(KMAland) -- Today’s KMA Sports Hall of Fame announcement goes to one of the legendary teams in KMAland history.
The 1969 Clarinda football team entered the season on a 19-game win streak and looking for some more competition.
“There are lots of good memories from that year and the previous two,” former Cardinal Bruce Schenck told KMA Sports.
Head coach John Dornan started the success almost immediately after arriving to Clarinda.
“We always felt we were just part of the system that (Coach Dornan) brought in two years earlier,” Schenck added.
Over that three-year span, the Cardinals went 27-1. It’s the loss, though, that has one of the most intriguing stories behind it.
Dornan sought out a game to really challenge his team to open the 1969 season, and he turned to Cedar Rapids Washington. The program was 16-0-1 the previous two years and entered the preseason ranked No. 3 in the state, just ahead of Clarinda.
In the July 22nd, 1969 version of the Des Moines Register, this appeared: “John Dornan…wants a chance to prove SW Iowa teams can hold their own against the state’s best. Dornan is seeking a game with a top notch Class AA school for September 5th.”
Weeks later, Clarinda and Cedar Rapids Washington signed a contract to play in Clarinda on that very date.
“I’m not sure how (Coach Dornan) got an extra game put in,” Schenck said. “All of a sudden we were going to play an early game on a Saturday, and (Cedar Rapids Washington) was coming to Clarinda. Wow, who would have thought that?”
And the Cardinals gave the larger school everything they could have wanted, scoring to pull within one point with 1:21 remaining in the game. Unfortunately, Clarinda’s go-ahead two-point try failed, and Washington escaped with the win.
That would be the last time Clarinda would lose and one of just three times all season they would get challenged. They followed with wins over Maryville (60-0), Atlantic (32-8), Red Oak (38-7), Glenwood (82-0), Corning (74-0), Creston (52-0), Villisca (42-0), Shenandoah (22-14) and St. Albert (30-16).
Clarinda would finish the season ranked in a tie at No. 4 with Indianola behind Waterloo East, Dowling and Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The Cardinals proved to be the first team in school history to finish in the UPI Top 10 in three straight seasons and the first team to finish as the Southwest Iowa champions in three straight seasons.
Clarinda placed 14 players on the All-Conference teams, including eight first team members and six on the second team. Other key members, along with Schenck, were quarterback Mark Tarrant, running back Norman Mier and receiver Dennis Behrhorst.
Hear the complete interview with Schenck linked below.
Special thanks to Craig Lundquist for gathering information on the 1969 Clarinda team.
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