Whoa, Nelly -- it's almost time for one of the nation's top high school football rivalries
Oct. 8—To borrow a phrase from Hank Williams Jr., "Are you ready for some football?"
For those of us who call Haywood County home, it's almost time for the local version of "the granddaddy of them all," the nickname long ago bestowed upon college football's Rose Bowl game by legendary sportscaster Keith Jackson.
From Fines Creek to the East Fork of the Pigeon River, from Balsam Gap to Beaverdam and all points in between, next Friday night brings the latest installment of what, with apologies to broadcaster Jim Nantz, is a "tradition unlike any other" — with the exception of the Masters golf tournament, which has trademarked that catchphrase (our lawyers insisted we include that disclaimer to avoid potential legal shenanigans).
Hello friends, get ready for the annual gridiron battle pitting the mighty Mountaineers of Tuscola against the brawny Black Bears of cross-county nemesis Pisgah.
The contest between teams representing the west and east sides of Haywood County has long been regarded as the best high school rivalry in Western North Carolina. And that's saying something for a region that enjoys such heated rivalries as Reynolds vs. Owen, Murphy vs. Robbinsville, Mitchell vs. Mountain Heritage and East Henderson vs. West Henderson, to name just a few.
In fact, the "Haywood County Championship," as the Pisgah-Tuscola tilt is often characterized, has become one of top high school rivalries in all of the United States. The game has been selected for the 13th time as part of The Great American Rivalry Series, which shines a national spotlight on significant high school rivalries ranging from California to Florida and from Maine to Texas.
I cut my teeth on the battle for Haywood County gridiron supremacy back during my years as a cub reporter. In addition to working as a reporter at The Mountaineer, I tackled a side hustle as a sports correspondent for the Asheville Citizen-Times, making the long hike up to the press box at Waynesville's C.E. Weatherby Stadium or Canton's Memorial Stadium nearly every Friday night in the fall.
Those were the days when sons of Dayco employees lined up against sons of Champion International, and when legendary coaches Doug Brooks called the plays for the Mountaineers and Carroll Wright prowled the sidelines for the Bears.
I always dreaded the trudge back down the steps from the press box to the home locker room to get a coach's quote from a cantankerous Brooks on the rare occasion when the late, great Citizen-Times sportswriter Keith Jarrett had picked against his team.
"Well, why don't you just go ask Keith what he thinks," the ol' ball coach would grumble, before breaking into a grin (maybe it was a snarl?) to offer his post-game thoughts.
Over the years, the rivalry has not just endured, but has thrived. This is in spite of changing student enrollment numbers that resulted in occasional conference realignments and that had the game sometimes played in the heat and humidity of late summer instead of a crisp, cool night in October. These days, upwards of 10,000 fans shoehorn their way into whichever stadium is hosting the game that year, providing a gameday environment more akin to a college football Saturday.
Pisgah comes into next Friday's game boasting a nine-game winning streak over the Mountaineers but, as of this writing, holds a record of two wins and four losses; on the other side of the county, Tuscola remains undefeated, with a 6-0 recording going into last night's pre-deadline game.
But, to use another pair of well-worn clichés, you can throw out the record books when Tuscola and Pisgah lace up the cleats and shoulder pads because this one is for all the marbles.
There's even more bragging rights than usual on the line this year as the game represents the celebration of 100 years of the Haywood County rivalry, as Canton High School and Waynesville High School met for the first time back in 1922. Following county school consolidation, the first official Pisgah-Tuscola game was in 1966.
The 2022 edition of Mountaineers vs. Bears comes Friday, Oct. 14, at Tuscola's off-campus stadium. Although the game will be played in Waynesville, it counts as a home game for Pisgah because the Bears' home of stadium remains under repair after last year's devastating floods spawned by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., but you'll probably want to get there much earlier if you want to find a seat among some 9,999 of your neighbors.
Bill Studenc, who began his career in journalism and communications at The Mountaineer in 1983, retired in January 2021 as chief communications officer at Western Carolina University. He now writes about life in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
