Dec 02

Top 25 Biggest Wins in Reitz Bowl History – #18: Reitz 29, Vincennes Lincoln 7 (Sept. 10, 1971)

Coming in at No. 18 in the Top 25 Biggest Wins in Reitz Bowl History is the 1971 victory over Vincennes Lincoln.

Ray Mills and his Alices were predicted to have a really good team. They did, and with the help of five all-staters, the Knox County school finishes the season 9-1, ranked ninth in the state and finished second in the SIAC at 3-1.

However, that one loss came courtesy of the Mighty Panthers. In both teams’ season opener, Reitz won, 29-7, and head coach Bob Padgett’s team would go on to win the city, SIAC Division A and mythical state championship.

Larry Johnson lead the Panthers with three touchdowns, including a 91-yarder, still one of the longest in school history.

Points of interest

  • 7,000 fans watched in a 90 degree heat
  • Johnson would go on to win his second consecutive city scoring championship with 102 points (he’d scored 100 in 1970)
  • Had Vincennes won, it would have been their 450th in school history
  • It was the 100th game for head coach Ray Mills at Vincennes, who would eventually join the Indiana Football Hall of Fame

Links of interest

ReitzFootball.com

Dan Engler's love for Reitz Football goes back a long time. Engler played for the Panthers all four years of high school and graduated in 1996.
That summer, as the popularity of the Internet began to explode, Engler's search for Reitz Football information came up empty, so his father suggested he create a website. Engler taught himself HTML and launched the Unofficial Reitz High School Football Home Page that August.
Since then, Engler, through ReitzFootball.com, has spent the past 25 years chronicling the rich history and tradition of Reitz High School Football.
Engler and his wife, Melissa, have two sons, Logan and Micah, and a daughter, Juliette. Engler has traveled all over the world but is proud to call Evansville his home.

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