Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
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Source: October 1983 Volume 21 Number 4, Pages 113–126


The Berwyn-West Chester Football Games

Bob Goshorn

Page 113

When West Chester High School's football team first played Easttown High School, on Thanksgiving Day in 1903, the game received little publicity.

Actually, the game was scheduled late in the season, and only after an unsuccessful attempt had been made by West Chester to schedule a second game against Coatesville on that date, to resolve an earlier tie between the two schools.

In a two-paragraph account of the game in the West Chester Daily Local News the next day it was reported

"The West Chester High football team defeated Berwyn High yesterday at Wayne Field in a fast game by the score of 15 to 0. The visiting team was much heavier than the locals but the latter showed better training and the men were fresh all through the two halves, while Berwyn had bellows to mend,

"The best work for the home team was done by Groff, Captain Rank and Dowlin, while Thomas and Barren gained most of the ground for Berwyn. About 600 people witnessed the game. Berwyn played hard but at no time had a chance of crossing the goal of the West Chester boys."

Page 114

But this West Chester-Berwyn game was the beginning of a series between the two high schools that over the years was to develop into one of the best known and oldest high school football rivalries in the area. Except for the 1905 and 1906 seasons, and again in 1911, for more than seventy years the West Chester-Berwyn game was an annual affair. While the next four games were played early in the season, in 1912 the game was again scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, and thereafter, until the last game of the series, with one or two exceptions the two teams clashed in an annual Thanksgiving Day battle. The rivalry ended after the 1974 game only because scheduling difficulties and league commitments made it impossible to continue it.

Altogether, over the 72 year period the two teams met on the gridiron 69 times, the Berwyn eleven winning thirty-six of the contests, West Chester victorious in twenty-eight, and five games ending in a tie. The rivalry over the series, however, was even closer than this summary indicates, the series being tied on no fewer than nine occasions, the last time being after the 1959 game. It was only because Berwyn won fourteen and tied one of the last seventeen games between the two schools that the Main Liners earned the edge in the overall play.

It wasn't long before the annual game between the two high schools also became a community affair. Hundreds of townspeople, as well as as the students, followed the teams, travelling not only by automobile, but also by train to root for their team and cheer it on. In 1918, for example, it was reported in the Local that the "T-E contingent arrived in town early accompanied by a band of music, and several hundred loyal rooters", while the following year it was reported that the game in Berwyn was played "in the presence of several thousand spectators,- several hundred being present from West Chester, six carloads going down on the 8:37 train and many others making the trip in autos". On at least one occasion, a special train was run from Berwyn to West Chester to accommodate the fans.

By 1925 it was reported that a "record crowd of more than five thousand fans witnessed the thrilling struggle and cheered their favorites in the fray". It was also noted that "it seemed as though everyone in West Chester managed in some way or another to reach the scene of the conflict and there vent their enthusiasm in a mighty volume of cheers".

How they did cheer their teams on! An example of their enthusiasm is the reaction of the Tredyffrin-Easttown fans to a T-E touchdown in the 1924 game. It being reported in the Wayne Suburban that following the score the ball was "desposited" in the end zone "to the wild and uninhibited delight of Berwyn's 3,000 [fans]. Hats flew in every direction and people embraced in the wildness of the glee".

Page 115

Before the schools, had their own bands, the townspeople, as already indicated, hired local musicians for the game. In the accounts of many of the early games the presence of a band was especially noted, as in this report in the Local of the 1920 game: "Each of the teams had a band of music present," it was observed, "the visitors lining up on the east side, while the home rooters were four to six deep behind the ropes and a cordon of uniformed policemen on the west side." In fact, as early as in 1913 it was noted, "The Tredyffrin-Easttown rooters were accompanied by Pyott's Berwyn Band, and their frenzied cheers when their team scored echoed and re-echoed in volleys over the bare and frosty hills of the historic Chester Valley."

The "cordon of uniformed policemen" referred to in the report of the 1920 contest was, unfortunately, apparently a necessary adjunct to a number of the early games. Frequently the enthusiasm of the partisan crowds was demonstrated not only by cheering and shouting and hat throwing, but also in occasional fistfights. As a case in point, it was reported that at the game played in 1914 at Sharples' Field in West Chester, "During the intermission between halves ... the two bunches of rooters got into a mix-up that required the aid of policemen to disperse the fellows who desired to engage in fisticuffs. One young fellow from Berwyn passed into the care of several physicians who rendered first aid to the injured."

