Panthers of 1973 the first great MAC powerhouse

The fall of 1973 is where it all began for the Midwest Athletic Conference.

The newly formed league put the rubber to the road and over the course of the next 40-plus years would continue to out-do itself in terms of athletic success, particularly on the gridiron.

The Parkway Panthers and head coach John Reed hit the field that autumn with high expectations, and when the dust settled, they accomplished a feat that no Panther team has done since by finishing the year unbeaten at 10-0.

"We lost a lot of valuable seniors to graduation from the season before, but we had the players to fill those holes, so I guess you could say our expectations were pretty high," former First Team All-MAC linebacker Brian Stover said. "Dave Hansbarger was our head coach my freshman and sophomore years and he laid the groundwork with great fundamentals and really built the program. John Reed came on as head coach during my junior year in 1972 and by 1973 we felt we had very high expectations."

The Black and Gold opened the year up with convincing wins over Ridgemont and Indian Lake before getting into conference play. The first task was the 2-0 Minster Wildcats, who the Panthers downed 14-8.

"The Minster game was our first Midwest Athletic Conference game that season and it was a battle from the beginning to end," remarked Mike Bruns, a senior First Team All-MAC receiver in 1973. "Corky Poeppelman was their quarterback that season and he was an outstanding runner as well. He came around the end on one play and Brian Stover absolutely leveled him and knocked him out cold. He came back into the game a couple of series later, but he wasn't quite the same. Brian was wasn't real tall, but if he hit you it was like running into a fire hydrant. He was very smart and extremely tough."

The Panthers followed up with a pair of shutouts at Bradford and New Bremen before dismantling Ansonia 33-3. As they hit the midway point of the campaign, it was obvious that the Panthers were developing into the team to beat in the new conference.

"We were a very strong team defensively, and it was simply because everyone knew their jobs and went out and did them the best they could. We had 11 seniors on the team and no one went both ways which helped in keeping us fresh and focusing on just one position," Stover said. "A lot of people like to think that there wasn't a lot of passing going on back then, but most teams were pretty balanced. Our defensive backs were incredibly talented and the defense still holds the school record for interceptions in a season, so we certainly faced a lot of teams that liked to throw the ball."

Sitting at 6-0, Parkway shutout Coldwater 28-0 before duking it out for first place in the conference with Marion Local, which they edged 8-7.

"We dominated Coldwater and had to follow up to play Marion Local the following week," Bruns said. "They were unbeaten in the MAC and they had a tough defense, so we knew it would be a great game. They ended up scoring first and then we scored late in the game to pull to within a point. Coach Reed pulled us all to the sideline and told us it was our call whether or not we wanted to go for the win or go for the tie and we all wanted to go for the win. I remember that play like it was yesterday. I rolled left about five yards into the end zone and the ball was coming my way and I made the catch. It was a great way to end the game and keep our unbeaten season alive."

With two games to go, the Panthers closed their year in style with shut out victories over St. Henry and Crestview by finals of 28-0 and 35-0. With the triumphs, Reed's crew wrapped up the first perfect season in MAC history at 10-0, but just missed out on the postseason.

"We ended up finishing in the third spot to qualify for the playoffs and back then only the team that won the region managed to get into the postseason, so we knew 10-0 was the best we were going to be able to do," Stover said. "Montpelier ended up making it to the state final and lost, but we scrimmaged them early in the season and beat them up pretty good. You can't look back and wonder 'what if?' though. We played football during the best era of the Parkway football program and were the last team in history to finish the year unbeaten, so it was a remarkable feat that we all still cherish more than 40 years later."

Four decades later, Bruns looks back and can still recite plays from games and certainly the scores, but also realizes the success goes far beyond the Xs and Os.

"The 1973 season was a great year and it was one that even after all this time, none of us will ever forget," Bruns said. "What is really fascinating is that our starting defense only allowed 33 points the entire year and posted five shutouts. No one went both ways and we all trusted one another. Another thing that I feel made us very successful was the respect and love we held for our coaches. Coach Reed, Howard Ester, Tom Clouse, Gary Mastin and Steve Howell were all class acts and we followed their example by doing the little things the right way and we ended up having a lot of success along the way and that is what it is all about."