Raiders remember 1982

By By Austin Bishop/EMG regional sports director
November 21, 2003
Tim Glover, Martin Francis, Morris Goforth, Jerry McWilliams and John Thomas may have known they were part of a special team when they and the rest of the Lamar School Raiders played for the MPSA Class A State Championship in 1982, falling short to Strider Academy 12-8.
They probably just didn't know how special.
When those five and their Raider teammates walked off a wet and muddy Grey Cobb Field on that November night long ago they probably had no idea it would be 20 years before Lamar would play for another state championship.
In fact, the 1983 team is owner of one of the most amazing stories in Mississippi prep football history. That Lamar squad gave up only seven points all season, but lost to Winston Academy and didn't make the playoffs despite finishing 9-1 because only one team was taken out of each division that year.
Lamar will try to pick up the school's first state title in football when they take on Madison-Ridgeland Academy for the Class AAA Division II Championship at Mississippi College's Robinson-Hale Stadium today at 1 p.m.
Glover said there were three games that really stood out to him.
One was a 7-3 win over Leake Academy in the third game of the season when the Raiders had to drive 96 yards late in the game and scored on a hook-and-lateral play to pull out the win.
Carkuff became a true believer two weeks later when his Raiders rallied from a two-touchdown deficit against Winston Academy to take a 34-13 win.
Three weeks later the Raiders traveled to Columbus and dropped a 15-6 non-league decision to Heritage Academy.
The next Friday night Lamar picked up what was at that point arguably the biggest win in school history when they blanked Heidelberg Academy 29-0, snapping the Rebels' 35-game winning streak. Heidelberg was the defending back-to-back state champion at the time.
Lamar went on to finish the regular season at 9-1 then traveled to Natchez to beat Trinity Episcopal 33-7 in the first round of the state playoffs, setting up the battle with Strider.
After the 1984 season, Carkuff left Lamar to become the head football coach at Oneonta (Ala.) High School were he remained for 15 years, playing for state championships in 1985 and 1987, finishing as runner-up both years.
He is now the offensive coordinator at Shelbyville (Tenn.) High School.
His oldest son, Jeff, played guard and linebacker on that 1982 team, while his second son J.T. was born in Meridian.
His youngest son helps him and his wife Becky remember their times at Lamar.
The 13-year-old's name is Jacob Lamar. "That just shows you what we thought of our years there."