The Rivalry-Rich Football of Southeastern Ohio

[OSU22]

NY and Miller have played each other 19 times, and NY leads the all-time series 17-2. Notice the scores from those games, most were blowouts and Miller never scored a single point in 12 of those games. No game has been played since the infamous '97 game. Geographic proximity would be the only way this could ever be considered a rivalry.

1970 Miller (H) 18-0
1971 Nelsonville-York (A) 20-0
1972 Nelsonville-York (H) 56-0
1973 Nelsonville-York (A) 48-0
1974 Nelsonville-York (H) 34-0
1980 Miller (A) 22-20
1981 Nelsonville-York (H) 41-0
1982 Nelsonville-York (A) 45-0
1983 Nelsonville-York (H) 25-0
1984 Nelsonville-York (A) 35-0
1985 Nelsonville-York (H) 53-6
1986 Nelsonville-York (A) 28-9
1987 Nelsonville-York (H) 24-15
1988 Nelsonville-York (A) 16-13
1989 Nelsonville-York (H) 36-0
1990 Nelsonville-York (A) 52-14
1991 Nelsonville-York (H) 43-0
1992 Nelsonville-York (A) 34-0
1997 Nelsonville-York (A) 13-0

Bigger rival for Nelsonville...Trimble or Athens?

Depends......All Time? Trimble.....Last decade? I'd say Athens.
If you look at games between Trimble and NY over the last 10 years there have only been 2 close games, the others were runaways.

Athens & NY come down to it EVERY year. The game determines so much and playing week 10 gives it even more hype. Literally since Athens came into the league the games between them and NY have been great.

[NYBuckeye96]

Bigger rival for Nelsonville...Trimble or Athens?

I think Athens is bigger. It's week 10 and for a conference championship in most years. Plus, the Athens rivalry is decades older. Trimble is definately a rivalry game, but I would rank Athens as NY's top rival.

[ravensfan09]

Bigger rival for Nelsonville...Trimble or Athens?

I think Athens is bigger. It's week 10 and for a conference championship in most years. Plus, the Athens rivalry is decades older. Trimble is definately a rivalry game, but I would rank Athens as NY's top rival.

The Athens game definitely has more riding on it. Conference title and playoff birth!

[koondoger]

Bigger rival for Nelsonville...Trimble or Athens?

I think Athens is bigger. It's week 10 and for a conference championship in most years. Plus, the Athens rivalry is decades older. Trimble is definately a rivalry game, but I would rank Athens as NY's top rival.

The Athens game definitely has more riding on it. Conference title and playoff birth!

NY and Athens might be bigger if Rusty wasn't from Trimble. But Fat Phil hates losing to Rusty, and Rusty knows that. So at this time NY v. Trimble is the hottest thing going. It'll be another dandy next year with Wilburn having some help for a change. If Phil or Rusty ever step down the rivalry will lose some of the heat and Athens/NY may overtake the lead again.

[ravensfan09]

I think Athens is bigger. It's week 10 and for a conference championship in most years. Plus, the Athens rivalry is decades older. Trimble is definately a rivalry game, but I would rank Athens as NY's top rival.

The Athens game definitely has more riding on it. Conference title and playoff birth!

NY and Athens might be bigger if Rusty wasn't from Trimble. But Fat Phil hates losing to Rusty, and Rusty knows that. So at this time NY v. Trimble is the hottest thing going. It'll be another dandy next year with Wilburn having some help for a change. If Phil or Rusty ever step down the rivalry will lose some of the heat and Athens/NY may overtake the lead again.

I would say the bigger game is the Athens game. There is so much more riding on the Athens game. Nelsonville is starting to have some really gokd ganes with Vinton County as well.

[koondoger]

The Athens game definitely has more riding on it. Conference title and playoff birth!

NY and Athens might be bigger if Rusty wasn't from Trimble. But Fat Phil hates losing to Rusty, and Rusty knows that. So at this time NY v. Trimble is the hottest thing going. It'll be another dandy next year with Wilburn having some help for a change. If Phil or Rusty ever step down the rivalry will lose some of the heat and Athens/NY may overtake the lead again.

I would say the bigger game is the Athens game. There is so much more riding on the Athens game. Nelsonville is starting to have some really gokd ganes with Vinton County as well.

LOL VC is 10-41 against NY all time. They've won twice in the 2000's. Come on MAN! Fat Phil hates Rusty and Rusty hates Fat Phil, at least on the gridiron they do. That's the most heated rivalry in SEO. Bank on it.

[Pa Trojan]

Really miss the good old days of competitive battles between Portsmouth and Wheelersburg

[Prime Time]

Trimble and Nelsonville-York ranks up there.

[Prime Time]

PA Trojan, so why has Portsmouth dropped off the competitive map in your eyes. To say Portsmouth would have been competitive last year, there was no way.

