Forty-Five Years Ago, Leps Won Their First State Football Title

From the pages of the Tuesday, December 23, 1975 edition of the Fayette County Record:

The fantastic La Grange Leopards who have figured out just about every imaginable way to prove their superiority on the football field, took a new page from the play book at Abilene’s P.E. Shotwell Stadium last Friday night as they defeated the Childress Bobcats, 27 to 6, to win the 1975 Texas Class AA high school championship.

They made two great goalline stands in between a 99-yard scoring drive to thoroughly demoralize their fired-up north Texas foes, then came back in the second half and blew them off the field with a three-touchdown explosion.

“We couldn’t control the line of scrimmage during the game,” Childress coach Charlie Johnston said in an unhappy Bobcat locker room. “That was the big factor. We just played a great team. They deserve to be the champions.”

La Grange’s Ben Bloomer echoed this. “I think it was one of our better games,“ he said. “We put it together for one of the few times this year. The turning point in the game was when we kept them from scoring those two times inside our five. Our defense just played great.”

It was an all-out defensive effort, with Garry Matocha, Mike Matocha, Kenny Zimmerhanzel, Bert Vasut and the big middle men, Pat Smith and Curtis Ray, all involved in key stops.

Childress, riding a 15-mile south wind, moved 48 yards in 14 plays on its second possession before being denied at the Leopard one. Big play in the drive was a pass from quarterback Robert Sims to tailback Ricky Smith that carried from the Lep 34 to the 14.

Fullback Jody Hernandez pounded out a first down at the 4 yard-line three plays later. But then four successive carries got him only to the one.

Trailing 6-0 near the end of the first half, the Bobcats were thwarted again when, after picking up a first by inches at the Lep three, they were caught holding and marched out to the 18. From there Sims passed to Smith at the nine but then threw incomplete, and the ball went over.

So efficient was the La Grange offense, and so elastic the defense, that the Leps went to the dressing room leading 6-0 with Childress having run 38 plays and La Grange only 16. Childress had a 9-5 first down edge, 2-1 penetration edge, and 139-98 yardage edge.

All this changed in the second half as the Leopards, on the winged feet of Johnnie Johnson and near-flawless quarterbacking of Kenny Hatfield, totally dominated the scrimmage line. They moved for touchdowns on three of four possessions, missed a field goal on the other one, and rolled for 207 yards while putting 21 points on the board.

The shape of things to come was obvious when La Grange took over at its one with 2:50 left in the opening quarter. Hatfield kept for five, then pitched to Johnston who went roaming out to the 22 for the Leps’ initial first down.

Then it was Hatfield and Johnson alternating at that familiar pitch-keep tactic and ripping off big yards. On the second play of the second quarter Kenny kept from the 49 down to the 33. Next play saw Johnson go sweeping in for the touchdown.

The Bobcats’ ensuing drive from their 20 to inside the Lep five was helped tremendously by a late-hit penalty that gave them a first at the LG 35. It consumed 19 plays and all but about three minutes of the second quarter.

La Grange faced the wind again in the third but held field position throughout. Shelby Willett and the Matochas teamed up to drop Smith and Hernandez for successive losses following the kickoff.

The punt carried to the Lep 34, and Bloomer’s boys were on the board again in 16 methodical plays. Billy Dunk figured prominently in this series, taking a Hatfield pass from the 25 to the 15, and on the wingaround to the ‘Cat four. Johnson scored the second of his three touchdowns two plays later and Hatfield booted the PAT for a 13-0 edge with 3:00 left in the quarter.

Tommy Matocha picked off a pass at the Lep 47 on the third play of Childress’ next series. Hatfield then burst free and was shoestringed by Ricky Collingsworth at the Bobcat 33. Seven plays later, from the four, he found Dunk wide open over the middle and passed to him for another TD and a 20-0 advantage with 10:20 left in the game.

La Grange was in business again at the Childress 40 following a short punt. Johnson, who rushed for 154 yards on 17 carries, had the big run in the next series, a 25 yard excursion down to the seven. However, Hatfield was sacked trying to pass, a screen to Johnson carried only to the six, and Hatfield’s 22- yard field goal attempt missed by inches.

Sims was promptly sacked by Tommy Supak for a 10-yard loss, and three plays later Zimmerhanzel intercepted a pass at the ‘Cat 34 with 4:40 remaining. It took just four plays this time, and the playoff was a feed to Johnson straight up the middle behind tremendous blocking. The run was from the 22 with Johnson going in going standing up.

Aided by a pass interference call, the Bobcats went 69 yards in seven plays to avoid a shutout. Sims got the TD on an 18-yard keeper, coming back to the weak side. The clock showed 0:54.

The victory was the first state championship ever for the Leopards, who ended their 1975 season with a 14-1 mark. Childress fell to 13-1-1 and went home with the bitter disappointment of still not having won a title after being in the playoffs five of the last six years.

On Nov. 2, 2021 the Fayette County Record will begin its 100th year of continuous publication. As we countdown the final months toward that amazing milestone, we’ll be running columns looking back at interesting aspects of our history.