Announcement
GOSHEN VS. WARWICK: A QUICK 125 YEARS PLUS
Section Nine football historians like Harold White and George St. Lawrence researched the Goshen-Warwick football series quite extensively. Goshen High defeated Warwick Institute, 6-0, in the first documented game on or about November 26, 1896. Results from a previously scheduled game some two weeks earlier have not been found. In 1897, Goshen won one game and the other finished in a tie. Warwick subsequently had two quality championship teams in 1898 and 1899. The Institute beat the County-Seaters in 1898, and won both games in 1899.
In 1900, the teams played to a scoreless tie in the only meeting. Goshen played only two listed games in 1901, against Florida Institute and then Middletown. In 1902, Goshen hosted and beat Warwick in the first meeting, 12-0. The second game finished 0-0 at Warwick.
So the record stood at three wins, three losses, and three ties from 1896-1902 for both rivals. Unfortunately, we have not discovered any further football contests between these schools until 1927, in what would commence the modern era. Goshen, however had resumed football in 1922, after having chosen basketball as their sport in previous years.
Goshen dominated from 1927-29, giving Warwick a rude welcome back to the gridiron with five straight big victories. Warwick answered back with two championship teams in 1930 and 1931 in the “Little Three” village league, with Walden also providing strong competition. An article written in the Goshen Independent Republican claimed that Goshen had that intangible something called “Spirit” that made the difference in the competitions. Perhaps this ‘bulletin board material’ truly cemented this long-running rivalry. Warwick won that year (1936), but Goshen got it back the next year.
The teams kept going at it, along with Walden, continuing the Little Three setup even in 1952, with the establishment of the Orange County League. Schools like Cornwall, Highland Falls (now O’Neill), and Monroe-Woodbury joined to form the big league, but nothing could take the place of Warwick-Goshen-Walden games. In fact, a Little Three trophy still went to one of the three teams every year as late as 1963. Of course, Walden had turned into Montgomery High School for 1958 and 1959, and then changed into Valley Central in 1960.
Back to Warwick-Goshen, one of the funniest lines I’ve ever heard regarding this long-standing feud was retold to me by this website’s founder, Phil Dusenbury. Phil had just started covering our football locals in the mid-sixties when Warwick had won five out of six OCL titles. The Wildcats allowed the students from Pius School in Sugar Loaf to play on their team during those years. So Warwick ran off seven straight wins over Goshen from 1962-1968, and the Goshen fans would mutter, ’Can’t beat those Catholic schools.’ Another former Goshen player told me that Warwick came in the middle of the night and planted corn on the Goshen field in the early sixties. Another rumor said that one of the Goshen coaches actually slept with the Spirit Trophy.
Alas, the Gladiators turned the tables and won 10 straight from 1969-1978. In 1975, students in a Warwick woodshop class created the Spirit Trophy, an emblem of the big annual game that would go to the yearly winner. Finally, a Jim Bongo coached Wildcat squad ended the streak at Gustafson Field in the final game of the 1979 season in Goshen. Goshen had won the first four “Spirit Trophy” games before this season.
Goshen still won six of the next seven, but things turned back toward the Purple-and-Gold in 1987. Joe Viglione came out of retirement after having coached legendary Port Jervis teams to numerous DUSO and OCL titles. He helped bring interest back into Warwick football and started a winning culture that still bodes well today. Goshen came back with strong coaching from Bob Graham and won three straight in the series from 1993-95. During this spell, the Gladiators won the 1994 Section 9 Class B title.
Greg Sirico scored the winning touchdown in the 1984 Warwick OCL title win over Pine Bush, and took over the coaching job in 1996. In two stints (1996-2005/2013-present, He holds a 16-5 record in Spirit Trophy games. One Goshen parent offered free steak dinners for the entire Gladiator crew if they could beat Warwick. In 2003, Joe Dembeck starred in a 21-14 Goshen win at C. Ashley Morgan Field.
James Sciarra (now coaching Monroe-Woodbury) went 6-0 for Warwick in coaching against Goshen from 2006-2012. The Gladiators played an independent schedule in 2011 and the teams did not meet that year.
Goshen just missed finally getting the trophy back in 2017, when only a late Wildcat touchdown earned them a 13th straight win in the series. But great QB Matt Giordano and a terrific Goshen team recaptured the Spirit Trophy at Warwick, 14-7, in 2018. Coach Ed Killenberger made it two straight for Goshen in 2019 at the brand-new beautiful Coliseum.
If you count only modern era games (1927-2019), then Warwick holds a 52-46-4 edge in the series. If you add the nine documented games from 1896-1902, the tally goes to 55-49-7. As far as actual Spirit Trophy games since its creation in 1975, Warwick has a 28-16 advantage. So here we go again, after waiting through more than a year, with the next rendition!
SPRING 2021 UPDATE – At Goshen Coliseum, Goshen beat Warwick 21-0 to win the Spirit Trophy for the third straight time. The overall series now stands at 55-50-7 in favor of Warwick.
FALL 2021 UPDATE: – At Goshen Coliseum, Warwick defeated Goshen 20-7 to reclaim the Spirit Trophy. Warwick takes a 56-50-7 overall series lead going back to the outset in 1896.
2022 UPDATE: At C. Ashley Morgan Field, Warwick retained the Spirit Trophy with a 21-14 win over Goshen. The series record shows 57 wins for Warwick, 50 wins for Goshen, and seven ties.
2023 UPDATE: Goshen wins the Spirit Trophy back from Warwick, 18-6, at the Goshen Coliseum. Warwick now leads the series 57-51-7.
Sponsors
