A group of a dozen men met on a warm day in May at the Broadmoor Country Club in Seattle to remember a football game from long ago. The group consisted of men, now in their late 60’s were members of two high school teams that had met on a cool November night in 1961. On that night, a team undefeated for five years was beaten in a landmark game that proved to be low on yardage but high on drama.

The game was widely reported by area media and has been deconstructed a time or two in the years since. But the players from both sides had never met again until May. Despite the passage of time, the men had no trouble recalling the emotions as well as the key plays that night.

There were sparks of the old rivalry between the men from the two teams. But there was laughter and much agreement about how young they really were and what life was like all those years ago.

The 1961 Halloween issue of the Mercer Island Reporter-American noted that the excitement for the Islander football game against the Lake Washington Kangaroos, had been building all season. The Lake Washington football team was unlike any other in those days.

The Kangs had won 51 games in a row, allowing only three ties in five years. Only one other team in the nation had been undefeated for as long. Their run made national sports news.

But there was reason for optimism. The Islanders had played last against Federal Way, beating them soundly, 27 to 0. It was their fourth win in a row. Lake Washington had tied with Bellevue the weekend before — for the third tie of the long winning stretch.

“We were steamrolling along,” said Islander tackle, Bob Weaver. Islander Coach Steve James had told his players, “If we were ever ready for Lake Washington, this is the week. We are ready.”

The only game that really mattered now was ahead of them. Defeating the Lake Washington Kangs would truly be the gold ring of the season.

But despite their recent success, the Islander players themselves were uncertain. There was a lot of pressure.

Bellevue and Mercer Island had always represented the big rivalry for the league, they all agreed. But Lake Washington was different. “We knew that Lake Washington was going to be tough,” said Islander halfback Charlie Burdell, now a retired judge. “It did not matter what had already happened that season.”

For their part, the Kangs were confident but wary.

“We knew this game was the biggest test yet.” Steve Smith, a guard for Lake Washington agreed. “Every game we played was built up. We knew that every team wanted very badly to beat us.”

It was a calm and relatively clear night two days past Halloween in Kirkland. A light rain had cleared before the game began. But it was cold. The temperature hovered just above 40 degrees.

There were 14 rooter busses full of Islander fans that made the trip to Kirkland that night. It was said that a thousand people were in the stands.

Finally it was time.

The Islanders kicked off. But before kicker Tom Farner had both feet back on the ground, the Kang’s Mick Becker grabbed the ball and ran it back for a touchdown. Within just seconds, the Islanders were down by six. In the stands, Islander students sat in silence, stunned.

Team manager Gee Chick remembered the mood; “Would we be able to stop this?”

But on the extra point kick play that followed, the Kangs were called off sides. On the second try, the Kang kicker was rattled and the extra point effort failed.

Within less than a minute, emotions rose and fell. Yet, both sides seemed to steel themselves, one of the men recalled. There was a kind of pause, he said. The game then settled down. The rest of the some 47 minutes remaining was a back and forth between the teams counting up inches gained or lost instead of yards.

Then in the third quarter, the situation changed dramatically. Islander Frank Lyon pushed three yards to cross the goal line for six, capping off a 57-yard drive by his team. Now there was a tie. It all came down to the next play. Instead of a kick for the extra point, quarterback Jeff Plant stepped back, ready to send the ball in the air — a play allowed by the rules of the day. In the end zone, three Islander receivers danced and waited. Time stood still. Burdell, waving his arms, hauled in the reception. The point after was good. Islander fans were ecstatic. The score was now 7 – 6.

Yet again, during the very next play, it looked like it might be over for the Islanders after all. The ball, kicked off to the Kangs, was again snatched by a Lake Washington receiver who barreled toward the end zone. He slipped past the defense that had held the Kangs back all evening. Yet as the player sped toward the goal line, there was one man left to get by. Farner, the kicker, caught the receiver and took him down.

The Islanders held on during a long fourth quarter to cinch the win.

As the clock ran out, Lake Washington student Jack Caskey, who was sitting in the stands that night, said both Kang fans and players simply stopped and stood still.

“We were in shock. We did not know what to do,” he remembered. “Losing was new to us.”

The teams did not congratulate each other. It was simply not done in those days. Thus the teams turned and walked of the field absorbing what had just happened.

In the Kang locker room there was dead silence, the players around the table at the Broadmoor recalled.

“We usually chanted by counting up to the number of games that had been won,” Smith said. It had become a tradition.”

The week before the team had counted to 51 together. Now there would be no more counting.

There was pandemonium in the visitor bleachers. The Islanders were both victors and spoilers. Yet, sportsmanship became a fit frayed. There was a fight in the parking lot after the game. Burdell said his brother got his arm broken.

On the bus, the Islanders were still trying to believe what had happened. “We just said two words over and over again to each other, We won! We won!” said Chick. Other players could not even recall the bus ride back from Kirkland.

Defense was the key, Coach Steve James told the Reporter-American after the game. And it showed. He pointed out that the Kangs were in scoring position several times and were unsuccessful. The Islanders held Lake Washington to just 82 yards. The Islanders ground out 179 yards.

“We knew a lot about winning,” the Kang’s Smith said. “We did not know about losing until the Mercer Island game.”

Of the pain of that night, Lake Washington guard Rich Hammond, said it was more than just Mercer Island  had done, “it was that we had let ourselves down.”

Looking back, the men agreed it was a very a different time. Lessons were learned. For one thing, the players were smaller. The Lake Washington players figured that their biggest player was maybe 200 lbs.,tops. “We weren’t big at all,” said Plant later. “The Kang’s Dave Vanderford was maybe 150. I was just 145.”

Much of the talk centered on the coaches for both teams. “They taught us how to be young men,” said Smith.

“The coaches led us, all of us – not just star players,” said Kang running back, Willie Jackson. “They instilled pride in us.”

Islander Coach James, also much admired, died two years later in a river rafting accident.

None pursued football in college. Football wasn’t your life, the former foes all agreed.

“It was just something we did then.”