As another example, it was reported in the account of the 1916 game, "There was generally a jolly good time, marred only when a Berwyn rooter clambered up the north goal post and pulled down a West Chester pennant ... The invader received a hard poke to the jaw from the fist of a local rooter, and the riot call brought several policemen to the scene when the dove of peace again hovered over the multitude. The trouble shooter," it was added, "got just what he deserved." Almost a decade later, after the 1925 game, it still was noted that "although much has been done by the authorities of both schools to eliminate ill feeling between the contending factions, the traditional 'scrap' took place. As far as could be learned, the quarrelers were not people of either school, but were some of the townspeople of both sides".

It was not without significance, then, that after the game in 1919, it was noted that the contest "passed off harmoniously and there was not the slightest ripple of any disorder".

In 1920 this over-enthusiasm of the townspeople, perhaps stimulated by a few wagers, allegedly reached an even more serious proportion. On the day prior to the game, it was reported in the Local that "efforts have been made in the past several days to corrupt several members of the West Chester High School football team and have them either 'lie down' at the game tomorrow with Berwyn High or else by pleading illness remain out of the contest. ..." One player, it was reported, allegedly was "offered $50 to stay out of the game, while others were offered lesser amounts". It was also noted that "all indignantly spurned the attempt to have them betray their school, and the result," it was predicted, "will be that they will play so much the harder to win". (It was an accurate prediction: the final score of the game was 21-0 in favor of West Chester, its first win in four years!)

Page 116

Victory in the big game was frequently celebrated with an impromptu street parade. After this West Chester win in 1920, for example, it was reported, "None of the West Chester players walked home after the game, but were carried there on the shoulders of their delighted admirers. Amen." Later that evening, "in celebration of their glorious victory," a group of students assembled at the high school and "upon the arrival of the West Chester band, had a walk-around, singing their school songs and cheering lustily and continuously".

(One of the songs was to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia", with these words:

"Come on, old West Chester High, and let us see you play,
Go right after old Berwyn and wallop them today,
Go round their ends and hit their line and fill them with dismay, While we go marching to victory!

Hurrah! Hurrah! for the Garnet and the White,
Hurrah! Hurrah! let's sing with all our might;
When we are through with old Berwyn, they will be a sorry sight, As we go marching to victory!")

"Leading the procession," it was also reported, "was a motor truck carrying the players of the team, followed by an automobile in which were seated a number of young ladies of the school faculty ... The jubilant students marched to the home of Fred J. Wahl, and gave him a rousing serenade, because of his having written one of the school songs; then to the home of Dr. S. LeRoy Barber, president of the School Board, who was called upon for a speech. In responding, he congratulated the players for their victory and praised the student-body for their loyalty to the school. At the home of Mr. J. Oscar Dicks, another Director, another stop was made, but he was out of town, and so was not obliged to speechify."

After West Chester won again two years later, several hundred students similarly, it was reported, had a "merry time ... in a street parade" during which many of them "carried red lights and sang songs lustily". The parade was formed early after supper, and "proceeded to the courthouse lawn, where Captain [Harold] Chalfant and players were called to the improvised rostrum at the base of the soldiers1 monument and each obliged to make a little speech",.

Other victories were celebrated with bonfires. "When Tredyffrin-Easttown won," George Roberts, a student at Berwyn from 1915 to 1919, has recalled, "we, students and townspeople, would go out and gather together all burnable material - old boxes, branches, railroad ties, anything combustible - and bring them back to the football field and set them on fire."

Page 117

After Berwyn's triumph in 1926, a similar victory celebration got underway on the high school field when James Walker, the team captain, set a match to a "huge pile of timbers" that had been gathered for the occasion. "From 6:30 until 8," it was reported in the Suburban, "many trucks were busy hauling boxes, barrels and other timber that could be found in the vicinity, bringing them to the high school field where a gigantic pile was formed, with a West Chester banner on the top". The blaze made the school grounds "as light as day". Speeches were given by several members of the team, though "many of the bashful ones had to be captured after a long chase before they could be made to say anything." Following the bonfire, "all those having a car set out for West Chester, where the celebrating continued". And eleven years later, it was a "twenty car parade" of Berwyn fans that went through West Chester after another Berwyn victory and bonfire celebration.

