Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Competitive Nature Defines Rivalry
‘BATTLE OF ’62’ KICKS OFF FRIDAY
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove webcaster Lynn Gregson budgeted time he’s alloted to research the history of the annual ‘Battle of 62’ between Farmington and Prairie Grove in Arkansas high school football.
Gregson couldn’t research the history every day, yet blocked out time during a week when he knew he could pursue the endeavor.
“Nobody at Prairie Grove had a comprehensive history so I started doing it,” said Gregson, who has called the game for PGTelco webcasts since 2010 and was inducted into the PGHS Hall of Pride in November.
With 58 rivalry games played since 1959 the series is deadlocked at 29-29 with an average score of Prairie Grove 17.5 and Farmington 16.4. Prairie Grove has scored 1,016 total points in the rivalry while Farmington has put 949 points on the board.
“That is the definition of a rivalry,” Gregson said. “It’s like it was made for a rivalry. The series is separated by a single point.”
Prairie Grove Enterprise
Gregson started going to the Prairie Grove Public Library and looking through issues of the Prairie Grove Enterprise, the predecessor of the Enterprise-Leader.
“I found out that Prairie Grove’s first year of football was 1955,” Gregson said.
The Tigers played 6-man football the first few years through 1959 according to Gregson. He discovered the program went to 8-man football in 1960 and began playing 11-man football in 1965.
“The first time Prairie Grove made the playoff was 1983 and 1984, they lost to Booneville both times,” Gregson said. “They didn’t make the playoffs again until 1996.”
Gregson has checked scores published in the Prairie Grove Enterprise against high school yearbooks and other sources, including the former Fayetteville newspaper, Northwest Arkansas Times. He compares those scores to information published in the Almanac of Arkansas High School Football compiled by Leland Barclay.
Beginnings Of Rivalry
The first time the teams played was a 6-man football game in 1959. The contest was supposed to be a Farmington home game, but due to issues with lights it was played at Prairie Grove with a hitch — Farmington was the home team. The contest marked the first varsity football game Farmington High School played in its history.
“The score was 24-16, Farmington wins the first game Farmington ever played over their rival Prairie Grove,” Gregson said. “They’ve now played every year since 1959 except 1964. They didn’t play that year.”
The schools played 8-man football rivalry games from 1960-1963. The series resumed in 1965 with both schools fielding 11-man football teams and Prairie Grove winning 34-0.
Series Milestones
Among interesting facts uncovered by Gregson’s meticulous research is beginning in 1974 the home team won every year for 11 straight seasons.
“Farmington snapped that streak in 1985 when they won on Prairie Grove’s field, 30-12,” Gregson said. “Farmington won 10 straight games from 1984-1993. Then it was Prairie Grove’s turn and they won 10-out-of-12 from 19942005. The rivalry went back and forth, then they both went on a streak. It’s 6-6 the last 12 years. Prairie Grove has won 5-out-of-the-last-7 since 2011.”
Farmington posted three consecutive shutouts from 1987-1989, blanking Prairie Grove 14-0, 28-0, and 33-0.
“Farmington has shut out Prairie Grove seven times, Prairie Grove has shut out Farmington eight times,” Gregson said. “You can’t write a script like this.”
Season Openers
Counting 2018 of the 59 times played, 30 of them have been the first game of the season. Farmington has a 16-14 edge in rivalry games played as season openers.
“Prairie Grove used to be larger than Farmington,” Gregson said. “From about 1990 to about 2013, almost
15 years, it wasn’t the first game of the year. Twenty-three of the first 27 games played were the first game of the season and they’ve just renewed that recently.”
Only Rival Can Beat You
Farmington won back-toback state football championships in 1972 and 1973. Gregson points out Prairie Grove was the only team to defeat Farmington in 1972 the year the Cardinals won their first state championship. The Tigers upended Farmington 13-0, but the Cardinals went 11-1 overall and won the state title.
“The next year Farmington got their revenge and beat Prairie Grove 52-6 in 1973,” Gregson said.
The Cardinals went 12-0 completing an undefeated season in 1973 and winning a second consecutive state crown.
“Farmington was the only team to beat Prairie Grove (by a 28-12 score during the regular season) the year they made it to the state championship (2015),” Gregson said.
Current Coaches
Prairie Grove coach Danny Abshier took over the Tiger program in 1993. He lost his first game coaching in the rivalry as Farmington beat the Tigers 8-0. Abshier’s record in the series is 16-9.
Farmington coach Mike Adams took over the Cardinal program in December of 2002. He also lost his first game coaching in the rivalry, 50-14, in 2003. Adams’ record in series is 6-9.
“Coach Abshier is a Farmington graduate, he played in the rivalry,” Gregson said. “Farmington assistant coach Jay Harper was a quarterback at Prairie Grove in the eighties.”
Promote Tiger Football
Gregson’s diligent research compiled a treasure trove of information. He has a complete list of scores from 1967 on for every varsity football game Prairie Grove has played and hopes to complete additional research to fill in missing scores by next season when the PGTelco webcast celebrates its 10th anniversary. The eventual goal is to see Prairie Grove football history printed in a program for fans to enjoy, appreciate the heritage and celebrate the success of the Tigers.
“We couldn’t have started the webcasts at a better time,” Gregson said, noting, “The hey-day of Prairie Grove football really has been the last seven to eight years.”