Jax State & Lehigh Played for the NC?

[Gamecocks99]

Who can tell me in what year & in what State & who won in the National Championship Game between Lehigh and Jacksonville State? Also, can anyone give any details about the game? I was 11 years old that year. A hint The next year Lehigh moved up to 1 AA. It would be great to hear stories from anyone with them.

[Mr. C]

The NCAA football record book lists Lehigh beating Jacksonville State 33-0 in the 1977 Division II championship game. The book didn't say where the game was played. Lehigh beat UMass 30-23 in the first round and UC Davis 39-30 in the semfiinals. JSU stomped Northern Arizona 35-0 in the first round and toppled North Dakota State 31-7 in the semifinals. Bethune-Cookman was another future I-AA team that played in the playoffs that year, losing 34-16 to UC Davis. North Dakota State beat Northern Michigan 20-6 in the other first-round contest.

The only other thing I could find out about the game was that Lehigh receiver Steve Kreider caught a then-championship-game-record four touchdown passes in that game, scoring 24 of the Engineers' 30 points. Back in those days, ABC used to show the championship games on national TV, so it is quite probable I saw it (I was in my second year of college at the time). I do remember some of the other D-II title games, like Central Michigan beating Delaware 54-14 in 1974. I also remember seeing a 1974 semifinal game where Delaware beat UNLV 49-11.

[Umass74]

I was at the UMass-Lehigh first round game on 11/26/77.

Lehigh had a monster passing Combination of QB Mike Reiker who threw for four TD’s (25-40-351) including a TD on the first play of the game. Their big receiver was Steve Kreider (9-171-4). Lehigh was up 23-0 in the first half. Then UMass got its running game going and we scored the next 23 points to tie the game. The UMass crowd was rockin’

UMass got a interference call inside its own 30 yard line and Lehigh scored on the next play to win the game. :(

[Cocky]

It was in Whicita Falls, Texas and real cold.

[LEHIGH61]

I was there and it was great! Rieker to Kreider was one of the best pass-catch combos in the history of divisions below 1A. 1977 was the year before 1AA was formed. So it was really equivalent to a 1AA title. The best below 1A.

[Cocky]

Thanks for helping me on the spelling. I've try to forget that day. Our starting QB when down early and probably didn't matter. We could not stop Lehigh or move the ball against their defense.

[Gamecocks99]

I remember the season very well. I spent many afternoons at the field house with the Mangers and Trainers as a kid growing up only a couple of blocks off campus. I got to see Jax State Beat North Dakota 31-7 in the semifinals that year. By the the way, we still have the same Trainer Jim Skidmore. Wow and He is probably one of the top 5 Trainers in the country. Jim Fuller was the coach in '77 and is now back at JSU as our AD after retiring as the O-line coach at the University of Alabama for ump teen years. As Mr. C has covered in his previous post the scores from the record books of the NCAA that year, JSU had a great year all in all. It brings back good memories.
Jax State has nothing to be ashamed of by any means.

Lehigh had a great team that year. They truly (not figuretively) knocked out our QB Bobby Ray Green very early in the Game and it only went down hill from there. It was an extremely cold and windy in Texas that day. It would be great to see ABC covering the NC Games today as they did back then.

With Lehigh having the caliber of program that they have, it would be great in the near future to see Jacksonville State gets the chance to play Lehigh, Northern Arizona and North Dakota State again. Even though it would be a loooong road trips to any of these schools.

[ngineer]

I saw the game on tv. Game played in Wichita Falls, Texas. It was great following the team that year--my first year back in Bethlehem after 3 years in grad school, because the seniors were freshmen when I was senior and Kreider is a fraternity brother. In addition to the Rieker to Kreider combo, the Engineers also had a punishing ground game that day with Mike Ford at fullback, and a tremendous defensive front. The game, then, was called the Pioneer Bowl. Art Fleming did the play by play on ABC. Kreider was a first team AP All-American and was drafted by Cincinnati and went on to play with the Bengals for about 10 years. He was a favorite of Howard Cosell, who always referred to him as "the kid from Lehigh". With his electrical engineering degree, Steve was a little out of place and had his Sports Illustrated moment when he was interviewed at the 1986 Super Bowl, and when asked for his impression for his first appearance in the big game, he was quoted as saying," It's an exciting game, but it's not Lehigh/Lafayette." :D

[Gamecocks99]

Who were the MVP s of the game?