In 1972, Raphael had assembled possibly his most talented team at St. Joe, and open the season with a surprise win over traditional power Clinton High School. Nine weeks later, Raphael had produced his first undefeated team and was positioned for an invitation to one of Mississippi’s postseason bowl games. As bowl season approached, rumors began to circulate about the possibility of an unthinkable opponent, the Mustangs of Mora high school.

David Marsh 

I don’t think we were really expecting it. I guess toward the end of the season, we started hearing some talk about it, but I really don’t think the team thought that we’d actually get invited. Mara had this Mystique that was the feeder for Ole Miss. If you had a good, a medium player and Mura. Do not pass goal, do not collect $200 go straight to Ole Miss.

Greg Frascogna 

Maria played in the big eight conference, which was the conference in Mississippi, it was all the big schools. So this was the top echelon of high school sports in Mississippi at the time.

Narrator 

The idea to match Mora against St. Joe was such a ridiculous idea that it never crossed the mind of the city athletic director for the public schools until it was suggested to him by a St. Joe graduate.

Con Maloney 

He was working, trying to find some place to play Mora. And I told him I said, Look, why don’t you play St. Joe? They’ve got a real good ballclub that’ll bring in more crowd than if you go out state or somewhere. And it’ll be an interesting ballgame. St. Joe’s got a real good ballclub. I don’t know that they can beat Moreau. But it would be fun to watch. And I think St. Joe would probably bring in several hundred people that you won’t get from somewhere else. And you could play it out at Memorial Stadium. And I think it’d be an awful lot of fun.

Greg Frascogna 

All of a sudden, you’re pairing them up with St. Joe, who was considered the little, you know, small Catholic school. It was a good school and probably good academically, but did they really measure up in football? Hey, you know, who knows? Who do they play?

Con Maloney 

Bottom Line popping out? We’re good friends. And when I suggested Of course at first he said no, I don’t think we can do that. And then the more he got to thinking about it, the more he said, Hey, this is going to help build morale up and we’re gonna probably slaughter St. Joe, but that’s okay. That’s what everybody expects.

Sam Lupe 

We know how to play that little school, they’re too small. A warning D again (2:24), so Mora didn’t want the game. But luckily, St. Joseph had some friends on the paper at that time, the Clarion ledger, he started these big articles about how Mora was afraid of St. Joe.

Con Maloney 

Well, he was so sure that Mora was going to win he had a trophy made up in Mora colors. And to this day if they still got the trophy, but colors on that trophy or Mora colors. Because he was positive Mora was going win and everybody else was

Narrator 

when the invitation was officially extended to St Joe to play Mora in the capital city bowl in Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. Raphael did not immediately accept. Rather, he allowed the idea to simmer with his team and made them beg for the game. This was all part of him getting them mentally prepared to take on Goliath. Let’s start

Matt Raphael 

Back at the last game of the season, it was against Heidelberg. We were downplaying Heidelberg. And we had just beaten him. Dad had us in the locker room. And he was talking about he had received word about an invite to play Mora in the capital bowl.

Mark Frascogna 

And well why wouldn’t you accept the invitation? What a tremendous opportunity for the for the team and the program and the school.

Johnny Maloney 

But he would tease us like he normally was saying, I don’t know, you know, they’re big and they’re tough the way coach Raphael would always say, you know, they’re there, they’re gonna hurt somebody they want they you know, they just, you know, they think they can just roll over on us. I’m not sure if we need to go play them or not.

Mark Frascogna 

I remember going in his classroom every morning before the first period, the bell went off, and telling him how much we had to plot.

Con Maloney 

He built that feeling into players he had it himself. Bottom line was he wanted to play the game.

Matt Raphael 

And that energize the St. Joe community. I mean, the priests and the nuns and everybody. I mean, everybody was pumped up about it. Mora had the meeting where they will decide how bad it going to be, maybe 65 66 points, something like that, you know,

Roger Parkes 

nobody really thought that they were going to actually win the game. But just being there and competing on the same field with Moreau was going to be great.

Mark Frascogna 

And we’d never played in Memorial Stadium before it was cold. It was drizzling weather conditions weren’t the best,

Roger Parkes 

Tough, weird environment to plan. And I would say that the St. Joe people had more people at the game than the bird people did because it was kind of a physically tough place to be for a fan.

Mark Frascogna 

I remember the pre-game and being in the locker room at halftime really being just another game in terms of Coach Raphael and the other coaches, Coach Howe and, it was another game, we got the same kind of talk that we would in any other day.

