The Championship Season

In the fall of 1971, a special collection of athletes and coaches at Richmond High School came together to accomplish something that had never been done before, and has not been repeated. In 1971, the Richmond Spartans won the Missouri AAA State Championship.

That year the team had ten wins and one loss, the loss being an early season game against Lillis by a score of 7 to 6. The Spartans of 1971 defeated St. Joe Benton, Lexington, Slater, Boonville, Wentworth, Carrollton, Higginsville, Odessa, and Mountain Grove on their trip to the championship game against Fulton. The Spartans defeated Fulton 29 to 25. The sports Editor of the Richmond Daily News was Lee Meador. The following is the story he wrote describing that championship game:

Cinderella Spartans Outstep Fulton for AAA Championship

The 1971 Richmond High School football Spartans have brought the state championship in Class 3-A to Richmond, thanks to an extremely exciting finish to a 29-25 victory over Futon at Fulton Saturday afternoon.

It was a game in which the Spartans trailed 0-7, then led by 8-7 and at halftime, 14-7, only to see the score tied at 14, then to trail, 14-22 before fighting back to tie the score at 22-22.

This set the stage for a heroic climax which came after Fulton recovered a Richmond fumble on the Spartan 14 on a play that started on the 26. With 1:21 remaining in the game, Fulton laid the burden squarely on its powerful fullback, 205-pound Tony Galbreath, an all-Stater as a junior last year. On the first carry he gained 6 yards, slightly under his second half average.

Fulton called a time out, and with 1:10 remaining, Galbreath again tested the right side of the Spartan line, and the challenge was met with the stingy surrender of a yard. Again time out, and with 1:05 remaining, the call was for Galbreath to go off right tackle, and again the Spartans met the challenge and gave up but a yard brining up 4th and 2 with 0:58 remaining, and the ball at the Spartan 6.

The Hornets called time out, and with an excellent placement kicker in sophomore Richard Pittman, elected to go for the field goal. The floating kick was high and just inside the left crossbar from an angle. Fulton had the lead, 25-22, and the clock showed 0:52 remaining.

It was now time for Richmond to fight back, keeping in mind that to stop the clock one had to run the ball out of bounds, call time out, or throw an incomplete pass, although the clock is stopped otherwise until the ball is ready for play following a first down or penalty.

Galbreath kicked off, and Dalton Robinson took it to the Richmond 32. He ran immediately to the sidelines and out of bounds at the 33, and 48 seconds showed on the clock.

The burden now lay squarely on the shoulders of Blaine Henningsen, the quarterback who already had an outstanding game and made a tremendous impression and who now was to execute the instructions of Coach Tom Adams.

The first play was a pass to the right to Dennis Collins. It was good for 9 yards, short of both the first down and the out of bounds play that would stop the clock.

A time out was called, and 0:41 showed as Henningsen went to the next play, a long, flat pass to Dalton Robinson on the far side of the field. It was complete for a short gain, but it was important for two reasons. It was a first down and stopped the clock with 32 seconds remaining and the ball on the Spartan 47.

The clock started with the snap of the ball, and 11 seconds were to tick off as Henningsen faded back to pass, then broke for a 27-yard gain. The ball was on the Fulton 26 with 0:21 remaining, and a bit of disaster for Richmond.

When Henningsen faded on the next play he was caught from the blind side by Laurence Brookins and thrown for a 5-yard loss. Time had to be called, and 0:15 remained on the clock. 15 seconds to go 31 yards.

Meanwhile an important thing was happening on the Spatan sideline. Coach Gordon DeGraffenreid had aroused the entire bench to shout “Go! Go! Go! etc. etc.” It had to help fire the team, and the line was doing a tremendous job of blocking as receivers sought openings to take a Henningsen pass for vital yardage.

The next play was most important. Rick Hendrix was down on a sideline pattern, took the ball for a short gain, and advanced it as far as he could before going out of bounds at the 16 yard line.

It was a big, big gain, putting the Spartans within field goal range although they were now out of time outs, and the stopped clock showed 0:08. But it was two minutes or more before the next play was to come off, and this one wasn’t over.

As Hendrix went out of bounds and was checking himself before going into the restraining rope, he was shoved to the ground by a Fulton defender.

Meanwhile, roughing the passer had been called against Fulton by the referee whose position is behind the team running the offense. This is a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down, but there is a special clause in application of this penalty.

If the infraction comes after the pass has been caught, then under the loose ball rule, the penalty is assessed from the point to which the ball was advanced, the 16-yard line. If the infraction came while the ball was in the air, the penalty is from the original line of scrimmage (the 31) and assessed from there (to the 16).

