Took a trip down memory lane while researching football stats in the old Gallatin Democrat and North Missourian files.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Took a trip down memory lane while researching football stats in the old Gallatin Democrat and North Missourian files. I guess the only surprise would have been if I hadn’t been surprised at some of the things I found. Sometimes we make the mistake of believing that what happened 30 or 40 years ago pales in comparison to what is happening here and now. Time seems to dull the memory of seasons past. Often, it’s hard to remember not only who played, but just how good some of them were.
The following is by no means comprehensive, and for the most part represents only the guys who got their names in the paper, but it gives a good cross-section of GHS football accomplishments back to 1946, where I’ve stopped for now. Like they say, there is no “I” in T-E-A-M, but some of these guys really got the job done.
*Larry Potts threw nine touchdown passes in 1946, including four in one game to Johnny Brown. I haven’t found anything to match that single game combination.
*Cliff Agenstein had a hand in 15 GHS touchdowns, either passing, running, receiving or returning, from 1948-50. Against King City in 1950, he threw a TD pass, caught a pass for a TD and returned an interception for a TD.
*The 1954 GHS conference champion team had three players, Duane Frost, Ray Hammonds and Dean Wilson, score three touchdowns in a single game. Wilson rushed for 231 of the team’s 421 yards against Princeton that year.
*Jim Houghton ran for 1,364 yards in 1957. The GHS offense cranked out 531 rushing yards in a rout of Albany, including Steve Tate’s 99-yard run for a TD. Tate scored four touchdowns as a freshman in 1955, and by the end of his senior year (1958) had chalked up 20 scores.
*The triple-threat of Jim Wilson, Steve Evans and Danny Critten combined for 24 of their team’s 27 touchdowns in 1960. Wilson scored nine more TD in 1961.
*The 1965 GHS team absorbed seven shutouts and only scored twice during the entire season.
*Phil Gooding ran four times for touchdowns against Princeton in 1968.
*Quarterback Keith Morrissey ran for seven TD and threw for six more before heading off to play defense at the University of Missouri after the 1972 season.
*Joe Grisel rushed for 1,497 yards and 12 TD, including a 296-yard, four TD effort against Maysville, during the 1976 campaign.
*Charles Parrish tossed four TD passes against Stanberry in 1979, then changed positions and finished as Gallatin’s all-time single season rusher (1,753 in 1980) until Joey Hubbard (1,843 in 1997) came along. Parrish’s 305-yard effort against Polo in `79 is still a record. He also intercepted 11 passes in 1980.
*Troy Hacker threw a record 30 TD passes between 1979 and 1982, but lacks the career passing yards of Darren Hamilton (1,268), Duke Burge (1,240) and Dennis Hacker (1,202).
*Loren Adkins threw for 197 yards against Stanberry in 1987, averaging over 30 yards per completion, then came back the next week and tossed three TD passes against Albany.
*Jeff Taul and Brant Burns combined for over 40 touchdowns between 1986 and 1988.
*Chuck Ness ran for four TD against King City in 1991.
*Gallatin’s 1997 GRC champion team averaged 34 points scored over the course of a 12-game season.
*Quentin Carroll scored a record six touchdowns against Tarkio in 1999. Nathan Henderson crossed the goal line five times vs. Milan in 2000. The Bulldogs rushed for 49 touchdowns that year.
*Fullback Robert Heldenbrand scored 25 TD in 2000 and 2001 after being moved off the offensive line.
*****
Turns out I didn’t know what I thought I knew, and I was corrected by someone (who wishes to remain anonymous) with a very good memory.
Gallatin did play Lathrop in football once after the 1946 season. It was just hard to find mention of that game. Cameron dropped out of the GRC after the 1971-72 school year and subsequently didn’t play very many GRC-member schools in 1972. Gallatin added Lathrop to the schedule, in place of Cameron, but probably because it was the final game of the season, the score did not appear in the paper.