Varsity Blitz and Elmwood vs St Croix Central

I recently appeared on the Varsity Blitz High School Coaches Show with Mike McGivern and Ryan McMillan. You can listen to that show here. I appear in their first segment.

On the show, I discussed one of the stories from my book and I wanted to share that story here. This is taken directly from my book The Great Teams: A History of Wisconsin High School Football.

Elmwood vs St. Croix Central 1966

It was Friday, September 30, 1966. The ball was on Elmwood’s 22 or 23-yard line with about six minutes left in the third period. It was fourth down. The ball was snapped and shot through the legs of the Elmwood punter. Don Riley of St. Croix Central picked the ball up on the 15-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed and the score stood 6-0. That’s how the game ended. The first time.

It looked like St. Croix Central would go undefeated again in 1966 and win the Dunn-St. Croix Conference championship but the ball that had been picked up for the touchdown was technically a muffed punt and by the rules it could not be advanced. The touchdown resulted in the ref’s making an oversight interpreting the muff rule. The game was appealed to the WIAA and it was ordered that the game be replayed from the time of the ball being muffed. No one at the time could recall a similar ruling.

Nearly five weeks later, they would play again. On Thursday, November 3 at 1:45 pm the streets of Elmwood were nearly empty as it seemed the whole town was at the football field for a replay of the final part of the third quarter and on. The season was supposed to be over but the conference title had to be determined. St. Croix Central stood 7-0, 5-0 in conference play while Elmwood was 5-2 with a 4-1 conference record.

First, there was a minor controversy that had to be resolved. One referee thought the ball should be placed on Elmwood’s 22-yard line while another pointed to the 23. It was finally settled with a compromise on the 22 ½ yard line. With six minutes on the clock in the third quarter the game resumed. St. Croix Central had the ball and it took them seven plays to score on a one-yard run by fullback Norman Ross. He was given the ball again for the extra point try and junior, Jerry Sinz, rushed in and stopped him short of the goal. The two teams exchanged the ball several times until, with about four minutes left in the fourth, Elmwood quarterback Jim Nelson began a drive. With just under two minutes remaining he fired a bomb to Greg Nelson who, with two defenders around him, made a finger-tip catch as he fell into the endzone to tie the game. Fullback Jim Bock then bulled his way over the line for the conversion and the win. A few minutes later the final whistle blew for the second time.

Central ended the season 7-1 and fell from the top-10 of the AP final Little Ten poll. Elmwood ended with a 6-2 record and tied Central for the conference title. Jerry Sinz, who made the game saving tackle, preventing Central’s conversion would go on to play ball at UW-Stout before becoming a hall of fame high school football coach at Edgar.

The First Forward Pass?

About three weeks ago Dave Poltrock first contacted me asking about what high school threw the first forward pass back when the it became legal in 1906. Yes, the forward pass wasn’t legal until that year (read the section in my book entitled “Father of the Forward Pass” for more details). Dave was helping out at Delafield St. John’s for his friend Mike Fink who is the school’s athletic director and football coach. Since the Milwaukee Public Schools were not playing fall football, Dave, whom is an assistant at Milwaukee Ronald Reagan pitched in to help out at St. John’s. Dave had been trying to learn if St. John’s had thrown the first high school pass as well as getting more information on the Carroll College (now Carroll University) game against St. Louis University in 1906. Why did he ask if St. John’s had been the first school to introduce the forward pass to the state? Well, let’s get into the question.

St. John’s has a rich high school sports history. In 1906 Eddie Cochems, who was born in Sturgeon Bay, was the head coach at St. Louis University. After practicing in St. Louis for a few weeks Cochems brought his players north to play Carroll College in Waukesha on Wednesday, September 5. First, the early date of the game played was unusual. Most colleges didn’t start their season until late September and high schools most often didn’t play until the first Thursday-Sunday in October. Why so late for high schools? Well, the school year for many rural schools didn’t begin until after harvest season, late September or early October. In that game against Carroll College, St. Louis threw the first legal forward pass. It went incomplete and as the rules at that time stated the ball was turned over to Carroll College. The next time St. louis got the ball they tried passing again and it was complete for a first down. Passes that season had to go more than 10-yards to be legal. The passing in the game opened up the St. Louis running game.

