Storied history between fierce rivals continues

George Washington and E.C. Glass meet on the gridiron today as non-district rivals for the first time since World War II. The Hilltoppers switched to the Seminole District this season.

OVER THE YEARS
GW vs. E.C. Glass
2008 GW 28-14
2007 GW 47-24
2006 GW 31-14
2005 Glass 40-15
2004 GW 24-6
2003 Glass 10-7
2002 GW 35-20
2001 GW 42-0
2000 GW 21-0
1999 GW 19-6
1998 GW 10-7
1997 Glass 13-7
1996 GW 26-14
1995 Glass 27-18
1994 GW 34-28
1993 Glass 36-35
1992 Glass 14-9
1991 GW 7-6
1990 Glass 13-5
1989 Glass 22-0
1988 Glass 34-7
1987 Glass 23-7
1986 Glass 24-10
1985 Glass 24-6
1984 GW 26-7
1983 GW 26-13
1982 GW 34-7
1981 GW 20-7
1980 GW 16-10
1979 GW 31-6
1978 GW 10-0
1977 GW 30-6
1976 Tie 14-14
1975 Glass 24-7
1974 GW 20-18
1973 Glass 17-8
1972 Glass 26-8
1971 Glass 18-14
1970 GW 21-7
1969 GW 20-0
1968 GW 38-7
1967 Glass 10-0
1966 GW 13-6
1965 Tie 6-6
1964 Glass 7-6
1963 Glass 7-6
1962 Glass 28-18
1961 Glass 40-0
1960 Glass 26-6
1959 Glass 28-0
1958 Glass 34-0
1957 Glass 33-7
1956 Glass 27-7
1955 Glass 27-0
1954 GW 39-7
1953 GW 13-0
1952 Glass 35-14
1951 Glass 18-0
1950 Glass 19-0
1949 Glass 20-0
1948 Glass 32-0
1947 GW 6-0
1946 Glass 14-12
1945 Glass 13-0
1944 GW 19-6
1943 DID NOT MEET
1942 GW 14-6
1941 Glass 21-12
1940 Glass 13-0
1939 Glass 46-6
1938 Glass 33-0
1937 GW 12-0
1936 Tie 0-0
1935 GW 13-12
1934 Glass 16-6
1933 Tie 0-0
1932 Tie 6-6
1931 Glass 25-0
1930 Glass 52-0
1929 Glass 13-0
1928 Glass 59-0
1927 Glass 25-6
1926 Glass 28-6
1925 DID NOT MEET
1924 Glass 48-7
1923 Tie 6-6
1922 Glass 13-0
1921 GW 7-0
1920 Tie 0-0
1919 DID NOT MEET
1918 NO SEASON
1917 DID NOT MEET
1916 DID NOT MEET
1915 DID NOT MEET
SOURCE: gwfootball.com

Regardless, the high schools from Danville and Lynchburg will meet for the 88th time, dating back to their first recorded game, a 0-0 tie in 1920. The Hilltoppers lead the all-time series 47-33-7, a series that has featured several eventual NFL players and numerous games for the ages. Those 87 matchups are by far the most GW has played against a single opponent, more than a quarter of a century longer than against archrival Halifax County, second on the list with 61 games against the Eagles.

Understandably, that this matchup between high schools 70 miles apart no longer counts in the district standings takes little away from this storied rivalry.

“We don’t worry about districts when we talk about Glass. If that were the case then we would have dropped them off our schedule,” said GW coach Dan Newell, who played quarterback and tight end for the Eagles on the 1982 and ’83 teams. “We had opportunities to find other opponents but we wanted to continue to play Glass. I don’t want to ever go down as the coach who broke that string. I’m not going to break that rivalry. For us and our kids, that’s an important piece of the flavor of the GW football tradition and the season.”

GW and Glass meet today for the 66th consecutive season, dating to 1944, when the Eagles won the state championship. The teams did not play in 1943 or 1925, the only two seasons the squads haven’t met since the series began.

There have been some tremendous games between these programs in the last century, especially in the mid ’70s, when there was a stretch where both schools had elite-level football teams and the district title and subsequent playoff berth usually came down to that game.

