Best DEAD Rivalries (or rivalries of the past...)

Sykotyk said:
What were the rivalries of the teams that would become Edison, Indian Creek, Buckeye Local and Harrison Central?

Who was Brilliant's chief rival? Etc.

Very interesting part of the state that saw massive consolidation of its schools as jobs left from the 70s through 90s.
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A little late on the conversation, but can answer your question regarding IC, specifically Wintersville. In the 40’-60’s Smithfield was a key rival…usually the last game of the year and many times played on Veterans Day. Another rival at that time was Jefferson Union (Edison). As Wintersville grew in enrollment, these teams were dropped and others moved onto the schedule. Steubenville CC first appeared on the schedule around ‘67 and was an instant rivalry game, usually played around the week 3. Always huge crowds and all games played at Harding Stadium. Starting in ‘69 Brooke (WV) was added to the schedule and turned into a game that was always highly anticipated by both fan bases. The series with Steubenville began in ‘79 and ran through ‘87. Ten games, which included a playoff game in ‘85. The schools anlso played in ‘43, so anntotal of 11. All games played at Harding Stadium and all games drew 9-10k rabid fans. They were intense and very memorable games.
 
Lake Catholic vs Mentor, mentor quit because Lake won 3of4 and the coach from mentor was losing kids to Lake, so they stopped playing...
 
Definitely late here and not too sure if this has been added.
Milton Union vs Northmont & Milton Union vs Tippecanoe.
 
Purcell vs. Elder
Roger Bacon vs Elder
Purcell vs. St Xavier
Roger Bacon vs. St. Xavier
St. Ignatius vs. public school rivals in the West Senate League
"Big" showdown games between Niles, Massillon, Canton McKinley, Alliance, Steubenville, Warren Harding
 
Cinciirish said:
Back in the '80s when I was going to McNick games, the Rockets beat both Anderson & Turpin on a regular basis and would win that trophy. All 3 schools would get hyped up for those games and they seem to have mattered more than league games at the time.
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.....and then Vince Suriano showed up at Anderson.
 
JUSTGOPLAY said:
.....and then Vince Suriano showed up at Anderson.
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Yes. Prior to that the smaller McNicholas Rockets manhandled Anderson. It was always the opener in those days and Anderson was the home team year after year. A fun rivalry and a great way to annually start off the season.
 
Cinciirish said:
Yes. Prior to that the smaller McNicholas Rockets manhandled Anderson. It was always the opener in those days and Anderson was the home team year after year. A fun rivalry and a great way to annually start off the season.
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Prior to Suriano, Anderson was everybody's homecoming game.
 
Well since this particular scrimmage is this week, one dormant rivalry is Coldwater vs Celina. Hasn't been played in the regular season since 1991. Celina leads the series 26-17-1
 
A rivalry was beginning to take shape between Chanel and Byzantine Catholic until Byzantine Catholic uproptly closed in the mis 70's.
 
Publican said:
A rivalry was beginning to take shape between Chanel and Byzantine Catholic until Byzantine Catholic uproptly closed in the mis 70's.
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Now Bedford Chanel is no more. Did they ever schedule Bedford? I recall the "Crown Conference" consisting of Cleveland area Catholic high schools. I know St. Joseph was a member because they had a keen rivalry with Chanel. I saw Chanel a couple of times in the late '60s. They had over 800 all-boys back then (hard to believe today). That's larger than Elder or Moeller today. I saw the Firebirds stop Ursuline inches from the goal as time ran out in an 8-8 tie in early Sept '68 at Rayen. Does anyone recall what schools were members of the "Crown Conference?" I think St. Ignatius was invited but opted to stay in the West Senate with public schools on the westside of Cleveland, like Mooney & Ursuline in both the City Series & SVC.
 
Vincent and Regina said:
Moeller Princeton is coming back in 2024.
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I went to a Princeton-Moeller playoff game in the 80’s and the following week went to a Capital (college DIII) game. I truly believe Princeton or Moeller would have beaten Capital by multiple scores.

In the rivalry’s hay day, Princeton-Moeller was as good of game as anyone in the country.
 
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Publican said:
A rivalry was beginning to take shape between Chanel and Byzantine Catholic until Byzantine Catholic uproptly closed in the mis 70's.
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I am not old enough to remember anything from that time, but as someone who enjoys medieval history Byzantine Catholic almost seems like an oxymoron of a name.
 
