LOUDONVILLE — In 1951 the Perrysville Admirals six-man gridiron gang turned in a storybook season.
The squad, coached by superintendent Merle Hunter, was coming off of an unimpressive 2-4 season in 1950, but did have nine lettermen returning for the ’51 campaign: Ed Applegate, Franklin Cates, Russell Easterday, Ralph Lozier, John Mann, Dick Peterson, Charles Stoner, Gaylord Zody, and Marion Zody. The veterans were joined by rookies Edward Beathler, Joe Brown, Charles Easterday, William Miller, Harold Phalor, James Schrack, Leonard Stoner, and James Weber.
The Admirals opened the season on Friday, Sept. 14 at Walnut Creek: “Touchdowns came like rain for Perrysville Friday night. In one of the highest scoring football games ever played in Ashland County, the Perrysville six-man football machine ran roughshod over Walnut Creek, 80-0.” Applegate tallied six touchdowns, Gaylord Zody and Norm Easterday each scored 2, James Schrack and Marion Zody scored one apiece.
Next week the Admirals took on the Hayesville Panthers and walked away with a 59-12 victory.
Then came the 43-13 victory over “highly regarded Sullivan,” where “Hunter’s outfit romped with ease” and “Perrysville’s ace, Applegate, had himself a TD picnic.”
In their fourth game of the season the Admirals stumbled against Killbuck, but still pulled through for a 20-6 victory.
“It marked the first time the powerful Admirals had been held under 43 points.”
That crack in the Admirals’ armor became an immediate concern, as they were slated to face the defending-champions and undefeated juggernauts from Howard.
“Saturday night will be do-or-die for Coach Merle Hunter’s Perrysville Admirals. The Admirals lock grips with Howard in a battle for undisputed first place in the Tri-County Six-Man Football League.”
Howard was on an eight-game winning streak dating the 1950 season, and was the favorite to steal the trophy again. The game lived up to it’s hype:
“Zody’s Dropkick Wins Crucial Game For Perrysville, 8-6; Still Unbeaten.” The game “turned out to be just as billed — the ‘game of games’ in the six-man football competition this year” played in front of over 1,000 roaring fans.
The next week, the Admirals were back in form.
“Mighty Perrysville swamped Jeromesville 50-0.” The Jerries were no match for Applegate, who ran 51 yards for his longest TD of the season and followed it up with an interception that he returned 40 yards before going down at the 8.
By Oct. 24, scoring leaders were announced across the state and undefeated Loudonville’s Jack Augenstein was a leader in the Mansfield area with 10 scores for 74 points. However, six-man teams were listed separately. Applegate had already tallied 19 touchdowns for a whopping 114 points. One week later and he’d add another 24 points to the stat line.
The headlines tell the story after that.
“No One Seems Able To Halt Admirals!” “Perrysville Romps” and “There’s just no stopping that mighty six-man outfit from Perrysville!”
The Admirals romped over hapless Glenmont 59-7 for their seventh straight win.
Perrysville wrapped up the season with a 45-0 triumph over Bladensburg in a game that was called after only three quarters, which Bladensburg claimed was because of the driving blizzard … but that didn’t seem to affect the Admirals who managed to double their scoring efforts every quarter.
Applegate, the sophomore superstar, ended the season with 24 touchdowns and 144 points. Even more impressive was the final count.
“Perrysville won eight straight games and piled up 366 points to 44 for the opposition.”
More information on the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum can be found at this link.
