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MARK MAYNARD: Lessons from ’78 state champs 100108
State championships of any kind should never be taken for granted. Ivan McGlone learned that lesson in 1978.

That was the year Russell won the Class AAA championship with a 17-7 victory over Woodford County at Hanger Field on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.

It took 27 more years for McGlone to taste that sweet elixir of state championship tonic again.

“I was young — well, I was 40 — and just thought this is what you’re supposed to do,” he said of the victory in ’78. “I probably appreciated the second one (in 2005) more. The first one, I was like, ‘Well, it’s about time.’ We played pretty good football. I thought surely every four years we’d get back there.’’

McGlone was only in his third season at Russell in ‘78. The first year the Red Devils went 4-7 and his second season they reached the state semifinals, losing a 13-7 heartbreaker to Fort Thomas Highlands.

“That ’77 team was awfully good,” he said. “Fort Thomas beat us 13-7 and they scored on fourth down late in the game. We came back in ’78 and the confidence is up. That kind of carries you.”

What Russell was in the midst of was a three-year stretch from 1977-79 of very good football. If not for an early season loss to Belfry, when only the district champion advanced in the playoffs, the ‘79 team may have well given the Red Devils back-to-back state championships.

But the stars aligned right in ’78 for a Russell team that knew how to win.

Brent Muncy was the quarterback and is the name most equate with the ’78 champions. Even though he was one of the better passing quarterbacks around, the Red Devils did then what they do now — run, run, run.

In the state championship, Muncy threw only three times, completing one to Mitch Julien that set up Mike Keen’s field goal that put Russell ahead 17-7 in the fourth quarter. McGlone said he walked over to assistant coach Grady Walters on the sidelines and told him they were going to run the bootleg pass. Walters, a proponent of the passing game, was shocked.

“Grady was always harping we need to throw the ball more,” McGlone said. “When I told him that, he wouldn’t even talk to me. He just walked away.”

But the bootleg completion was a big one, albeit the only one, in the finals.

“Obviously, we could throw the ball,” McGlone said. “We didn’t throw much in the playoffs but we did throughout the season.”

The leading receiver for the Red Devils was Bill Cyrus, who was later more commonly known as Billy Ray Cyrus. The country music star was also the holder for kicker Mike Keen, who was a weapon that McGlone called upon often in the ‘78 season.

“We were pretty good defensively. It was back in an era where you didn’t have to score 40 points. We were happy to have 17 points. We always felt back then if we got a touchdown lead, we’re going to win it.”

It wasn’t an offensive juggernaut, but the same Wing-T that McGlone runs today was efficient. It got first downs. It ate the clock. And it put the defense in position to finish off teams.

Linebacker Greg Allen, Jeff Roy, Scott Hester, Muncy, Mike Peffer and Scott Boyd were some of the other defenders. Andy Rayburn, the fullback, was knocked out of the game with a hip-pointer. The Red Devils scrambled, moving Bill Jenkins to fullback and Boyd, who had over 100 yards rushing in the game, to left halfback.

Rayburn was blasted by a stunting Woodford County linebacker and it made the coaching staff change the blocking assignment on the play. “We call it the Scott Boyd rule to this day,” McGlone said.

Russell wasn’t supposed to be in the finals in ’78. Lloyd Memorial was a powerhouse from northern Kentucky that Jessamine County upset in the playoffs. The Red Devils then defeated Jessamine County 18-0 to reach the finals for the first time.

“It was a big upset,” McGlone said of Lloyd’s loss. “I know we had scouts down there and somewhere in the fourth quarter they decided to start scouting Jessamine County.”

Jessamine County and Russell were in a scoreless tie in the first half. The Colts had driven inside Russell’s 10 but the defense made a stand. The Red Devils then drove it down the field and kicked a field goal in the closing seconds for a 3-0 lead. “They were kind of dominating us throughout the first half,” McGlone said.

But the Red Devils survived and then finished an 11-3 season like it started, with a win over Woodford County. Russell defeated Woodford County 28-7 in the Recreation Bowl season opener.

The Devils three losses came to Huntington East, Huntington High and Greenup County.

McGlone has since coached the sons of many former players. This year he has three sons of fathers who were members of the 1978 championship team — Will Rice (Greg Rice), Zach Smith (Jeff Smith) and Tanner Locey (Denny Locey).

“I told them I’m not coaching their grandkids,” McGlone said. “I’m not going to do it ... unless they’re really good.”