To say the least, Richwood High left itself a tough act to follow when it joined the Louisiana High School Athletic Association in 1970, along with many more schools that had played in the LIALO (Louisiana Interscholastic, Athletic and Literary Organization) before the state's public schools were integrated.

Richwood averaged 64.1 points per game in regular-season play despite a 7-0 loss to Jonesboro-Hodge in its third game --which was the only Richwood game I saw that year.

The first two games were a 77-0 victory over Rayville and a 108-0 victory over Winnsboro, with Richwood calling timeout in the last 15 seconds of the Winnsboro game to set up a touchdown pass to Sammy White, and then going for a two-point conversion.

But White, who later starred at Grambling and went on to a great 10-year career with the Minnesota Vikings, was just another player in that lineup.

The quarterback was Dell Zimmerman, who passed for more than 2,000 yards that season. Both of his favorite receivers, White and 220-pound tight end Joe Mitchell, had 4.5-second speed in the 40-yard dash. So did every backfield starter, and one back-up.

The coach, Eugene Hughes, thought Richwood would've won the championship in the final year of the LIALO if they hadn't been tied up in a long court battle with city rival Carroll. "We finally won the case," he said, "but by that time, it was too late to do anything about the playoffs."

Vongle Coleman, who ran the 100-yard dash in 9.8 seconds, had scored 62 points and averaged more than 23 yards per carry in the previous two games. He would score 140 points in eight regular-season games.

But none of them scored at Jonesboro-Hodge that night, as Coleman was held to 21 yards in eight carries.

Jonesboro-Hodge had plenty of offensive firepower, too, with a talented group of transfers from Jackson High, which had played in the LIALO before integration. One of them was Mario Cage, who would finish his college career No. 3 on Northwestern State's career rushing list. He had averaged 11.6 yards per carry in his first two games, but Richwood held him to minus nine yards in nine carries.

Johnny Buckelew scored the only touchdown on a 34-yard pass from Randy Booker with 4:30 minutes remaining in the first half.

Richwood drove to the Jonesboro-Hodge 18, 11 and 17 on its first three possessions in the second half, but came up empty each time. The only Jonesboro-Hodge defensive breakdown came on a touchdown pass from Zimmerman to Mitchell that was erased by an obvious penalty, as a Richwood flanker was several yards past the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped.

Richwood had 208 yards total offense to 109 for Jonesboro-Hodge, but the only numbers that mattered were on the scoreboard. Seven to Zero.

Big plays for the Jonesboro-Hodge defense included a blocked punt and three interceptions by Buckelew, Booker and Ricky Smith. Sammy Henderson's punting was also a key factor for the Tigers. Two punts from the Jonesboro-Hodge goal line sailed over 55 yards.

Richwood's defense was super, too. On four separate drives, they stopped Jonesboro-Hodge when the Tigers had first down on the one, first down at the four, first down at the seven and second down at the two.

The Jonesboro-Hodge defense that pitched a shutout against what was probably the greatest collection of talent I've ever seen on a high school football team included ends Marvin Campbell and Ray Burrows, tackles Leon Callahan and John McDowell, noseguard Glen Linton, linebackers Ronnie Underwood, Kent McBride and Carl Morris, and deep backs Tyronne Jones, Buckelew, Booker, Cage and Smith.

Richwood's only other loss in its first LHSAA season was in the state championship game, when a Hammond team led by Brad Davis (who went on to stardom at LSU) beat the Rams 23-12 to wrap up a 14-0 season.

Mitchell, who was switched to running back at Northeast Louisiana, and offensive tackle Larry Matthews were the only members of that Richwood team who made the Louisiana Sports Writers Assn. All-State team. Campbell was the only Jonesboro-Hodge player picked on the team.

Sammy White made All-State a year later. Later, he was a three-time All-Pro with 393 catches for 6,400 yards and 50 touchdowns in 10 seasons with the Vikings.

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