Go Bucks!

Its 26 years since I graduated high school. I attended 9th grade in Centereach New York before my father sold his businesses and went into retirement. We moved to South Florida in 1976.

My alma mater is Deerfield Beach High School which I attended 1976-79. Our sports teams were the Bucks. In 1977 and 1978 the football team advanced to the state playoffs before losing in either the first or second round. The 77 team lost to a Boca Raton High team quarterbacked by now Univ. of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt.

I haven't thought much of high school football in over 20 years. In the early 80's I attended a few games when home on leave but none since 83 or 84. This year the Bucks have made the state finals in 6A football. The first time the school has ever advanced to the championship game, though the school has been a fixture in the state playoffs for 30 years. The game is tonight at Dolphin stadium. If it had been played in Broward, I'd go attend the game.

Today's Sun-Sentinel has an article on the Bucks and the school's history. Good luck to Deerfield tonight. Win one for yourselves and those who came before you. Dennis Lynch, Mike Ring, Marty Snider, John Weiss, Bart Shiver, Calvin McCoy, Charlie Brown, Warren Scott, Tony Hall and many others.

Go Bucks!

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Deerfield Beach · After Deerfield Beach's upset over Miami Northwestern in last week's state semifinal, Brad McClellan got plenty of congratulations for his team's accomplishment.

But one phone call stayed with him. Brent Schaeffer, the former Deerfield Beach quarterback McClellan watched so many times, wanted to make sure this Bucks team knew how excited everyone in the Deerfield Beach family was.

McClellan and his teammates understand that when they take the field tonight for the Class 6A state championship game against Palm Beach Gardens at Dolphins Stadium at 7, they're playing not only for themselves, but also for the hundreds of former Deerfield Beach players who never had the same opportunity.

"The reason we're here is because when we were in middle school, we'd come out and watch the home team play," McClellan said.

"We'd see the Brent Schaeffers and the Tramain Halls, the Derrick Crudups and all the great ones. I credit it to Brent, I wanted to play for his team one day. I want to win for him and everybody that's ever put on a Deerfield jersey."

The Bucks' program has been one of Broward's most storied. Usually ranked in the state poll, they are a fixture in the state playoffs with rosters filled with plenty of Division I talent. Entering the season, Deerfield Beach (8-3) had advanced to the state semifinal game four times, but never moving on to the championship.

Few expected this to be the Bucks' team that broke through. During a season of turmoil in which a hurricane ravaged their neighborhood and players quit throughout the season, most of the talk on the streets of Deerfield Beach was that this team couldn't do it.

"People doubted us for a long time," tight end Pat Nemorin said. "People in my neighborhood kept saying we'd never make it. We just wanted to prove them wrong. People just don't get it sometimes."

But the players did. They kept fighting, needing overtime twice during their playoff run and clinging to leads against Miramar and Northwestern.

And when the Bucks got that win over the Bulls, tonight's game became more about an entire program and a community than about just one group of players.

Palm Beach Gardens (12-1) is making its first state championship appearance in tonight's game as well. They are a strong team that features a potent running attack and what Deerfield Beach coach Greg Minnis called "a stingy defense."

But the Bucks are determined to finish this season in the way so many other Deerfield Beach players dreamed.

"We owe it to the players who paved the way for us," offensive lineman Mike Blanc said.

"We owe it to those guys who left without winning a state championship game. When we bring a championship to Deerfield, it'll be a great feeling for everyone."