Grand Island middle schools reflect on a 100-year football rivalry. The centennial game did not disappoint

The tension at Grand Island’s Memorial Stadium was palpable and personal.

The longest-running Nebraska junior high rivalry, which is likely longer than any high school rivalries, was coming down to the wire. With under a minute left in the game, Barr led Walnut 10-8.

The game is called by many names: the Crosstown Clash, the Wildcats vs. Bulldogs, north vs. south, brown and gold vs. purple and orange.

A simple railroad track divides the school boundaries.

The rivalry between Barr and Walnut middle schools runs deep in Grand Island lore, a century deep. Jeff Westerby, Barr alum and longtime Walnut football coach, said it’s similar to classic college rivalries.

“I'm not saying it's Ohio State-Michigan or Auburn-Alabama,” he said. “It's not the Iron Bowl, but it is ours.”

Greg Mays, Nebraska sports historian and host of the podcast "Suiting Up Varsity," said not many middle schools have been around for 100 years in the state.

“This is definitely the longest junior high rivalry,” Mays said. “I think it probably has a good chance to be the longest played high school rivalry, continuously.”

On Oct. 16, 1925, the two teams met at Athletic Park, now called Pier Park. That first game ended in a 0-0 tie. That wasn’t the only scoreless result in the early years of the series, either.

Despite the lack of fireworks early on, it quickly grew into an annual tradition.

“It's unique in Nebraska, and perhaps unique nationally,” Mays said. “The city in Grand Island has embraced it and made it a big deal in lots of different ways through the decades.”

They scheduled the games on Armistice Day, which was an important day for football years ago, Mays said.

Media attention also highlighted the rivalry across central Nebraska.

KRGI started broadcasting the games in 1984, Mays said. The Grand Island Independent dedicated a full page to preview the game with quotes from coaches and players to watch.

The game, and the rituals around it, look drastically different today. Tom Hill played halfback and linebacker on the Walnut ninth grade team in 1960. He said Vic Ashley led the Wildcats for decades and, in his final season, coached Hill’s ninth grade team.

“He had a board, and back then, they could swat kids,” Hill said. “I don't know, he was kind of such a tradition. It was almost an honor to get a swat from him.”

His team was hauled to the senior high for practice and games in a straight truck, typically used for corn or cattle. Shortly after Hill’s middle school years, Grand Island Public Schools started to evolve.

“They started putting them in a regular bus and taking them out there,” Hill said. “They moved up in the world a little bit.”

In the fall of 1997, a new era was ushered in. Barr and Walnut were no longer junior highs, and their ninth graders moved to the senior high. That meant eighth graders took center stage each fall.

“It changed a little bit, but I still think there's always been that rivalry, no matter what grade it is, Barr vs. Walnut, it's just a little different for people in this town,” said Kelli Jeffries, Walnut alum and former Husker basketball standout.

The Jeffries family is a house divided, as far as middle schools are concerned.

Kelli went to Walnut along with one of her siblings, while the other four kids in her family attended Barr. Her children also went to Barr, along with her husband.

“He read the article in the paper (and) goes, ‘Well, I played in the Barr-Walnut game, and I scored three touchdowns,’” She said. “He knew every play of the game, what happened at the end. It's just a memory that's never going to leave him.”

Her husband, Jim, joined the long list of names to play at one of the middle schools and also at Nebraska.

Phil Ellis is another one of those names. A Barr alum and former Husker linebacker, Ellis started for the Blackshirt defense toward the end of 1994 national championship team and at the beginning of the 1995 repeat champion squad.

The competitiveness from the rivalry continued as the students went into high school, he recalled.

“It was hard to talk trash when you lose, so they would talk trash to me, of course,” Ellis said. “But then I'd say I got 17 tackles.”

Ray Chavez, assistant coach for Walnut and alum of the school, remembered getting pulled into the tradition in seventh grade.

