CORRECTION In 1991 the Bluffton School Board president was Nancy Schweingruber.
PHOTO Page 3 of the 1992 Bluffton High School Buccaneer. View the yearbook in its entirety on the Bluffton Schools website HERE.
Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years. Next, he served as chaplain at a nursing home for 24 years. In this column, he returns to a favorite subject, Bluffton sports.
By Bill Herr
What is the greatest Bluffton High School football team ever? A very interesting read is "A Century of Pirates," a compilation of stories, photographs and records of Bluffton High School championship athletic teams and players of the 20th century. Included are photos and player names of 20 outstanding football teams that played between 1929 to 1998. Fred Steiner compiled this amazing record. It is a treasure to read for those that follow Pirate sports.
Choosing one team as the greatest is a subjective task. I've seen all the teams since 1946 when my brother Don played. My choice is the 1991 team. This team was undefeated through the regular season, won three games in the playoffs and played in the State Championship game against Newark Catholic on November 30, 1991, at Massillon Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon, Ohio. This column is their story.
I interviewed their coach, Mr. Dennis Lee. He said the Pirates were 7-3 the year before and had 10 returning starters for their senior year. "Expectations were high for winning the Northwest Conference, but we were not thinking about winning a state championship yet. We scrimmaged against Carey and did okay. On the Monday after the scrimmage we refocused." I asked what that meant. He said, "They were a confident bunch and we didn't want them to get 'big-headed.'"
The Pirates had good size on the line and speed in the skill positions. "They had good comradery. They were a real close team," said Lee. Assistant coaches were Paul Businger, Bill Place, Bruce Yant and Ron Schmutz. The team had strong senior leadership. The more vocal leaders were Todd Fleharty, Tim Sargent, Rich Gillespie, Tim Wenger and Mack Davies.
I asked Coach Lee if there were any close calls. He said the overtime victory over Paulding in the second game was "huge." "And in week three, we were behind Spencerville in the fourth quarter. We had 4th and 9 and quarterback Rob Green completed a pass to Jeremy Herr for a first down. We scored and won 20-14. After that we were fired up and continued to improve the rest of the season."
In the final ratings before the playoffs, Bluffton was ranked number 1 in Region 18 that consisted of seven teams. There were four regions in Division V. In the Pirate's first playoff game, they defeated Defiance Ayersville 37-0.
Next they had to face the third-ranked team in the region, the Minster Wildcats. Played at Lima Senior Stadium, the game was memorable. It was a close battle from start to finish. Minster had a second- team All-State running back, Brian Wolf. He was a bruiser, and led the Wildcats to a 10-7 lead at the half. Bluffton scored in the second half to take a 14-10 lead. Minster then scored on a pass to take back the lead 17-14. It didn't look good for the Pirates when Minster got the ball back with 3:29 left in the fourth quarter. With Wolf running for 3 and 4 yards, the Wildcats ran 2 minutes of the clock. At 1:29, Coach Lee called the Pirate's last timeout. The Pirates defensive coach, Bill Place, met with the defense and said these words: "I'm proud of you, no matter what happens. It's clear what their next play will be. Wolf will run the ball. I want you to claw, scratch, do whatever it takes to break the ball loose."
What happened next is arguably the most exciting play in Pirate football history. As predicted, Wolf ran into the line. Rob Green grabbed his arm, Rich Gillespie hit the ball hard with his fist, Jeff Burkholder helped stop Wolf's forward progress, and the ball squirted out. Tim Sargent, "Johnny on the spot," as reported by sportscaster, Vince Coza, picked up the loose ball and ran down the sideline in front of the Bluffton fans with the entire Minster team chasing him. Jeremy Herr ran alongside Sargent to provide interference, but a Wildcat defensive player pushed Sargent out of bounds on the 10-yard line after his 60-yard ramble.
The Pirates ran three running plays but didn't score. With time running out and no time-outs left, kicker Chad Koontz ran onto the field to attempt a tying field goal. The kicking tee was nowhere to be found so he kicked a 23-yard field goal with the ball on the grass and it split the uprights. The Pirates had tied the game with 4 seconds left.
Bluffton won the toss and elected to take the offense first in overtime. They drove to a touchdown with Tim Wenger covering the last few yards. The Wildcats couldn't match Bluffton's drive and a fourth down pass fell harmlessly to the ground. The Pirates were victorious.
Bluffton fans were ecstatic. A game in which the Pirates were seemingly about to experience loss had turned into a memorable victory. Some called it a miracle. Iin reality, excellent coaching and execution brought about the victory.