The top officials in the state were in the four-man crew, and after considerable discussion before the penalty was assessed to make sure that it was properly carried out, the penalty was marked from the point at which Rick Hendrix had gone out of bounds.

Since it was inside the 30-yard line, from which a team cannot be penalized more than half the distance to the goal line, the step off was to the Fulton 8-yard line and time remaining still was 0:08 seconds.

While the discussion was going on, Richmond had asked for an official’s time out to allow Coach David Simmons to clean up Hendrix who had a very muddy face and obscured vision from the out of bounds play. During this time out, Coach Adams and Henningsen were able to plan the strategy which was to be two more plays: a pass for a touchdown or run out of bounds, then maybe a field goal.

Meanwhile there was considerable speculation among spectators as to whether or not a personal foul had been committed when Hendrix was hit after going out of bounds for it is a violation to willfully tackle or pile on a player who has gone out of bounds.

No flag was thrown, however, indicating the official on the spot had felt that contact was unavoidable due to the defender’s momentum. And frankly we failed to observe the official’s signal following the penalty assessment but were told it was the roughing the passer penalty which was assessed.

And a writer covering the game for a Columbia paper said it was his understanding the violation had come after the pass was caught (it was a short pass), and therefore the penalty would come from the out of bounds point where play progress was halted.

Eight seconds remaining in a drive that had taken five plays and an 8-yard penalty to move 59-yards downfield, and finally the moment of truth had arrived.

Blaine Henningsen ran an option play to his right and near the sideline, feigning a throw 3 or 4 times trying to find an open receiver. Three defenders were in front of Dennis Collins now straight ahead, shallow in the end zone.

Seeing no one between him and the goal as he approached the line of scrimmage (8-yard line), Henningsen felt he could reach the end zone and made his break. Once this decision was made, all Fulton had to do was stop him short of the goal line and the clock would run out.

As Blaine reached the five-yard line the defenders came to meet him, with first contact being made about the one or two-yard line. Momentum and 6’5”, 195-pound frame were in Henningsen’s favor, and he dived head, shoulders and football across the goal line. It truly was a championship touchdown made possible by the splendid blocking his line had given him, a split-second decision, and a determination that would not be stopped.

The Hornet’s stinger carrying a three point lead was no more, and dejection and disbelief were written on the faces of the Black and Gold. The Spartans, quite to the contrary, were releasing jubilant emotions by jumping up and down and embracing one another in a tremendous moment of triumph.

It was an almost unbelievable climax to this well-staged battle for a state football championship, and here it was, signed, sealed and being delivered to the Spartans!

When order was restored, the Spartans lined up for the conversion attempt, and Dane Henningsen added the final point with a place kick for a 29-25 victory.

Only one more finishing touch remained. Richmond had to meet the challenge of kicking off and stopping the return while two seconds were to run off the clock.

Brad Thomas, 6’ and 155 pounds, had been Richmond’s adequate kicker throughout the season, and the kickoff was ideal in that it went to the Fulton 29 and a 71-yard return would be necessary. The ball was taken by Galbreath, the powerful Fulton back, and for one last stop the Spartans grouped together to sew up their victory.

Bedlam ruled as Spartans and Spartan fans met at midfield and congratulated one another and enjoyed this tremendous moment of triumph in overcoming the team that had been voted the No. 1 team in the state by the Kansas City Star and Missouri sportswriters. (Not this one).

It took several appeals from the public address announcer to finally clear the field so that the two teams could line up and accept their trophies—the runner-up and the champion. And again jubilation broke out when the five Spartan captains came forward—Rick Hendrix, George Robinson, Dennis Collins, Blain Henningsen and Larry Best, and received the championship trophy from Irvin A. Keller, president of the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

And so it is that Richmond, with an enrollment of 605, is the champion of Class 3-A schools, those with an enrollment of 501 to 1200.

For a great “bunch of kids” this is a once in a lifetime thrill. Anything to come will be anti-climactic. And for an estimated 1,200 Spartan fans who made the 155-mile trip, this was a fantastic thing, a reward for the faithful followers who could attend and the several thousand more at home getting the game report by radio.

Even when the unannounced return of the champions came about at 9 o’clock, a noisy crowd estimated at 1,000 was on hand at Woodson School to welcome home the newly crowned state football champions.

Before that championship game in 1971, Coach Tom Adams said, “This is the greatest bunch of boys I’ve ever worked with.” His faith in that team was justified in a State Championship trophy on display in the case at the high school. Several times in recent weeks, the Coach has been asked how this year’s Spartan squad measures up to that championship team. And while it might be quite a matchup, Coach Adams jokes that he would have to give the edge to the Spartans of today, “The ’71 team is a great bunch of guys, but they are getting older, and may have lost a little speed.”