Section Nine Football

PORT JERVIS V. MIDDLETOWN: THAT GAME (20TH ANNIVERSARY POSTING)

By FEARLESS PHIL Despite rumor to the contrary, it is not quite the oldest rivalry in the country, state nor even the county (Goshen and Warwick have that distinction in the county). Still the Port-Middletown series deserves its legendary status and continues to stir up old embers in both communities. Thanks to the research and persistence of the late John Nania of Middletown, the matchup has been officially recognized as the country’s longest running high school football rivalry. The teams have played each other 124 times with Middletown holding a 67-50-7 edge.

After losing for eight consecutive seasons (Middletown’s longest streak in the series), Port has now won the last six meetings. PJ’s longest winning streak was nine (1974-82). The squads played twice in 1897 but not again until 1903. Back then Middletown did not consider Port to be competitive enough to play with the big boys. But the two schools renewed the tussle, and the teams have met every year since then, except for 1970 when PJ left the DUSO to compete in the larger OCL. That streak of playing for 67 consecutive years was listed as a national record. John Nania’s efforts in securing a place in the record books sent other high school football historians combing through old newspapers. Because of the community uproars to restore the series, the two teams next met as non-league foes until Middletown also joined the OCL.

In 1953 (interestingly, the year the OCL football league was born), the Erie Railroad bell was taken off a retired steam engine and presented to the two teams as a perpetual trophy to be housed by each year’s winning squad. Of course in the “old days,” visiting spectators would take the train to see Port and Middletown play. The two rivals (as well as Newburgh and Kingston, Warwick and Goshen, Highland Falls and Cornwall) had traditionally met on Thanksgiving mornings. The last of the “Turkey Day Classics” between Port and Middletown was in 1969, and it was indeed a memorable one. With the score knotted at 14 and time having expired, the Red Raiders were awarded one more play because of a dead ball, personal foul against Middletown. Port Quarterback Earl Sheard then connected with Randy Sienkiew on a 20-yard TD pass, perhaps the most famous score in a rivalry filled with great moments! Ex-Raider coach Joe Viglione, who had won more games than any other coach in Section Nine, laments the loss of the Thanksgiving Day game. “I walked over to Glennette Field last Thanksgiving morning,” Vig mused aloud a few years back. "There was a light rain. You could hear it in the leaves. But nobody else was there. What a loss. Something important was taken away from both communities when they stopped playing on Thanksgiving. “Folks can talk all they want. But unless they’ve been on the sidelines and participated in THAT game, they just don’t know the feeling.” Last year THAT game featured the reopening of Glennette Field at the current Port Jervis Middle School. After 83 consecutive seasons with Glennette as Port’s home field, the old bleachers had been condemned. So that wonderful streak of Port’s playing its home games in one stadium had been brought to an end. This Friday they’ll play at Faller Field, Middletown’s home for the last couple of decades. Middletown’s old Wilson Field is now a grassy patch near a Dolson Avenue min-mall. The older Mulberry Street Field is a car lot. But if you go there and catch a rare quiet moment, you can still hear the cheering. Port will again be heavily favored in this one as phantoms of games past rise up from the mist of the Neversink and ride an old ghost train to Middletown. Apparitions in blue and white will be there to meet their old foes who eventually became lifetime friends. (Article written by Phil Dusenbury in September of 2003)
NOTE – Phil Dusenbury began this site on the ‘ETEAMZ’ format back in 2003. He started covering local football in the mid-1960’s for small newspaper publications. In 1973 Phil took to announcing Warwick Wildcats games over WTBQ radio through 1978. In 1981 he became the first local television football broadcaster for Cable 6 out of Middletown. Four years later, Phil started a long association with Port Jervis football, calling the games on WDLC radio for over 25 years. In 1997, he wrote a book detailing the 100 years of Port Jervis football, ‘THE RED AND BLACK.’

UPDATE: Through 144 games, Middletown leads the overall series 77-60-7.

2023 UPDATE: Middletown defeats Port, 29-8, at Glennette Field to win back the Erie Bell. The Middie Bears now lead the series 78-60-7.