Ohio's Troy vs. Piqua Football Rivalry: the Battle on the Miami by David Fong

Author:David Fong
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

THE GOLDEN AGE

1990–1999

Every player who has ever participated in the Troy-Piqua rivalry—no matter on which side he played—wants his legacy to stand a little taller than those who come before him or those who will come after him. They all want to think their game was the most epic or the most dramatic. They want to forever be able to claim their rightful place in history. They want fans to look back and definitively say, “That was the greatest era in the history of a storied rivalry.”

Considering the debate is purely subjective, all can make that claim. It doesn’t mean, however, that all of them will be right. There can be only one true “golden era” in the history of the rivalry. Only one framed period of time lays claim to being the era that produced the most superstars, the greatest drama, the most intriguing results and, truthfully, the best overall experience for players, fans and coaches.

Although they admittedly are unbiased when it comes to the subject, both Nees and Nolan make a strong case for the decade of the 1990s being the “golden era” in the history of the rivalry.

“I think you could pretty easily look back at the 1990s and say that really was the ‘Golden Age’ of the rivalry,” Nees said. “It seemed like that decade had a little bit of everything. You had incredibly talented players, you had teams that fared well, you had the classic playoff game. It just seemed like you had two programs, both at the height of their powers, so to speak, playing one another every year. Pick any one of those games that you want from that decade, and it seems like just about every one of them, with the odd exception here or there, was a classic.”

Nolan agreed. “It would be hard to argue against that decade, for sure,” he said. “You had incredibly talented players on both sides—kids who went on to succeed at the college level and, in some cases, make it all the way to the NFL. Piqua had [Matt] Finkes and [Antwon] Jones; we had [Kris] Dielman and [Ryan] Brewer. And that was just some of the talent that played for both teams in the game. Plus, it seemed like every year it was a war. There weren’t a whole lot of blowouts. No matter how good we were, we always got their best shot, and vice versa. Those were some absolute wars we played back in the 1990s. I think it was a pretty special time.”

There are, of course, numbers to back up both coaches. The two teams met eleven times from 1990 to 1999, with Piqua winning six times and Troy winning five. Unlike the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, which were dominated by Piqua, or the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s, which were dominated by Troy, neither team was able to pull far ahead of the other in the 1990s. This led to plenty of drama—and high ticket sales—for fans, who couldn’t afford to miss the game.

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