“What you had in the mid ’70s was just a confluence of talent on both sides of the ball. Just epic teams,” said GW historian and WBTM radio announcer Chuck Vipperman, who has covered the Eagles for the last 21 seasons. “And at that time, the playoffs were much more restrictive. Only the conference tournament champ got to go to the playoffs. Usually the Glass-GW loser, while sporting a spectacular record, didn’t get to go to the playoffs. … It was just two teams who were getting spectacular at the same time, and they just happened to be arch rivals.”

The rivalry has transcended generations.

One former GW student said he remembers going to games against Glass in the ’90s and fights would break out. One time, in Lynchburg, police had to haul off fans in handcuffs because they couldn’t get along standing in line, he said.

When GW and Glass met in 1993 and ’95, the football teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the state by the Associated Press.

The 1993 matchup in particular stands out, a 36-35 Glass victory in double overtime. GW went for two and fell about a foot short of the goal line. That was the only loss of the year for GW, which finished 9-1 and did not make the playoffs.

People still talk about that game.

“The history goes way back. It’s one of the most prestigious rivalries in the state,” said E.C. Glass coach Richard Trent, who’s been on the Hilltoppers coaching staff for nearly a decade. “Just because we’re not district rivals doesn’t change a thing.”

The schools have competed against one another in the Western Valley District since its inception in 2001, and before that in the Western District, which merged with the Roanoke Valley District to form the WVD.

“Really the district structure as we know it today wasn’t established, according to my records, until after World War II,” Vipperman said. “That’s when the district structure was first adopted. But ever since we’ve had districts, Glass and GW have been in the same district.”

In addition to the games, the series has featured a number of future NFL players, including Herman Moore, Buddy Curry, Kenny Lewis, Tyrone Robertson, Ferrell Edmunds, Donald Smith and Mike Brim to name a few on the GW side. Other star players for the Eagles include Nathan Poole and Chanston Rodgers, not to mention David Wilson, a Virginia Tech freshman running back who owns GW’s single-season and single-game rushing and touchdown records, all of which he shattered last season.

E.C. Glass hasn’t had a shortage of eventual NFL players, either, including Cornell Brown, Mickey Fitzgerald and Rueben Brown. Other stars included Corey Bradley and Andre Kendrick, who scored the go-ahead touchdown for Virginia Tech in the 1999 national championship game against Florida State. He took the pitch from quarterback Michael Vick on an option left to put the Hokies ahead 29-28 before the Seminoles rallied for the title.

E.C. Glass switched districts this season primarily to cut down on travel.

“We feel like from that standpoint it’s a huge advantage. We hope that as we continue to build back this program … the games are close enough for our fan base to actually travel to. It creates a little bit more excitement,” Trent said, but he was sure to point out that the Hilltoppers haven’t completely abandoned traditional rivalries, and in fact begin this season with four consecutive games against Western Valley foes.

Glass opened the season with losses to Franklin County and William Fleming. The Hilltoppers take on GW today before facing Fleming again.

“We’re not only playing the Western Valley, we’re playing the best of the Western Valley,” Trent said. “As long as we don’t get demoralized, I think it’s a big plus for us as far as playing four very good opponents to start the season with.”

GW has won nine of the last 11 against Glass, most in dominating fashion, but over the years the pendulum has certainly swung in the opposite direction. During a span of four games in the 1920s and early ’30s, Glass outscored GW 291-37 while going 9-0-3, including posting four consecutive shutouts. Glass shut out GW five consecutive seasons, and six times in seven years, between 1945-52, as the Hilltoppers went 7-1 against their rivals to the south.

GW has also had its time to shine in the series, winning eight consecutive times between 1977-84.

“We couldn’t imagine playing a season without an E.C. Glass game, or without a Halifax game,” Newell said. “If you don’t play anybody else, we need to play those two teams. That’s important for our kids to make that connection with the old days, because there’s a whole lot of new teams on our schedule that we never played before, or who weren’t traditional rivals. Obviously, now Franklin County is in the mix as a rival, William Fleming is in the mix as a rival, but there’s nothing like the GW and Lynchburg rivalry.”