No Section

On a slippery 1977 day, Washburn kept just enough of a grip

50 years in the making: Hands and feet failed at Parade Stadium, and turnovers abounded.

By Ron Haggstrom

November 27, 2022 at 5:37AM

Minneapolis Washburn players savored success after defeating Stillwater for the Class AA championship in 1977. (John Croft, Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Star Tribune is celebrating 50 years of high school football state tournaments one day at a time for 50 days.

Year: 1977

Paul Simon's song "Slip Slidin' Away" was written and recorded in 1977. It could have been played leading into the football championship games.

Fumbles and slippery turf contributed to Minneapolis Washburn's 13-0 victory over high-scoring Stillwater in the Class AA finals at Parade Stadium. The Millers students dragged out a huge banner proclaiming "State Champs" as the clock was winding down.

Each team lost four fumbles and the Millers threw an interception in the opening quarter. Stillwater had two long bombs intercepted late in the game, when it was trying to come back.

"The fumbles to some extent had to do with the footing," Millers coach George Wemeier said. "When it's slippery, your hands tense up quite a bit."

Fullback Michael Pierson rushed for 63 yards and scored both touchdowns for the Millers, who had only 151 yards of offense. Their defensive unit limited Stillwater to 158 yards.

"They deserved to win it," Stillwater coach George Thole said. "They shut us out, and nobody's done that for five years."

In Class A, Totino-Grace quarterback Jeff Filipek and his teammates kept right on practicing after the week's snowstorm so the crust and ice that covered the St. Cloud Tech field didn't bother them. Filipek threw three touchdown passes, two to Paul Cisek, to built a 20-0 lead en route to a 36-12 triumph over Rocori. It was the first of 10 championships for the program.

"We like to stay on the ground, but with the field so slippery we decided to come out passing," said Filipek, who had thrown only 11 touchdown passes in the preceding 10 games.

Larry Soukup made three of the interceptions.

In the other three finals:

Deer Creek intercepted five passes, turning three of them into touchdowns, while shutting out Hillcrest Lutheran 20-0 for the Nine-Man crown. The game went on despite snow that caused the game to be moved from Underwood to Rothsay. A spokesman for Rothsay High School said there were 20-foot snow drifts in the area.

"About the only thing that was clear around here was the football field," he said. "The wind blew the snow right off."

In Class C, junior halfback Paul Nelson scored on a 1-yard plunge and Rick Magnuson kicked the extra point as Battle Lake edged Henderson 21-20 in overtime. Henderson scored first in overtime on senior quarterback Dave Haskvitz's second touchdown pass to senior halfback Terry Bigouette. Henderson's kicker slipped on the frozen field and missed the extra point.
In Class B, seniors Mike Antonson and Greg Reese each scored two touchdowns while quarterback Curt Strasheim threw for one and ran for another as Granite Falls overwhelmed Stewartville 44-6. It was the first of three titles for the Kilowatts.

State championship games

Class AA: Minneapolis Washburn 13, Stillwater 0

Class A: Totino-Grace 36, Rocori 12

Class B: Granite Falls 44, Stewartville 6

Class C: Battle Lake 21, Henderson 20 (OT)

Nine-Man: Deer Creek 20, Hillcrest Lutheran 0