Commentary: Memorable game helps CCHS-EVHS rivalry bloom

Before Friday night’s thrilling Eastern View-Culpeper County High School football game, there were some people claiming there really wasn’t a rivalry between the two schools.

Eastern View was too new, so there wasn’t any history. Most of the students went to school together at one point or another. These kids were friends, not rivals. Well, Friday’s game should just about put any of that talk to bed.

A 20-19 EVHS victory was the most exciting football game that’s been played inside the county lines in a decade.

The Cyclones and Blue Devils are in the middle of the pack when it comes to the Battlefield District standings. Neither team is playoff bound, but there was plenty of intensity on the field and in the stands with nothing but pride on the line.

It was a game where both teams had to rally from behind that wasn’t decided until the finals seconds ticked away — Eastern View took the lead for good late in the fourth quarter, but Culpeper threatened to score on its final possession. People in all corners of the county will remember this one for a long time, though folks in Jeffersonton will do so with a shake of the head while a Reva citizen might puff his chest out a little.

Yeah, this was the kind of game rivalries are made of.

If you had asked just about anyone that didn’t have a stall in the Culpeper locker room before the season if the Blue Devils had a shot of knocking off the Cyclones the answer would have been no. But in just like all the great rivalries in sports, you can throw the records and predictions out the window when Culpeper and Eastern View play. This is going to be a game that either team can win.

It has all the ingredients for a great rivalry.

The schools are roughly three miles apart, the games are getting to be quite competitive and there’s just the right amount of bitterness between the two.

We probably won’t see any European-style soccer riots at a Culpeper-Eastern View sporting event anytime soon, but these two schools sure don’t like losing to each other.

At Culpeper, the weight room had a football schedule on the wall that marked the Eastern View games as being against “the other school”. Some folks at Eastern View wonder why the Blue Devils are always so focused on what the Cyclones are doing.

And the rivalry has been pretty even across the board this season.

Eastern View’s one-point victory on Friday gives the Cyclones a narrow five-point lead in the race for the Community Cup, a trophy given to the school that wins the most head-to-head contests between the two.

Of course, Culpeper fans will be quick to point out the Devils didn’t have their top runner when they faced off in cross country and CCHS could easily be the one with the 25-20 lead.

In most sports the Culpeper-Eastern View rivalry should only get better and more competitive in the next few years. Next season when the Devils and Cyclones meet on the football field it should be doozy.

The Cyclones return most of their starters on both sides of the ball and with Chancellor, Courtland and James Monroe all losing star players, Eastern View might be among the favorites to win the Battlefield District.

Culpeper loses a lot of seniors, but quarterback Donald Downs and running back Larry Williams, who were almost the heroes against EVHS on Friday, return poised to give Eastern View and the rest of the district fits.

So if you thought Friday night was fun, look for more of the same kind of excitement whenever these two schools meet in the future.

Friday’s Box Score
EVHS 20, CCHS 19
EVHS 14 0 0 6 – 20
CCHS 0 12 7 0 – 19
Scores by quarter
First quarter
EVHS – Ivory 28-yard run (2:38) Estes kick
EVHS – Ivory 11-yard pass from Pendleton (:10) Estes kick
Second quarter
CCHS- Lezcano 34-yard pass from Downs (8:23) kick no good
CCHS – Rollins 1-yard run (:23) 2-point no good
Third quarter
CCHS – Williams 5-yard run (:19) Canon kick
Fourth quarter
EVHS — Lacy 31-yard pass from Pendleton (4:51) 2-point no good
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: EVHS: Pendleton 9-18, Newman 5-9, Shanks 1-16, Ivory 3-44. CCHS: Williams 21-46, Rollins 14-71, Majors 2-7, Downs 16-108, Wilkins 3-11, Lezcano 1-8.
PASSING: EVHS: Pendleton 9-17-144-2TD, Gardiner 0-1-0. CCHS: Downs 2-8-63-1TD-2
RECEIVING: Settle 4-34, Shanks 4-66, Lacy 1-31 TD, Ivory 1-13 TD. CCHS: Wilkins 1-29, Lezcano 1-34TD.