“I'd gone to senior high games growing up, but nothing could prepare me for when I walked in to see just tons of people there — adults, former players on both sides,” Chavez said. “Then, the field they did. The middle of the field had a logo, like Barr Bulldogs and they're purple and orange, and the Walnut was brown and gold, and it was split in half in the center at the 50 yard line. That's what hooked me as a seventh grader.”

Chavez loved his time playing in the rivalry so much that he said he would take any opportunity to relive it, no matter the sport.

“When I was coaching girls basketball, for every game that I coached, it's just a normal game,” he said. “But when it's Barr-Walnut, whether it's here or whether it's over there, whether it's football, whether it's the dual track meet duel, I still get the butterflies, and I think that's okay, because it's special.”

The schools made a spectacle of the basketball games, too. They played inside an airplane hangar at the airport, before the two schools built nicer gyms.

Part of what made the rivalry so special over the years was how involved the Grand Island community was. Larry Rutar coached at Walnut for more than 30 years, and he said the community showed up for the big rivalry match.

“One year, when Barr and Walnut were both undefeated, and we played (at GISH Memorial Stadium), they had a little over 5,000 people at the game,” Rutar said. “Two or three weeks later, Grand Island played Creighton Prep for the state champion title, and there were more people at the Barr-Walnut game than the state championship game.”

Although he didn’t grow up in Grand Island, Rutar said the Barr-Walnut game was known for miles, even 60 miles away in his hometown of Ord.

“I look back, I've been around it for half the time, 50-some years, so there aren't a lot of people that probably can say that,” Rutar said. “I just hope that it never dies and that it keeps getting more kids involved.”

That mentality hits home for some of the alumni who played in the game. Mike Thompson, the current eighth grade head coach at Barr, used to play for rival Walnut under none other than Coach Westerby.

“I had a lot of great coaches when I was growing up that gave me the opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise, and so I feel like I might as well do the same when I'm in the district,” he said.

Thompson said he’s grateful he played in the rivalry and gets to coach such a historic game.

“I think being able to experience that again on the 100th anniversary is, I mean, it's cool for me, and I'm a 39-year-old man,” Thompson said. “I can't imagine what some of these guys are thinking being 13 (years old) and having this be one of their first big-game experiences.”

Back at the high school stadium, the crowd and coaches watched as each team continued to fight for the win. With 22 seconds left, the Wildcats punched in the go-ahead score. After a two-point conversion, Walnut was in the lead 16-10.

With seconds left, Barr tried connecting a Hail Mary prayer. But the Bulldog receiver was tackled around the 25-yard-line, sending the Walnut sideline into a frenzy.

Final score, 16-10, but with countless drama.

Quarterback Rylan Booth, who ran in the game-winning touchdown, held up the trophy for his teammates as they celebrated the big win. Booth told reporters afterward about his plans to commemorate the victory.

“Probably go get some Cane’s,” Booth said. “Box combo, extra sauce, sweet tea.”

Westerby, who coached for 30 years at Walnut, said it was great to go out. The longtime coach said he will retire. But he added the old buzz was revived for the 100th year of Barr-Walnut.

“I just hope this keeps going, that we keep building it up,” Westerby said. “When kids have big things to shoot for, good things happen.”

Walnut wore classic uniforms, and the game returned to Grand Island Memorial Stadium for the special occasion.

What makes the rivalry even more special is how the players eventually play together in high school. Freshman Grand Island coach Justin Goodwin gathered the players from both teams after the game at the 50-yard-line, complimenting everyone for playing “a hell of a game.”

“Stick with football next year, and now you guys are all Islanders,” Goodwin said. “You're not Wildcats and Bulldogs anymore. You're Islander football players now, and you become a part of a brotherhood that will carry with you the rest of your life.”

While the Barr Bulldogs tried to lift their heads in defeat, the Walnut Wildcats elated in victory. And Coach Goodwin’s message hit home for the thousands of athletes who preceded them.

They all may be Islanders now. But the moment Booth emerged from the end zone will be remembered as one of the more magical games in recent memory between the 'Cats and 'Dogs.