By Andy Loigu

Seven years ago, Hurricane Sandy presented hardships and challenges for everyone, but the traditional Hackettstown versus Warren Hills football game still got played while the communities recovered from the damage wrought by the storm.

This year, an outbreak of mononucleosis forced the forfeit of the Warren Hills Blue Streaks’ last two games of October, but this Saturday, the 94th edition of the classic rivalry will kick off, at 7 p.m. at Hackettstown’s Chot Morrison Field. This is a resilient rivalry.

School officials have decided that the outbreak of the illness has sufficiently abated enough that the Blue Streaks may get back to playing football.

Normally, NFL teams respond well to the bye week built into their schedule and give the fans a good performance when they play their next game. However, the onset of this serious health concern was disruptive to football preparation. How the Blue Streaks perform after not playing for two straight weeks is hard to forecast. If they win, pundits like me will say they were “well rested” and strong from healing their bumps and bruises. Should they lose, we will be saying they were “flat” from inactivity. Time will tell which way it goes. The utmost concern, of course, is the health and well being of all  who are involved.

Both teams will not be lacking for spirit and motivation. Warren Hills won last year’s game 38-14 and leads the all-time series 45-42-6. The Tigers were victorious in 2017 in a thrilling 27-21 battle. Hackettstown will be looking to reclaim the Beater Board, which is presented to the winning team at an annual luncheon by the combined Rotary clubs of Hackettstown and Washington, during the week after the game.

This is not the kind of beater board you can buy at a surf shop down the shore during the summertime. The Beater Board that has become the focal point of this rivalry represents the agricultural heritage of Warren County. Farmers hammer together a beater board with wooden boards and nails, to form a crate-shaped farming tool that flattens bales of hay for transport. Since 1986, when the tradition began, the score of each game has been painted onto the beater board’s surface for posterity, to be viewed by future generations.

Player of the game trophies are also awarded at the annual luncheon. An offensive and defensive player of the game is honored each year, from each team, regardless of the score. Even after Warren Hills scored 69 points in one of the recent games, a Hackettstown player got a defensive player of the game trophy. Even after a low scoring game, someone gets an offensive player of the game trophy. That’s what we praise as good sportsmanship and recognition for giving one’s best effort, even in a loss. Winning is great, but it is not everything.

Many area fans remember spirited Thanksgiving Day games with Hackettstown playing Roxbury during the Morrison years, and Warren Hills playing Hunterdon Central in the 60s and 70s. While the Phillipsburg versus Easton holiday game keeps thriving into its second century, Thanksgiving Day football has lost favor with most New Jersey school districts today. The last time the Streaks and Tigers met on a Thanksgiving Day was long, long ago, in a once and distant time. At least they have kept each other on the schedule, to complete the regular season, despite changes in conference membership.

Could it be that folks would rather stay home on Thanksgiving Day and watch the Detroit Lions on TV?

……………Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.