|
|
|
|
Monday, November 3, 2008
Texas Sized Rivalries
Fort Worth, TX
|
|
|
The atmosphere surrounding the high school definitely feels different. It’s rivalry week, and what does that mean?
Well, it means that it summons pride, nostalgia, eagerness, anxiety and pure old-fashioned hatred for the other school.
Pride comes from the students, football players and coaches who want to do well for their school. Nostalgia comes from the alumni who remember rivalry games from years gone by. Eagerness and anxiety are built upon the week leading up to the game. Fans, students and alumni probably mentally play out every best-case and worst-case scenario. Their desire to have their team win the game is countered by their angst of losing it.
Hatred is simply the by-product of the above emotions. The schools generally just don’t like each other.
Coaches likely can’t stand the game because of the extra curricular activities that come with it during the week. The trash talking is sometimes backed up by pranks.
Sometimes, the games make the memories. Filled stands; A high level of play; Great finishes. The top of the spoils is bragging rights for a year.
But football wouldn’t have the allure to it if there weren’t these types of games.
VYPE magazine put together a list of the area’s top five rivalries. It is not a scientific rating system, but there probably aren’t too many area high school gurus who would disagree with it either. So, the staff is pleased to bring our readers this list.
LEWISVILLE FARMERS VS. MARCUS MARAUDERS
Series: Lewisville leads, 13-9-1
Trend: Marcus has won last five of the six contests
Coaches: Marcus, Bryan Erwin; Lewisville, Steve Gaddis
2008 meeting: Marcus won, 28-14, 10/10 at Irving’s Texas Stadium
Marcus has owned the series lately, including this year’s win at Texas Stadium. Lewisville has owned a five-game and four-game winning streak.
To be sure there is something electric when these two programs meet. This is the oldest rivalry in the Lewisville Independent School District.
To add to the contention, the game is called “The Battle of the Axe.” It was sponsored by a local business in the early years and has continued since. The winner keeps the axe in the school offices for the next calendar year.
There is little love shared between the two schools. When the game was played at Lewisville’s Max Goldsmith Stadium, one of the memorable scenes in the 1990s was Marcus coach Que Brittain and Lewisville coach Ronnie Gage getting chippy with each other after a game. Yet they always remained good friends.
“It’s a crazy atmosphere,’’ Marcus defensive end Chris Olson said. “The game is played at a different level. You hear a lot of smack talk between both sides. Parts of the game are clean. Parts of the game are dirty.”
But the team that can control its emotions better will have the advantage.
“It’s always exciting to play the Texas Stadium,’’ Marcus junior tight end Rhett Butler said. “It doesn’t matter if we play the game in a farm field.”
The 1990s meetings were always a great contrast. You had Brittain’s high flying passing attack against Gage’s old-style wishbone running attack.
The game has been played at Texas Stadium 12 times. That was a result of the late Lewisville ISD Athletic Director Neal Wilson forming a great relationship with Texas Stadium General Manager Bruce Hardy to get the game moved.
EULESS TRINITY TROJANS VS. LD BELL BLUE RAIDERS
Series: Trinity leads, 23-14-2
Trend: The Trojans have won the last 10 meetings
Coaches: Trinity, Steve Lineweaver; L.D. Bell, Gary Olivo
2008 meeting: Teams play Nov. 6 at Bedford’s Pennington Field
In the Mid-Cities of Hurst, Euless and Bedford, nothing captivates the area more than this game. When both teams are having great seasons, the game takes on a different meaning.
It’s not uncommon for the L.D. Bell student body to throw the verbal barb of calling their district mates “Useless Trinity.” In turn, the Trinity student body would ask, “What’s that smell? L.D. Bell.”
Be assured that if either team went 1-9 during a season, if that one win came against the rival, it would likely satisfy the administration.
The rivalry began in 1970, when Trinity was the new high school to come into the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District in 1968. Bell, which had been open since 1957, did not have a real natural rival. But that changed when the teams first met in 1970. As expected, Bell won the game, 14-0.
The game that people always refer back to was the 1982 Class 5A state quarterfinal game at Texas Stadium. In front of about 50,000 spectators, the Blue Raiders, coached by Tim Edwards, and the Trojans, coached by John Reddell, played an epic game that finished in a 14-14 tie.
Because overtime was not used then, games were decided by tie-breakers. Bell advanced to the state semifinals because it had more penetrations inside the Trinity 20-yard line.
“The main thing you have to do is try and make sure that your players overcome the idea of dreading losing to them,” Trinity coach Steve Lineweaver said. “Because then it takes away from playing your best. That’s not always the easy thing to do.”
The series has been lopsided lately. Trinity has not only won 10 straight, but the games haven’t really been that close. The Trojans have won them by an average of 26 points.
There may be a time when the series shifts. L.D. Bell’s faithful are hoping that time will come awfully soon.
ARLINGTON COLTS VS. ARLINGTON LAMAR VIKINGS
Series: Arlington Lamar leads, 21-16-1
Trend: The teams have split the last four meetings
Coaches: Arlington,, Scott Peach; Lamar, eddy Peach
2008 meeting: Arlington won, 50-40, Sept. 26 at Cravens Field
It was bad enough when all anyone had to say was Arlington and Lamar to fuel the fire. The two schools are the oldest in the Arlington Independent School District. Nothing spoke more about the rivalry than the annual food fights at the local McDonald’s. Sometimes, other scores were settled at local parks after the game.
The oddity is that Lamar coach Eddy Peach has been on the sideline for all 38 meetings. However, the game has taken on another edge over the last six years. It is now commonly called “The Peach Bowl.”
