On a Friday evening in November 1985, groups of students and parents drove out of the parking lot of Forest Hill High School and drove south along I-95 to Lantana, where they crowded the tourist stands at Santaluces Stadium.

A few hours later, after Forest Mountain defeated the unbeaten Santa Luces 12-7 to win the Falcons' first division championship, they happily celebrated the biggest victory in the history of the Falcons football program. Forest Hill won another regional championship until this season-ironically, it defeated Santaluces 43-6 two weeks ago to win the 8-8A regional championship.

"What I know is that my memory is not long enough," current coach Jim Busford said after winning the regional championship recently. Bassford was born in 1988, three years after Forest Hill won the first and last regional championship.

Forest Hill wins the region: Forest Hill football defeats Santa Luces to secure the first regional championship in decades

High School Sports Newsletter: Sign up for the Palm Beach County High School Sports Newsletter to view the week ahead

The 36-year drought between the regional championships was filled with tough times for the Falcons football program, which had the longest two losing streak in state history, including 43 consecutive defeats from 1999 to 2003. There were 37 consecutive losses in 2009.

Over the years, Forest Hill has been trying to prevent many of the most talented players from transferring to schools where other football projects are more successful. In 1985, the team’s head coach Tom Cherry said that he often drove a pickup truck to Church's Chicken on Tamarind Avenue near Palm Beach Avenue to pick up some of his players to ensure they could participate in the pre-season Match. That area is a fertile recruitment area in West Palm Beach, and Cherry wants to make sure he doesn't lose any players to another school.

One of the players was Anthony Howard. Due to his athleticism, Cherry transformed him from a wide receiver to a quarterback and became an indispensable leader on both sides of the team. He is also an excellent defensive guard who has played for special teams. Vesco Cooper is a fast running back and a starting cornerback. Perry Balasis is a talented linebacker who also shared the responsibilities of the guard in Cherry's Delaware wing-T offense.

"Some of them, such as Howard, have never left the court," Cherry said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Clermont.

Bernard Ward is a reliable linebacker and he also made Balasis a guard. Ward quit his part-time lawn maintenance job in August of that year and devoted himself to football in his senior year. Then there is Dino Ruffa, who is a starting defensive end and is much shorter than his 5 feet 7 inches tall and 160 pounds. He participated in the swimming team with Andre Pinder, a running back who is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. This reflects the team’s belief that a bigger heart can beat a bigger ball. team.

In the magical season 36 years ago, this was undoubtedly the mantra of the Falcons, especially the Santaluces game and the subsequent two playoffs.

"They were packed with DI players going to Miami, Michigan State University and those schools," said Barassis, who was named Palm Beach Defensive Player of the Year in 1985 and played at the University of Central Florida.

"We have a lot of people like this (Luffa, for example). We have a group of very good high school football players. We are not big enough on the offensive line and many positions. We have a great coaching staff and they make sure that we always do well. Prepare and queue in the right place. We are a group of closely related people. We are just a group of stubborn people, always loose."

In 1985, Forest Hill competed with Santa Luces for the regional championship. It culminated in Lantana on Friday night. Santaluces is 9-0, Forest Hill is 8-1, and its only loss comes from Boca Raton. Both remained unbeaten in regional competitions. In those days, only the district champions were eligible to enter the state playoffs, so it was a winner-takes-all matchup. The Palm Beach Post referred to it simply as a "game", and Santaluses brought extra stands for the expected standing-only crowd.

"When we left high school to participate in the competition that night, there was a group of parents and students walking down I-95. It was incredible," Cherry recalled. "There are so many we have to have police escorts. You would think this is the Super Bowl."

Most observers, including many regional coaches who provided forecasts to the Washington Post that week, believe that Santaluces, with a few DI prospects, is a good team. However, not in the forest hill dressing room. When the team returned from the court after warming up before the game, Cherry, who played for Joe Paterno at Pennsylvania State University, brought his players blue competition pants, which he called the Pennsylvania State University Blues, which​​ Surprised his players. The Falcons then defeated the Chiefs 12-7 and won the school's first regional championship. Chaos broke out among the Forest Hill fans that night.

Barassis said that Cherry "instilled a kind of work ethic in us, we have to work harder than everyone." They knew that in the next week's game against Lake Lauderdale-Boyd Anderson, they The job will definitely be laid off. For reasons obvious to the naked eye, Forest Hill was once again at a disadvantage in that game.

"That was David vs. Goliath. They had a big front court, and our offensive line averaged 5-10 pounds, 190 pounds," Barassis recalled.

But again, the Falcons defeated Boyd Anderson 7-6, and Ballassis blocked Boyd Anderson's PAT kick.

Cherry said that even his assistants thought at first that "we might be killed by Boyd Anderson," but he quickly put an end to this idea.

"I just told my coach,'There have been no negative comments all week, we have to beat these guys,'" Cherry recalled.

However, the history of the Falcons stopped suddenly, but in the following week, they lost to the national power Bradenton Manatees 42-7. Two weeks later, Manatee will win the 5A state championship.

However, that fiasco did not reduce Forest Hill's achievements that season. They ended the game 10-2 and won more games than any Falcons before them, including the school's first regional championship and first playoff victory.

Today, Balasis teaches at Timber Creek High in Orlando. Cherry retired from a coaching position, but he and his wife are competitive cyclists, often riding 50-60 miles a day. Players and coaches are in contact, and a few years ago, they were able to reunite with the other members of the team at the inaugural ceremony of the first Forest Hill Senior Hall of Fame. Of course, they recalled that unforgettable 85 season.

"Like, we finally did it," Cherry said of regional titles. "We want to be the first. It's happier than you think. Forest Mountain finally won something, but it just lightened everyone's burden. Throughout the season, the students were immersed in it. Our games were full of people, It was full of excitement. It was just an interesting year."

(1) Palm Beach Central vs. (8) Centennial 

(4) Forest Hill vs. (5) Vero Beach 

(2) Treasure Coast vs. (7) Palm Beach Garden 

(1) St. Thomas Aquinas vs. (8) Atlantic 

(2) American tradition and (7) Boynton Beach 

(4) American tradition and (5) Glades Central 

(4) Miami Edison vs. (5) Somerset College 

(3) Cardinal Newman vs. (6) St Andrews

(3) Glades Day vs. (6) Westminster College 

Senior seed host, all kick-off time is 7:30 in the evening