By Scott Seman

The 1975 Milton-Union football season promised either a transition and return to a winning culture or a continuation of the trend toward mediocrity. Coach Wat Farrar and the Bulldogs were coming off a disastrous 1974 season in which they finished first and ninth and finished last in the final year of the SWBL, which featured multiple schools. The revamped SWBL brought teams like Carlisle, Bellbrook, Valley View and Dixie, schools that most kids in Milton had never heard of, let alone knew where they were.

The Bulldogs opened the season on the road against Wapakoneta, a big, powerful school that overwhelmed them with its size and depth. Milton came back with a win but suffered another loss and looked set for a season on the brink of potential disaster.

With a record of one win and two losses, coach Farrar knew he had to take care of the mental side of the team. On Monday afternoon, when the team reported for practice, there was a walking hurdle in the doorway. Every time someone entered or left the locker room, they had to step over that hurdle, a very stark reminder that this team had a major hurdle to overcome to turn the season around. Bulldogs co-captains Mike Sergent and Mark Bowman knew how crucial this game would be. This week’s opponent, the Dixie Greyhounds, was a formidable team that Milton had never played before.

The game was a battle of the defensive backs, and late in the game Joe Vagedes intercepted a Greyhounds pass, ran it back and scored a touchdown, giving the Bulldogs the win. The hurdle had been overcome, and the Bulldogs were looking to turn the season around and have a chance at the league title.

The 1975 Homecoming game was against the Oakwood Lumberjacks. The festivities were canceled due to an incredible storm that brought wind, rain and sleet, a deluge of weather that by today’s standards would have caused the game to be postponed. In 1975, however, the game was on! Milton needed to win to keep its league title hopes alive, but no one could move the ball in this game. The field was an incredible mud pit, and fans and players will never forget the freezing weather, but most of all, “The Catch.”

Near the end of the game, Milton had the ball in Oakwood territory and attempted to move it by running what Coach Farrar would call a “46 Wedge.” Essentially, the fullback runs from the right tackle into a huddle of people, the good old “three yards and a cloud of dust,” but this time a mudslide. However, with little time left and no real hope of scoring a point, Coach Farrar sent a play into the huddle that will forever be remembered as “The Catch.” The 46 Backside Pass was a feint to the fullback from the right tackle, with the quarterback moving away from the play but this time holding the ball. Meanwhile, the tight end on the left side is racing down the middle of the field to snag a pass.

Quarterback Donnie Howell did the fake handoff so well that everyone thought the fullback had the ball. Donnie put his back to the line of scrimmage, then turned around and threw the ball in a perfect spiral downfield to a completely free, all alone tight end, Sam Niswonger. The ball sailed in the wind and Sam reached up with his soaking wet hands as he ran. He pulled the ball down with his fingertips and ran into the end zone all by himself with the winning touchdown pass. Of all the balls thrown and caught in Bulldogs games, none was more important than this catch!

The Bulldogs’ season was almost over. Bellbrook had suffered a league loss and the two teams played on the final Friday of the season against different opponents, both needing a win to secure a share of the SWBL title. Milton was away at Carlisle and was only ahead by one point late in the game. The Carlisle team had a quarterback with a strong arm and the Bulldogs secondary faced a tough test with key seniors injured and a 15-year-old sophomore on the field as a defensive back trying not to allow a big play. Mike Sergent, the senior co-captain, called the defense in the huddle. On the Carlisle team’s final possession, they threw the ball on every down. Mike got the call from Coach Jones and said in the huddle, “43 cover cold, Seman, don’t get burned!” I was on the field for the last play, didn’t allow a big play, and we won the game and shared the league title with Bellbrook. The graduating class of 1976 turned the Bulldogs’ fortunes around, and since the 1975 championship season, Milton won three more titles in the next four years. A culture-changing season with a hurdle, “The Catch” and “The Last Play” are memories that still bring a big smile to our faces 49 years later from a time we will all never forget.