THE UNDEFEATED 1970 ALMA RIVERMEN…GETTING SOME RESPECT, PART 1

When looking at season final A.P. or U.P.I. football rankings (1958-1975) you can look at the bottom of each list and if there isn’t a press recap you might miss some information.  Did that #9 team lose their last game and they ended 7-1-0 or 7-1-1?  If they dropped because of a game nine loss, where were they before in the week eight poll?  Did the team replace a squad that dropped down to the honorable mention list because of wacky pollsters voting?  There could be a number of reasons for a school eking their way into the top 10.  For those that did just make it onto the final ranking it is the cherry on top of the Sunde.

In the Small School or Little Ten polls it is often a matter of the voters just not knowing about another team.  How can they know about teams they don’t see or read about? The pollsters had to hear from others to help make their consideration.  For some teams it was like comedian Rodney Dangerfield use to say as he twisted his necktie, “I don’t get no respect, no respect at all”.   The 1970 Alma Rivermen team was just such a squad.  They didn’t just get the respect they deserved during the season.

Alma is located, tucked along the Mississippi River, about 26 miles north of Winona, MN. The school first began playing football in 1958, going 0-8-0.  They failed to win a game for two seasons but there wasn’t a lot of support from the small student body.  The sport was new to the students and it would take an innovative coach to get the program moving.  In 1962 Lynn Iverson, a recent graduate from Winona State University was that person but it wasn’t an instant success.  Playing an independent schedule, Iverson’s boys went 0-5-1 in 1962, scoring only 25 points and allowing 148.  1963 saw the Rivermen go 4-4-0, their best record ever.  Then came their entrance into the Centennial Conference, as the only Wisconsin school vs. six Minnesota schools.  Things got better as Alma posted 8-1-0 and 9-0-0 records in 1964 and 1965.  Iverson was getting the boys out to play.  They would go 6-3-0 in both 1966 and 1967 and then followed this success up with a 7-1-0 season in 1968 and 6-1-0 in 1969.

Despite the past success, most coaches in the Centennial Conference picked Wabasha, the largest school in the conference, to take the 1970 title.  In 1969 Wabasha went 8-0-0 but only beat Alma 8-0.  The Alma juniors and sophomores gained a lot of experience.  The Rivermen returned three 1969 first team All-Conference players who would repeat in 1970.  Curt Gross was a middle linebacker on the 1969 All-Area team who also played the fullback position.  Barry Ritscher earned All-Centennial as a cornerback/safety while starting as the team’s quarterback.  And Brian Ruff was named to the offensive guard spot as well as playing defensive guard. 

Most of the opponents were small towns, like Alma, that had about 450 people, so the school district drew students from the surrounding area.  Alma had only about 80 high school students.  Cochrane-Fountain City had around 170, Onalaska Luther had around 300, and Mazeppa, like Alma, had about 80.  Wabasha, a town of 2,371 people was the largest public school in the Centennial with around 300.  Goodhue just had a touch over 100 students while Randolph, the smallest city/school in the conference with nearly 70.  Winona Cotter, a private Catholic school numbered around 400 pupils and Elgin-Millville had about 95 students.  So, for the most part, the Alma opponents’ numbers were fairly equal in size.

Playing two larger Wisconsin schools as the season opened, Iverson and his charges showed that 1970 would be their season.

Note the offensive vs, defensive yardage stats, nearly a 300-yards per game difference!

The offense clicked as well as featuring a very tough defense.  With an opportunistic offense, feeding off the tough defense, which recovered numerous opponent turnovers, the Rivermen would roll.  Against Mazeppa four fumbles were recovered which led to Alma scores.  After their third win Alma moved into the #2 spot in the weekly Winona Daily News area top10 poll.

They rolled over a tougher than expected Faribault Deaf Hilltoppers, holding them to only two first downs but Alma’s three turnovers slowed them down, a bit.  Fullback Curt Gross scored two touchdowns and two 2-pt conversions to power the offense as well as having multiple tackles. Their fourth victory corresponded with  the A.P. starting their weekly prep football poll.  Besides the top-10 there were 31 “others” who received votes.  Alma received 8 votes and was listed as at the #15 spot.  Interestingly, Cochrane-Fountain City, a team that Alma had shutout 42-0 and with a 3-1-0 record was four spots ahead on the list.

Game five was a matchup against the previous 1968 and 1969 conference champion’s Wabasha.  Regular starting quarterback Barry Ritscher only played on conversion attempts due to an injury.  Junior Jeff Bjork, the quarterback backup turned in a superb performance tossing two, third quarter touchdowns to flanker Steve Brovold who hauled in scores of 84 and 70 yards.  Alma rolled up 367 yards and allowed only 39.  The next week the Rivermen moved into the area top spot, tying Gale-Ettrick who had been the top team for the first three weeks of the poll.  The G-E Red Hawks were riding a 22-game win streak and ranked #1 in the Wisconsin A.P. poll.

Against Goodhue, the #2 team in the conference, it was another whitewash, for Alma, 28-0.  The game was played at Alma in a very wet, messy, cranberry like bog.  Slowed to gaining only 262-yards the defense again shone held Goodhue to 37-yards.  Ritscher was back from a hip injury and on a fourth down and 12-yards to go he lofted a 26-yard pass to Brovold who made a great over the shoulder finger-tip catch for the opening score.  Six fumbles, only one lost, slowed the run game but the 135 yards passing made up the difference.  It was a solid win.

In the recent A.P. polls Gale-Ettrick had traded the top spot with Auburndale but now they were back in the #1 position.  #6 in the “others receiving votes” was Alma. 

They were now getting some respect. 

PART 2 COMING SOON