1980 Pittsburg Pirates: Greatness in the shadows

The 1983 Daingerfield Tigers are widely considered one of the best high school football teams ever. The 83' Daingerfield defense gave up a total of 8 points on their way to a 16-0 State Championship. When you consider the offense put up a total of 631 points, who can argue? The 1980 16-0 State Champion Pittsburg Pirates seem to have gotten lost in the shadow of 1983 Daingerfield.

Consider the numbers. The Pirates gave up a grand total of 23 points the entire season. That is 23 points in 16 games. Even more impressive is the fact that 14 of those points were against Mount Pleasant (who had played Class 4A Finalist Paris to within two touchdowns) in week one of the season. Week four would be the only other regular season game in which the Pittsburg defense would allow any points. Jacksonville scored 7 in a 14-7 loss to the Pirates.

Pittsburg held all opponents scoreless from week 5 all the way to the State Semi-Finals. It was only in the State Championship game where they would surrender any points, that was a Van Vleck safety as Pittsburg defeated the Leopards for the 1980 State Championship game 13-2.

Better than 1983 Daingerfield? Probably not, but this team should be in the discussion.

Wk. 1 Pittsburg 15 Mt. Pleasant 14

Wk. 2 Pittsburg 34 Jefferson 0

Wk. 3 Pittsburg 47 Linden Kildare 0

Wk. 4 Pittsburg 14 Jacksonville 7

Wk. 5 Pittsburg 21 Daingerfield 0

Wk. 6 Pittsburg 16 Paris N. Lamar 0

Wk. 7 Pittsburg 34 Pattonville Prairie 0

Wk. 8 Pittsburg 47 Mount Vernon 0

Wk. 9 Pittsburg 50 Winnsboro 0

Wk. 10 Pittsburg 33 Clarksville 0

Bi-Dist Pittsburg 21 DeKalb 0

Area Pittsburg 24 Van 0

Qtr Final Pittsburg 28 Decatur 0

Semifinal Pittsburg 35 Stamford 0

Finals Pittsburg 13 Van Vleck 2

Grant Goodwin

ggoodwin@theoldcoach.com