COOS BAY — Kent Wigle called them some of the tougher players he’s coached against.

Bill Siler once described them as a group that never gave less than their best effort.

Kevin Swift said their legacy still lives on.

This was Gold Beach’s beloved “Dirty Dozen” — the close-knit Panther squad that delivered a share of the school’s first state football title in 1976.

This was a team that laid a foundation for success that Swift said holds true today.

“People still talk about them around here,” added the 10th-year coach. “They’ve been the benchmark so far — the team people compare you to.”

Swift joined the program in 1997, a year after the school celebrated the 20th anniversary of that Siler-led squad that tied Wigle’s South Umpqua Lancers 8-8 in the Class AA finals. Seven years later, Swift brought the Panthers back to the title game, where they fell 20-19 to Lost River in 2004.

With a loss and tie in the books, Gold Beach will try for outcome No. 3 Saturday when it meets Vale in the Class 3A finals.

With a win, the top-ranked Panthers can claim the program’s first outright title and make a case as Gold Beach’s best football team in school history.

The current players are more focused on the first part, however, judging from comments this week.

“It’s a big game, and we’re all excited, but we’re not treating it differently,” said senior tailback Herbie Smith. “We’re not nervous — at least I’m not. I don’t get nervous for games.”

Especially this Saturday’s. In a way, Smith has been mentally preparing for it for quite some time thanks to his father, Herb Smith, a Dirty Dozen alumnus who played wing and defensive back as a sophomore in 1976. Like many of his teammates, Herb and his older brother, Ken Smith, later bought championship rings for their memorable season.

Herb’s ring found its way to Herbie’s bedroom.

“It’s hanging on his wall right now,” Herb said. “I told him he can have it until he gets his own.”

Herbie is one of several current varsity Panthers whose relatives suited up for Gold Beach in 1976, joining Jack Lander, Mitch McDonald, Logan Hockema, Alex Chase and Herbie’s cousin Tim Smith — son of Ken.

Lander’s father, John Lander, played tight end and linebacker as a senior during the championship season. Today, he’s a coaching assistant for his alma mater.

“With my class,” he began, “we knew we were going to be in position to do something special by our senior year — at least I thought so. We believed in ourselves.”

Lander and the other starters were affectionately coined the Dirty Dozen in light of their numbers. Only 12 players started that year, with 10 of those comprising the first-team offense and defense.

“We wore black jerseys, while the rest of the team “We wore black jerseys, while the rest of the team wore white,” Lander recalled. “We were just a special group — a hodgepodge bunch of kids that got along well and made it happen.”

Sound familiar

Sure, the Panthers of today have better size and speed than the bicentennial team that featured 140-pound running backs and 215-pound “monsters” across the line. But the old school bunch won with the same tools — comraderie, strength and great team speed, not to mention a rigorous offseason workout plan similar to Swift’s.

“I think that made a huge difference for us,” said Ken Smith, who was a senior running back and outside linebacker. “You see a lot of teams doing that today. Swift brought it back, but they work a lot harder than we did.”

Strong coaching presence also is commonplace for both teams. While the 2007 Panthers play under the guidance of the ever-stern and motivating Swift, the 1976 team had a similar linchpin in Siler, who was every bit as hard nosed as the “Bear” Bryant-like coaches of the time, Lander said.

“He coached out of fear and intimidation. He loved us, but he also made us work our butts off,” added Lander, who last saw Siler at the 2004 state title game. “He’s a lot nicer now, but he’s getting Alzheimer’s. It’s still great to see him.”

“He made us superior,” added Randy McDonald, the father of Mitch. “We didn’t have great athletes. But we had a great coach that took some kids and won.”

In 1976, Gold Beach used a veer-option offense just like today — only with varying success. With it, the older Panthers steamed to an undefeated (12-0-1) season much like a tugboat crossing the ocean.

“Our wins were a lot closer,” Lander said. “Our biggest was against Dayton (41-16) that year in the quarterfinals. I have to admit, today’s team has a lot more weapons and a lot more firepower than we did.

“We had a great quarterback in Gary Pape and some good backs. And I still think we were a lot tougher then.”

The Panthers were especially tough in the fourth quarter. Prior to South Umpqua’s late touchdown and 2-point conversion to knot the title game, Gold Beach hadn’t allowed a single score in the final period all season.