Cinciirish said:
Now Bedford Chanel is no more. Did they ever schedule Bedford? I recall the "Crown Conference" consisting of Cleveland area Catholic high schools. I know St. Joseph was a member because they had a keen rivalry with Chanel. I saw Chanel a couple of times in the late '60s. They had over 800 all-boys back then (hard to believe today). That's larger than Elder or Moeller today. I saw the Firebirds stop Ursuline inches from the goal as time ran out in an 8-8 tie in early Sept '68 at Rayen. Does anyone recall what schools were members of the "Crown Conference?" I think St. Ignatius was invited but opted to stay in the West Senate with public schools on the westside of Cleveland, like Mooney & Ursuline in both the City Series & SVC.
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Correct, St. Ignatius never joined.

The teams I remember: Chanel, St. Joseph, Lake Catholic, Cathedral Latin, St. Edward and Padua. I believe LC replaced Chanel when they dropped out of the conference, and the Crown was down to 4 at the very end (St. Joseph, LC, Padua, and St. Edward)
 
AugMer said:
I am not old enough to remember anything from that time, but as someone who enjoys medieval history Byzantine Catholic almost seems like an oxymoron of a name.
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I mean, if you are familiar with like the Orthodox Church. Byzantine Catholics are basically orthodox Christians who follow the Pope.

There are not many Orthodox Christians here in America of course. They are kind of more an eastern European thing. They have not caught on to the idea of maintaining schools linked to their churches in America, the way Catholics, and now even some Evangelicals have.

I was unaware of "Byzantine Catholic" Schools ever being a thing either. I mean most of those churches, like the orthodox churches are very much ethnic based, and tend to be attended by 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from eastern europe. Their children/grandchildren tended to be more integrated with American culture, and kind of didnt really identify with the church of their parents and grandparants, I feel like. Religion for them was much more ethnically linked I feel like. Either way, there really wasn't a ton of demand for making schools.

But still, I know in the catholic camp, most of the Catholics from Ohio, are descended from ethnic backgrounds. You got the Irish, the German Catholics, and like the Italians. And they have kind of kept their catholic identity, until the last couple generations, when church attendance in America in general cratered. And even then they are still culturally catholic at least, so they still go to the catholic schools.

IDK, honestly. Would The orthodox/Byzantine Catholic Churches be stronger in America, had they set up their own parochial schools? Or was their inability to engage the youth in their churches responsiblefor their being unable to keep open, or even establish schools?

It would be cool to have Orthodox religious high schools though as rivals to the catholic schools. I am well aware of the historical tensions between Catholics and Orthodox, going back 1000 years.

Definitely could be rivalry material.
 
Akron Holy War Hoban has dominated STVM out of the series. The game hasn’t been competitive since since 2016. Series over
 
CoventryTrackXCguy said:
I mean, if you are familiar with like the Orthodox Church. Byzantine Catholics are basically orthodox Christians who follow the Pope.

There are not many Orthodox Christians here in America of course. They are kind of more an eastern European thing. They have not caught on to the idea of maintaining schools linked to their churches in America, the way Catholics, and now even some Evangelicals have.

I was unaware of "Byzantine Catholic" Schools ever being a thing either. I mean most of those churches, like the orthodox churches are very much ethnic based, and tend to be attended by 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from eastern europe. Their children/grandchildren tended to be more integrated with American culture, and kind of didnt really identify with the church of their parents and grandparants, I feel like. Religion for them was much more ethnically linked I feel like. Either way, there really wasn't a ton of demand for making schools.

But still, I know in the catholic camp, most of the Catholics from Ohio, are descended from ethnic backgrounds. You got the Irish, the German Catholics, and like the Italians. And they have kind of kept their catholic identity, until the last couple generations, when church attendance in America in general cratered. And even then they are still culturally catholic at least, so they still go to the catholic schools.

IDK, honestly. Would The orthodox/Byzantine Catholic Churches be stronger in America, had they set up their own parochial schools? Or was their inability to engage the youth in their churches responsiblefor their being unable to keep open, or even establish schools?

It would be cool to have Orthodox religious high schools though as rivals to the catholic schools. I am well aware of the historical tensions between Catholics and Orthodox, going back 1000 years.

