30 years ago, Frostproof's 2nd state title capped Faris Brannen's coaching career

Bill Castle and Lakeland go for state title No. 8 on Saturday, and they're already far ahead of any coach and team in Polk County. Thirty years ago, however, it was a different story.

On this day in 1992, Dec. 12, Frostproof won its second state title with a thrilling 14-13 victory over Newberry in Gainesville. The victory gave head coach Faris Brannen his second state title in what would be his final year as football coach. The only other coach to have won two state titles with a Polk County team was the then recently retired Paul Quinn, who won two titles with Bartow. (Quinn also won a state title at Lake City Columbia in the 1960s). Castle, to remind you, had just one state title in 1986 and was still four year away from an incredible 11-season run when he added five more titles before winning his seventh in 2018.

Nineteen ninety-two — it was quite a year for high school football on the Ridge. Frostproof and Lake Wales were devouring nearly every team in their paths en route to undefeated regular seasons. Both had offenses that averaged more than 30 points per game and boasted defense that allowed under six points per game.

While Lake Wales' season came to a screeching halt in the first round of the playoffs against higher-ranked Rockledge, Frostproof kept winning and winning, hoping to avenge its loss in the 1991 state championship game — "We should have won it," Brannen said.

The Bulldogs were led by runningback/linebacker Ernest Hamilton, the Class 2A player of the year and a finalist for Mr. Football, wide receiver/defensive back/returner Dennis Baldwin, quarterback/safety Rob Hires, who took over at quarterback for David Gaines who had graduated, defensive ends Mike Chatlos and David Nelson, defensive tackle Gary Swain, offensive and defensive lineman Tony Wise and safety Chance Brannen, Faris' son. And probably others not named here.

Frostproof also had more than just a lot of talented players.

"We had a lot of leaders on that team that just refused to let stuff go wrong with us the whole season," Baldwin said. "Guys like Ernest Hamilton, Tony Wise. One of the best leaders, David Nelson — we just had a lot of great leaders on that team. So we had a lot of great players on that team to do what we did that year."

Expectations were high going into the season. Players and coaches felt 1991 was a missed opportunity.

"We were very hungry the next season," Baldwin said. "We we came up short in '91. We were desperate to get back to the state championship the next year, we were really hungry. We worked really hard to to get where we were in '92. And then there was the leadership of our coach Faris Brannen. We worked really hard to get back to the what we want to be at. So we were determined, get back to the state championship."

Faris knew the pieces were there for another run at a state title.

"We had a lot of key kids coming back and we lost some key kids, but we had some really good kids," he said "That '91 team, we could have easily won it. We had the kids to do it. It was just kind of there (in '92). You could see the group, it wasn't a cockiness, it was confidence that they could make it happen, and of course they did. They always worked for it, and we had the athletes. If I just do my job, then we had a shot at it."

On offense, a big change was at quarterback. With Gaines having graduated, Hires took over.

"He did a wonderful job," Faris Brannen said. "He was a two-way performer."

Hamilton led the rushing attack and rushed for 1,239 yards. Hires threw for more than 1,200 yards with Baldwin being the No. 1 target with more than 20 receptions and 12 touchdowns. He also had six interceptions on defense and was a big-play returner.

After opening with a 20-12 win over Mulberry, Frostproof did not allow more than seven points until the regular-season finale against Fort Meade. And all its wins after opener were by double digits — all but one by more than 20 points — until the 15-11 squeaker over Fort Meade.

The Miners nearly prevented the Bulldogs' championship run. Frostproof trailed Fort Meade at halftime, 9-0 and still trailed 11-6 in the fourth quarter.

Chatlos, however, tackled Fort Meade quarterback Derrick King in the end zone for a safety, Hamilton ripped off a 40-yard touchdown run and Baldwin iced the game with an interception with 2:24 to play as Fort Meade was driving into Frostproof territory.

The Bulldogs had one more blowout in them, a 40-8 win over Umatilla in the first round of the playoffs. Then it got tough for the final two games.

Frostproof traveled to Pahokee and knocked off the Blue Devils 21-20 with Baldwin making a huge impact in the game, nearly single-handedly beating them.

"He sure did, he really did," Faris said. "Well, you know, he did the same thing in the finals with that ball that was intercepted and run back."

