CityView Magazine

28 November 2020 BY EARL VAUGHAN JR. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM A group of young, unproven coaches, along with a team of mostly unproven players, were coming off a disappointing season. At the time, it didn't sound like the recipe for building a championship team. But al l the usual missing ingredients were replaced by an almost magical chemistr y and a communit y that quick ly fel l in love w ith its young heroes. The resu lt was a histor y-mak ing season for the 1970 Sevent y-First High School footbal l team. It has been 50 years since those Falcons flew high, as high as they could, bringing home the N.C. High School Athletic Association's Eastern 3-A title. e 1970 football season at Seventy-First was one of confusion and transition at the beginning. Aer winning the Pioneer 3-A Conference in 1968, the 1969 team fell to a disappointing record of 2-8. Lineman Greg Killingsworth said it was clear what the problem was that season. "It was not a team,'' he said. "ere were a lot of guys who were more concerned about what was going on at the Torch Drive-In, McDonald's or Hardee's.'' Aer that disappointing season, Lawrence Buffaloe, who had coached the Falcons to the league title in 1969, decided to leave coaching and enter school administration, becoming assistant principal at Seventy-First. Principal Bob Lewis made what many considered a bold decision, elevating a fairly inexperienced assistant named Jim Boyette to head coach. A graduate of James Kenan High School in Warsaw, Boyette had graduated from then-Campbell College just six years earlier. A football star in high school, Boyette played what was basically club football at Campbell, where his teammates included future Seventy- First co-worker Alex Warner and Hope Mills stars and brothers, Calvin and Charles Koonce. Boyette didn't consider his promotion bold at all. He had a different word. "It was absolutely a gamble,'' Boyette said. "I was scared to death.'' Scared, yes. Daunted? Absolutely not. "My expectation was we were going to work hard and try to do things that were right,'' Boyette said. "e desire was to do the best we 'the impossible dream' season IN 1970, A CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL SEASON SEEMED FAR FROM LIKELY FOR THE SEVENTY-FIRST FALCONS. BY EARL VAUGHAN JR. PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM AND COURTESY OF THE HEX AGON

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