YEAR

OPPONENTS/SCORE

DETAILS

1969

Natchitoches (7-26)

Tallulah (6-21)

Wossman (26-42)

Record against: 0-3

Natchitoches was destined to go through the season undefeated in route to the Class AA State crown.  Their opponent in that game was Tallulah.  Winnfield came into the Natchitoches game with six senior starters sidelined with injuries, forcing the use of several sophomores, including sophomore QB Alan Carter. The Tigers actually had more total yards than both Natchitoches and Tallulah, but turnovers proved to be a killer in both contest.  Wossman was the “weaker” of the three and that is relative because they came into the contest undefeated and ranked #5 in the state at the time. Tallulah would end up winning the district crown, but Wossman came in second after a narrow defeat to Tallulah.  For the third straight week the Tigers won the statistical battle but were behind in the most important statistic that mattered – the scoreboard.  After these three losses the team posted five straight wins to end the regular season.

1982

Ferriday (32-14)

E. D. White (50-8)

John Curtis (23-14)

Record against: 3-0

The scores would indicate that these were easy game.  Considering the stakes of a quarterfinal, semifinal and a championship game, that alone made these tough opponents.  Throw in the fact that two of these were long road games (E. D. White and John Curtis), not to mention that the Dome was very familiar surrounding to the Curtis program.  The E. D. White game was made even more difficult when the scheduled Friday night game had to be postponed for one day due to severe weather.  That only prolonged the out of town stay.  Ferriday came into the quarterfinal round game with a 21-2-0 record over two seasons and were led by returning All State running back Nathanial Williams. The Tigers held him to a season-low 83 yards rushing.  The next week the Tigers faced the undefeated Cardinals and rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead to completely take them out of the contest.  In the championship game Winnfield struck for long touchdown runs on their first three possessions to take a 20-0 lead in the first quarter.  Though Curtis narrowed that gap to 20-14, Winnfield added a field goal to account for the final margin.

1971

Haughton (20-13)

Hahnville (14-13)

South Lafourche (0-10)

Record against: 2-1

This marked the first time a Tiger team had won a quarterfinal round playoff game and played in a semi-final round game, much less a state title game. All three opponents ended the regular season ranked in the Top Ten in Class AAA.  Haughton offered the Tigers the most difficult matchup problems of the year because the Tigers had relied on quickness and speed to roll over 11 consecutive opponents.  Haughton was faster as they featured the reigning state 100 yard dash man, as well as the reigning state 220 yard dash man in their backfield.  The Tiger defense held that offense to two touchdowns and the Tiger offense scored one of the most dramatic touchdowns in the program’s history in coming from behind in the final 90 seconds of the contest.  The Haughton game was played on the road, but the Hahnville game was played at home in frigid conditions.  Again, the Tigers scored last in the fourth quarter to gain a come from behind win and a trip to the title game, which would be played on South Lafourche’s home field and required the Tiger football program to make the longest road trip in its history.  The Tigers faced a Tarpon team that outweighed them by an average of well over 30 lbs. per man so this shaped up a speed vs. size encounter.  That speed was all but negated on a field wet and muddy from a morning rain storm.

YEAR

OPPONENTS/SCORE

DETAILS

1966

Jena  (33-13)

Tallulah (7-27)

Jesuit, Sp (7-39)

Record against: 1-2

The program was coming off two straight losing seasons and had only won five games in those two seasons.  In the biggest turn around in school history the 1966 won eight of the first games of the season and were poised to get the schools fifth district title with a win over Jena in the regular season finale.  Winnfield came into the game ranked #3 in Class AA poll, but Jena was ranked #5.  Ironically, Jena had already lost to district foe Tallulah, who was ranked just outside the Top Ten.  Jena ended up defeating Winnfield 19-13 in that regular season finale.  That resulted in a three-way tie in the district, with Winnfield, Jena and Tallulah all having one loss.  The system used to break ties at that time was a tiebreaker on the field.  Tallulah won a coin toss and received a bye in the tie breaker format.  Jena and Winnfield would play the next Tuesday, four days after the regular season finale.  The loser would be out of the playoff hunt and the winner would face Tallulah the following Friday (three days later).  After Winnfield gave up 212 yards rushing to Jena in the regular season finale, the Tiger defense held the Giants to only 3 first downs and 45 yards rushing in the rematch.  That set up the game with Tallulah.  Having played two games in one game the Tigers played Tallulah tough in the first half as indicated by the 7-7 halftime score.  However, Tallulah had rested for seven days and that showed in the second half when they scored three times and held Winnfield out of the end zone.  The following week Winnfield was simply outclassed by a Jesuit team who went on to fall in the Class AA title game by a 7 pt. margin.

1976

Haughton (29-3)

Catholic, BR (37-13)

Jesuit, SP (0-7)

Record against: 2-1

This was yet another series of quarterfinal, semi final and championship game contests.  Haughton and Jesuit finished #1 - #2 in the District 1 AAA.  Of the three Haughton was clearly the weakest as they had tasted defeat three times during the season.  However, Catholic came into the semifinal round contest boasting one of the best defenses in the state.  Heading into the game the Bears had only given up 7 points in the preceding 27 quarters.  Catholic had ended the year ranked #9 in the Class AA polls.  The Tigers had little respect for the Bear defense as they bolted to a 30-7 halftime lead and riddled the Catholic defense for 220 rushing yards and 118 yards passing.  All of that came in front of a home-town Catholic crowd.  The Tigers returned to Stokes-Walker stadium the next week to play the most important football game ever played on Winn Parish soil, the Class AAA title game.  The opponent would be Jesuit, who had won the District 1-AAA crown and the week before had knocked off  Lutcher, the defending Class AAA champions and #1 ranked Class AAA team.  Jesuit completed only one pass all night but that one pass was a screen that went 63 yards for a touchdown.