H.S. FOOTBALL: Hornets, Bulldogs to renew young rivalry

The season South Gibson football is going through this season strikes an uncanny resemblance to the one Milan went through in 2013.

A tough schedule with several non-district opponents who could not just make the playoffs but make a long run into the postseason have come away from games against the Hornets more times than not with a win by less than a touchdown. The Hornets have come away one time in five games as the winner.

The other side to that is Milan's current season closely resembles the one South Gibson had last year as well. While the losses are just as painful, there aren't as many of them as the Bulldogs are in the thick of the hunt for a wild card spot in the Class 3A playoffs with a 3-3 record.

Last year when these teams met in their respective situations, Milan gave its season a spark with a 44-13 win, and that's something Bulldogs head coach Jeff Morris and his staff have reminded the kids of going into this game.

"Not a lot of people expected us to win this game last year because we were having such a down year," Morris said. "They were having a better year – not like the one they had a year before when they went 10-0 but still better than us, then I guess we surprised a lot of people."

Morris is trying to avoid the opposite of that situation this week.

South Gibson head coach Scott Stidham said his coaching staff's emphasis hasn't been on last year or even last week as it's simply been on getting themselves better each week. There wasn't even much talk about Milan last week when the Hornets had a bye week.

"Last week, the emphasis was on us and getting us better as a team," Stidham said. "There was nobody we had to get ready for that week, so we didn't get ready for anybody. We just worked on making us better."

Now that the Hornets are preparing for somebody, Stidham said the players had to have a time early in the week to take a step back and refocus on preparing for a game.

"They were tight in practice and making a lot of mistakes, and we had to stop a minute and tell them, 'Guys, we're not doing brain surgery here or fighting for our country in Afghanistan or somewhere. We're playing a football game, so calm down and do what we do each week when we do this,'" Stidham said.

The high emotions, Stidham said, were because of the rivalry this series has become in the short time the programs have been playing. Morris credits geography and the closeness of the towns of Milan and Medina for how much both fan bases want to beat the other team.

But something can be said for what's happened on the field as well. In 2011, South Gibson's first season as a varsity program and Milan on its way to an eventual state title game – its third in four years at that point – the teams met in Medina with both coming in 4-0. South Gibson held its own before Milan pulled away in the fourth quarter to a 38-19 win. The two met again in the first round of the playoffs with Milan winning convincingly.

A year later, South Gibson scored late to beat Milan on the way to a 10-0 regular season. Then Milan came back and won its home game last year by 33 points.

"I consider it a huge compliment for this program to be considered in a rivalry with a program like Milan and everything they've accomplished," Stidham said. "We just want to keep it a rivalry and stay competitive with them."

Brandon Shields, 425-9751

This week's game

What: Milan at South Gibson

When: Friday at 7 p.m.

Radio: WTKB-FM 93.7