West Forsyth High School - Cronus Yearbook (Clemmons, NC)

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CHAMPIO S! The Varsity Football Team Rolled Through The Regular Season And Into The Playoffs Undefeated For The First Time In The Schoolis History By Mark Cartner Twenty one years ago, in only the sec- ond year of existence for West Forsyth High School, a simple coin toss was lost. The coin was flipped to decide a birth in the upcoming football playoffs. West, in 1965, had qualified for the spot, but there was another team with the same creden- tials. Since there was only one place open, a coin was used to decide who would rep- resent the conference. The rest is history. The next couple of decades proved to be, at the very least, frustrating for the school's football program. Not once in all the years after 1965 did a team from West qualify for the playoffs. In fact, winning had become so scarce that last year's 6-4 squad tied the best record ever posted. Still, even with the strides made by 1985- 86 team, there were no championships, no playoffs. August 1, 1986: at approximately 4:00 PM in the old gym, the beginning of what soon would be the most remarkable foot- ball campaign in the school's history was taking shape. Finally, after long, swelter- ing days of practice in the late summer's sun, the season began. Spirits soared as the opening clash with the Demons of Reyn- olds High School ended in a convincing 17-0 win. 1t's kind of funny, stated team mem- ber Trey Parham after the game, A cou- ple of years ago I would have been satis- fied with just beating Reynolds once in my two years. Now, after playing them twice, we're 2-O. The next two contests, with East For- syth and Glenn, provided the team with their second and third wins of the young season. Oddly enough, the final score of both games was 9-6. For as long as people talk of the 1986 season there will be but two negatives to speak of. The first of these disappoint- ments came in game number four against the Yellowjackets of Carver. The tilt was labeled as a nailbiter as each team was on the verge of a top ten raking in the state. For the most part the Titans controlled the game and even led as the battle ap- proached its conclusion. However, a win 178fVarsity Football was not to be, as Carver rallied to tie the score at 7-7, which is how it ended. But still, even with the tie, the team remained undefeated going into the North Davidson game. It was a year ago that a fiesty bunch of Black Knights made life miserable for the then seventh ranked Titans. But this year things were different as West notched its fourth win and a little revenge with a 28- 12 drubbing. Games number six, seven, and eight were also grudge matches. Last year, South Rowan, Kannapolis, and Parkland all handed West setbacks. But in 1986 the Titans returned the favor, outscoring the trio by a combined score of 75-10. Head coach Denny Zeiters called the Kannapolis victory the greatest of the year for these reasons: The Wonders ended up 6-1 and we shut them out 14-0. They're a big name school with a winning tradition, and this win propelled us into the top ten in the state. The final two regular season games proved to be monumental wins. An emo- tional 24-17 defeating of cross-river rival Davie High gave West its first ever confer- ence championship in football. Fittingly a record crowd was on hand to witness histo- ry in the making. The record stood at 8-0-1. With a win over Mt. Tabor the team set yet another record. After ten games, the scoreboard showed no losses or: AN UNDEFEATED SEASON. Normally at this school after ten foot- ball games had been played, everyone packed up and began to think of how next year would be better. It had become sort of a tradition. But in 1986, after 22 years, next year had finally arrived. The post- season was at hand and nowhere was there a more feverish pitch than at this playoff thirsty campus. Round one found the Titans matched against an explosive team from Greens- boro Grimsley. After a two week layoff and extreme changes in the weather, the Titans, unfortunately, played like the Ti- tans of old. Consequently, after the first :?gWfw.Lrfg- wmfrWtwwwQwX5g.5g.:'.':g3em-aggareserm-amwf Elm er' --we f :5 ,,:g5:g-15955'g-'1i'-ggife-'.4-.g:- -1, -1:2-ga. 'ijif'ffijf'ifQ,:i'ffffjQfl:'fE 'E E.,-,E M half of play, West trailed by two points The score remained the same until early ir the fourth quarter, when Herman McKin- nie broke perhaps the most memorable rur of his career. Herman took a pitch anc headed around left end. Eighty three yards later West led for the first time in the contest. The defense held the Whirlies ir check and by the time the final gun sound- ed, West Forsyth had its first ever playofl win, 17-9. It also ran the teamls unbeater streak to 13 games. continued on page 180

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- continued from page 178 Friday, November 21, 1986: the dream ended. What transpired was the second and most painful of the season's setbacks. The week was filled with talk of another win and a showdown with number one ranked and undefeated Greensboro Page the following week. However, none of this was to be, as on a rainsoaked field in Char- lotte, the Titans saw their magical season come to a heart-breaking conclusion, 7-6. Afterwards, Coach Zeiters made this comment, The loss to Harding was ex- tremely disappointing. McKinnie getting hurt didn't help, but we all felt we still should have won the game. Everyone wanted to play Page. When Harding beat them the loss became even more disap- pointing. We were one of the four best teams in the statef' Nevertheless, this year's team will al- ways be remembered as one of, if not the greatest ever produced by the school. The people of this school and community will SlcphcnsmStudios LETTING OFF STEAM: Co-captain Phil Truiett cools off with a cup of water during the Davie game. West won in a close one, 24-17. l80fVarsity Football long remember the fluid speed of Herman McKinnie, and the versatility of Bobby Paige. They will recall the spirit and dedi- cation of Doug Sakowski and Jeff Ebert and the powerful leadership of Phil Truiett. And they will remember the thirty other seniors and the rest of the team that made this year so special. Obviously, no one will ever forget what this team stood for and what they accom- plished. They captured the hearts of their school and community. Perhaps Coach Zeiters summed it up best when he said, I've never seen a group of athletes come together the way this team did. The chemistry between the play- ers and the coaches was incredible. Every- one worked toward that common goal of a victory on Friday night. Everyone contrib- uted and nobody cared who got the credit. But that's the way it should be. And that's the way it was at West For- syth in the fall of 1986. 'FQ , ,Q gp .... ..