The Instantly Legendary 80-70 Football Game Between Elk River & Buffalo
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Elk River High School football coach Steve Hamilton -- and everyone else involved -- is still trying to figure out how last week they scored 80 points, and Buffalo High School scored 70, in one of the wildest shootouts ever in Minnesota High School Football.
The game took place on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018.
"It's still hard to describe. I can tell you that after the game I texted to some of my former coaches," Hamilton said. "We feel that we should be able to score hopefully every drive. I mean, that's the whole idea is to put points up. You know, people talk about the offense, and, 'Why don't you do this?' The idea of offense is to score."
By the time it was over -- a game that took nearly three hours -- both teams lingered, almost in shock.
"Everybody was just mingling. I mean, both teams together, just talking through that game," Hamilton said. "It was kind of surreal."
For the Elks, it is what they have become under Coach Hamilton. Three backs line up, and you try to figure out who has the ball. It is what he did when he got here, to re-invent a then pass-happy program.
"If you remember before I get here, they were spread, and they scored I think 64 points the year before I get here, for the whole year," he said.
That has created a buzz and a pride, and that is also created one interesting study on how they do it.
"For us, it's about finding out how they're going to play us. And so we found out from the first series that they were really focused on taking away everything in the middle," Hamilton said.
And last week, they needed all of that for a game that will be remembered by both teams for the rest of their lives -- for better or worse.
"I just felt like so surreal, I thought it was an awesome experience for the kids on both teams," he said. "I talked to some of the kids from Buffalo after, I said, 'You know, you're going to talk about this for the rest of your life. You were part of an 80 to 70 game.'"