Bonfires were also sometimes a feature of pre-game pep rallies. One of the larger ones took place during the West Chester rally before the 1949 game, although "the event took three times the normal work in preparation". On the day before the rally it was reported in the Local, "It happened again early this morning. For a second time, that tremendous pile of unwanted crates intended for the high school grid rally tomorrow night went up in smoke, sending inspiring tongues off lame high in the sky. And there wasn!t a football fan anywhere in the vicinity." ("It", a premature blaze, had similarly occurred four nights earlier.) Fortunately, there was still enough time to tear down an old shed on the property of the new high school, and its lumber was hauled to the site of the rally, where the fans had what was described as "one of their largest and one of their best pep rallies" ever, notwithstanding.

In addition to members of the team and the coaches, cheerleaders and the band, frequently former players and stars, coaches from nearby colleges, or well-known football players were guests and speakers at these pep rallies. Among the speakers at that 1949 West Chester rally, for example, were Glenn Killinger, the head coach of the West Chester State College team, and two members of the Philadelphia Eagles football squad.

Beginning in 1964 the rallies at Conestoga became quite elaborate affairs, with floats and the selection of a queen and her court. For weeks before the rally, different classes and club groups, using chicken wire, tissue paper, and facial tissues, worked to transform flat bed trucks or trailers into multi-colored floats depicting story book characters, popular songs, or other themes. As many as 12,000 square feet of facial tissue were used in a single float as the different groups competed for top honors in various classifications. Weather permitting, when the game was in Berwyn, the floats were paraded againat half-time or during the pre-game ceremonies.

Page 118

With the game played on Thanksgiving Day, however, the weather for the contest or the condition of the playing field was often something less than might be desired. In the reports for seven of the nine games played from 1916 through 1924, for example, there were comments on the bad weather or playing conditions: in 1910 the game took place on "a sea of mud"; the following year the Berwyn gridiron was described as in "poor condition"; in 1918 there was "a drizzling rain"; in 1919 the "gridiron was rather sloppy"; in 1921 the game was played "in mud and rain"; in 1923 the "high wind and sloppy footing made it a bad day for points"; and in 1924, it was reported that the field "was sloppy with black mud hidden under withered clumps of grass". (Even when it did not rain, as in 1924, it was reported, "The day was fair. That is all you can say for it."!)

But bad weather was not always the case: the 1947 game, for example, was played "under ideal conditions"; the game in 1957, "in perfect weather"; and on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, it was reported," "mild, sunny weather" brought "a capacity crowd to Farrell Stadium".

No matter what the weather, though, the fans came out in thousands. In some years as many as 8,000 or 10,000 rooters filled the stands, overflowing their capacity and lining the field and end zone. To accommodate the crowds, beginning in 1958, the games in West Chester were played at the college field; first at Wayne Field on Rosedale Avenue and later at Farrell Stadium at the south campus, while in 1945, 1947 and 1949, when Berwyn was the home team, the game was held at Villanova Stadium.

In 1920 a silver cup was donated by Charles S. Powell, a banker in Ardmore, to be presented each year to the winner of the game and retained by that school until the following year's contest. (In the event of a tie, each school was to retain the trophy for half of the year.) An avid sports fan as well as a banker, Powell also donated similar trophies for other Main Line high school football rivalries. For many years his name, as Red Hamer, a sports editor for the Local described it, was "a symbol of keen competition and devoted interest to the boy". The first presentation of the Powell Cup was made at the conclusion of the 1920 game by the donor himself, who was one of the 2,000 spectators at Sharples' Field. Following West Chester's 21-0 victory, he presented the cup to George Ivins, the captain of the Garnet and White eleven.

In 1934 another trophy, the A. C. Schwartz Cup, was donated by the Warner Theater in West Chester, to be awarded to the winner of the game that year. It too was won by West Chester when it scored a 6-0 victory over Berwyn for only its second triumph of the season.

Of the fifty-five games played for the Powell Cup, the Berwyn team, despite its loss in the initial game, won 29, West Chester won 23, and three games ended in a tie. On six occasions the two teams were also meeting "head-to-head" for the Chester County championship, and on another occasion the Ches-Mont League title was at stake between the two schools when they met in their annual contest.

