The year was 1998 and traveling out of state to play a high school football game was not yet commonplace. But nationally-ranked Arlington Lamar couldn’t find a team in Texas to play them, so they traveled to Orlando to face another nationally ranked team, Rutherford high school out of Florida.
For many of the Vikings it was the first time they’d ever been on a plane and for head coach, eddy peach, he had to conquer his own fear of flying.
But after 3 days of enjoying the beaches of Florida and a trip to the magic kingdom, the Vikings were ready to take on their opponent. They wanted to show the nation that Texas high school football could stack up with the best in the country the game went back and forth but Lamar finally seemed to have the game under control after scoring twice in the third quarter to take a 21-14 lead.
The biggest play of the game happened in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 21. Rutherford’s lee rogers on his way for a breakaway touchdown, but as he looks back he hyperextends his knee - he falls down short of the end zone.
And the Vikings would capitalize with a goal line stand, holding Rutherford to no points to set up Justin Martinez for the winning field goal to give Lamar the 24-21 victory - more importantly, Arlington Lamar and the state of Texas would get much deserved bragging rights over the state of Florida in the first head to head matchup between the country’s 2 best football states.