By Gary Fisher
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GENESEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Last month, we started our journey exploring the 10 Greatest of All Time (GOAT) high school football teams in area history. This month, we continue with numbers 6 through 10 and our Honorable Mention teams.
To recap, our Top Five GOAT High School Football Teams are:
➊ 1976 Flint Southwestern Colts
➋ 1924 Flint Central Red Blacks
➌ 1940 Flint Northern Vikings
➍ 1950 Flint Northern Vikings
➎ 1947 Flint Central Indians
With just exceptions, Southwestern in 1976 and Davison in 2019, to even be considered for the list, a team had to win the Michigan
State Championship and go undefeated. That eliminated some otherwise great teams that stumbled along the way, ran into bad luck, or otherwise dropped a game and fell short of the big prize. Winning it all takes a confluence of talent, skill, coaching, team chemistry and a little bit of luck.
To put it into perspective, some of the players who did not win a state title include NFL Hall of Famer and current NFL interception king Paul Krause at Bendle; longtime NFL star Brad Van Pelt at Owosso; first-round NFL Draft pick Jake Long at Lapeer West; potential NFL Hall of Famers Beecher’s Carl Banks and Flint Northwestern’s Andre Rison; Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram Jr. of Grand Blanc and Flint Southwestern; legendary quarterback Ricky Leach from Flint Southwestern; future pro star Bob Suci from Grand Blanc; NFL star Booker Moore from Flint Southwestern; and NFL stars Jim Morrissey and Todd Lyght from Flint Powers Catholic, to name a few. All were great players, and most also competed on truly great teams, but they never won it all.
But that is what makes our teams the GOATs: they were perfect!
Now, to complete the Top 10 GOAT teams, we present numbers 6 through 10.
❻ 1956
Flint Northern Vikings
‘56 was a good year for Chevrolets, with the classic Bel Air, and an equally classic championship team at Northern. The ‘56 team narrowly missed making our top five of all time, and you can make a good case that they deserve to be there.
The team defeated six ranked opponents, including two that were ranked No. 1 when the Vikes toppled them. They also handed the No. 2-, No. 3- and No. 4-ranked teams their only losses of the season.
Along the way, they outscored their opponents 263-67, went undefeated, and scored a huge 33-0 win against No. 1 Ann Arbor Pioneer, ending its 40-game unbeaten streak. To cap off the season, they beat archrival Flint Central in front of 15,680 fans at Atwood Stadium.
Named All-State were John Sharp, Arden Releford and Wilbur Aaron.
1956 Flint Northern Vikings
❼ 1958
Flint Central Indians
A mere two years after the ‘56 Vikings’ triumph, their crosstown rivals on Crapo Street at Flint Central came back with a powerhouse squad to rival all others.
The ‘58 Indians outscored their opponents 354-59, including a 51-0 thumping of Flint Northern on Thanksgiving Day to cap off the state championship. A 13-13 tie with Bay City Central led to a split state title, with UPI naming Central, the AP naming Bay City, and the Detroit Times naming both co-champions.
The team was big for that era. When the average player weighed between 160 and 170 pounds, the Indians’ line averaged 210.
Coach Bill Doolittle’s squad produced All-Stater Ron Watkins, three-year starter Keith Richardson, and team MVP and captain Ken Hardin.
The team was characterized as a squad of “grown men,” with several players splitting time between classes at Central and working on the line at Buick and Chevrolet. It was a different era, to be sure, but nearly 70 years hence, this team still stands out as one of the best of all time.
1958 Flint Central Indians
❽ 2019
Davison Cardinals
On November 30, 2019, the Davison Cardinals won their first-ever MHSAA Division 1 high school football state championship, defeating the Brighton Bulldogs 35-25 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Davison quarterback Brendan Sullivan led the charge with 290 passing yards to cap off a 12-2 season and secure the historic title for Davison. It was also the first big-school division title for a Genesee County team since the implementation of the MHSAA playoff system nearly a half-century earlier. That’s a stunning statistic, given the quality of talent produced in the Flint area during those intervening years.
But as we have pointed out, individual talent is one thing; team talent is another. This ‘19 Cardinals team had both.
In the state title game, Sullivan connected with standout receiver Latrell Fordham on a 74-yard pass to give Davison a 14-3 lead. Sullivan finished 14-for-19 for 290 yards and one touchdown. He also ran 10 times for 40 yards and a score. Carter Cryderman ran 13 times for 80 yards and two scores.
The team finished 12-2, dropping a midseason game to Lapeer, and in doing so became the only team in our Top 10 with a loss. Perhaps an unfair consideration, but all things considered, the 2019 Cardinals were a unique and historic team in area sports history. Breaking through a nearly half-century drought for a county big-school state championship was particularly deserving of special consideration.
It was a great season and a truly great team.
2019 DAVISON CARDINALS AND HEAD COACH JAKE WEINGARTZ
❾ 1960
Flint Northern Vikings
The ‘60 Vikes produced the third state championship for Flint with a strong squad called by many “The Big Red Machine.” It was an unstoppable force with an offense that not only couldn’t be stopped, but couldn’t even be slowed down.
They outscored opponents 243-65, never trailed in the fourth quarter of any game, and recorded three shutouts along the way.
