Old Town: This is the eighth installment in a series recapping the 50th anniversary of the Oxford Hills 10-1 1971 football season.

In an awesome display of offensive perfection, unbeaten Oxford Hills scored touchdowns on its first five plays from scrimmage Friday night at Viking Field on the way to a 40-16 Pine Tree Conference win over Old Town.

It was the seventh straight win of the season for the Vikings and sixth in conference play, keeping OH one game ahead of the Morse High Shipbuilders (5-1) in the Coastal Division standings.

The first-period heroics sent sports buffs scrambling to the history books to find something similar to the scoring explosion.

“I’ve been here 47 years and I never heard of it happening,” said Portland Evening Express Sports Editor Phil Erlick. “One of the great Thornton Academy teams might have done something like that back in the early 1950s, but I think you could call it a record and nobody would dispute it.”

It happened this way.

Speedy halfback Reggie Olmstead took the opening kickoff out to the OH-40. On the first play, end Billy Brooks blew by the Old Town safety and was in the open by 15 yards. Quarterback Brad Cummings stood within a ring of blockers and had all day to throw. He hit Brooks perfectly for a 60-yard score. Dave Daniels added the first of four straight placements and it was 7-0 with 32 seconds played.

Old Town picked up a first down on its next series, but after quarterback Mickey Grant was sacked for a 14-yard loss, OH middle guard Steve Raasumaa registered his third fumble recovery of the season at the OT-31. On first down, Brooks rambled 31-yards for the touchdown on an end-around play.

Sparked by a 46-yard kickoff return by Bruce Plourde, the Indians drove deep into Viking territory on the next series before missing a 29-yard field goal attempt.

Taking over at its own 20-yard line, OH this time turned to halfback Larry Durgin, and on first down, he took a Cummings handoff and broke free on an 80-yard sprint for the third touchdown. The extra point by Daniels made it 21-0.

Old Town failed to move the ball in its next series, and after a bad punt, the Vikings started its fourth offensive series at its own 48-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage once again, Cummings hit end Hal Edwards on a 52-yard aerial for another touchdown. Daniels made it 28-0.

Things went from bad to worse for the Indians on the next series. Three pass plays failed before the punter dropped the snap, and tackle Paul Ricci recovered his third fumble of the year at the OT-23.

First play: Cummings rolled right and outran two tacklers on a 23-yard scoring jaunt. A pass attempt for the conversion fell incomplete, the only OH offensive failure for the first team all night. Leading 34-0 with two minutes still to play in the first period, Coach Bob Fallon sent in his second unit. Ultimately, it became the second game in which all 57 OH players would see action, the first coming three weeks ago on the road at Madison.

The Hills added a final tally in the fourth quarter when they took over after a bad punt at the OT-36. Halfback Tom Wyman got a first down on a ten-yard run and halfback Brian Otterson added five more. Quarterback Dave Ryerson then hit end Bruce Gordon on a 21-yard strike to make it 40-0.

Old Town finally got on the scoreboard with a wild play that had Grant throwing an interception at the OH-22, the Viking defender immediately fumbling the pigskin on the return, and Steve Lebreque picking up the loose ball for the Indians and taking it to the end zone. A successful Plourde rush for the two-point conversion made the score 40-8.

A fired-up Indians squad then recovered an onside kick at the OH-41 and proceeded to drive to the OH-6 on six plays. Plourde then hit paydirt on a sweep. Another two-point conversion, this time by halfback Allen Nye, made the final score 40-16.

Old Town Head Coach John Staples had kind words for the Vikings and the treatment his team got at Oxford Hills.

“Other teams have put their first units back in against us in the third quarter and racked up a couple more,” he commented. “Coach Fallon didn’t, and I appreciate it. We’re having a bad year, trying to rebuild. But some bright spots are starting to appear.”

Although the loss kept the Indians winless at 0-6, the long bus ride home was made much easier by scoring 16 points in the final period. “Those points meant a lot to them,” one Viking player observed. “At the end, they acted like they’d won the national championship.”

The Vikings host Berlin (NH) next Friday night in a non-conference tilt.

Bob Moorehead covered the 1971 Oxford Hills football team as a general assignment reporter for the Portland Press Herald and Sunday Telegram. He later served the Guy Gannett Newspapers as a sports editor, city editor, managing editor and general manager. Paul Ricci and Brian Partridge (both OHHS Class of 1972) conceived the idea for the series and provided extensive research. Readers who would like to share any favorite memories or stories from the 1971 season are encouraged to E-Mail either of them at paulricci@hotmail.com or brianpartridge@comcast.net.

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