Every week was a grind, but honestly it felt like this next game our predetermined destiny.  It started in Pre-Season with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine crowning the Boyd Yellowjackets the favorite in the area. With the Coaches son, Robby Cartwright, at QB for Boyd in his Senior season everyone must have thought that Boyd would certainly go on to win the state championship. Robby Cartwright was their do it all superstar. He played Quarterback on offense, Free Safety on Defense, and was an All-State Punter. We had a solid and experienced QB too though. Not to mention our Free Safety, Chris Franklin, played a little Wide Receiver and dabbled in the art of punting as well.  

Only one writer, Debbie Fetterman, out of 7 from the Dallas Morning News picked us to win the game. It was rumored, and we certainly believed it, that ESPN had been following/filming the Boyd football program all season long. Rumor was ESPN planned to do a documentary of sorts on small town Texas football. They expected the fairy tale to end with a Yellowjacket State Title.

We had a history with Boyd.  The last time we had met was the 1983 playoffs.  That game ended in a very controversial 13-13 tie. Boyd advanced on penetrations and went on to win the State Championship behind the leadership of future NFL Quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver. Craig Way, the voice of the Texas Longhorns, called it one of the greatest games he had ever witnessed (see 3:55 in on link below).

The stage was finally set 10 years later for a rematch of the 1983 game. This time Boyd was the #1 ranked team in the state vs the #2 team in the state Pilot Point Bearcats. Tune in next week to read about this epic rematch…

Go Bearcats!

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