Page 119

(There were other years in which the outcome of the game had a bearing in determining the champion, but not on a "head-to-head" basis.) In the seven "showdown" battles, incidentally, West Chester won four times (in 1920. 1931, 19-40, and 1956) and Berwyn three times (in 1929, 1933,and 194.0).

The truly classic match-ups between the two schools were perhaps the games in the late 1920*s and early 1930!s, In 1933 both teams went into the game undefeated in their season's play, T-E with a record of seven straight victories and West Chester with a record of five wins and three ties. While this was the only year in which both teams came into the game undefeated, in the 1931 they both had perfect records against their county competition during the season, West Chester being undefeated and untied in its eight previous games and T-E having a record of six wins and two losses, both at the hands of out-of-county opponents. West Chester, incidentally, was also undefeated in 1932, with a record of five wins and three ties that year,, giving it a streak of 25 games in a row without a loss, between its defeat by Tredyffrin-Easttown at the end of the 1930 season and Berwyn's victory again in 1933.

The records of the two teams in the immediately preceding years were almost as impressive. In 1928 each team had won six of its eight contests prior to their Thanksgiving Day clash; in 1929 the two schools were meeting "head-to head" for the county championship; and in 1930 Tredyffrin-Easttown went into the game with an overall record of six victories, no defeats, and two ties, its win over West Chester giving it its first undefeated season. (Two games a decade earlier, in 1919 and 1920, similarly matched teams with outstanding records: in 1919, T-E had won eight of its nine games and West Chester eight out of ten as they met, and in 1920 the county championship- as noted earlier, also went to the winner of the traditional game.)

On three other occasions, one of the teams went into the Thanksgiving Day contest undefeated. The 1948 West Chester eleven had a record of seven wins and one tie going into the game (but lost to a Berwyn team with an almost equally impressive record of six wins and one defeat); the 1960 Conestoga team had a record of nine wins and one tie before the game (and also won on Thanskgiving Day to post the school!s first undefeated season since 1933), and the 1967 West Chester team had won eight games, with one tie, going into the game (and also won against Berwyn to give it its first undefeated team since 1932).

On the other hand, in 1939 and 1940, the Tredyffrin-Easttown team went into (and also came out of) the big game with a record of no victories during the season, as did West Chester in 1946 and 1963. And there were also years in which the annual game matched teams with almost equally unimpressive records. In 1923, for example, T-E was described as "one of the weakest teams in this section" and West Chester had lost five straight coming into the game; in 1957 West Chester had won only one and tied tvo of its eight games while Berwyn had a record of two wins against six losses; and in 1963 the two teams had a combined record of one win and one tie in sixteen games!

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Surprisingly, only once, in the last game of the series, did the two teams go into the game with identical season's records (seven wins and three defeats).

But even when the game appeared to be a mismatch, the season's record frequently meant little when Berwyn and West Chester played against each other. Over the years, the games were hard-fought, and for the most part closely contested. Almost half of them (thirty-four of the sixty-nine games), in fact, were decided by a margin of ten or fewer points, including eighteen games in which the difference in the score was a touchdown or less, five others in which a single point separated the two teams, and five games which ended in a tie.

There were also some one-sided contests, however. The most one-sided was the game played in 1960, won by Conestoga by 33 points despite the fact that its first team did not see action after the first eight minutes of the second quarter. On three other occasions Berwyn also posted 32-0 victories, and in another game it won by 30 points. The biggest margin of victory for a West Chester team was 26 points, when it defeated Berwyn 26-0 in 1927.

In Berwyn's thirty-three point victory in 1960, won by a 40-7 score, the forty points scored by the Pioneers also represented the highest score tallied by either team in any game of the series. The highest single game score by West Chester was 27 points, scored in the fourth game of the series in 1908.

The highest total number of points scored by the two teams combined in one game was fifty, the game in 1972 being a wide-open scoring affair won by Conestoga, 27-23, with a touchdown in the last five minutes of play. Oddly, the combined total number of points scored in the game the year before, when West Chester eked out a 3-0 victory in the snow on a first period field goal, was the next to the lowest total in any of the 69 games played, the lowest total score being zero, recorded in the second game of the series when the two teams battled to a scoreless tie in 19O4.

