San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
High school rivalries create lifelong memories
High school sports are defined by rivalries. Becoming a professional athlete is a one-in-amillion shot for high school athletes. But wins against rival schools are lifetime memories. The Bay Area has several longstanding crosstown matchups.
The most famous might be the one between St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. The teams first met in rugby on St. Patrick’s Day in 1893. They met again in 1896, then started up a football rivalry in 1919.
The St. Ignatius Wildcats lead the all-time football series, 62-27-7. Including the rugby games, the rivalry between St. Ignatius and the Sacred Heart Fightin’ Irish is the third-oldest between high schools west of the Mississippi.
A 1949 San Francisco Chronicle story said a Sacred Heart Cathedral student named Cornelius Kennedy came up with the idea for a game in 1893, recruiting teams at both schools and then coaching them both on rugby based on a pamphlet he had acquired.
Both teams had to practice secretly because school officials found the sport too violent. The original meeting took place at Central Park, on Eighth and Market streets. Sacred Heart was the winner, 14-4. Touchdowns in rugby were worth four points at the time.
Both schools had winning streaks in the early years but St. Ignatius has dominated the series since the early 1950s. The Fightin’ Irish were winless over 15 years as the Wildcats went 13-0-2 from 1972-86.
In 2011, the teams split with Sacred Heart Cathedral winning the regular season matchup, then the Wildcats winning a rematch at thenAT&T Park for the Central Coast Section Division III championship, the only time the two schools have met in the playoffs.
In 1945, the BruceMahoney trophy was created to honor two graduates of the schools who died in World War II: Bill Bruce (St. Ignatius, Class of 1935) and Jerry Mahoney (Sacred Heart, Class of 1944). Bruce was an outstanding football player for the Wildcats and also served as student body president. Mahoney earned All-City honors in football and basketball.
For many years, the trophy was awarded to the school that won two out of three games in football, basketball and baseball (only the first league meeting between the schools counted in the latter two sports). In 2021, the schools announced they were adding girls volleyball and girls basketball making the trophy a best-of-five affair.
St. Ignatius has also dominated the BruceMahoney trophy competition, winning it 53 times to 21 for Sacred Heart Cathedral. The 2019-20 school year was a tie as the teams split in football and basketball with the baseball game canceled due to COVID-19. This year’s much-anticipated football game is Oct. 14 at Kezar Stadium.
Another great rivalry is in the East Bay, where San Ramon Valley High School and Monte Vista High School fight for bragging rights in the city of Danville.
The San Ramon Valley Wolves played their first football game in 1913. The Monte Vista Mustangs came along a little later — first meeting San Ramon Valley in a varsity football game in 1968.
The Mustangs lead the all-time series, 31-29-1 but the Wolves have won 10 of the last 13 games.
The teams have produced tons of great players over the years. One of the best matchups came in 2002 when both teams had Division 1 quarterbacks at the helm. San Ramon Valley’s Sam Keller had thrown his fourth touchdown of the game with 44 seconds left to put the Wolves up, 44-40. Keller went on to play at Arizona State. Monte Vista’s Kyle Wright, who would go on to play for Miami, then threw his sixth touchdown of the game in the final seconds to lead the Mustangs to a 46-44 victory.
The year before, the same two quarterbacks combined for 670 passing yards as Monte Vista won, 38-34. This year, the teams will meet on Nov. 4 at Monte Vista.
Down on the Peninsula, the Little Big Game is played every fall between Burlingame and San Mateo.
The winning school earns “The Paw” trophy. The schools first met in 1927 with the Burlingame Panthers eeking out a 7-6 victory. The San Mateo Bearcats have had plenty of success in the series, but not lately. Burlingame’s 37-7 win in 2021 was its 12th in a row and 23rd in the last 25 years. The Panthers lead the all-time series, 58-32-4.
San Mateo’s last win came in 2009 when the Bearcats stunned the
Panthers with a late score to notch a 25-20 win and earn the division championship and a CCS playoff berth. San Mateo had led the game 19-7 entering the fourth quarter but then seemed to fall apart. Burlingame rallied to take a 20-19 lead and was knocking on the door for another score.
But San Mateo came up with a huge goal-line stand. The Bearcats regained the ball on their own 6 with just one minute, 36 seconds remaining. San Mateo quarterback Mitch Labbie completed three consecutive passes to get the drive going. George Naufahu then broke off a 24-yard run to move the ball to the Burlingame 44.
Labbie then hurled the ball to the end zone. A Panthers defender was there poised to go after the wobbly pass. But the Bearcats Johnnie Niupalau jumped over the defender and pulled in the ball for the gamewinning score. The 95th Little Big Game is scheduled for Nov. 3 at Burlingame.
Up in the North Bay, Petaluma and Casa Grande play in what is known as the Egg Bowl. Things got so heated between the schools during the 2011 game (won by Casa Grande, 35-9), that the series was canceled for the next five seasons.
Things have cooled off considerably. In the 2019 meeting, Petaluma’s water boy Aidan Spillane took to the field after the second half kickoff. Spillane suffers from cerebral palsy that restricts his right arm and hand as well as the ability to speak. The teams arranged to have Spillane take a handoff and he ran for a 35-yard touchdown. Casa Grande’s Jack Farris gave chase to no avail.
It was proof that rivalries don’t have to be heated all the time. Casa Grande hosts Petaluma on Oct. 29.