Schuckman: Brown County, Central show how electric, energetic healthy rivalries can be

MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — The Nest deserved a little TLC.

The Brown County football team hadn’t played at home since its Week 1 victory over Calhoun when it was one of the first teams in the state to take the field, opening on a Thursday night. In the three weeks since, the Hornets’ all-natural grass surface had grown exponentially fast.

“A jungle” happened to be one description of it.

Ahead of Friday night’s Western Illinois Valley Conference North Division battle with state-ranked Central, the facility got a manicure. Rick Kunkel and the Sting Squad cut the grass, painted the lines and transformed it yet again into a premier small-school setting worthy of another “Fields of Excellence” distinction.

So, with players loosely warming up at both ends of the field, “plush” replaced “jungle” as the most apt description of the playing surface.

It enhanced what became an electric atmosphere. 

Seventy-five minutes prior to the game, fans were staking claim to seats in both the home and visiting bleachers. Empty spots along the fence surrounding the field were a rare commodity. The number of pork chop sandwiches sold before and during the game figured to be rather high.

It created the energy every rivalry game should have.

Undefeated vs. undefeated. Community vs. community. County vs. county. Veteran coaching staff vs. veteran coaching staff. And in some cases, friend vs. friend.

That should be a dictionary description of a rivalry.

That suggests a slobberknocker of an affair, too.

For a while, the game had the grit and grind you’d expect. Neither team scored in the first quarter, but Central, ranked fifth in Class 1A, built a two-touchdown lead at halftime and put the 30-0 victory away in the second half with a steady dose of Isaac Genenbacher. 

The senior running back scored on 25- and 45-yard runs in the second half — he had an 8-yard touchdown reception in the first half — and finished with 112 yards rushing. It was part of a dominant effort by the Panthers, who outgained the Hornets 416-71 in total yards.

Central (4-0) finished with 10 running backs each rushing for at least 10 yards. Panthers quarterback Nick Moore completed all five of his passes, and it sets the stage for another big game next week. Central travels to Jacksonville Routt for a Saturday afternoon game, and the Rockets could be undefeated if they get past Unity-Payson this Saturday night.

It could be the game that decides the WIVC North championship.

But it won’t have the feel Friday night provided. Camaraderie meant just as much as competition. Fans mingled together, the color of their shirts becoming the only discernible way to know where allegiances lied. It’s the respect that cascades from the bleachers to the sidelines to the field that makes this game unique.

There could be a rematch in the postseason depending on how the next five weeks play out and how the postseason brackets align. If that happens, you can expect another stacked-along-the-fence kind of crowd.

I’d like to be right there with them.