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Hargis: Prep football rivalries run deep for some
The two communities mirror one another in many ways. Nestled among the quaint mom-and-pop restaurants and postcard streets lined with evergreen trees, the mapdot towns of Cleveland, Jasper and South Pittsburg are equal parts close-knit and picturesque; the slow-pace ideal for raising a family.
The values that are the backbone of each of these towns can be traced back along the pews of the countless churches that seem to spring up from every street corner, and where resident's souls are fought for each Sunday. But the pulse of the towns, what keeps the energy flowing with youthful gusto, rises from the bleachers of the high school football stadiums on Friday nights this time of year.
Whether from the pews or the bleachers, both settings can create their fair share of excited hand waving and spirited music, but it's because of what happens on the football field that the Sunday command to "love thy neighbor" is forgotten for one week of each year. Tonight is the renewal of two of the area's most intense neighborhood rivalries when the Cleveland High School football team makes the three-mile drive along Keith Street to take on Bradley Central and South Pittsburg travels across seven miles of county highway to Jasper to face top-ranked Marion County.
Staff photo by Dan Henry/Chattanooga Times Free Press - South Pittsburg's head coach Vic Grider watches other teams warm up during a six school jamboree held at South Pittsburg High School August 13, 2010.Both roads separating the schools are paved by rock-hard animosity.
"I've coached at other places that had a rivalry game, but the difference I've noticed here are the two communities," said Marion County second-year coach Ricky Ross. "Holy cow, is it a big deal! It's a circus environment, but I try to welcome it. You're glad to get to be a part of something like this, because every coach wants to be at a place where the game matters to the community. Weeks like this are why you play the game."
His counterpart, South Pittsburg coach Vic Grider, was reared by his late father Don, a longtime former Pirates coach, to harbor such a grudge against the rival school that he, like most of the town's residents, refuses to call it by its official name, referring to it instead as "Jasper."
For several seasons players from both sides would walk halfway onto the field for the pregame coin toss, then turn their backs on each other, refusing to acknowledge the opposing side. Imagine a Mayberry setting where Sheriff Andy Taylor and Floyd the barber literally loathed one another for one week.
"I'm not sure anybody from outside this county really gets just how much these two teams, and towns, don't like each other," Grider said. "People that are born in these two towns are taught to hate the other. It's in your blood. People work together and go to church together, but we just flat-out don't like each other. The two towns have never gotten along and never will."
Each of the four programs in the two rivalries owns multiple state championships, creating a sense of both pride in their own accomplishments and jealousy of one another's that are passed down like family heirlooms. The combination of bravado and the proximity of the communities is what energizes the atmosphere of these games. Both games are prime examples that familiarity truly does breed contempt.
Although neither game has any bearing on region standings or the playoffs, county bragging rights are just as important as the postseason to some, and the money made from gate receipts, concessions and parking can be as much as three times what any other game brings in. But according to game administrators, they also must pay for three times the amount of security.
Besides the on-field drama, the subplots for both games are straight out of a daytime soap opera.
After a two-year hiatus from the game, Grider returned as coach of his alma mater this season and for the first time will stand on the opposite sideline from Ross, who was hired to replace him at South Pittsburg when he stepped down. Just two months later Ross resigned from the Pirates job, leading to verbal jabs between the two upon his exit.
"I'm not bitter or hostile toward him or anybody there," Ross said. "I'm not saying we're great friends, but I respect the job he's done as a coach there, and after Friday is over I wish them well on their season."
Meanwhile, the wounds are still fresh between Bradley Central and Cleveland after both programs turned the other in for TSSAA recruiting violations that occurred less than a month apart in the spring. Both instances were the head coaches having illegal contact with a player or his immediate family and resulted in each program being put on probation, fined $1,000, not being allowed to participate in scrimmages or the preseason jamboree and Bradley coach Damon Floyd being suspended for the first two games of the season.
"It didn't take long for me to realize how big the rivalry is, unfortunately with what occurred last spring," said first-year Blue Raiders coach Scott Cummings. "A lot of that is more for the fans and students to talk about, though. For me and the players, we're just concentrating on getting ready for a game on the field."
Of course whatever happens on the field will certainly affect the level of peace and quiet inside Jason and Anne Person's home. Jason played at Cleveland and Anne is the high school's guidance counselor, but Jason's son Jay is a sophomore linebacker for Bradley's Bears, while Anne's son Romeo Wykle is a sophomore running back for the Blue Raiders.
The intensity level of trash talk between the stepbrothers picked up noticeably this week.
"We've been at the same house together a couple of days, and it's crazy the amount of stuff we say to each other," Jay Person said with a laugh. "Him running the ball and me getting a shot at him, that's what I've been waiting for. It won't be a lot of fun for one of us to have to be around the other the rest of the year after this game."
