Amphi football celebrates 50-year anniversary of state championship win

On the 50th anniversary of Amphitheater High School’s state football championship victory at what was then Arizona Stadium, defensive tackle Edwin P. Voss, Jr. shares his recollection of the come-from-behind win, which the team will be celebrating on Friday. 

Dec. 5, 1975. It was halftime, and we were down 22-8. During our team meeting in the locker room, it hit me. A quiet thought. But a thought that truly, palpably, convincingly hit me. “You are going to win.”

As I was listening to Coach Jerry Loper and Assistant Coach Jake Rowden, I heard that message in my mind. “You are going to win.” It shocked me and distracted me. With teenage avoidance of appearing foolish, I dared not say it out loud, but I believed it.

It was not altogether a wishful thought. Our successful season that got us to this point raced through my mind. We were the 1975 Amphitheater Panthers. This was the AAA state football championship game. At the University of Arizona football stadium. We had won tight, close games to get here. Was my thought a wispy dream?

During the season, we won over most opponents easily. We even were victorious over Buena down in Sierra Vista, a team my class had never beaten the previous three years.

Then came Salpointe. Our arch nemesis. We had no victories over the Lancers. Ever. Many of my teammates were friends, and rivals, with Salpointe players. We were 4-0. We were fired up. The week of practice before that game was the best week of practice we ever had.

We were sharp. We were tight. We were focused. This was going to be our year.

The Salpointe game was a disaster. We were smothered, out-played and humiliatingly defeated. The 29-15 score made it look a lot more competitive than it was. Before we scored at the end of the game, it was 29-7. A real beat down. We all felt awful. My mother summed it up, in very un-PC-like language: “You all played like a bunch of girls.”

At the beginning of the season, we had set our team goal: Win the state championship.

Could we still do it? Was that dream gone now? Looking back, that loss to Salpointe was the best thing that happened to us that year. It showed us that we were not invincible, that we could lose. We needed to work harder, to do what it takes to win.

We went to work. The next game, we won against cross-town rival Tucson High. Against Catalina, we came from behind, scored with six seconds left, made the two-point conversion, and won 22-21. That win put us in the playoffs.

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The AAA Southern Division Championship game was next, where we faced Buena. Again.

And we again came from behind, winning 35-24.

We traveled to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe to face the St. Mary’s Knights. Repeating the familiar script, we came from behind and went up 21-17 with 57 seconds to go. The Knights roared down the field quickly. With four seconds left, their quarterback ran to his right, but our defense crushed him at the 2-yard line. He fumbled, and we recovered the ball to win.

Next up: The state championship.

Our opponent: Maryvale High School. The team's mascot was also the Panthers, but that is where the similarities ended. They were from big city Phoenix. We are from historical Tucson, the Old Pueblo. They were undefeated at 11-0; we were 10-1. They had over 4,000 students; we had a little over 1,500. As a team, they were physically bigger than us, and their uniforms looked like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ uniforms. We were simply green and white. Studying their game films made me uneasy. This was going to be our toughest game.

And here we are at halftime on the short end of a 22-8 score. Our coaches encouraged us to show the toughness and character that got us to this point. That is when I heard in my mind the words, “You are going to win,” and I remembered that we had come from behind before. Next thing I knew, we were dismissed back to the field by Coach Loper: “Hell’s bells! Let’s go win a football game!”

The third quarter was a defensive struggle. We needed a spark. We got it. In the fourth quarter, we intercepted a Maryvale pass on their 46-yard line, returning it to the Maryvale 35. Four plays later, we scored and made the two-point conversion. The score was 22-16.

Our defense stiffened against Maryvale, and they punted. Our receiver, however, fumbled the catch at our own 29-yard line, and Maryvale recovered the ball. Maryvale had a short field. A sinking feeling hit me.

What’s this? Our defense held again, and Maryvale failed to get a first down. Maryvale went for it on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal. No gain! Turnover on downs. With three minutes remaining in the game, our offense took control from our own 20.

Next, I watched a patented, late-game Amphi drive down the field, including a clutch catch on the 2-yard line by the same receiver who had previously fumbled the punt reception. Incredibly, with 17 seconds left on the clock, our tailback plunged into the end zone from that point for the score. The extra point made it Amphi 23, Maryvale 22. Time ran out on Maryvale after that. My halftime thought was happily confirmed, and we were champions!

Our Year of the Panther was cemented in history. We were the first Amphi team to win our division, to win the Southern Division, to make it to the state final, and to win state. Tonight, exactly 50 years later, our team will be honoring that victory with a celebration at Arizona's football venue, now known as Casino Del Sol Stadium.

My mother said that I would never forget that game, and she was right.