St. Louis would win the game 22-0. The team stayed in Wisconsin waiting for their next game against Lawrence College (now Lawrence University) in Appleton which they won 6-0 on Saturday, September 29. Still sticking around in Wisconsin near Lake Glenbeulah, which is near Elkhart Lake, St. Louis prepped for their third contest of the season against Delafield St. John’s. In 1904 St. John’s shared the mythical state title with Eau Claire. Both schools were undefeated, untied and unscored upon. Eau Claire was 6-0-0 and St. John’s was 9-0-0 that year and neither team could agree on a final showdown to determine who was best. In 1905 St. John’s earned the mythical state title by going 7-0-1. Again, they were undefeated, unscored upon and only a 0-0 tie against Morgan Park Academy, a school near Chicago, marred their record. Now, in 1906 they won their first game of the season against Milwaukee West Side High School (Later to become West Division High School), 45-0 for their state record 18th consecutive shutout. The game was played on Wednesday, September 26, an unusually early date to start the season for both schools.

The next Thursday, October 4, 1906, St. Louis beat St. John’s 27-0, thus ending the school’s shutout streak. St. Louis would play Marquette University two days later on October 6 and win 33-0 before heading home to Missouri. St. John’s would beat the second team of Lawrence College the next week, 62-0. The question that Dave posed to me was “Did St. John’s throw any passes against Milwaukee West or St. Louis”? The only answer I can give is that they very well may have tossed the first Wisconsin high school pass against West. The St. John’s yearbook stated that the game was close in the first half but the cadets took control in the second period. No mention of a pass was made in the book but two things happened to lead me to believe they did throw the ball. First, in the game against Carroll College, St. Louis was getting nowhere on the ground and throwing the ball opened the field up. St. John’s would have learned about this development and because the first half against West was close, they may have experimented with the pass. And second, if not in that game they surely would have tried a pass or two against St. Louis in an attempt to come back. No game information is mentioned in the Waukesha newspaper sports pages but there was a brief mention in the Society section about how a festive afternoon to view a game was had that day. In truth we may never officially nail down who threw the first Wisconsin high school forward pass or the player who tossed the ball but my money is on a player from St. John’s.

The Holiday End of the Season

A century and more ago there were two dates that often ended the football season. Armistice Day (Now called Veterans Day) on November 11. It celebrated the end of “The Great War” or the “War to End All Wars”. World War I of course didn’t end war as just less than 20 years later Japan started World War II with their invasion of China. Be that as it was, it was a day to celebrate and what better way to hold the celebration than on a national holiday? There were annual matchups between teams such as Green Bay East against Green Bay West, a yearly matchup that would draw 7,000-10,000 fans. But there was another holiday that drew state-wide attention. The unofficial state title games that were organized were often played on Thanksgiving Day.

If Thanksgiving Day didn’t agree with most finalists then a day close to that day was set up for the title match. Weather, transportation to the game and the desire for a team not to be away from family and friends (those who couldn’t attend the game) were considerations to move the day back to the Friday or Saturday after Turkey Day.

One of those holiday games was the state title matchup between undefeated La Crosse against a tiny yet powerful team from Edgerton. The game was to be played in La Crosse and a special train was set up to take the team, the school band and over 100 fans the 300 miles to the game. Over 500 people showed up at the train station to send the team off. They would pass the night in Sparta and then the next morning move on to La Crosse. For $0.75, a person could get a Thanksgiving dinner on the train in route to the battle or get one following the game on the return trip. To the local newspaper reporter, it seemed that the entire town showed up to cheer the victors when they returned, having defeated La Crosse 7-0.

Such events were common around the state even if the Thanksgiving Day game wasn’t for the state title. It was a day of celebration between rival schools. Not until about 1923, when the WIAA started forcing teams to set regular schedules and the association eliminated the season ending mythical state championship game did Thanksgiving Day games begin to lose their appeal. There was no need to extend the season without a title game. Still, in other states, most notably Massachusetts, they still hold many Thanksgiving Day football games.

Dave Poltrock, an assistant football and softball coach at Milwaukee Ronald Regan High School Has sent me a number of stories about his hometown 1916 state champion Edgerton school and another feature will be forthcoming about them…an expanded story over and beyond what is in my book so stay tuned for that.