The comeback victory by Conestoga in 1972 was also one of only a few games won in the last quarter, and there was a surprising absence of "last-minute" victories during the entire series. But while none of the games was won in the last minute of play, two were decided by scores in the last minute of the first half: a Berwyn touchdown in the last thirty seconds of the first half of the 1946 game was the only score as T-E notched a 6-0 victory that year, while a touchdown with only 48 seconds left in the half enabled Conestoga to gain a 13-13 deadlock with West Chester in 1965. Another game also ended in a tie, 7-7, when a desperation 42-yard field goal attempt by West Chester on the last play of the 1942 game fell short.

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Perhaps the most dramatic fourth quarter "come-from-behind" win was Conestoga's triumph in the 1970 game, the Pioneers rallying to score two touchdowns within three minutes of each other in the last period to gain a 13-7 win. Other last period comebacks included Tredyffrin-Easttown's win in 1921, in which a fourth period touchdown and successful "goal from touchdown" earned it a 7-6 victory, and the game two years later in 1923, in which a similar rally by West Chester resulted in a last quarter touchdown, and dropkicked goal, after touchdown to give the Garnet and White a win by the same 7-6 score.

Actually, it was more often a single score early in the game, coupled with a tenacious defense thereafter, such as in West Chester's 3-0 win in the 1971 game, that provided the margin of victory. Undoubtedly the most unusual such occurrence was in the game played in 1934, a game decided, as it was reported in the Local the next day, "by a 'fluke' play in the first few minutes of hostilities". On the sixth play of the game, it was reported, the head linesman "sounded his horn to indicate that he had detected a player offside on the play", at which point Berwyn's backs "pulled up ... believing that the officials horn halted the play", thus permitting the West Chester ball carrier to cross the goal line unmolested. When the penalty was against the Berwyn eleven, West Chester of course took the play, and a 6-0 lead that proved to be the final score of the game.

Two years later a 78 yard run (one of the longest touchdown runs from scrimmage in the series) early in the first quarter similarly enabled West Chester to win, 7-2, as the Garnet and White twice halted Berwyn on the one-yard line, although it yielded a safety on a bad snap from center after stopping the first T-E drive. A first quarter touchdown for West Chester in the 1953 game likewise led to a 7-0 win for the Warriors, but again only after they had survived a "first-and-goal" situation on their six-yard line, while Berwyn fans similarly "nearly had heart failure a dozen times", it was reported in the Suburban, in the 1924 game before a first period touchdown on an intercepted pass held up for a 7-0 win that year for the Bulldogs.

In the games over the years there have obviously been a number of outstanding plays - sustained drives and goal line stands, exciting long runs and touchdown-saving tackles, and other highlights.

The longest run in the series was 99 yards with a fumble recovery, by Berwyn's Tony Yelovich, in the 1957 game, while the longest run from scrimmage was 80 yards for a touchdown by West Chester's Jim Pribulain the same game. Other long runs from scrimmage include Tommy Johnson's 78 yard dash for the only score as West Chester won, 6-0; in 1936 a 76 yard touchdown gallop by West Chester's Patsy Giunta in 19-42 when the two teams battled to a 7-7 draw; and Dave Thornton's 73 yard run for a touchdown in Conestoga's rout of West Chester in the 1960 contest.

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The only player to score three touchdowns in one game was Conestoga's Eddie Durrell in the 1964 game, two of them coming on runs of more than fifty yards.

The longest score on a pass came in the 1972 game, a last quarter 57 yard aerial from Berwyn's Chuck Meyers to Lou Alleva that produced the final touchdown in Conestoga's come-from-behind 27-23 victory that year; it was three yards longer than the 54 yard Sam Ricardo to Duke Evans pass for a touchdown that helped West Chester win, 14-6, twenty-five years earlier in 1947. The longest field goal was Kevin Crosby's thirty-five yarder for the Garnet and White in the last game of the series in 1974.

The longest punt, by West Chester's Sarge Clark, went 100 yards, from goal line to goal line, in the 1933 game. (He also had the shortest punt, minus four yards, in the game the year before!)

