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A crowd of over 42,000 fans turned out to watch the No. 1 ranked Banks Jets defeat the No. 4 Woodlawn Colonels 18-7 at Legion Field in Birmingham. The game was played on Nov. 8, 1974. It is the largest crown to ever view a high school football game in the state.            The crowd topped the previous attendance record set in the 1950 Crippled Children's Clinic game when 32,000 attended a game between West End and Woodlawn.            Banks entered the game averaging 45 point per game but were held in check much of the game by the Woodlawn defense that managed to sack Rutledge seven times.            Quarterback Jeff Rutledge completed 9-of-10 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown to pace the Banks attack. Running back Jerry Murphree ran for 99 yards on 14 carries and scored two touchdowns on runs of 21 and 16 yards. Tight end Bob Grefseng scored the other touchdown on a 32-yard pass from Rutledge for the Jets.            The Colonels were led by running back Tony Nathan who rushed for 112 yards on 31 carries and scored their only touchdown in the game on a 13-yard run in the fourth quarter.            The game took a lot out of the Jets. They won the game but playing against the physical Woodlawn team took its toll. Banks finished the year with a 9-2 record after losing their final regular season game to West End 34-27.            The biggest loss came in the West End game when the Jets lost their star quarterback to a broken ankle. Banks could not recover and after a first round bye in the playoffs they lost to eventual state champion Homewood 12-0.            The Colonels finished 9-1 after the loss to Banks knocked them out of any chance for a playoff spot.           Rutledge and Nathan went on to sign scholarships with the University of Alabama and later both star athletes played in the NFL.
Banks 1974 9/13 62 Carver Birmingham . . . 0 9/19 71 Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 9/27 41 Ramsay . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 10/4 49 Mountain Brook . . . . . 12 10/11 28 Berry Birmingham . . . 7 10/18 42 Ensley . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 10/25 35 Huffman . . . . . . . . . . . 0 11/1 35 Jones Valley . . . . . . 7 11/8 18 Woodlawn . . . . . . . . . . 7 11/15 27 West End Birmingham . . 34 11/15 Bye * . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/22 0 Homewood * . . . . . . . . 12 408 9-2 86 * Playoff game # State championship game	Woodlawn 1974 9/6 35 Ensley . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 9/12 33 Hayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 9/20 14 Phillips Birmingham . . 0 9/27 14 Vestavia Hills . . . . . 8 10/3 20 Erwin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 10/10 25 Huffman . . . . . . . . . . . 7 10/18 61 Ramsay . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 10/25 14 Jones Valley . . . . . . 13 11/8 7 Banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 11/15 12 Carver Birmingham . . . 0 235 9-1 81 * Playoff game # State championship game

  The Memorable Games, a series on the important and memorable games in high school football history

David Parker
  AHSFHS.org
  dparker@ahsfhs.org

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