Coaches found it almost mandatory to play their starters most of the way. Koch said substitution rules contributed to the top-heavy score.

We gave him the ball, but by the time he crossed the goal line, he had dropped it.' 'Everybody but our center scored,' Koch said. The Haven scoreboard had no room for triple digits. Researchers say the 'statistician' had enough trouble keeping up with the score without worrying about yardage and score by quarters. Team captain Jesse Atkinson scored 60 points. Against Sylvia, he had 90 points (13 touchdowns and 12 extra points). The offensive star for Haven was Elvin McCoy, a running back and kicker, who remains the most prolific scorer of all time. The Wildcats outscored seven other opponents 323-0. Koch said Haven had an exceptional group of well-coached athletes. He said there were always opponents to hit. Koch, blocking back in the Haven single-wing and later a high-school coach, scoffed at the suggestion that Sylvia players laid down. Gaston said several Sylvia players, discouraged by the mounting score and being overmatched in size and speed, sat down and didn't make an effort to stop the Haven runners. It's easy to run for touchdowns when nobody's there to tackle you.' 'They got 256 points, but why shouldn't they?' said Glen Gaston, captain of the losing team. Each time, Koch recalled, the kickoffs were returned for touchdowns. Five times he exercised the option of having his team kick off after Haven had scored. They scored every time they touched the ball, which was often. The Haven Wildcats scored 38 touchdowns and kicked 28 extra points.

Koch, 82, was recalling the highest-scoring game in football history, a high-school mismatch on Nov. 'I played in it, and it's still hard for me to believe.' 'It's hard for you to believe or anybody else to believe that such a game happened,' Koch said. Sixty-five years later, Louis Koch sits in an easy chair and shakes his head in wonderment.

Hex hall by rachel hawkins