By Seth Herrold
On every level of football there are rivalries. The Chiefs and Raiders on Sunday, Missouri and Kansas on Saturday and Marceline and Brookfield on Friday. From high school through the professional ranks there is always that game or two that teams circle on the calendar when the schedule is released.
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When Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten, rivalries were torn apart. Most of the nation cried foul and painted tradition out to be a victim of big money which was, still is and always will be, the driving force in college football. For high school football fans in Trenton, this was nothing terribly new.
For years the Trenton-Chillicothe rivalry was huge. It had all the elements of a great rivalry: close proximity, a traveling trophy, and a general dislike between the two teams and towns for that matter. As time wore on, however, the size differential became greater and greater and when Trenton’s time in the Midland Empire Conference came to an end, scheduling became a factor. Between Chillicothe’s conference schedule and district schedule there was no room left for a date with Trenton. Not being in the same conference or same class size means hope of ever pulling the Sugar Bucket out of the mothballs appears lost.
After the Trenton-Chillicothe rivalry, which still remains a good rivalry in other sports outside of football, the Bulldogs stumbled into another rivalry, this one with Brookfield. Brookfield shared the Bulldog mascot and during the time the two schools shared a district, they played some great games for championships. Back then, only one team played on past districts and Trenton and Brookfield each saw one of their better teams kept out of the playoffs by the other in 2006 and 2007. Those games were physical games between teams who wanted to beat each other worse than anything. It helped a lot too, during this time, that Brookfield’s primary rival Marceline was down at the time. With the added importance of the district title on the line, the Trenton-Brookfield game was as big as any on either schedule. This rivalry, too, came to an end with the state remolding the districts. As with Chillicothe, conference obligations for Brookfield have this rivalry pretty well extinct.
So who are the Trenton Bulldogs’ rivals now? The truth of the matter is there isn’t really a rivalry out there. But if you really want to find one, why not look at this week’s opponent, Carrollton. Carrollton and LeBlond are the only two teams that have been on the Trenton Bulldogs’ schedule every year since 2007 and both series pre-date that season by quite a bit. Needless to say, the recent games with Carrollton have been more rivalry-like than the LeBlond games.
Last season Keegan McGinness dove for the pilon in the waning minutes of a great game to snatch a victory from Carrollton. Think the Trojans haven’t thought about that night this week in practice? Looking beyond last year it’s easy to find some basis for bad blood. In 2007, De’Andre Vandevender was sent back into a blowout to quote “get Trenton out of a hole.” That hole was the shadow of their own end zone. Vandevender claims he told Coach Croy he was going to score if he put him back in the game and, well, he did just that. The 87-yard touchdown run ran the score up even more and gave Vandevender the school’s single game rushing record.
Fast forward to 2008. No Vandevender for the Bulldogs, no mercy from the Trojans. Carrollton held Trenton to just six points and 432 fewer yards of offense than the year before, winning 28-6. In 2009 the Trojans shut out Trenton, running up a 39-0 win. The Bulldogs then took the one-possession win last year, 20-14.
The teams appear, at least on paper, to be evenly matched again this season, which hopefully, will make for a great game. Another one that comes down to the wire would only add fuel to the fire. Carrollton is on the schedule again in 2012 and 2013. This series isn’t going away anytime soon.
You want a rivalry Trenton? Embrace the battle with the Trojans.