[Pa Trojan]

economic issues, small numbers, athletes not coming out, open enrollment, it all adds up,sign of the times, I see the City of Portsmouth making a nice effort to re build its future, time will tell

[14U]

Not so much the last few yrs of the series but burg - ports has seen it’s share of heated games. I wish that series would pick back up. A couple big ones come to mind for me. One in the early 90s when only four teams from each region made the playoffs burg came into the historic spartan stadium 9-0 ranked like one or two in the state to take on like a 2-7 or 3-6 trojan team and got beat knocking them out of playoff contention. The burg had to have a police escort home.

Another game was my freshman yr in 97. Some burg students painted a old station wagon orange and black and drove it to spartan. They came out and the windows were broken.

Two games come to mind that was not heated but still stand out in my mind. One in 2004. Ports leading 7-0 late in the game and was driving with the chance to go up 14-0. They line up in passing formation first and goal on like the 8 yard line and we picked the ball off taking it to the house.

My fav game of all time was in 2009. Just the 2nd game at the new trojan colliseum. The burg hands them their first loss in the new diggs 68-14

Yes I watched the one at Spartan. 3-6 Portsmouth beat 9-0 burg 21-6 or 28-6. Also at the one at burg, Portsmouth used up the whole quarter running the ball until they got to the 5 yard line. Portsmouth threw a pass to right corner of endzone when Stephenson picked it off and went 107 yards to tie game. Portsmouth then panicked and throwing ball around to punt, burg kicked a 31 yard field goal to win. Portsmouth gave game away as burg only had one timeout with 3:50 left in game. Burg scored 10 points in that time left!

[14U]

In my opinion you missed the biggest and most important.


Portsmouth vs ironton
First meeting way back in 1902
124 games
Ironton leads 59-57-8
That many games and that close is crazy how competitive it has been.
2 playoff games
1997 both had trouble scheduling games so they decided to play 2 regular season games.
These two are historicaly the 2 big local schools and were each other’s only local competition.

It was also PHS that broke Irontons undefeated streak.

I played in 3 of these games in mid 80’s. Every game was packed house as most if not all of them back then! It was the hardest hitting game but with respect from both schools. I do remember that in crowd there was many students from other schools. If this game was a Saturday game I don’t know where they would put everybody! I think hands down this is the best and ranked 1st over all other rival games in southern Ohio. That’s just me playing in the game, seeing the amount of people in stadium, how many games played and the record is incredible bein 2 games apart with Ironton leading 59-57-8

[RVRaiderFan]

My question on rivalries has always been how do you define a rivlary? Is it record? Location? Same county?

As a RVHS grad and the radio guy for RV Football, I look at Gallipolis and Meigs as our 2 rivals.

With those you would have to go by location/county rivals. Because records are 23-3 Meigs and Gallipolis 11-3.

Just always an interesting discussion.

[ravensfan09]

My question on rivalries has always been how do you define a rivlary? Is it record? Location? Same county?

As a RVHS grad and the radio guy for RV Football, I look at Gallipolis and Meigs as our 2 rivals.

With those you would have to go by location/county rivals. Because records are 23-3 Meigs and Gallipolis 11-3.

Just always an interesting discussion.

I always think of it as a game that has meaning. Not just coaches or locations, but year in and year out playing for a title or playoffs. That to me is a rivalry.

Noncompetitive series aren't rivalries, they are games played that make money.

[formerfcfan]

N-Y /Trimble. Traditional rival
N-Y /Athens. For league
N-Y/Miller. Genuinely don’t like each other. Border on hate.

I'm not sure if you've been around the area in the last, let's say, 20 years lol But Ny and Miller have absolutely NO beef. The 1997/98 guys might. But the schools play each other in other sports and are completely civil, and football would be the exact same way. I understand why the teams weren't allowed to play each other for the first few years after the fight.......but now? no way. no rivalry there WHAT-SO-EVER. Miller has 2 wins against NY and both came way before the 97/98 season. 1980 the last one lol

It’s the off-season. The people demand a story, and that story is the 1998 Nelsonville/Miller game.

[eagle25]

One of the great rivalries is between that team from the south, the Racine Tomatoes, and Reedsville Eastern. The most recent game went down to the wire. Those buttsuckers from the south had just scored. My lil buddy Pat looked up at me and winked, then called the trick play that I had drawn up for him whilst we was having some refreshments at his place a few days earlier. So, as time ran out the Eagles scored the winning TD dashing any playoff nonsense the tomatoes had been wishing for. They were crying after the game cause that's how intense the rivalry is.

[Reds Fan]

VC vs Wellston

[Dundas]

VC vs Wellston

There have been some dandy games between the two throughout history. If the rumors are true and a VC alum will take over the rockets this fall, it could make things even more bitter between the two.

[itsme]

Meigs County
Southern/Eastern

[Geronimo]

Back then Gallipolis vs Point Pleasant game cross river rivalry!