Long runs for scores by defensive players include a 95 yard kickoff return by Berwyn's Butch Smith in 1966; a 90 yard return by Ambrose Piner in the 1908 game; and an 88 yard kickoff return by Bob Hughes in 1952; as well as touchdown scoring punt returns of 85 yards by West Chester's Horace Sinclair, also in the 1908 game; and 82 yards by Conestoga!s Tom Metz in 1962. Two intercepted passes were also carried 85 yards for touchdowns, one by Spence Gettys for Berwyn in 1933, and one by LeRoy Porter for West Chester in 1940.

But every game had its heroes, sometimes noted and sometimes unsung, the blockers who paved the way for the offense, the linesmen who dug in on defense. Unfortunately, they cannot all be recognized, as the players of both teams traditionally gave their best on Thanksgiving Day and made the annual Berwyn-West Chester game always a hard-fought contest in the long rivalry.

Overall, the sixty-nine game series between the two schools can be divided into nine "eras".

The first "era" was from 1903 through 1911, the early years, with West Chester holding the advantage. During these first nine years of the series, West Chester won four and tied two of the six games played, and it was reported in the Local that the 1911 game, originally scheduled for September 30th of that year, was "cancelled by the Berwynites who were loath to taste defeat at the hands of the West Chester school boys" again. The game in 1909, incidentally, was played with no substitutes by either team!

The second "era" began in 1912, when Berwyn won for the first time, and continued through 1919. During this period it was Berwyn that dominated the rivalry. The Main Liners won seven of these eight games, including back-to-back 32-0 victories in 1914 and 1915, tying the series between the two schools in the latter year (and again in 1917 after losing the 1916 contest) before taking the lead for the first time after the 1918 game. At the end of the decade, Berwyn had a two game edge in the series.

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The four years from 1920 through 1923 were the early Powell Cup years, as the competition for the new silver trophy was started. The West Chester eleven won three of the four games during this period, with the result that the overall series was again tied, with five victories for each team and two ties, after the game in 1923.

The following decade, from 1924 through 1933, were "stand-off" years, with the two teams trading victories as each team won five and lost five of the ten games. This period also included some of the classic match-ups noted earlier, with West Chester undefeated and untied in 1931, and Tredyffrin-Easttown's record similarly unblemished in 1933, and the county championship, as well as the Powell Cup, also at stake on several occasions. With the teams trading victories during this decade, the overall series between the two schools was again tied after the games in 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, and 1933!

But during the next seven years, from 1934 through 1940, West Chester again dominated the play. During this period, the Garnet and White built up a five game lead in the series as it won six of the seven games, five of them by shutouts. Even Berwyn's lone victory, in the 1937 game, was described as "as thrilling a Thanksgiving Day battle as ever graced the cleat-scarred Berwyn gridiron". It was not until 1959 that the overall series was to be tied again.

Beginning in 1941, however, Berwyn began to close the gap. Tredyffrin-Easttown's defense held West Chester to but one touchdown in the next four games, winning three by shutouts and tying the other, 7-7. During these war years, incidentally, the teams played under a new coach almost every season as the military draft took its toll of the coaching ranks.

This was followed by another "stand-off" period, in which the two teams again traded victories. While their records were not so consistently impressive as those of the teams of two decades earlier, the competition was nontheless close and even as each team won six games, with one tie, during the period from 1945 through 1957. In fact, only twice during the period was either team able to record back-to-back wins, T-E in 1951 and 1952, and West Chester in 1953 and 1954. West Chester's win in 1954, incidentally, was quite an upset as Conestoga had already clinched the Ches-Mont League championship, and was undefeated in league play coming into the contest.

Conestoga's win in 1957 actually was the beginning of another "era" in the rivalry, an era of domination of the series by the Berwyn team. From 1953 through 1973, the Pioneers won thirteen and tied one of the sixteen games played, scoring a total of 329 points (an average of better than 20 points a game) compared with West Chester's total of 117.

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The series was again tied in 1959 after Conestoga's third straight win in the annual game, each team with twenty-five wins, with four ties. It was to be the last time it was tied, as only in 1967 and 1971 did West Chester post victories during this sixteen year period.

Finally, there was the last game, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day in 1974. And the series ended just as it had begun, with a West Chester victory. The score was 17-0, just two points different from the 15-0 score by which it had won the opening game in 1903. It was somehow appropriate that the last game of the series, as described by Mike Hancock, West Chester' s coach, was "just an exceptional football game".

