Ray Dayton came on board as head coach of Oxford a little too late to piece together a remembrance of a past great Oxford team. That club, in 1981, went unbeaten under head coach Tony Abbott. This season, with the welcomed help of the Oxford boosters, Dayton and the 2012 Blackhawks will honor the 1982 Oxford Blackhawks that also went 10-0 winning a sectional game and finishing seventh in the state in the small school state rankings.

“Both of those teams (‘81 and ‘82) had great seasons, and to finish seventh in state that year, that was a big deal,” Dayton said. “This is a sports crazy town, and we wanted to bring back those players to honor them. We’re hoping some of our kids can feed off of that. Football has been a monster here, and our kids need to see the people who created that monster.”

Dayton gave a lot of credit to Tony Abbott and his assistants, Don Cooper and John Curtis, for building a great football program that was a consistent winner for over three decades. “We’re trying to build the program up like it was before, and I hope we get a good crowd to watch,” Dayton said.