The best of fall: High school football rivalries

When he was starting his coaching career 40 years ago, Minnetonka coach Dave Nelson — then an assistant at Blaine — got a plum assignment from head coach Don Larson the night before a game with rival Coon Rapids.

Break down the opponent's tendencies? No. Design a super-secret game plan? Nope.

Nelson's job was to sit in the woods behind Blaine's football field in the wee hours before the game, guarding against vandals.

"We had gotten wind from Coon Rapids that someone might be planning to ruin our field," Nelson laughed. "So we took two-hour shifts watching the field. Nothing happened, but those kinds of things happened between rivals in those days."

Nothing lights a fire under a football game like a good rivalry. Trash gets talked, battle lines get drawn and bleachers fill fast when teams with a history meet.

In an era of changing conference alignments and after years of uncompetitive games, some long-standing rivalries have lost some luster. At the same time, new ones have emerged, especially within school districts adding high schools. Crowds approaching 10,000 people are expected Friday night in Lakeville for a rivalry that didn't exist when the players were born.

College football is full of traveling trophies and die-hards who would easily trade a bowl victory for a win over those other guys. But at the high school level, rivalries are far less static. What constitutes a rival for one team might simply be another game for the other. Teams that win a lot have schedules full of rivals; teams that don't, well, don't.

In its long history, Cretin-Derham Hall has played in plenty of rivalry games but often against different opponents.

"When I think of a rival, I think of all of the games against St. Thomas Academy," Raiders coach Mike Scanlan said earlier this fall. "But it's been so long since we were in the same conference, that rivalry has fallen off."

It's been more than 10 years since those once-rivals played each other, St. Thomas coach Dave Ziebarth said. "It is something we miss," he said.

Like most teenagers, the current Cretin-Derham Hall players aren't as concerned with history as they are about proving themselves. To them, one team in particular stands out, even though it's only been around for six years.

"East Ridge," star defensive end Jashon Cornell said. "I consider them our biggest rival."

In the 1990s, White Bear Lake and Mounds View were waging gotta-see-'em battles every year, sometimes twice. But, as Mounds View emerged as a more consistent winner, that rivalry has cooled off. The same can be said for established battles such as Anoka vs. Coon Rapids, Minneapolis North vs. Minneapolis Henry and Cooper vs. Armstrong.

"They're great for the community because they instill a sense of pride," said Osseo coach Derrin Lamker, who played for Armstrong. "But the district has changed. It's something you never forget, but it's not what is once was. It's funny: Sometimes the game is more important to the parents."

Arguably the biggest current rivalry game in the metro takes place Friday when Lakeville North plays at Lakeville South for the Big Cat Trophy.

It's certainly not venerable — Lakeville divided into two high schools in 2005 — but it makes up for in passion what it lacks in tradition. The teams have played 11 times since the split, with Lakeville North holding a 6-5 edge.

What makes the game a true rivalry is that nearly everyone in the community has a stake. Lakeville South coach Larry Thompson coached Lakeville before taking the job at South. North coach Brian Vossen was a linebacker and captain for Thompson. Most of the players come up through the Lakeville Football Association, which doesn't separate players into North and South until seventh grade.

Few games draw the kinds of crowds that North vs. South does. Fans fill up the stadium long before game times with thousands ringing the perimeter.

"Every year, I say [attendance] is about 10,000, but it might actually be a little less than that," Lakeville South activities director Neil Strader said. "It's hard to know with all of the people standing around the stadium. It's three, four people deep."

Lakeville North linebacker Jesse Cardenas recalled "walking into the stadium last year and I had butterflies like it was the Super Bowl. You're in awe of all those people. When you warm up, you run a little faster and you hit a little harder. Your heart is going 100 miles per hour."

Vossen said he tells his players to make sure they enjoy the atmosphere but not to get caught up in it.

"It's pretty surreal," he said. "I can't help myself from looking around. We try to treat it like it's just one game in a season, but you want the kids to enjoy the chance to play in that kind of atmosphere."

But the best rivalries stand the test of time. Bloomington Jefferson and Bloomington Kennedy, two teams that have struggled to stay relevant as they have aged, still wage the Battle of Bloomington. Jefferson won this year 55-20.

St. Paul Highland Park and St. Paul Central have been neighborhood rivals since the 1960s. The teams play for an old musket trophy, but the bragging rights mean much more.

"Our first goal every year is to beat Central," Highland Park coach David Zeitchick said.

A good rivalry brings a sense of purpose. Sometimes a game is just a game, but a rivalry is an event.