Quarterfinal losses end historic seasons for Airline, Parkway

The Bossier Parish 2012 high school football season ended Friday night with Airline falling to West Monroe 34-14 and Barbe (Lake Charles) beating Parkway 45-35 in Class 5A quarterfinal playoff games.
Parkway finished the season with an 11-2 record, the first 11-win season in the school’s history, while Airline finished at 10-3. It was Airline’s first 10-win season since the 1998 Vikings were10-1.
Coach David Feaster’s Parkway Panthers outscored their opponents 509-187, averaging 39.1 points per game. The only team that held Parkway under 31 points this season was Airline, with a 31-13 win over the Panthers in District 1-5A play. Airline is also the only team that held Haughton under 21 points, beating the Bucs 38-14.
Airline outscored its opponents 407-214 this season, as the Vikings averaged 31.3 points per game.
Airline wasn’t as consistent on offense as Parkway, scoring 14 points or less in three games.
Haughton is the last Bossier Parish team that won a state championship, as the Bucs won the Class 3A championship (then the second highest class) with a 13-1 record, beating Vandebilt Catholic 21-0 in the championship game at Houma to wrap up a 13-1 season.
Offensive guard David Pope, defensive end David Grappe, linebacker Bobby Strogen and defensive back Everett Williams were All-Staters for Haughton’s 1977 state champs. Bobby Ray McHalffey was the Bucs’ coach.
The last Bossier Parish state champion before that was the 1967 Airline team,which won the Class 3A championship (then the highest class) with a 10-2-1 record in the fourth year of the school’s existence, beating Holy Cross (New Orleans) 20-6 in the championship game at Shreveport’s State Fair Stadium.
Halfback Eric Kilpatrick was the only All-Stater on the 1967 Airline team. Runnerup Holy Cross had seven All-Staters, and its coach, John Kalbacher, was selected “Coach of the Year” by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
Bossier High is the only Bossier Parish high school that has won more than one state football championship. The Bearkats were Class A state champs (then the second highest class) in 1942 and 1948. The 1942 team, coached by Ben Cameron, wrapped up a 12-0 season with a 27-12 win at DeQuincy in the championship game. The 1948 Bearkats, coached by Loy Camp, beat Reserve 21-0 in the title game.
Bossier High teams coached by Camp also reached the state finals in 1946 and 1950, with the 1946 team falling to Sulphur, 6-0, and the 1950 team dropping a 7-6 decision to Baker at the end of a 13-2 season in which the Bearkats scored what was believed to be a state record total of 522 points.
The Bearkats’ top scorers in 1950 were halfbacks Tony Montalbano with 159 points and Don Millen with 154. Bossier High won the district championship with a 14-13 victory over a Homer team led by future LSU stars Al Doggett and Wrendall Nealy. All-Staters on the 1950 Bossier High team were Montalbano and tackles Bill Little and Bill Mosely.
The 1950 Bearkats ran for extra points, although rules at that time allowed only one point whether you kicked, ran or passed. Their point total would’ve been even bigger with today’s rules, which allow two points for running or passing for conversion points.

Jerry Byrd is the former sports editor of the Bossier Press-Tribune and an award-winning columnist. You can contact him by E-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it