Similar to witnessing an atheist wander into a Pentecostal tent revival, one TSSAA official who attended a Bradley/Cleveland game in the early 1990s recommended to state headquarters that the series be suspended because of the threat of violence. For eight years they didn't play, before finally renewing the series in 2001. Cleveland had won 21 straight meetings before Bradley claimed a one-point win in 2009, and the teams have split the last six games.
"I don't know how much more intense this rivalry can get," Coach Floyd said. "This game is all everybody in town wants to talk about. It's what I hear about 365 days a year, and years from now the kids will be remembered for what happens in this game. That's just the way it is in small towns."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.
Chattanooga area prep football rivalries at a glance
Rivalries are the electric current that jolts high school sports to life. Here's a list of the Chattanooga area's top current prep football rivalries:
SOUTH PITTSBURG vs. MARION COUNTY
The state's oldest continual rivalry has had 29 of the 91 meetings decided by 10 points or less, but seven of the last eight have ended with the mercy rule being applied - six by South Pitt's Pirates during an eight-year winning streak and last year by the Warriors in a 42-point whipping, which was their largest win margin in the series.
In 2001 the game became so physical that five players, including four from South Pittsburg, had to be taken away by ambulance.
The two programs have combined to win more state championships, appear in more title games, win more playoff games and produce more all-state players than any other two in the Chattanooga area. The Pirates own five state titles and have finished runners-up six times, while the Warriors have four state titles and three runner-up finishes.
Jasper is the county seat, and since 1910 the official name of the high school there has been Marion County. Warriors fans play on South Pittsburg's "little brother" complex by proudly reminding Pirates fans which team carries the county name on its helmets. Conversely, Pirates fans view that as an act of arrogance and refuse to use their rival's official name, calling it "Jasper" instead.
"It's two programs with a lot of tradition and pride and two communities that want to prove they're better than the other. There's so much competition and jealousy on both sides, it's not a stretch to say there's quite a bit of hatred."
- South Pittsburg principal and former coach Danny Wilson
"I've never been a part of a rivalry, at any level, that was as intense, Nothing compares to the emotion around that game. The Baylor/McCallie game is pretty heated, but I don't think it's as scary as far as how the people feel about each other."
- Former Marion County all-state player Eric Westmoreland, who went on to play for Tennessee and in the NFL
*****
BRADLEY CENTRAL vs. CLEVELAND
The schools are separated by only a three-mile stretch of Keith Street.
Both programs own state titles (Bradley in 1961 and 1976, Cleveland in 1993-95)
Cleveland leads the series 26-13, winning the last two meetings by a combined six points.
In 1991 the Blue Raiders won 75-8, which led to the series being suspended for eight years because of a fear of violence. The games resumed in 2001, and when Bradley won 27-26 in overtime in 2009, only after the Blue Raiders' tying extra-point kick sailed wide left, it was the Bears' first win over Cleveland since 1977.
Until cameras were installed at Bradley's main building, Cleveland students would try to climb to the roof and paint the Bear mascot, which is bolted above the walkway leading into the school. Cleveland students once used a hacksaw to cut the bear from 10 feet up off the roof and tossed it into a nearby field.
"That win in 2009 is one of the greatest moments of my life. Well, I guess I better say other than the day I got married and when I became a father."
- Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd
BAYLOR vs. McCALLIE
Accepted as the best rivalry in Chattanooga, the schools began meeting in football in 1908 according to Baylor, while McCallie claims the series began in 1905. They did not play each other, however, from 1941 to 1970. The game was played at Chamberlain Field for years before moving back to home sites and now often is played at Finley Stadium. The Blue Tornado had won 11 straight going into the 2009 game
In the early 1980s McCallie students fed a pig Ex-lax and sneaked it into a Baylor dorm, where it made quite a mess. Baylor students kept the pig, painted a blue "M" on its side and turned it loose on the field at the game.
Baylor leads the all-time series 41-38-3.
GORDON LEE vs. TRION
It's the longest continual rivalry in the state of Georgia with the teams having met 81 times. Trion holds a 59-21-1 edge, winning four straight, but the Trojans have won six of the last 11.
Among the newer rivalries that seem to be growing in intensity are East Hamiton vs. Ooltewah, also known as the Battle of White Oak Mountain, and Dalton vs. Calhoun.
East Hamilton vs. Ooltewah has drawn crowds of more than 5,000 fans recently, and the two neighboring programs have become very competitive. The Calhoun/Dalton series has replaced the Dalton vs. Northwest Whitfield rivalry that is no longer played as being the best in northwest Georgia. Although Dalton leads the series 34-10-1, Calhoun has won the last seven.