On a Friday night in early November 50 years ago this fall, perennial Iowa high school football powerhouses Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Davenport Central duked it out at Kingston Stadium for state-wide bragging rights.

Both were undefeated, and on the line was the mythical state championship as determined by the Associated Press newspaper poll.

A full house of 12,000 fans packed the stands on both sides of the gridiron as well as the horseshoe on the north end of the stadium. A special television broadcast beamed the battle far and wide.

And what a battle it was.

Trailing 18-14 with seven minutes left, legendary J-Hawk quarterback Larry Lawrence (the son of legendary Coach Ted Lawrence) engineered a 72-yard scoring drive to pull out a 20-18 victory.

At the time, it was called “the greatest Iowa prep football game ever.”

Ask 89-year Bob Ask, who was on the sidelines as Jefferson’s line coach, and he’ll tell you he never saw a better game before or since.

“No doubt about it,” he insists.

“In those years, Davenport Central was always our nemesis,” says Ask, who was a Jefferson assistant during its first 25 years and taught there for 34 years until retiring in 1991. “We went undefeated in ’64, too, and were named state champs (the first in school history). But our only blemish was a 7-7 tie with Central.

“So when they came here the next year once again it was for all the marbles.”

And once the hated Blue Devils were vanquished on that storied night, the season finale 43-0 whupping of Rock Island was almost an afterthought.

In that first-ever perfect 9-0 1965 season, Jefferson scored 338 points and allowed just 42. Five of its games were shutouts.

They set a standard of J-Hawk football dominance rivaled only by the 1972 squad (led by legendary Coach Jack Fisk) that went 11-0 and won the inaugural high school playoff championship.

Perhaps in hopes of having a bit of that magic rub off, the rejuvenated Jefferson program under Coach Brian Webb will celebrate the state champs of 50 years ago with a ceremony at its Oct. 2 Hall of Fame game with Cedar Falls at Kingston Stadium.

Also honored will be the 1964 team and the 1966 team that finished 8-0-1, its record and a possible third straight state championship tarnished by a 6-6 tie with Davenport Central in the last game.

“Those were some glory years for J-Hawk football,” Ask points out.

In a 12-year span from 1961 through 1972, Jefferson teams achieved an amazing 95-13-3 record. And in the middle of that period – from ’63 to ’67 – the J-Hawks had a 37-game undefeated streak marred only by two ties.

Ask, who calls himself “the last of the Mohicans” following the death early this month of fellow assistant coach Vern Bredeson and the death of head coach Ted Lawrence (and son Larry) in 2012, had a hand in that streak, of course, though he’s humble about it.

“I was primarily an American history and government teacher,” he says. “That was my first love.

“I was a decent coach, I guess. But I was in the right place at the right time.

“When Ted Lawrence came over from Geneseo, Ill., in 1960, that’s when we really got off and rolling. He was a real motivator and always on the edge of new things.

“He had kind of a swagger to him, and the teams picked that up. And we had a real loyal fan base from the west side.

“Course you had to have the horses. And in those days, Jeff had the horses. Everything kind of fell into place and jelled.”

By his count, Jefferson boasted 15 prep All-Americans during the 25 years he coached.

Coach Ask, naturally, will be among those singled out when those old Jeff teams are honored next week. After all, he’s rarely missed a game since the school first opened 58 years ago.

He and wife Marilyn built their home to raise four children just down the hill from the high school, right across the street from the old football practice field.

“I always knew it was time for practice to be over,” he says, “when I could smell Marilyn’s meatloaf cooking.”