On this day in sports history

BY COLIN “BIG C” MACGUIRE

The Greenville Standard

 

This is the first in a series where I will cover county schools that won state championships in football.

The first team I will discuss is the 1991 McKenzie Tigers. Sam Dour was entering his 14th coaching season at McKenzie.

The season opener was on Sept. 6 at Brantley. McKenzie won 29-7. The next five games, McKenzie won by an average score of 33.2-3.8. On Oct. 8 was big game vs Luverne, which was coached by the legendary Glenn Daniel.

Luverne was a 3A team. McKenzie won in a dogfight, 6-0. With two regular season games remaining, McKenzie finished at 9-0. The victims were A. L. Johnson 49-8 and Georgiana 29-3. In the final Alabama Sports Writers Association Poll, McKenzie was ranked number one.

In the first round, McKenzie bested G.W. Long 41-0.  In the second round they beat Coffeeville 21-0. In the third round they took down Ariton, 31-6. Greenville native Julius Head was the head coach for Ariton.  In the fourth round they faced off against Autaguaville and won 14-0.

Dec. 13 was good luck for McKenzie. It was the State Championship game and they faced Courtland from north Alabama. It was a home game and it seemed like the whole town and half the county was there. McKenzie won 15-7 and were State Champions with a 14-0 record.

McKenzie averaged 28.6 points per game. They gave up a total of 50 points, giving up an average of 3.6 points per game.

Three McKenzie players were picked first team or honorable mention to the All-State team. John Oden was named offensive lineman 1st team by the Birmingham News.

Robert Shufford made 1st team at two positions by two sources. He was picked at running back by the Alabama Sports Writers Association and linebacker by the Birmingham News.

Tyrone Henderson was named honorable mention at running back by the Birmingham News.

McKenzie can claim they were 3A State Champions with the win over Luverne. Next week I will continue the series of state champions from Butler County.