By Stephen SpiewakMaxPreps.comCurrent MaxPreps.com host Chris Stonebraker traveled around the United States in a RV during the fall of 2006 as part of this site's first high school football road tour. Over the course of his four-month journey, Stonebraker made 15 stops along the way to cover many of the top programs in the country.
Along with partner Mike Wilkes, Stonebraker attended the Backyard Bowl, the annual showdown between Oklahoma rivals Union and Jenks, as well as Georgia's premier grudge match featuring cross-town foes Lowndes and Valdosta.
Games in California, Texas and Florida were also featured. But nothing compared to the time he spent in Ohio soaking in the atmosphere surrounding the annual
Massillon Washington-
Canton McKinley game.
“I think the whole coaching staff, every student, every athlete…they care so much about this rivalry and the history of it,” Stonebraker said.
One of the nation’s oldest high school football rivalries will be renewed for the 117th time Saturday in a game featured by Nike as part of the 5 Days 2 Friday Road Tour. Massillon leads the all-time series 62-49-5, including wins in eight of the last 11 meetings.
The winner will get to house the Victory Bell for one year. Having won last year’s game, Massillon is the current owner of the prize, a huge source of pride for the victorious school almost on par with a state championship banner.
For Stonebraker, the build up to the game seemed to have as much value to the communities as the actual game itself.
“The game is only the football players playing,” Stonebraker said. “But the week leading up to the game, everyone in the community has a chance to get involved.”
Pep rallies, parades, decorations and shared meals are all part of the community-wide anticipation for the actual game.
“Even with the Valdosta vs. Lowndes game, they had a lot of little things going on, and we got to be in the middle of them,” Stonebraker said. “But there is nothing like what they were doing for the Massillon vs. McKinley game.”
A visit to the hospital in Massillon provides a sense of how seriously people take their pigskin. Each newborn baby boy is given a Massillon Tigers football.
The Tigers’ mascot, by the way, is an actual tiger. Obie XXXIX (39) has been the current mascot for the past six years. Two weeks ago, Obie’s caretakers - "The Obie Crew" - took her to a local church to receive a blessing because, according to Erin Pustay of
The Independent, “It makes sense that Obie should be blessed, she has, after all, blessed the city with honest to goodness Tiger spirit.”
Over in Canton, not to be outdone, McKinley fans are equally proud of their mascot, the bulldog. Needless to say, bulldogs make very popular pets for McKinley supporters. Fans playfully argue over whose pet bulldog is actually the school’s mascot.
“Everyone cares so much about whose bulldog is the actual mascot,” Stonebraker said. “It’s a rivalry all the way down to the bulldog.”
Neither Obie or the McKinley bulldog is frightened by large crowds. At least 15,000 people will pack Paul Brown Stadium, rain or shine, to watch the latest installment of the series.
When they do, they’ll join the 1.6 million people who have watched the Massillon-McKinley game since 1894.
