpold. We've reached the mountain- top. lt's the greatest feeling l've ever had in my life, added Craig james. Said Robert King, a senior tight-end, lt's something we worked for for 4 years, 9 months a year, and it's a wonderful feel- Sava .-. Blue Chi Running Back Cra t32j rids himself of a LaPorte t on the way to the goal line in the meeting between the two teams. racked up 210 yards on only 15 in the 27-7 Spartan victory. ing. For many of the players, were regrets about it all bei over with. Senior Safety Serafino said, lt leaves kind an empty feeling inside of when you're not playing f anymore. lt's a great fee win and all, but you get m emotions when you know you'll never play football each other again. Many Chuck's feelings.

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n the hadow s . as-as '7 ki, , Q, . 3. Keeping in stride with the rest of the football program the junior varsity continued its ways by wind- ing up the season with a respectable 6-4 record. The junior varsity was coached by Richard Taylor and Guy Stafford. Unlike other years, the junior varsity was made up of all juniors this sea- son. This team was, however, caught between two good teams, which somewhat affected them. They both deserved the honors they received, but as far as I'm concerned our turn will come next year when we win district, remarked junior john McGuire. For the junior varsity the season was a successful team effort. The team won 5 of its first 6 games and were contenders for the title for most of the year, but dropped three crucial games late in the year. Overall they played fairly consist- ent football, but actually developed more in practice because they had to go up against the varsity in prac- tice. Coach Stafford commented, This season was a team effort and they were all working together for a common goal. Going up against the varsity helped them become better ballplayersf' The team accomplished a lot this season which will help them become better next year when they become the varsity team. Keeping 118 junior varsity football A hand off from junior Varsity back Torn Yelich t7j, to junior jones results in a gain of yardage Westchester. Head to head, the junior Varsity lines up against Westchester. The cats won the game, and the IV fin the season with a 6-4 record.