22 years ago today....

[swva_havok_fan 1,261]

Copied this from the Facebook group I run, Mountain Empire High School Sports Discussion. Wanted to post it here as well. 

October 15, 1999. 

22 years ago today, two of the most memorable high school football games ever in Southwest Virginia played out roughly 10 miles away from one another.

The Haysi Tigers fell behind 28-0 to the Pound Wildcats in the first half of their game at Dotson-Mullins Field. The Tigers would pull off an improbable comeback winning 34-28 in OT.

Meanwhile at Carroll Dale Stadium in Wise, the JJ Kelly Indians were pulling off a monumental upset at home against the Powell Valley Vikings. The Big Stone Gap crew were in the midst of a 34 game winning streak and showed no signs of slowing down over the first half of the 99 season. The Indians played ball control all night and stunned all of SWVA winning 19-14.

The aftermath of that night is well known. Pound would recover from the loss to Haysi and make it all the way to Lynchburg to play in the Class 1, Division 1 state title game, losing to Surry County.

The Vikings downfall would continue as they fell in the first round of the Class 1, Division 2 playoffs to the Clintwood Greenwave.

Haysi would fall to Honaker also in the first round of the Class 1, Division 2 playoffs.

Kelly, even with the monumental upset of the Vikings, failed to even get to the postseason, finishing with a 6-4 record.

To all of my SWVA folks in the group, were you at either game that night? What are your memories of either game?

Or, if you were at another game, talk about that. Lol. It's the one night I vividly remember even years later, since I was at both games back and forth. 

[Pioneer 69]

I was at the Kelly game that night with my dad..it was a lot of fun. I was a Sophomore at JJK at the time. We thought it would be over a halftime and  we were shocked that we were ahead 13 to 0. I remember us calling  my mom at home telling her we were staying because we were winning.  I also remember running onto the field afterwards, seeing the PV players in shock that they had lost.  It's hard to believe it was 22 years ago...now I feel old! I found the game on YouTube last year and rewatched it... it brought back a lot of memories and was still amazing. That JJK team definitely played above their ability that night. 

That 99 Kelly team was expected to go 1-9 again for the 5th consecutive season. No JJK didn't make the playoffs,  but winning 6 games was a massive leap forward for a team that had lost 24 straight LPD games and had a combined record of 4-36 the four previous seasons. They continued the momentum over the next 3 seasons making the playoffs every season.