Against Pahokee, the talented junior, one of the best athletes in the county that year, returned a kickoff 68 yards to set up a touchdown and returned an interception 88 yards for a touchdown. He finished with 228 all-purpose yards with the final big yards coming on an 11-yard touchdown reception from Hires with 1:39 to play that tied the score. Nelson's extra point gave Frostproof the one-point lead.

Chance Brannen then sealed the victory with a big defensive play on fourth down on Pahokee's final possession in the final minute.

Pahokee fans did not take the loss very well as many started throwing pieces of brick on to the field, one of which hit a certain reporter fresh out of college in the leg and was covering his first state title game for the old Lake Wales Daily Highlander.

The championship game proved to be Brannen's last game as a football coach, and it had to be one of his best coaching jobs in a game — certainly one of the most challenging.

Frostproof was riddle with injuries to several key player. Chatlos was sidelined with a thigh bruise, defensive back Albert Plain was out with an injury, and Hamilton went out with a knee injury in the first quarter after just three or four carries. That posed a problem both on offense and on defense as he was also their best linebacker.

Tyrone Hamilton, who was Ernest's uncle, stepped up big. Tyrone was in a work-study program, worked a graveyard shift during the week, would get two hours of sleep before going to school and couldn't always participate in a full practice.

Yet he started in the backfield with his nephew and at linebacker during the season.

With Ernest out, Tyrone finished as the leading rusher with 60 yards on 21 carries and more importantly, he led the defense with 11 tackles.

Because of the injuries, Brannen had to move players around defensively. He had many starters playing a different position and relied on backups more.

"We had to make a lot of adjustments," Faris recalled.

What helped was a car accident on the day of the final practice. There was no school that day and about 12 players had driven down to Sebring. On the way back there was a car accident. They weren't involved but they were witnesses, Faris said, and finally arrived at practice late.

"So we had to play those No. 2s on Thursday and it was godsend because they played where they ended up playing in the finals," he said. "They got that practice time because those kids came in late. It was not their fault but you know, it's just one of those things that happened. So we got to spend time with them (backups) and that's why we could make those adjustments without such a big problem. It worked out really good."

On offense, Hires faced a brutal pass rush as he was sacked 8 times for a loss of 81 yards. But he completed 8 of 17 passes for 134 yards and tossed an 9-yard touchdown pass to Baldwin for the game's first score.

Baldwin, of course, came up big again. He scored four of the team's final five touchdowns in the last two playoff games and his 53-yard interception return in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winning score. In doing so, Baldwin ranks among the all-time greats in Frostproof history and even Polk County history.

"That's a great honor man because 30 years later they still talk about you and what we did in high school and what I did," Baldwin said. "I probably thought I probably could have done more, but I think I accomplished a lot."

After the game, Brannen, who led Frostproof to a state title in 1974, called it his greatest victory in 25 years of coaching, and he had never had a team go 13-0.

"It was a beautiful year," Faris Brannen said. "You coach all the time but sometimes you work hard to coach. I mean you just beat your head trying to make things happen. And I think what happened to that team was that I had a lot of kids on that team that could play multiple positions, and so when things do happen, it didn't create major problems. We could move kids around just like in the finals. When we started rotating kids, they did the job, and that's what made it a fun year. Plus that group of kids was special. They liked each other, and we didn't have any kind of internal problems that I know of and the kids got along. It's just a beautiful year and to have my son involved in it made it even more special — just a good year."

And it turned out to be his last year.

When Faris started coaching, he kept a book that he numbered pages 1 to 25, and following each season he would write notes where would make comments about players or things that happened the prior season.

"That was my 25th year and it was the end of that ledger, and it was my son's senior year and he was going to Morehead State," Brannen said. "If I kept coaching, of course, I couldn't go watch him play. And we won the state championship and it just, I don't know, it just seemed like it fell into place. And so right after Christmas, I made that decision."

Brannen also noted that he had Richie Marsh in the wings waiting for the opportunity to be a head coach.

But the now former football coach wasn't done coaching. He coached cross country and track for more than a decade until he finally retired. Although Castle finally surpassed him and Quinn in state titles, Brannen remains one of the greatest football coaches in Polk County's (and Florida's) history, and the 1992 team remains one of the greatest football teams in Polk County history.

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Frostproof's state title in '92 capped Faris Brannen's coaching career