CELEBRATIONS
1972 FORT PIERCE CENTRAL YEARBOOK, HAMADRYAD
Fort Pierce Central assistant coach Phil Farinella assists one of the players
on the 1971 state championship team on the sidelines. Farinella played for
FPC Head Coach Calvin R. Triplett as a high schooler in Winter Haven and
coached with him for four years at FPC.
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Lawnwood opened in 1970.
The Cobras beat Tampa Robinson, 29-13 on Dec. 17, 1971, a
score that makes the game sound closer than it was. Wide receiver,
defensive back and kick returner Mike Latimer scored
three touchdowns in the game and his younger brother,
defensive end Don Latimer, scored a touchdown on a fumble
recovery to go with a safety, meaning the Latimer brothers
scored 26 of the team’s 29 points.
In planning to honor the early Cobras at a game in October,
Fort Pierce Central Principal Mona Buchanan said she wanted
to use the event to instill pride in today’s student-athletes
by using the majestic history of the early Cobra teams.
“We want our players to be proud because they are wearing
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that Fort Pierce Central jersey,” Buchanan told Lee and
Phil Farinella, an assistant coach of the early Cobra teams
and FPC’s head football coach from 1973 to 1980. Farinella
coached the 1975 Cobras to a10-0 regular season before losing
in the state playoffs.
Vero Beach High School won the state football title in 1981,
and celebrated a 40th anniversary in the fall. Those are the
only Treasure Coast high schools to win state football titles.
The 1970 Fort Pierce Central team beat its first two playoff
opponents by a combined 54 to 7 score, including a 26-7
drubbing of Tallahassee Leon in the semifinals. Leon came
into the game heavily favored as defending state champ on a
25-game winning streak and holding a No. 1 ranking.
The lofty finish in 1970 led to the Cobras starting the next
1972 FORT PIERCE CENTRAL YEARBOOK, HAMADRYAD
More than 10,000 people, at a time when Fort Pierce’s population was 29,000, filled Lawnwood Stadium late in 1971 to watch Fort Pierce Central edge
Merritt Island, 27-25. Some say the game is among the best ever played in Florida. Cobras’ running back Terry King, who took football stickers he earned
in previous games to form a T on his helmet, tries to avoid three Merritt Island defenders during that game.