TSSAA Rewind: 1972 Tennessee High team wins second consecutive state…

There had been a earlier state championship, and a few nationwide acclaim.

But as Tennessee Excessive College’s legendary squad entered the 1972 soccer season, the Vikings’ gamers approached their gauntlet with a twofold mindset: Play for the person on either side of you and “present them we will play somewhat soccer up right here in Bristol.”

Mission achieved, in a superlative commonplace that has stood the check of time 5 many years henceforth.

A yr after storming to the 1971 Class AAA state crown, Tennessee Excessive repeated in 1972 – with an unblemished report and such a dominant tour de drive that this system was heralded as nationwide champions.

“Principally, I simply bear in mind us making an attempt to get higher every week and to not let one another down,” mentioned former Viking nice Greg Jones, a hard-hitting linebacker who went on to play on the College of Tennessee as considered one of double-digit members of these Tennessee Excessive squads to play faculty soccer. “Our practices had been exhausting, and other people thought that we weren’t that good.

“We simply type of had a chip on our shoulder, and had been taking part in collectively since center college and towards one another since elementary college. We simply felt like whenever you come to play us, you’re going to play us.”

The Vikings by no means stopped sending that message – throughout to the title bout towards Chattanooga-area personal college Baylor. Tennessee Excessive romped Baylor, 39-6, in a recreation that capped its three-game steamrolling of all postseason foes. The Vikings gained these three playoff tilts within the state’s largest division by a mixed 105-18; all three wins got here by a minimum of 26 factors.

Jim Stoots, who performed on the Vikings’ 1971 title workforce and graduated in ’72 however has maintained many years of service to the TSSAA officiating a number of sports activities, recalled this system’s protection from these dominant years and in addition the identical bond that Jones mentioned had helped drive Tennessee’s success.

“We performed every recreation similar to we had been 0-0 once we stepped on the sector,” mentioned Stoots, who famous the Vikings yielded lower than 100 factors throughout their preliminary title run and barely allowed 100 by means of 13 video games in ’72. “As I feel again about it, they began a youth league program in Bristol and all of us performed towards and with one another since we had been in elementary college.

“I feel we had a bonus as a result of we had some guys that taught us fundamentals at a younger age. Which actually helped us alongside the best way. We didn’t must study these fundamentals on the center college or JV degree. So I feel that was a giant benefit for us.”

Former Vikings quarterback David Bibee, a longtime faculty soccer coach, instructed Tri-Cities TV station WJHL earlier this yr that the Vikings had served discover in ’71 and maintained their focus all through the record-breaking marketing campaign that capped this system’s 25-0 successful binge engineered by head coach John Cropp.

“We had an excellent teaching employees,” Bibee mentioned. “They had been forward of their time and so they had been all excellent. … They had been actually particular.

“It was superb, the yr earlier than we had been second (nationally) and our junior yr we had gained the semis 49-0 after which 54-0. We had momentum stepping into (to the 1972 season), and so they knew about us and we didn’t allow them to down.”

With the complete arsenal of gamers who earned faculty soccer scholarships just about too quite a few to depend, Tennessee Excessive despatched gamers from these squads to the College of Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Tennessee Tech, amongst a bevy of further packages.

Successful wasn’t fairly sufficient; the Vikings had been challenged week after week to search out methods to enhance upon their perfection.

“Our coaches had lots to do with that. They wouldn’t allow us to get complacent in any respect,” Jones mentioned. “In the event that they thought we had been beginning to get the big-head, they’d humble us fairly fast. It might get somewhat more durable than regular. I by no means had a follow in faculty as exhausting because the practices I had in highschool.

“It’s simply one thing to be very happy with and everyone knows we couldn’t have achieved it with out one another. That was our purpose, to let individuals know we play soccer right here in Bristol. They type of came upon fairly fast.”

And the Vikings’ house, the fabled ‘Stone Fort,’ added its personal aura of intimidation for opponents that traveled all the best way to the sting of Tennessee-Virginia state line for a shot at powerhouse Tennessee Excessive.

All these parts added as much as cap the bookend championships. And that ’72 marketing campaign embodied wire-to-wire dominance; the Vikings gained 12 of their 13 video games by 20 or extra factors and had solely rival Elizabethton play them to inside a landing as they outscored all foes 472-107.

“I didn’t count on to lose,” Jones mentioned. “Apply wasn’t my favourite factor however that’s the place you discovered your fundamentals and methods to get higher. We discovered that in highschool.

“We weren’t going to let one another down. We knew there have been going to be errors made, that all of us would make errors, however we might not make these errors twice. You simply didn’t let your fellow participant down. These are my brothers. We sweated collectively, had our disagreements, however after they blew the whistle, we had been all one.”