It might have been the longest running high school football rivalry at one time, but can tonight's match-up between the Marietta and Parkersburg high school teams still be considered such?
"I think it is (a rivalry) because (the two teams are) so close," said Lori Lowers, PHS athletic director. "When you're that close, it's going to be a rivalry, regardless of whether you want to call it that."
Tonight's game at Marietta's Don Drumm Stadium will be only the second time in 15 years the two teams have met on the gridiron. But prior to that break starting in 1995, the two teams had squared off nearly every year since 1908.
The Big Reds might have dominated the series, stretching its lead to 68-26-4 after last year's victory, but some longtime Tigers fans remember some wallops the hometown team delivered over the years.
"We beat them when they were the state champs ... we beat them twice," said Sam Gwinn, a Tigers supporter who's been going to football games with near regularity since 1958. "I think it's great we're playing them again."
Jim Meagle's three biggest regrets of his Marietta High School football career are not getting the chance to play Parkersburg in the 1960s.
There are still plays from games in his childhood that he remembers vividly, too.
Take a game around 1955. Marietta had Parkersburg beat late in the game, Meagle recalls, and the Tigers were driving to score again when a defensive lineman broke through the line and took the handoff from the quarterback.
"He went about 80 yards the other way," Meagle said.
There was also the time around 1966 when Marietta beat Parkersburg, which had won the state championship.
"It's still a rivalry," Meagle said. "Just the proximity and the long history alone make it one."
Meagle said some of the history of the game might get lost on the younger generation, but over time he believes that rivalry spirit will renew itself.
Like Gwinn, Meagle will be in the stands tonight cheering on the Tigers.
If Gwinn and Meagle are any indication, some of the old-timers seem to be approaching the game with renewed vigor, but what of the younger generations?
Chris Hess, 49, of 705 Warren St., Marietta, said Tigers players like his son, senior Connor Hess, are looking forward to the game.
"I don't know how they feel about it, but I know they look forward to it, but it may not be as much as some of the older kids did," he said.
Still, the elder Hess said because of the proximity between the two cities, the game figures to become more of a rivalry if the two schools continue to play each other in football beyond the current arrangement, which runs through 2012.
Lowers said when that deal is up the two schools will consider signing on to play each other more in the future.
Jennifer Offenberger, whose son played for Marietta football last year and who serves as the Tigers booster president, said as long the rivalry stays friendly it will be great for the community.
"Friday night football, in general, is just kind of an exciting time," she said. "There's a lot of fun in it. As long as people keep (the rivalry) at a reasonable level, it's something we should enjoy. It can really bring the community together and provide a lot of spirit."
