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The 1973 Parkway Panthers, coached by John Reed (front row far left), won the first Midwest Athletic Conference football title in finishing the season 10-0. Photo courtesy of Parkway Local Schools.
None of the 43 players on Parkway's football roster this season were born in 1973 when their program raised the Midwest Athletic Conference's inaugural conference football title.
For many, their parents weren't even born yet, and of the present coaching staff, only defensive line coach Jeff Farmer was alive when the Black and Gold from Parkway pounded through the schedule en route to a perfect 10-0 campaign.
"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," first-team All-MAC linebacker Brian Stover said during a 2016 interview with him and several teammates about their special season. "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 was head coach for my junior year in 1972, and by 1973 we had very high expectations."
The Panthers traveled east to fire off their campaign with a 25-14 win at Ridgemont before dismantling Indian Lake at home in Week Two by a final of 44-22. Week Three ignited the MAC's first-ever week of conference battles, and the Panthers hosted the Minster Wildcats and edged them by a final of 14-8 to move to 3-0 on the season.
"The Minster game was our first conference game that season and it was a battle from the beginning to end," said Mike Bruns, a senior first team All-MAC receiver in 1973. "Cork Poeppelman was their quarterback 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 very tall, but if he hit you it was like running into a fire hydrant," he added. "He was very smart and extremely tough."
The next two weeks, the Panthers bussed out to Bradford and New Bremen and had few issues in combining for 58 points in a pair of shutouts to reach the midway point of the season. Up next were back-to-back home games, and the Black and Gold continued to steamroll through the schedule with a 33-3 triumph over Ansonia and a 28-0 shutout over Coldwater in Week Seven.
As the season wound down, the unbeaten Panthers headed to Maria Stein to lock horns with the 5-2 Marion Local Flyers, who were also unbeaten in conference play. The meeting lived up to expectations and became one of the first classic MAC football games, as Parkway prevailed by a final edge of 8-7 and improved to 8-0 on the season with only two home games remaining.
"We dominated Coldwater and followed up by facing Marion Local the next 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," he continued. "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."
As it had demonstrated all year long, Parkway had little trouble the rest of the way. The Panthers upended St. Henry 28-0 before closing the year with a 35-0 blowout over the Crestview Knights.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, the playoff system in the early 1970s was anything but favorable toward small schools in the area, so with that, the curtain was closed on their season with an unblemished 10-0 mark and the conference's first football championship.
"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.
Standing from left are Parkway's football coaches in 1973: Howard Ester, Tom Clouse, John Reed, Steve Howell and Gary Mastin. Photo courtesy of Parkway Local Schools.
"Another thing that I feel made us very successful was the respect and love we held for our coaches," he went on. "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."
"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," Stover said. "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. 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.
"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 added. "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."
