Sep 15, 2016 3 min read

Belle Vernon and Ringgold have met often on the football field in recent years, though their get togethers not quite annual because of WPIAL realignment.

Yet for Matt Humbert, who spent five years as a coach at Ringgold, the final three as the head coach before going to Belle Vernon in 2014, the intensity he noticed the first time he took part in the rivalry has not waned.

“Two teams that don’t like each other,” said Humbert, also the athletic director at Belle Vernon. “Two districts that really don’t like each other when it comes to athletic contests.”

Humbert acknowledged similar feelings of dislike are common in high school rivalries. But he noted the geographic closeness between these two districts, which are also the biggest in the Mon Valley, creates the particular edge for them.

When it comes to football, the past two seasons have offered an element missing from the majority of previous rivalry games between the teams, at least on the scoreboard: competitiveness.

The 2014 and 2015 meetings between the two Big 10 Conference teams were one-score games.

The close-scoring trend seems likely to continue tonight at Joe Montana Stadium, when Ringgold (2-0, 2-0) welcomes Belle Vernon (2-0, 2-0) in a matchup of unbeaten teams.

“It’s a game where you know both sides will definitely be up for it,” Humbert said. “A rivalry that a lot of passion and a lot of enthusiasm goes into on both sides of the river.”

Turnovers, or ability to limit them, have become a major theme.

“The past two years both football games have been games of mistakes,” Ringgold head coach Nick Milchovich said.

In 2014, Belle Vernon had five turnovers in a 28-24 Ringgold victory.

“We felt we should have won that game,” Humbert said. “And turnovers really hurt us.”

A year ago, it was the Rams’ turn as they had a blocked punt and a fumble fall inside their 10-yard line. Belle Vernon turned the miscues into scores in a 13-12 win.

Explanations for why the matchup has become this close differ. But certainly Humbert’s decision to leave Ringgold for Belle Vernon helped stoked the fire.

“That even heightened things with my kids, of course,” said Milchovich, who took over for Humbert. “They wanted to beat their old coach.”

That dynamic has waned with time, though. As Milchovich noted, Ringgold’s current seniors had just one season with Humbert.

What doesn’t appear to have dropped off is the caliber of either team, which both advanced to the Class AAA quarterfinals a year ago.

Both schools have looked sharp in the revamped Big Nine conference through two weeks.

Each made easy work of a common opponent in Albert Gallatin, scoring more than 40 points and holding the Colonials under 14. Ringgold gave up just six points in one half of play before referees called last week’s contest because of lightning.

“We’ve just got to play controlled football,” Milchovich said. “We can’t make mistakes.”