By Andy Loigu

Hackettstown and Warren Hills high schools’ varsity football squads are preparing for the two teams’ biggest game of the season, a 7 p.m. kickoff at Warren Hills Stadium on Friday, October 25, for local area ‘bragging rights’ and the Beater Board, which will be the proud possession of the winning school until next year brings the 100th meeting.

Warren Hills has won the last four contests in the series. Hackettstown’s last win in varsity football against the Blue Streaks came in 2019.

It has been, for the most part, a game in which you throw out the record books when considering any pre-game  prognostications. Anything can happen and many upsets have occurred. The players leave nothing on the field in this rivalry, regardless of what the season record may be.

This season has been somewhat disappointing for both teams. Warren Hills comes in at 3-5, including tough losses to Randolph (26-21) and Chatham (14-13). The Tigers lost Friday night in their Homecoming, 53-32, to a small-school powerhouse, Lenape Valley, which is less than 10 miles away from Tigertown. The Tigers’ overall season record now stands at 3-4.

Celebrating their long-time winning tradition, Hackettstown honored the 1970 Tigers (7-2, including a shutout win over the Streaks).

The Blue Streaks lead the series 49-43, with six games ending in ties. The Tigers dominated in the “Chot’ Morrison years. Morrison was posthumously added to the Warren County Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievements as both a coach and educator at Hackettstown High. The tide turned in the Blue Streaks’ favor when former head coach Bob Lockhart (an offensive innovator who later was an assistant at Lafayette College) began a 12-year win streak in 1993.

“What is a Beater Board?” It is a farming tool used to flatten hay for transport. It became this rivalry’s ‘trophy’ in 1986, celebrating the agricultural heritage of Warren County.

The combined Hackettstown and Washington Rotary Clubs present outstanding player of the game awards to an offensive and defensive achiever from each team at a festive luncheon.

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Said the Raven, “never score,” is a phrase one hears often at the Baltimore Ravens’ NFL home games when the visiting team has the ball. A pair of Blair Academy grads, Odafe Oweh and David Ojabo, both linebackers, are an important part of the Ravens’ defense as the team tries to reach the Super Bowl, after barely missing it last year.

Oweh was born in New Jersey (in Howell down the shore) and was a college star at Penn State. Ojabo, (Nigerian born) played soccer in Scotland before taking up football at Blair.

A busload of Blair students attended a recent Ravens’ win in “Charm City” to cheer on the pair from Blair. Hope they enjoyed the crab cakes.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.