As had been the case when the series started, there was surprisingly little ceremony concerning the end of this great gridiron rivalry. The athletic departments of the two schools, and the fans alike, perhaps were still hopeful that even though no game was scheduled for 1975 it was just a temporary hiatus in the traditional rivalry, and that the series would be resumed when scheduling problems were worked out.

But it was not to be. And so the closely fought games, the great plays, the outstanding individual efforts, the bands and the cheering crowds, and the pre-game rallies and post-victory parades and celebrations that made this "the big game" are only a memory, of a seventy-two year traditional high school football rivalry, when West Chester and Berwyn were annual Thanksgiving Day gridiron foes.

Berwyn's 1933 undefeated and untied team

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Top

THE SERIES IN SUMMARY

The Early Years

1903 West Chester 15 Berwyn (Easttown) 0
1904 West Chester 0 Berwyn 0
1907 West Chester 5 Berwyn 5
1908 West Chester 27 Berwyn (Tredyffrin-Easttown) 7
1909 West Chester 11 Berwyn 6
1910 West Chester 17 Berwyn 11

Prior to 1912 a touchdown scored only five points.

Berwyn Comes Back

1912 Berwyn 10 West Chester 0
1913 Berwyn 7 West Chester 0
1914 Berwyn 32 West Chester 0
1915 Berwyn 32 West Chester 0
1916 West Chester 6 Berwyn 0
1917 Berwyn 6 West Chester 0
1918 Berwyn 33 West Chester 3
1919 Berwyn 7 West Chester 0

Play for the Powell Cup Starts

1920 West Chester 21 Berwyn 0
1921 Berwyn 7 West Chester 6
1922 West Chester 16 Berwyn 7
1923 West Chester 7 Berwyn 6

Trading Victories

1924 Berwyn 7 West Chester 0
1925 West Chester 20 Berwyn 6
1926 Berwyn 6 West Chester 0
1927 West Chester 26 Berwyn 0
1928 West Chester 14 Berwyn 6
1929 Berwyn 12 West Chester 0
1930 Berwyn 12 West Chester 0
1931 West Chester 20 Berwyn 0
1932 West Chester 7 Berwyn 6
1933 Berwyn 20 West Chester 6

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West Chester Takes the Lead Again

1934 West Chester 6 Berwyn 0
1935 West Chester 20 Berwyn 0
1936 West Chester 7 Berwyn 2
1937 Berwyn 12 West Chester 0
1938 West Chester 6 Berwyn 0
1939 West Chester 8 Berwyn 0
1940 West Chester 13 Berwyn 0

Berwyn Narrows the Gap

1941 Berwyn 14 West Chester 0
1942 Berwyn 7 West Chester 7
1943 Berwyn 23 West Chester 0
1944 Berwyn 18 West Chester 0

Even Years Again

1945 West Chester 12 Berwyn 0
1946 Berwyn 6 West Chester 0
1947 West Chester 14 Berwyn 6
1948 Berwyn 7 West Chester 6
1949 West Chester (Henderson) 66 Berwyn 6
1950 West Chester 19 Berwyn 2
1951 Berwyn 32 West Chester 0
1952 Berwyn 33 West Chester 6
1953 West Chester 7 Berwyn 0
1954 West Chester 13 Berwyn 6
1955 Berwyn (Conestoga) 20 West Chester 7
1956 West Chester 9 Berwyn 0
1957 Berwyn 25 West Chester 13

Conestoga Takes Over

1958 Berwyn 28 West Chester 6
1959 Berwyn 13 West Chester 0
1960 Berwyn 40 West Chester 7
1961 Berwyn 21 West Chester 0
1962 Berwyn 12 West Chester 6
1963 Berwyn 20 West Chester 0
1964 Berwyn 33 West Chester 13
1965 Berwyn 13 West Chester 13
1966 Berwyn 23 West Chester 7
1967 West Chester 19 Berwyn 13
1968 Berwyn 27 West Chester 7
1969 Berwyn 32 West Chester 6
1970 Berwyn 13 West Chester 7
1971 West Chester 3 Berwyn 0
1972 Berwyn 27 West Chester 23
1973 Berwyn 16 West Chester 0

The Series Ends

1974 West Chester 17 Berwyn 0

 
 

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