Great Rivalries of the Past

[OldSchoolLion]

 

MANY years ago, there were some great rivalries in Florida.  One of those was the Belle Glade Central vs Chaminade rivalry.  Back then, there were only a few classes, and schools didn’t shift nearly as frequently.  The way the playoff brackets were arranged, it was not uncommon for certain teams to face off against each other year after year, allowing for some great rivalries to develop.  Chaminade was a small, all-boys school with a strong program and “played up” in class.  Glades was a tough team from the Muck.  Here’s a description of those games.

Glades won the regional title 18-16 at home in 1969 before 4000 fans.

Chaminade won the regional title 26-13 in 1970 at Hollywood McArthur stadium.

Glades won the regional title at home in 1971 with a 31-0 victory and went on to win the state title.

Glades won the regional title 20-6 in 1972 at South Broward Stadium before 2500 fans and then went on to win the state title.

Chaminade won the regional title 15-13 in 1974 at South Broward Stadium and eventually advanced to the state title game.  David Shula played on that team.  Yep, that Shula.  This was an infamous game, as there was a riot on the field after the game ended.  There was a police helicopter with searchlight flying overhead and police dogs on the field.  Multiple police officers and fans were injured in the melee.  There was such bedlam that police officers had difficulty figuring out who was fighting and who was trying to quell things. 

Needless to say this was an intense rivalry.  Amazing that these games, played nearly 50 years ago, pulled as many or more fans than some modern-day state championship games.  And getting to/from such locations was much more challenging then.    

In the late 70’s and early 80’s, St Thomas Aquinas played a series of classic playoff games against Belle Glade Central and Homestead.  All but one of those games was decided by less than a touchdown. 

Imagine the mystique of playing a team you knew relatively little about-no internet to research.  In the early days, you may not even be aware the other team had a new coach until you played them the following year.  It is my belief that back then some public schools relished the thought of playing the “privileged” private schools and giving them a good butt-kicking.  We still have some of these good rivalries today, but it seems that maintaining them is more difficult because alignments are so much more fluid, or so it seems.

Don’t mean to sound as if things were better back then-just very different.  I do think the atmosphere at some of those early games was more electric.  Today we take for granted the ability to follow high school games on TV or on-line.  It’s no big deal to sit at home instead of going to the stadium.  Half the people in the stands are too busy texting to cheer.  There was tremendous anticipation built up in the days before these earlier playoff games.  Nowadays, there has already been so much analysis in the days leading up to a big game that it is almost anticlimactic when the game gets played.  That statement might be hard to fully appreciate unless you are one of us dinosaurs.     

No doubt talent today is more widespread.  But do not believe for a moment that some of the old-time players could not dominate today.  Despite some amazing talent in the years following, it took 25 years for someone to break Emmitt Smith's(Pensacola Escambia) rushing record.   Deacon Jones, Warren Sapp, Michael Irvin...put them in a uniform today with today's resources and they would likely dominate just as they did  then.