When we got home from the game, I took my 9-year old daughter Stacy to town and we stood on the corner by the filling station across from the school. I wanted us to hear the buses coming home. We weren't disappointed. As the buses came in, windows were rolled down and students were joyfully screaming. It was memorable. I had been gathering footage from games with my camcorder and recording highlights from television coverage from the season to make a video. At the pep session the next week, some of my footage and the television station's coverage of the Minster game were played on a large screen for the students. When the image of the fumble came on the screen, and Tim began his long run with the ball down the sideline, there began a roar in the Pirate gym that was louder than any sound I've ever heard in our gym, before or since. The excitement of the play remained.
In the next playoff game, Bluffton defeated Cincinnati Country Day 27-0. The Pirates had earned a trip to the State Championship game. I'll never forget Coach Lee's remark to Vince Coza after the game. He said, "Pack your bags, people, we're going to Massillon." The next week, on Thanksgiving morning, November 27, the team filed out of the school for its final home practice before the championship game on Saturday. I was waiting in the parking lot of the filling station to record it. It had been drizzling, and as the players and coaches walked down College Avenue and crossed the bridge, I felt powerful emotion that to this day remains when I remember it. The team always paused at the first entrance to Harmon Field before entering, and in concert said the words, "Pirate Pride."
I showed the footage to my senior math class and asked, "What music should we put to that memorable walk?" After class, Jeff Burkholder came to me and said, "Use the song 'We are The Champions' by Queen." After the season ended, I went to Ohio Northern University and Mike Smith, a young champion wrestler for the Polar Bears who was also a video technician helped me take all my footage and make the video. We spent 14 hours on a Saturday to do it. He put that song on the "Walk" and paused the music for seconds as the team said "Pirate Pride" at the Harmon Field gate. To this day, that walk on a rainy Thanksgiving Thursday remains my favorite sports memory. This was not an ordinary football team walking to take their final home practice of the season, this was a Pirate team about to play in the State Championship game. They were champions.
On the next day, Friday, there was a pep session in the gym before the players left on a bus for Massillon. The gym was full of fans as Coach Lee and all the other coaches said a few words. Players Davies, Fleharty, and Sargent also spoke, as well as Nancy Schweingruber, President of the school board. They all thanked the community for the support of the team. Outside afterward as the players climbed into the bus, excitement was at a fever pitch. When the bus left, I asked Ben Kruse, my student and a senior, if he would drive my car slowly up and down Main Street on both sides while I videotaped messages of "Go Pirates" on many of the businesses in town. He stopped in front of the school signboard. The words on it were memorable:
BLUFFTON HIGH SCHOOL
NOV. 30 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL
AT MASSILLON PAUL BROWN STADIUM
VS NEWARK CATHOLIC
PIRATE FOOTBALL
BEYOND SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE
On Saturday, November 30, it looked like the whole town of Bluffton And surrounding Community were in the stands in the stadium. Teacher Duane Bollenbacher and his wife Deb made two signs. The first one was large and was carried by students. It read, "Will the last person to leave Bluffton please turn off the lights?" The smaller second sign, carried by Duane and Deb, read, "We did."
The Pirates’ opponent was formidable. The Newark Catholic Green Wave were six-time State Champions and Runners-up four times. Their best player, Rob Kelly, later played four years as a defensive back for Ohio State and then played in the NFL seven years for the New Orleans Saints. Coach Lee said he was the best player from an opposing team he had ever seen.
Bluffton had a great set of cheerleaders and the Pirate's outstanding band performed well under the leadership of director Nancy Biddinger. The game started and Kelly, who was also a running back on offense, scored two touchdowns as they went up 14-0. Bluffton narrowed the gap when kicker Chad Koontz made two field goals, one a record 42-yarder near the end of the first half.
Early in the third quarter Bluffton suffered a huge loss when running back Todd Fleharty suffered a concussion and was lost for the rest of the game. Up to that point, he had run for 60 yards. Newark increased their scoring to 27. Bluffton scored again when quarterback Rob Green threw a touchdown pass to Jeremy Herr that covered 61 yards, a new record for a championship game. That ended our scoring and the final was Newark Catholic 34, Bluffton 13.
When the team returned Sunday, you would have thought the Pirates were State Champions, as fans stood and cheered on both sides of the bus. All went into the gym for a celebration. Coach Lee presented the runner-up trophy to Principal Dan Rumer who remarked, "We will remember this the next 25 or 30 years." Players Mack Davies and Tim Wenger thanked the fans for their support and each of the players and coaches and cheerleaders received recognition.
It has now been over three decades since these events and the excitement still remains for those who experienced the 1991 football season. Some called the 1991 Pirates "The Dream Team." Canda Schmutz, whose son Bo was on the team and whose husband Ron was one of the coaches, said, "We think the Bluffton Pirates are the greatest thing on earth, we are all very proud of them, and you will never find a nicer bunch of boys."
Future generations will look back at the character and never-say-die attitude that characterized this team and helped them to accomplish what they did. This team will be a model for future teams to follow. And now you know why I chose the 1991 Pirate football team as the greatest football team ever from Bluffton High School.
