THIS DAY IN SPORTS: A local feeling similar to January 1, 2007

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This Day In Sports…December 20, 1980:

Boise State wins the Division I-AA national championship with a 31-29 win over Eastern Kentucky at the Camellia Bowl in Sacramento. It was the culmination of a two-year run that saw the Broncos keep a promise to themselves. They had gone 10-1 in 1979 but were ineligible for the postseason due to an illegal scouting incident, and they had placed a placard above the locker room door at Bronco Stadium’s Varsity Center that said, “Those who stay…will be National Champions.” Prophecy fulfilled.

The day in California’s capital city started in fog and ended in sunshine. The field at Hughes Stadium was in poor condition from the wide array of junior college and high school games played there during the fall. But a little paint from the creative grounds crew made it look as green as possible for ABC’s national telecast. The game itself was a classic slugfest. It was Boise State that managed a 14-10 lead at halftime on touchdowns from wide receiver Kipp Bedard and fullback David Hughes.

The Broncos’ advantage increased to 24-16 in the third quarter on a TD by tailback Cedric Minter and a field goal by Kenrick Camerud. Then Eastern Kentucky caught fire. The Colonels intercepted a Joe Aliotti pass on the Boise State 14-yard line and scored a few plays later. Then EKU connected on a 60-yard touchdown pass to take a 29-24 lead with 55 seconds left in the game. This was it for the Broncos’ seniors. They had considered the 1980 national title their destiny, and it was about to slip away.

Aliotti, limping noticeably from an ankle injury suffered the previous week against Grambling, led the offense on the field as Boise State took over on its 20. Consecutive completions of 19, 13 and 34 yards to Bedard put the Broncos on the EKU 14 with 35 seconds still remaining. Then: three straight incompletions. Boise State faced fourth-and-10 with 20 seconds on the clock. Aliotti took the snap and scrambled to the right. He looked and looked and looked—and finally found tight end Duane Dlouhy on the other side of the field in the back corner of the end zone for the winning TD.

Boise State’s “Four Horsemen,” Aliotti, Minter, Hughes and Terry Zahner, all seniors, sat together on the bench holding back tears as the final seconds ticked off. You can imagine the pandemonium when the clock struck 0:00. I can tell you that the feeling that day—and when the team returned to Boise—was a forerunner of the rush felt after the 2007 Fiesta Bowl victory.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)

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