It’s 1978 and the Red Bank Lions are in double overtime in the state semifinals against the Farragut Admirals from Knoxville. Red Bank football coach Tom Weathers decides to make a gutsy call. Rather than try to kick an extra point after his team’s most recent touchdown, which tied the game, he sends his offensive line back onto the field to go for a two-point conversion. If the Lions make it, they are state championship-bound. If they don’t, they go home with nothing.
The play is a dump pass to one side of the field, designed to move the ball just enough yards for the score. Quarterback Bill Price will throw to wide receiver Gary Partrick.
When they get to the line of scrimmage, however, Partrick and Price decide to take a risk. They decide to flip the play to the opposite side of the field.
“I don’t remember whether it was me, Bill or both of us,” says Partrick, now in his 50s. “To this day, I still don’t know what made us think we could or should do that.”
But the play works. The Lions score the two-point conversion, sending them to the state championship.