Louisville Leopards at Hoover Vikings 1992 Football Highlights
Louisville 14, North Canton Hoover 7
The 1992 Leopards Football season was a special one and there was no better way to start it than with a classic rivalry in front of a near-capacity crowd at North Canton Memorial Stadium. On September 4, 1992 the Leopards rallied with two touchdowns in the second quarter and their defense stopped the Vikings on a game-ending goal line stand to win 14-7.
Hoover opened the scoring on a 14 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dean Rembielak to Tim Sturznickel. Steve Tate’s extra point made it 7-0 Vikings.
The Leopards answered with two second quarter touchdowns. The first came when Leopard quarterback Jon Aljancic threw a pass towards the endzone while diving forward on a 4th-and-5 play from the Hoover 9. The pass split several North Canton defenders and found the hands of runningback Brian Beatty for the score. On the ensuing Viking possession, Aljancic intercepted a pass at the Hoover 42 and returned it all the way to the 11 yard line. Two plays later, Chris Menegay found the endzone from two yards out to make the score 12-7 Leopards. A pitch to Beatty on the right side converted two more points a play later to make it 14-7 Louisville.
North Canton outgained Louisville in the contest 239-116 in total yards. “We beat ourselves, we just made too many mistakes,” Vikings Head Coach Ed Glass said after the game.
Hoover drove deep into Louisville territory on the final two possessions of the game, but each time the Leopards were there to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard. The first stop came when Menegay picked off Rembielak at the 3-yard-line and returned it 59 yards to end the scoring threat. Menegay described the play after the game, “I was in my zone and I just happend to step in front. Our defense held up pretty well. We just need a little work, but we will get better.”
Then in the final minutes the Vikings used 13 plays to drive all the way down to the Leopards 1 yard line. Tate accounted for 44 of the Vikings 58 yards on the drive. “They were just pushing the ball down our throats and they were coming off the ball,” Leopard Head Coach Rick Crislip reminisced after the game. “That is high school emotion. We were just lucky to make the big plays at the end.”
The biggest play came on a fourth-and-goal with just seconds remaining. Rembielak fumbled and Aljancic stormed in to tackle him behind the line of scrimmage as time expired on Hoover. It was just one great ending to a season full of memorable Leopards moments.
Scoring Summary
Louisville 0-14-0-0–14
Hoover 7-0-0-0–07
1st Quarter
Hoover – Tim Sturznickel 14 yard pass from Dean Rembielak (Steve Tate Kick), 0-7
2ND Quarter
Louisville – Brian Beatty 9 yard pass from Jon Aljancic (kick failed), 6-7
Louisville – Chris Menegay 2 yard run (Brian Beatty Run), 14-7
3RD Quarter
None
4TH Quarter
None
