The drama was at its highest, the noise was at its noisest, and everyone in the place wondered what was going to happen next.

 

It was just about then, when Danville-Boyle County game was getting really, really interesting, that one of the players on the bench said something only one other person in the place could hear.

 

Just before the snap of another critical play, the player, a senior, smiled and said, “Man, I’m going to miss this!”

 

At their very best, that’s what rivalry games can do. They can create moments that players and fans can never recapture but can always remember.

 

When Boyle and Danville meet on the football field, just as is the case with countless other annual rivalry games, the center of a small but important sports universe is right there in the middle of that game for one night. Never mind what Mark Stoops or Charlie Strong are up to, whether the Reds are winning or whom you should activate on your fantasy team.

 

If you are part of that community and care even a little bit about sports, you’ll be interested in what happens Friday at Admiral Stadium, whether you’re in the stands, listening to the broadcast or checking the score before going to bed.

 

Those who might have gone to bed early last year, or at least turned their attention elsewhere when they thought the outcome had been decided, missed a thrilling ending to what was undoubtedly one of the very best of the 51 games played between these two teams separated by only two miles.

 

Not every game between the Admirals and Rebels has been an instant classic, and in fact many of them have been quite forgettable. But last year’s game will be remembered for its big plays, high drama and sudden swings of momentum and emotion.

 

Danville erased a 6-0 halftime deficit, build a 21-6 lead in the second half, saw Boyle rally to tie the game with 1 minute, 26 seconds remaining by scoring twice in just over a minute, then won it on Jawan Grey’s 74-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining.

 

It should also also be remembered as one of the most important games in the recent history of a series that had been leaning hard to port. Boyle had won four straight games, none of which had been close, and 10 out of 13 before Danville’s 2012 win.

 

Fans on both sides of any rivalry want their team to win this type of game every year, but the fact is both teams need to win now and then to keep things interesting.

 

And the Danville-Boyle rivalry was anything but interesting from the mid 1980s to the early ’90s, when the Admirals dominated the series during a winning streak that grew to 19 games.

 

It was a district game for many of those years, but it was so insignficant at the time that the teams didn’t go out of their way to put it at the end of the regular-season schedule, which is where it seems such a game should have been in those days.

 

But the games started getting closer and the series started taking on more meaning from 1994-96, when Boyle got better in a hurry and the teams met in the postseason as well as the regular season. And things really got interesting in the 1996 playoffs, when the Rebels defeated the Admirals 12-0 for their first win in the crosstown showdown since 1979.

 

The teams haven’t met again in the playoffs, and most people in the community say it’s probably for the best that realignment ended that possibility for the forseeable future. Both schools were able to compete for championships at the same time, and it gave rise to the “Title Town” moniker that Danville (the city, not just the school system) proudly wore just a few years ago.

 

No titles are won or lost when Danville and Boyle play each other, but that won’t matter on Friday night. The game will have the usual subplots as the two teams play for bragging rights in a town where both sides do like to brag, and those will be mixed with fresh memories of what happened last season at Boyle.

 

And there's a new subplot this year with the arrival of Clay Clevenger as Danville's coach. Remember, it was Boyle coach Larry French who gave Clevenger his first high school coaching job when he hired him as an assistant at Lincoln County.

 

Boyle should probably be the favorite again, as it was last year, if only because a still-learning Danville team seems a little more mistake-prone at this early stage of the season. Still, there are more similarities between these two teams at this point in the schedule than you might think.

 

Boyle has a young but impressive quarterback, and so does Danville, although the Admirals' Zack Dampier is younger and has less experience than the Rebels' Josiah Robbins. Danville has a good group of running backs led by Grey and Olyjawan Ford; Boyle has its own good backs in Seph Burke and Aiden Stewart-Hoskins. Both teams have largely rebuilt lines, and both teams have defenses led by strong linebacker corps that have played pretty well so far.

 

It’s worth noting, however, that every player who scored a touchdown for the Admirals in last year’s game is on the field again this year, and none of those who scored for the Rebels are. Danville is inexperienced in a number of areas, just as is Boyle, but the Admirals have plenty of experience at skill positions.

 

And if last year’s thrilling game taught us anything at all, it is to expect the unexpected. And to stick around for the whole game.

Very well written article. Great job, thegeneral!!! :thumb:

 

 

I won't be at this game but I'll have score updates being sent to me throughout the game.

:thumb: Good read. Thanks !