Ah, Footbah flashback

It had been a terrific and successful Homecoming Week 1985 at Heath High School in West Paducah, Ky.

Tuesday, Oct. 9, had been Dress Up Day; "I thought that there were a lot of people who participated and those who did looked very nice," Missy Wynn told fellow senior Jane Simmons for the Heath Post. Hat Day came Wednesday; "there was a variety of hats ranging from baseball caps to Arabian sheik hats," Simmons reported. Thursday brought Color Day, and that brought out plenty of black-and-gold football jerseys. Friday closed the week on a casual note: Sweatsuit Day. The attire was appropriate, given that afternoon classes were called off so that Heath's 490 students could participate in a host of activities planned by the Student Council, including whipped-cream eating, bubble-gum blowing, football throwing, water-balloon tossing, donut eating, chug-a-lugging and sleeping-bag, three-legged and obstacle-course racing.

Now it was time to get down to the business of the evening. The Heath football team--struggling to replace a half-dozen two-way starters from an 8-3, playoff squad in 1984--was off to 1-4 start, and tonight's opponent was the first-place team in its sub-district, the Fulton County Pilots. (Even Heath's junior-varsity football team was 0-5!) Still, there was a surprisingly strong sense that the varsity Pirates would get things turned around, starting tonight. Two of 1-A Heath's losses had been to 2-A and 3-A powers (Mayfield and Hopkinsville, respectively); furthermore, Heath--a school that advanced to the state-championship game in just its fifth season of fielding a varsity team, had never posted a losing football season--and the Pirates had only four games left on their 1985 schedule.

Indeed, Heath got off to a very, very good start on this Friday night. Robbie Estes returns a Fulton County fumble on the opening kickoff for a touchdown. A missed extra point leaves the score 6-0, Pirates, just 45 seconds into the evening.

On the Pilots' opening play from scrimmage, Oscar Bishop throws 17 yards to his twin brother, Roy. On the next play, Oscar runs for 14. This looks like it's going to be a tough night, but then Fulton County starts showing a propensity for penalties and Heath's defense tightens. The teams trade scoreless possessions.

Late in the first quarter, Fulton County is on the eighth play of a possession. It's first down at the Heath 40. Oscar Bishop throws deep, and junior Jamie Jones (who would star on the 1986 state-championship team) intercepts! Three plays later, Jones scampers 50 yards for a score. Senior Michael Carter--touted early in his career, before multiple knee surgeries reduced his speed, to be the next great Pirate running back--runs for the two-point conversion, and the Pirates are ahead 16-0 with 1:43 to go in the first quarter.

The Pirates force the Pilots into a three-and-out and resume possession at their own 39, and here again comes Heath! It's Jones for four yards and Jones for seven. Troy McCann, the Pirates' unheralded senior quarterback, completes his only pass of the first half for 18 yards to junior Kevin Lanier, and Heath has first down at the Fulton County 25. On fourth-and-six, Rodney Bushong (the first-year head coach who had been promoted from assistant when Jack Haskins, the only coach in school history, left in the offseason for 3-A Calloway County) could call for a 38-yard field-goal try, but his kicker has already missed an extra point. He'll take his chances with his offense. Illegal procedure! Now it's a fourth-and-11, but, if Bushong wasn't going to try a field goal from 38, he's not going to kick for 43. McCann drops back and is sacked for a six-yard loss. Fulton County takes over possession.

Now the Bishop brothers are in full gallop. Oscar throws for 15; Roy runs for 25. Fulton County mounts a 14-play drive. But on a third-and-1 from the Heath 9, illegal procedure bites the Pilots, too! Oscar misses on the third-and-6 pass, and now Fulton County's coach shows even less confidence in his kicking game. On fourth-and-6 from the Heath 14, Oscar's pass flutters incomplete. Deep in his own territory, McCann runs a couple of keepers and runs the last seconds on the clock. Heath takes a 14-0 advantage into halftime! The Pilots have outgained the Pirates, 121 yards to 104, and produced seven first downs to Heath's three--but they also have recorded two turnovers to the Pirates' none.

At halftime, Teresa Dowell--escorted by a senior captain of the football team, defensive end Jim Boyd--is crowned queen. Dee Lynn Blackwell, Donna Elrod and Missy Leatherman complete the queen's court.

