MEMORIES AS GOOD AS GOLD
A half-century later, players still relive the key moments of first Chico-PV football matchups
CHICO » Mark Dalrymple will remember the Pleasant Valley football team’s first win against cross-town rival Chico High until the day he dies.
Dalrymple, a former running back and kicker who graduated PV in 1973, played in the first three Almond Bowls. The win for the Vikings came in the fifth matchup between the two schools in 1972 — the second official Almond Bowl, which began in 1971.
PV entered the 1971 game with a record of 5-1, with Chico’s record standing at 3-3. The Vikings led 28-21 in the fourth quarter and Chico High got the ball but could not score. The Vikings then got the ball back and were supposed to run out the clock to end the game but were unable to do so.
Chico High got the ball back and scored a touchdown with under two minutes to play and attempted a two-point conversion to win the game. Panthers quarterback John McHenry ran right as the Viking defense pursued the quarterback. With McHenry running out of room nearing the sideline, McHenry threw the ball while being tackled to receiver Buck McKinnon, who caught it in the end zone for an apparent twopoint conversion.
But — the referees ruled McHenry’s knee was down before the throw and the game was over. Pleasant Valley won 28-27.
“That was a play of all ages I tell you,” Dalrymple said. “It was an incredible
game. You have some of the best athletes on both teams in all of Northern California, and the guys who didn’t get the press every week they stepped up in the Almond Bowl and they played a different type of game on another level. You see high school kids do things they didn’t even know they could do.”
The two Chico schools first faced each other in 1968, two years after PV opened. Since then the all-time record including three pre-Almond Bowl games, playoff matchups and last year’s unofficial matchup during the COVID-19 shortened season stands at 32 wins for Chico, 31 wins for PV and a 7-7 tie in 1980. In official Almond Bowl matchups, Chico leads 25-23-1. Chico High has won the last three Almond Bowls in 2019, 2018 and 2017. Pleasant Valley won the matchup in the pandemic 2021 season and the Northern Section championship games in 2019 and 2018.
The Almond Bowl got its official title in 1971 when former KPAY radio general manager Frank Mertz and another Chico businessman decided to make the game between the two schools an official community event. Chico High won the first three matchups before the Almond Bowl got its official title, and the Panthers won 10-7 in the first official Almond Bowl at Chico State’s University Stadium.
Dalrymple said the PV win in 1972, the first year the Vikings won an Eastern Athletic League championship, was much more significant. When playing in an inaugural game, Dalrymple explained it doesn’t register with players about how it will be special for the town 50 years years later.
“It’s interesting because it was the first Almond Bowl, but I don’t recall any of us thought it was anything special. It was neat that it had a name, but calling it an Almond Bowl
didn’t make it any different of a game than if you called it a ‘No Bowl,’” Dalrymple said. “It was Chico against PV and both teams thought they were going to win the league title.”
Larry Stephenson graduated from PV in 1971 and played in the first three Chico High/Pleasant Valley games prior to the first Almond Bowl. Stephenson said from the start fans packed University Stadium full, much like they do today at Chico High and Pleasant Valley.
“They filled University Stadium for those games, 6,000-8,000 people. It was maybe ¼ of the community,” Stephenson said. “It wasn’t something that we started and nobody showed up. I think the community just really wanted to see both teams play each other.”
Stephenson said the biggest difference between the first three meetings and Almond Bowl No. 1 was
sheer size and population of Chico and how much it has grown. In 1970, Chico’s population was just under 20,000 people. As of the US census’ latest count in 2019, Chico’s population was just over 103,000 people.
In the first 25 years of the Almond Bowl from 19711995, Chico won 15 matchups, Pleasant Valley won nine, and the teams tied in 1980. Chico High won six straight from 1986-1991. From 1996-2019, PV won 14 matchups and Chico High won 10. PV won five straight from 1999-2003 and eight of nine from 1999-2007.
Stephenson, who coached softball at PV when his daughters played in the 90’s, attributes the Vikings’ success to the growth the school has had. Pleasant Valley had roughly 700 students in 1968, and Chico High had over 1,000. When Stephenson coached, he learned that when PV was built there was a masterplan
and the school was not fully built when it opened in 1966. More classrooms were built and when both schools got over 2,000 students the rivalry got even stronger.
“I think PV’s finally fully matured, they have a tradition, people are proud of the tradition, they have a full facility now and the football facility is incredible,” Stephenson said. “That field when I practiced on it it was like practicing on a bed of rocks with weeds on it. It’s been brought up to speed now.”
What hasn’t changed in the years leading up to this year’s 50th Almond Bowl is that for most students who have taken to the football field each Friday night, whether it be in the late 60’s, early 70’s or in 2021, those nights are some of their fondest high school memories.
You’re on a team, players develop relationships, players work hard together and go out and give it their best in hopes of winning for Chico bragging rights.
Some bragging rights last a lifetime, and Dalrymple reminds McKinnon of this nearly every year he sees his friend from junior high at the Butte College baseball golf tournament.
“I see (McKinnon) at the golf tournament and when someone says ‘There’s John McKinnon of Chico High,’ and then says ‘oh ya that play when your knee was down,’” Dalrymple said. “(McKinnon) says ‘I really don’t think it was down.’ I say, man I really think you were down. There’s no hard feelings after all these years. We still go back and forth with it.”