Definitely could be rivalry material.
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I am somewhat familiar with Byzantine Catholic High School in Parma. Here is the readers digest version:
  • Parma is home to many Eastern Euro ex-pats, especially Ukrainian, that were member of the Orthodox branch of Christianity. Just take a trip down State Rd. and you will see many onion domed houses of worship.
  • During the baby boomer era of the early '50s they decided to set up a HS at I think the corner of State and Snow RD. I think it was coed and had students primarily from the old Brooklyn and Parma areas.
  • School never really caught on and was closed in the mid-70s.
  • Football team never really stood out. By the time we got to the playoff era it was very small and got pushed around by the Catholic HSs in the area.
  • Many of these ethnic types moved over to Padua, Holy Name, & Trinity.
Things got really tough for the Orthodox branch in the late '70s to the point that they reached out to the Benedictines to help them out with saying the eastern rite services. Basically paid them off to cover some churches that were lacking clergy. Eventually they just closed these churches up and the Benedictines eased out of this agreement. I remember we did a Theology field trip while at Benny to a small orthodox church where the Benny Monk did their rite of mass, very regimented and not very "modern". I could see why folks were leaving in droves.
 
I remember very fondly driving on the turnpike to Youngstown to attend the St. Ignatius - Boardman games in the old Boardman Stadium. I was in awe at the huge size of the Spartan linemen, dwarfing our own. How did they grow them this tall at Boardman? Sitting in the " less than state-of-the art" visitors' side, I would eagerly anticipate the opportunity to buy something at the refreshment trailers, which looked like they came right out of the county fair, replete with elephant ears and plenty of fair type food. The place was always packed, and the fervor of the Spartan fans was electrifying. I anticipated halftime and the performance of the Boardman band, especially the dance team, which performed with amazing precision and joy. The games were physical, but clean, the way football should be played. Driving home, I couldn't wait for the next trip on the turnpike, back to the atmosphere that was so invigorating. I miss those days....... a lot.
 
Couple of fun notes...

Byzantine Catholic was an elementary school in Boardman Township right off Youngstown Poland Road and Sheridan in the old Poland Coutnry Club Area (near Paul C Bunn school). Bernie Kosar was its most famous alum, and I believe his father was the last principal. Bernie himself is a Byzantine Catholic, you can see him crossing himself Byzantine style during his games...

Kids then generally went to Mooney or Boardman (or Poland, maybe even Campbell or Struthers) for HS as there was no Byzantine HS.

I especially miss the old Ignatius-Boardman games of the 90s and early 2000s. Those games were always loud, and the games in Youngstown were generally quite competitive. And the site of some incredible Boardman wins, perhaps 1994 taking the cake.
 
kevinsea said:
For awhile they opened the basketball season on Thanksgiving after that
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Knew about the football game (there's a great photo of Pete Rose playing running back for West Hi in one of these games out there) but not the basketball tradition. Would this have been the first game or just preseason (as I am sure there were quite a few guys who played both sports-then baseball in the spring)?
 
CoventryTrackXCguy said:
I mean, if you are familiar with like the Orthodox Church. Byzantine Catholics are basically orthodox Christians who follow the Pope.

There are not many Orthodox Christians here in America of course. They are kind of more an eastern European thing. They have not caught on to the idea of maintaining schools linked to their churches in America, the way Catholics, and now even some Evangelicals have.

I was unaware of "Byzantine Catholic" Schools ever being a thing either. I mean most of those churches, like the orthodox churches are very much ethnic based, and tend to be attended by 1st and 2nd generation immigrants from eastern europe. Their children/grandchildren tended to be more integrated with American culture, and kind of didnt really identify with the church of their parents and grandparants, I feel like. Religion for them was much more ethnically linked I feel like. Either way, there really wasn't a ton of demand for making schools.

But still, I know in the catholic camp, most of the Catholics from Ohio, are descended from ethnic backgrounds. You got the Irish, the German Catholics, and like the Italians. And they have kind of kept their catholic identity, until the last couple generations, when church attendance in America in general cratered. And even then they are still culturally catholic at least, so they still go to the catholic schools.

IDK, honestly. Would The orthodox/Byzantine Catholic Churches be stronger in America, had they set up their own parochial schools? Or was their inability to engage the youth in their churches responsiblefor their being unable to keep open, or even establish schools?

It would be cool to have Orthodox religious high schools though as rivals to the catholic schools. I am well aware of the historical tensions between Catholics and Orthodox, going back 1000 years.

Definitely could be rivalry material.
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More than a holy war it would be The Battle for Constantinople (with cries from the Roman Catholics, "Remember 1054!")
 
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