On the third quarter's first possession, on a third-and-16 from its own 29, Heath eschews the pass and elects instead to run Carter, who gains 11. Kevin Skinner unloads a 52-yard punt, and the coverage is good. This possession produces no points, but it does give the home team solid advantage in field position to open the second half, as Fulton County is stuck at its 10.

The Pilots pick up a first down but have to punt from their 25. Jones fields the 45-yard line drive and dashes 70 yards for the Heath score! A two-point run puts the Pirates up, 22-0, with 5:10 to go in the third quarter.

Maybe the cathartic score unfocused Heath a bit. There are penalties called on the Pirates both after the two-point conversion and on the ensuing kickoff. Plus, the Pilots start gaining yards in gashes: seven, 28, seven, seven. With 1:42 to play, Fulton County gets on the board with a two-yard run--but then fails on a two-point run. It's 22-6.

Carter is thrown for a four-yard loss in the waning seconds of the third quarter, but, on the play, Fulton County is flagged for dragging down the runner by his facemask. Carter barrels 10 yards on the next down, to give the Pirates' first down at the Pilots' 34, as the teams switch ends for the fourth quarter.

Three runs and a penalty on each side net negative-four yards for the offense, and Heath punts from its 38. The shank skitters out of bounds at the 30--a punt of eight yards.

There's a 15-yard Heath penalty in the ensuing Fulton County possession, but this is quickly becoming a story of the Bishop brothers: Roy runs for 13 yards; Oscar throws for 15, and Oscar runs for 14 and the score. At 8:08, it's 22-12 (after another failed two-point conversion).

Heath starts its next possession with a five-yard penalty. Two runs produce a yard. McCann remains a perfect one-for-one on his passing attempts, because he's sacked on his only dropback of this possession. On fourth-and-19 from the Heath 24, the punt goes out of bounds after 20 yards. And on Fulton County's first down from the Heath 44, Oscar Bishop runs for all 44 of it. This time, Roy Bishop is sent in to kick for the point after--and succeeds, 22-19 with 4:56 to play.

Here's the Heath possession from the 37: Jones runs for two, Carter for five, Carter for one and a 19-yard punt isn't returned.

Oscar Bishop--so sick that Carter had heard before the game that he would not play--was vomiting in the huddle between plays. And yet he finished the game with 221 offensive yards (116 on the ground and 105 through the air), following this final Fulton County drive:

-- First and 10, Fulton County 36, Oscar run, 12
-- First and 10, Fulton County 48, Heath penalty, 5
-- First and 5, Heath 47, R. Evans run, -5
-- Second and 10, Fulton County 48, Oscar passes incomplete
-- Third and 10, Fulton County 48, Oscar Bishop passes to H. Coffey, 6
-- Fourth and 4, Heath 46, Oscar run, 12
-- First and 10, Heath 34, Oscar run, 0
-- Second and 10, Heath 34, Roy run, 6
-- Third and 4, Heath 28, Evans run, 9

With 22 seconds remaining, Oscar throws 19 yards to Roy for the game-winning touchdown. Fulton County is called for consecutive five-yard penalties, and yet Roy stays on to kick. It's good: 26-22, Pilots.

Roy's kickoff goes only 29 yards, and Estes returns 10. Heath gets in two shots before time expires; both fall incomplete. Alas, it's an underclassman, Jamie Jordan, sent in to heave the last two attempts, so McCann finishes the loss with one passing attempt and one completion, for a gain of 18 yards.

I went straight home, so I wouldn't know. But Simmons wrote in the Heath Post, "After the game, the cheerleaders sponsored a dance, which was held in the cafeteria. The Pep Club arranged for pictures to be made in the library."

With the loss, my senior year appeared destined to be the first losing streak in
Heath's football history, which had begun in 1971. Alas, after the 1-5 start, the Pirates charged to three straight victories, and, between the second and third of those games, Coach Bushong found an opponent for a 10th game on the schedule: at Class 4A Madisonville.

Visiting Heath beat the Maroons, 14-0, to finish the 1985 season with a non-losing record of 5-5. The next autumn, the Pirates finished 13-1 and Kentucky Class A champions.

Pirata. Magee, Tracey; Matthew Vaughn, and Eric Woehler, editors (West Paducah, Ky.: Heath High School, 1986) 138.