“No doubt, they were one of the toughest teams in the state that year,” recalled Wigle, whose Lancers finished 11-0-1. “We had a couple of chances to win that game but didn’t convert. They gave us a good fight. We were happy to get a tie.”

It was only the second tie in 25 years at the Class AA level and came by way of a thrilling finish.

After a scoreless three quarters at a chilly and much smaller Autzen Stadium, Gold Beach scored the game’s first points when halfback Gary Tams sprinted into the end zone from nine yards before adding a 2-point conversion run.

His touchdown capped a 98-yard drive that made up most of Gold Beach’s 121 yards in total offense.

“South Umpqua had some big kids I remember,” said Ken Smith, who set up Tams’ score with a 5-yard run to make it first-and-goal. “We played hard.”

Ken Smith rushed for 45 yards on 16 carries in the game, while Lander came up with a fumble recovery and caught five passes for 27 yards.

After the euphoria of its eight-point lead wore off, Gold Beach watched its state title slip away to costly penalties. Two equipment infractions, each worth 15 yards and each later described by Siler as two of the worst calls he’d ever seen, moved South Umpqua deep into Gold Beach territory before Terry Hendrix plowed into the end zone on a 16-yard sprint. He then added a successful 2-point conversion run to tie it up.

Two minutes later, there were two champions.

“It was a bummer afterward,” Lander said. “The whole stadium was quiet. A hush was over the locker room. You played so hard  — it felt like both teams lost.”

“We didn’t tie them. They tied us,” Herb Smith added, matter-of-factly.

The outcome especially came as a surprise to most of the players, including Lander and Herb Smith, who assumed an overtime would be played.

The OSAA didn’t have an overtime scenario in effect until the mid-1990s.

“The game ended and we were just like, what” Herb said. “I guess that’s where this year’s team can go ahead of us. If you’re going to have a record broken, it might as well be to your son.”

Wigle’s Lancers returned to the state finals for a third straight year in 1977 and beat a talented Tillamook squad 35-7. The outright title was a first for Wigle, who went on to win a second with Marshfield in 1992 after leading South Umpqua to a share of another one with Siuslaw in 1981.

Wigle never purchased a championship ring for 1976, but he treasured the draw with Gold Beach.

“It’s better than a loss,” joked the 36th-year coach. “It was a great game and, honestly, it didn’t bother me to tie. Overtime doesn’t always get the best of the two teams. Both teams deserved to win.”

Siler uttered similar words of encouragement to his team afterward, Randy McDonald said.

“I was a freshman at the time and not one of the Dirty Dozen, but I remember being in awe of it all afterward. Coach told us we did our best, and that was something to be proud of,” he added.

Bill Dixon, sports editor of The World, later quoted Siler after the game, saying “It was like Oregon going down with 12 kids to play Southern Cal. We were outweighted and outnumbered. But we couldn’t have played a better game.”

McDonald and the younger Panthers led Gold Beach back to the playoffs the following season, where they fell 19-12 to Cascade in the quarterfinals. The Panthers also reached the playoffs in 1978 but lost again to South Umpqua — this time in the first round.

McDonald said Gold Beach’s string of success in the late 1970s was due in large part to the Dirty Dozen’s legacy.

“You learned a lot from them,” he said. “Their hard work and seriousness of their play carried over. It rubbed off on to us and it helped us be successful.”

Since graduation, few of the big game Dirty Dozen members have strayed far from Gold Beach. Lander currently works for Lander Construction, while the Smith brothers are self-employed businessmen specializing in excavation work. Ken also helps coach the Gold Beach boys basketball team. McDonald, meanwhile, is an assistant operations manager for Coos-Curry Electric Cooperative.

In retrospect, all four alumni agreed that playing for a state title comes second only to one thing — watching their sons do it.

“The thing that sticks out the most was state,” McDonald said. “It sticks out more than any other game and it sticks out for these kids more than any of them as well.

“I hope they realize — win or lose — they’ve done a great job.”

Notes: Saturday’s kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Hillsboro Stadium. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students, and also is good for the earlier Class 1A and Class 2A championship games. In addition, a $3 per car parking fee is in effect at the stadium.