Coach Andy MacDonald had an all-star cast of characters to choose from, including Herb Cleaves, Willie Dent, Jerry Horcha, Craig Norse, Hue Edwards, Ray Brown, Ed Johnson, Jim Reid and Leroy McFadden. He also let his tough quarterback, Marv Rettenmund, call most of the plays.
The Vikings beat No. 1-ranked Bay City Central in front of 12,787 fans to set up the grand finale against the usual suspects from Flint Central.
As was often the case during the nearly half-century run of the Thanksgiving Day Game, the Michigan Class A State Championship came down to “The Game.” In front of 18,413 fans crammed into Atwood Stadium, the Vikings topped the Indians 24-6 to finish as undefeated Michigan State Champions.
1960 Flint Northern Vikings
❿ 1995
Lapeer West Panthers
Despite being underrated every single week, the Panthers kept coming up with wins. Even losing a key player to injury couldn’t slow the Lapeer West run to an unbeaten season and a state title.
They defeated South Lyon 24-21 in a thrilling double-overtime game for the ultimate high school football prize at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Strong at every position and blessed with incredible depth, the Panthers were able to platoon on both offense and defense, with no player going both ways. That provided a decided advantage against teams with stars forced to play both sides of the ball.
Future NFL player Kent Rasmussen led the otherwise “regular
guy” squad. Along the way, they defeated No. 1-ranked Saginaw High, loaded with superb athletes, incredible team speed, future Division I college players and NFL talent.
They beat the best and became the best.
The Panthers outscored opponents 287-39 behind their “No Name” lineup. An egalitarian unit of the highest order, after capturing the state title and sporting a future NFL player, they still voted against naming an individual team MVP, instead naming the entire team the MVP.
It was emblematic of a special team and a special season.
1995 Lapeer West Panthers
Honorable Mention
All of these teams were unbeaten and won or shared a state championship:
1922 Flint Central Red Blacks
1925 Flint Central Red Blacks
1930 Flint Northern Vikings
1932 Flint Central Indians
1933 Flint Northern Vikings
1938 Flint Northern Vikings
1939 Flint Northern Vikings
1942 Flint Northern Vikings
2005 Flint Powers Chargers
2011 Flint Powers Chargers
2024 Goodrich Martians
QUARTERBACK JIMMY ABBOTT OF FLINT CENTRAL IN THE STATE SEMIFINALS IN 1984
Special Mention
1970 Flint Central Indians — Ranked No. 1 in the state in all the polls, the Reggie Barnett- and Steve Bograkos-led Tribe only had to beat archrival Flint Northern in the annual Thanksgiving Day Game to claim its seventh Class A State Championship. The underdog Vikings wouldn’t allow it and prevailed in front of a capacity crowd at Atwood Stadium, stiff-arming the Indians’ state title bid.
Goodrich head coach tom alward
1977 Flint Southwestern Colts — Led by quarterback Gary Lee and a cast of future college and professional stars, they followed a second unbeaten regular season in a row to reach 18-0 but fell in the first round of the state playoffs.
2021 Grand Blanc Bobcats — The team fell short of accomplishing something that hadn’t been seen in the Flint area since the 1939 Flint Northern Vikings’ “Wonder Boys” were part of a string of state championship wins in the big three sports of football, basketball and baseball. The Bobcats lost in the state playoff semifinals. Admittedly, the Bobcats wouldn’t have achieved the trifecta in the same year, having won the other two titles the previous year, but it was still an outstanding achievement to come close to realizing.
1984 Flint Central Indians — The Jimmy Abbott-led Tribe was stacked with superstars, including two-time All-American Terrence “T” Greene and future college players Tony “Big Zabe” Szabo, Robert “Duck” Duckett, David Burks and Daryl “Gill” Gilliam, but fell in the state semifinals against Ann Arbor Pioneer, owing in part to a phantom touchdown call. Head Coach Joe Eufinger called it his best team, and he coached several outstanding squads.
Legendary flint northern coach guy houston
1979 Grand Blanc Bobcats — The Steve Smith-led squad had an undefeated regular season, including a win over Carl Banks and Flint Beecher in one of the greatest games in area history, before falling in the first round of the playoffs.
1993 Flint Central Indians — An undefeated offensive juggernaut led by Fred Jackson, DeAngelo Mitchell and an extremely sound, all-around deep squad, the Indians met their match in a loss in the semifinal round of the state playoffs.
1981 Grand Blanc Bobcats — An unbeaten regular season led by Matt Conquest and a strong defense came up short against Escanaba in the first round of the playoffs.
1985 Grand Blanc Bobcats — The first Grand Blanc team to win a playoff game, they finished with 10 wins.
These teams were all unbeaten but did not win a state title:
1942 Flint St. Mary’s Wildcats
1942 Flint St. Mary’s Wildcats
1941 Flint St. Michael’s “The Mikes”
1951 Mandeville Spartans
1969 Flint St. Michael’s “The Mikes”
Gary L. “Fish” Fisher is President of the Genesee County Historical Society. Born and raised in Flint, he has lived in the area most of his life and his family has been a part of the Flint area for over 115 years. His fascination with the history of the city has existed as long as he can remember. In addition to writing, he is the President of G.L. Fisher Capital Management, LLC , an investment and financial planning firm he founded in 1992. He asserts that Flint has produced the best cars, athletes and coney islands the world has ever known – and the toughest people! Fisher can be reached at
ply2win2006@aol.com.
