Graham Cracker: A high school rivalry like none other

Many high school football rivalries have become a source of pride across the Palmetto State.

Lewisville and Great Falls come to mind. Northwestern and Rock Hill have been ripping each other since the 1970s. Fort Mill and Nation Ford are the new kids on the block.

The Northwestern-Rock Hill rivalry gained notoriety statewide and nationwide in the days of “Moose” Wallace and Jim Ringer. Give Wallace’s vivacious understudy, Bobby Carroll, an assist. Kyle Richardson still has the Trojans in the upper echelon of high school football.

Fine and dandy. But it should be noted that the Northwestern-Rock Hill rivalry pales from the standpoint of longevity when compared to the York-Clover classic.

When Rock Hill and Northwestern began playing in the mid-’70s, York and Clover had been butting heads for more than 50 years, placing this cherished rivalry among the most deeply rooted in the Palmetto State, and the nation.

According to research by Frank Flanagan of Keller, Texas, a 1970 graduate of York High School, Clover and York first met on the gridiron in 1923, the year Clover began organized football.

Much of Flanagan’s research was taken from back issues of The Evening Herald in Rock Hill.

He found evidence the neighboring schools played twice a year for several years through 1944. And Clover and York may have played 40 times from 1923 through 1952. That would have made the 2012 York-Clover clash the 100th game played, and not quite 100 years, but close.

York’s first football game, as Yorkville, was played in 1912, six years after the sinking of the Titanic. York and Rock Hill battled to a 12-12 tie. Admission was 25 cents for adults and students.

Some random scores from the early years of interest locally include 1928 when Clover defeated York 20-0 at York and York defeated Clover 6-0 in game two at Clover.

In 1938, York prevailed 13-7, and Clover defeated York 7-0 in 1940. York won 12-0 in 1941 at Clover.

In other York football scores in 1941, the Green Dragons beat Cramerton 6-0, lost to Alexander Graham in Charlotte 13-6, beat Sharon High School 13-2, defeated Winthrop Training School 19-0, bested Fort Mill 32-6, lost to Great Falls 28-6 and battled Blacksburg to a 6-6 tie.

While York had dominant stretches of success during the longtime rivalry, Clover’s had its shining moments, too. The Blue Eagles won five in a row from the second game in 1944 through the 1948 season.

Clover’s most recent five-year run was from 2005 to 2010. A victory Friday would be the Cougars’ fifth win in a row. A York win also would represent Bobby Carroll’s 100th win as a head coach. He’s in his fifth year at York and coached five years at South Pointe in Rock Hill.

Of all of the unforgettable moments at York-Clover football games, the game that comes to mind that I will never forget occurred in the mid to late 1970s at Memorial Stadium.

I was covering the game for the Yorkville Enquirer newspaper and my boss, Jim Owen of Clover, was handling the coverage for the Clover Herald.

The stadium was filled to capacity and Jim occupied his seat in the small press box on the home side of the stadium, now the visitors’ side.

I had my son, Rusty, with me, who was about 6 at the time. We were seated next to the press box on the home side, so I could communicate with Jim about statistics and what have you.

Both teams were talented that year in a game that was decided with no time on the clock.

York had the ball a yard or so shy of Clover’s end zone. There was a huge pileup on the last play of the game. It was a tense moment for apprehensive fans on both sides as the game officials pulled players off the pile.

Would the officials signal touchdown or that the Clover defense had denied York the end zone for the win?

All of a sudden, one of the officials raised his arms in the air. Touchdown. York wins.

There was a thunderous roar on the York side and dead silence on the Clover side, where you could hear a pin drop. I told Rusty not to say a word to anyone around us as we worked our way to the York side of the field.

By the time we reached midfield, Billy Jenkins, an avid Clover fan and tennis-playing buddy of mine, vented.

“You know that was the wrong call, Gene Graham!” shouted Billy with a finger in my face.

I replied: “I had nothing to do with it.”

Billy, a great friend to this day, later apologized on the way to the car.

I have never seen so many people holding back their emotions with the silent display that took place at that stadium.

See you at Friday’s game where Clover and York meet for what’s believed to be the 103rd time. That’s special, really special.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Graham Cracker: A high school rivalry like none other."