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50th anniversary of Dayton High’s football title

November 26, 2016 FieldsColumn

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BY MIKE FIELDS (Nov. 26, 2016)

It was 50 years ago today — Nov. 26, 1966 — that Dayton High School stunned Russellville 6-2 to win the Class A football title at UK’s Stoll Field.

Dayton hadn’t been to the state finals before, and it hasn’t been there since.

Russellville came into the championship game undefeated (11-0) and a solid favorite to handle the Greendevils (9-3). One big reason: Russellville’s linemen outweighed Dayton’s by an average of more than 30 pounds.

The Panthers’ Henry Noe and Donnie Bagget blocked a Dayton punt out of the end zone midway through the second quarter to give Russellville a 2-0 lead.

Ironically, Coach Ray King’s Greendevils wound up winning the game on the same kind of play.

Early in the fourth quarter Dayton’s Jerry Brooks blocked a Russellville punt — his fifth block of the season — and teammate John Fowee picked up the loose ball and returned it 8 yards for a TD.

It was the second-lowest scoring game in Class A title game history. Bellevue, Dayton’s arch-rival, beat Madison 7-0 in the 1979 finals.

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