Mark Raphael 

But in the locker room, before the capital bowl, it was business-like. I mean, it was dad typing up the ankles and wrapped up the hands. And he did what he always did.

Mark Frascogna 

Having said that, I think everybody on the team recognize that, that the game was obviously incredibly important to the program. And to us we did we didn’t want to ruin a perfect season.

Matt Raphael 

The first half was back and forth. I think I think St. Joe pretty much had nerves, you know, everybody else, you know, just being in the game against Mora and everything.

Johnny Maloney 

Mora was a big team, and they had a whole bunch of people and we didn’t, and you look at the replacements they would send down and come in and we didn’t have that many replacements.

Mark Frascogna 

It was really a tremendous defensive battle.

Johnny Maloney 

course there were some eye-gouging and things like that. And they you know, we started the game, they were saying, y’all shouldn’t even be with us. We don’t even know why you’re playing.

Mark Raphael 

We got the first two points. Paul Rossi tackled the running back, I forgot his first name. Last name was barbs, in the ends of those (6:04) two zip

Mark Frascogna 

There was a lot of hard hitting in the game. And they knew very early on that that we were a determined bunch.

Mark Raphael 

And they scored, Mora scored,

Mark Frascogna 

He clearly stepped out of bounds. So if that play had been called back, which it should have. I’m not too sure if that game wouldn’t have ended up two to zero.

Mark Raphael 

Made it six to two that misses the extra point.

Narrator 

The teams battled toe to toe deep into the fourth quarter with Mora maintaining a slim six to two lead. As the game went on to a close, St. Joe had time to mount one last offensive attack, setting up one of the most improbable and unforgettable finishes in Mississippi high school football history.

Matt Raphael 

And then I think it was a minute left in the game, we were about, I’d say 60 yards out from the endzone.

Roger Parkes 

I didn’t, didn’t feel good about it because it was just right and so hard and that was just so hard to hold on to the ball and everything.

Al Nuzzo 

I remember, Rob Parks who’s the quarterback that went along passed down the sideline that Robert Darl leaked, it seemed like five feet in the air and caught it at its highest point with two guys. Dudes double-covered all game.

Roger Parkes 

Robert Darl probably maybe the best football player that ever played at St. Joseph.

Al Nuzzo 

We had no timeouts, he comes down with the ball and he starts grabbing his leg

Mark Raphael 

Conveniently got injured.

Matt Raphael 

Gotta get up get up Robert.

Roger Parkes 

But anyway, they stopped the game and stopped the clock with the very few seconds left to go in the game and maybe on about to 20, and about Mora’s 20 yard line.

Al Nuzzo 

Robert now has to come off and they bring in Matt Raphael with a double team Matt, who’s our second team wide receiver and coaches son

Mark Raphael 

They didn’t realign the defense.

Roger Parkes 

They fake it to the running back and then they all roll out to the right.

Matt Raphael 

So, I was making my turn, and I was on the go line, and I turned around and saw Kestenbaum come out of the back. 

Roger Parkes 

To run it back, I just just went over there stood in the endzone and my brother threw one of these Tim Tebow loop passes to just over the top.

Mark Frascogna 

The balls in there, the horn sounding, you’re thinking, this just isn’t really happening.

Matt Raphael 

turnaround right on the Goldline. Ketchup bottle cradle Lydia  he just fall back in the endzone, and that was it.

Mark Raphael 

St Joe won! St Joe won! I can’t believe it! St. Joe won!

Matt Raphael 

best way to describe it was pandemonium.

Mark Raphael 

Fans just jumped to the field. The fans had went onto the field.

David Marsh 

That’s the only time I’ve run on a football field other than when I was playing.

Mark Raphael 

And just like I said the trophy was blue and silver. Everybody expected Mora to win.

David Marsh 

looking over at the Mora sidelines, but I see 40 or 50 statues.

Mark Raphael 

They just completely lost to St. Joe.

Matt Raphael 

disbelief stunned.

Mark Raphael 

There’s but there were like four or five touchdown favorites.

Matt Raphael 

I can remember seeing Coach Stevens, Bob Stevens face, it was just like, what happened? What the hell happened? You know?

David Marsh 

It was a made-for-TV movie, where the underdog beats the big guy.

Johnny Maloney 

When you talk about game changes in somebody’s life that night was the biggest night of my life at that point in time.

Roger Parkes 

It was crazy. And so the St. Joe people were still there and we stay there in the rain wet. A long time going crazy that night. It was a great night.

Mark Raphael 

It was the biggest game St Joe’s ever won in the history of the school. It brought recommendation of prominence to smaller schools playing bigger schools.