SHEPHERDSTOWN — Looming along the sidelines just might be Charlie Kave or a groomed ram with his owner or a four-door roadster ready to roll out on to Fairfax Field or another unbeaten Shepherd regular season of college football.

Shepherd was supposed to celebrate 100 years of football in 2020. But we all know what happened to that vaporized season when COVID-19 won the day.

Now the Rams are ready to add to the history of the school’s football background. There might be more tales like from the long-gone days when Kave was hidden in the luggage compartment under a team bus that was going to Cleveland for a game . . . or when a vehicle rumbled out onto old Fairfax Field just as a Shepherd ballcarrier was getting close to the opponent’s goal line . . . or when the Rams held their first Homecoming in 1925 . . . or when the unbeaten team of 2015 trekked to Kansas City for the NCAA Division II national championship against Northwest Missouri State.

Along the historic road that Shepherd football traveled from the initial 1920 season were the athletes and students who landed in Shepherdstown on passenger trains because travel on the roads was dangerous and took hours even if coming from Romney, Cumberland or Barbour County; the beginnings in 1924 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference; the unbeaten team (8-0-0 record) in 1955 with halfback George Hott and third-year coach Don Fuoss; the many seasons in the NAIA; the move from venerable Fairfax Field to now-venerable Ram Stadium in the mid 1950s; the move to the Mountain East Conference and now standing in the noteworthy PSAC (Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference).

The school’s first playoff game came in 1973, when Coach Walter Barr’s team was beaten by Carson Newman. That was in the NAIA. The first playoff win came in 1982, when Newman fell, 6-3. Monte Cater coached that win over the Tennessee strongmen.

Cater did so well at Shepherd in his 31 seasons, that when he retired his collegiate wins were the most of any active coach in the country. Cater had six undefeated regular seasons, went to the NCAA Division II national semifinals in 2010 and then to the aforementioned national championship game in 2015.

The artificial turf is in place at Ram Stadium, where 5,000 fans regularly populated the stands, bleachers, hospitality tents and walkways behind the north end zone when Cater’s teams were wading through the playoffs after going undefeated in the regular season.

This 2021 edition, coached by Ernie McCook, has made believers out of the PSAC brethren, who have selected the Rams to win the conference’s East Division, which has entrenched powers in West Chester and Kutztown.

Players and coaches make any college’s football history more than rolling automobiles or off-field stories of antics and pranks.

Shepherd’s history-making names from its offenses of 100 years include running backs Dervon Wallace (2,138 rushing yards in one season), Damian Beane (6,768 career rushing yards), Dalevon Smith (one season with 1,495 rushing yards), Wayne Wilson (an NFL player), Anthony Crenshaw, Tommy Addison, Bill Adams, Gregg Warfield, Bob Pope, Jabre Lolley, Deonte Glover (five TDs in a game) and Allen Cross.

Throwing to receivers Billy Brown (249 receptions in his career), Jason Dirting (1,580 receiving yards in a season), Jason Siedor (four TD receptions in a game) and Ryan Feiss helped a sparkling list of quarterbacks such as Connor Jessop, Tyson Bagent, Joel Gordon, Kevin Clancy, Mike Coyle (three-time West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference offensive player of the year), Jeff Ziemba, Chad Broadwater and Bobby Cooper.

Offensive linemen seemed to make more of a mark during the 15 years Barr coached than in any other football era. Three-time all-conference players didn’t all come when Barr coached but Charlie Pierce and Ted Gillette did. John D’Antuono and John Howerton also thrived when Crenshaw and Coyle were in Barr’s backfields.

Ryan Pope and Paul Brown are popular names with several running backs and Brian Lamb was also a three-time all-conference player.

Defensive luminaries who advanced to the NFL were James Rooths, Tre Sullivan and Howard Jones. While at Shepherd, Dan Peters, Brooks Bennett, Myles Humphrey, James Gupton and Octavius Thomas were stalwarts on teams that often carried winning percentages of about .800. Peters once intercepted 14 passes in one season.

Standing with those players could be Everett Yore, Mike Spiegelberg, Andre Henderson, Chris Mack, Lynn Carr and Jason Johnson. And then there are the return men: CJ Davis, Bootsie Washington, Dustin Dudinski, Kelvin Stevens and Deante Steel, who regularly brought the fans to their feet and the opposition to their knees with long kickoff and punt returns.

Ricky Schmitt took his high spiraling punts and valued field goals to both the NFL and Canadian Football League. Another point-showering kicking specialist was Eric Dobratz.

Cater coached the Rams for 31 seasons, rolling through with unprecedented success in his later seasons. Barr was a three-time WVIAC coach of the year, Jesse Riggleman won 45 times, tied four times and had 38 losses in his 11 seasons in Shepherdstown as the head football coach. One-time defensive assistant Jeff Casteel eventually coached at WVU among the stops he made after moving from Shepherd.

One hundred years of Shepherd football.

And one-time assistant offensive line coach Al Lueck and long-time trainer Gayle Connor have seen more than their share of Ram heroics.