Eddy’s son Scott has been the head coach at Arlington High since 2003. The annual game conjures too much anxiety at the Peach household.
“I don’t know that I have learned to live with this game,” Eddy Peach said. “We’re competitive and we want to win.’’
For Scott, he’s torn as well. But he has found that little or no communication is the best way to go through the week.
“It’s not a fun week,’’ Scott said. “It’s you selling your program against his program. This is our livelihood.”
There hasn’t been any magic formula to make the game easier to deal with for the family. Usually, the game has been played toward the end of the season. That usually meant playoff implications. In fact, when Lamar won the 2006 and 2007 games, it kept the Colts out of the playoffs.
So when Scott Peach met with his team this season, he told them the road to the playoffs went through Lamar. His players responded by winning the shootout. The good thing about this year’s edition was that it was early enough so the traditional media hoopla would not be as intense.
“You know it’s a tense game every year, and once you’re into it, it becomes Arlington and Lamar and that’s it,” Eddy Peach said. “I think I’m more relieved when the game is over.’’
PASCHAL PANTHERS VS. ARLINGTON HEIGHTS YELLOW JACKETS
Series: Because records are incomplete it is unclear who leads
Trend: The latest recorded Paschal victory was in 1961
Coaches: Paschal, Matt Cook; Arl. Heights, Steve Hale
2008 meeting: Heights won 51-19, Sept. 12 at Farrington Field
Two of the oldest high schools in Fort Worth have a series that dates back several generations.
To give a brief history lesson, Paschal was actually the first school when it opened as Fort Worth High School in 1885 before the name changed. Arlington Heights eventually followed in 1937.
But this has always been the classic backyard brawl between the Panthers and Yellow Jackets. Young kids who played in youth football leagues together in elementary school were suddenly separated in middle school before finally going to their respective high schools.
Traditionally, this game has been played at ageless Farrington Field.
“It’s always the biggest game,” said Roy Gallagher, who was a wide receiver for Paschal in 1976-77 and whose son Brian is the quarterback this year. “If you lost to Western Hills or Poly, it was one thing. If you lost to Arlington Heights, that hurt a little more.”
Although the records are incomplete, Gallagher and others admit Arlington Heights has dominated the series. However, Paschal did compile a 12-game winning streak between 1953-64.
It was not uncommon for Farrington Field to be filled to capacity. The student body chants consisted of the Arlington Heights kids hollering “Poor Paschal’’ and the Paschal kids responding with “Heights Bites.”
Not surprisingly, the games took on a different character when the schools competed in the same district. However, the atmosphere shifted in the early 1990s when Paschal moved up to Class 5A and Arlington Heights remained in 4A. Instead of the game at the end of the year, it became a September contest. And the split caused gaps in the series. The teams didn’t play between 1996-2001 and again from 2004-05. But the programs renewed in 2006 and will play at least through 2009.
“It’s just good to be playing them,” Gallagher said.
COLLEYVILLE HERITAGE PANTHERS VS. GRAPEVINE MUSTANGS
Series: Grapevine leads, 8-4
Trend: Colleyville heritage has won the last two meetings
Coaches: Heritage, Mike Fuller; Grapevine, Gary Mullins
2008 meeting: Teams play Nov. 7 at Mustang-Panther Stadium
Grapevine-Colleyville Athletic Director Tim Ford has witnessed each of the first 12 games between Colleyville Heritage and Grapevine. He was an assistant coach at Colleyville Heritage for the first 11 before becoming the AD last year.
“I don’t know if the schools felt it, but the players felt the rivalry from Day 1,’’ said Ford, who was an assistant at Grapevine from 1993-96. “It never mattered who was the better team, you just saw something on the field that was different from the rest of the season.’’
When the GCISD originally drew the boundary lines, there was controversy over who was zoned to go where. Colleyville Heritage took the brunt of Grapevine’s dominance when it opened. The Mustangs won the first five meetings. Aside from Grapevine winning the inaugural meeting in 1996 56-0, the other meetings were tight. They were decided by an average of 4.5 points.
The Panthers finally broke through in 2001, when they won 33-14. It was an historical moment for the school. They were no longer the little brother.
One legend that Ford diffused is the stadium’s naming rights. It was thought that the game’s winner would re-name the stadium to either Mustang-Panther Stadium or Panther-Mustang Stadium for the year until the next game was played. He said that isn’t so.
“You just hope that the hype leading up to the game doesn’t outweigh the game itself to where the players aren’t focused,” Ford said. “It’s a game that everybody can’t wait to go watch.”
Honorable Mentions
Haltom-Richland. The series known as “The Battle of Fossil Creek” dates back to 1962. Since 1990, Haltom won 12 of the 18 meetings. The teams meet on Nov. 7 at the Birdville Fine Arts Complex. Keller-Keller Fossil Ridge. This series has always been a wild offensive show. Since 2003, the winner has scored at least 28 points. They meet Nov. 7 at the Keller ISD Athletic Complex. Southlake Carroll-Coppell. Separated by eight miles, this rivalry goes back to when both were 3A schools. The Dragons have dominated but Coppell’s 57-53 double overtime victory this year at Coppell will certainly add another layer of fierceness to it. Aledo-Stephenville. The series is relatively new as the first meeting was in 2002. Stephenville leads, 5-2. The last three meetings have been decided inside The final minute including the 2008 contest when Aledo scored with 47 seconds left to win, 24-20.
Which rivalry do you think is the biggest? Log on to VYPE.com and cast your vote.
|
|
| No comments added! Click [ add a comment ] to be the first! |
|
|
|
™
™
