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PROMONTORY POINT -- The Golden Spike is supposed to be a symbol of unity. It tied the two railroads together: One nation, indivisible, from sea to shining sea.
Well, that was then, 1869. This is now, 2011, and the battle for the Golden Spike is here.
It's a battle for a Golden Spike trophy, to be exact. Two high school football teams -- the Bear River Bears and Box Elder Bees -- go head to head Friday night for the next chapter in the heated rivalry.
Chris Wise, a football coach for Bear River, said the competition will be fierce. "For whatever reason, everybody brings their A game to these types of games."
"It's a toss-up every year," said Box Elder High School Athletic Director Kim Peterson about the annual rivalry game, which started in 1959. "Hard to predict, because it doesn't matter which school has a weak team or a strong team. Seems like this game comes to the wire every time."
Related
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See the latest news on local prep sports and watch streaming video of KSL SportsBeat live at Friday night games.The mayors of Tremonton and Brigham City met at a neutral landmark between cities before the game. They admit that things can get heated.
"Civility doesn't enter in when it comes to football," Brigham City Mayor Dennis Fife said.
Roger Fridal, the mayor of Tremonton, agreed. "It has nothing to do with it."
The two even have a wager on the game.
"The challenge is that if Box Elder wins, Mayor Fife will wear a red jersey to his next city council meeting," Fridal said.
"Well, I'm surprised that Mayor Fridal didn't ask for a point spread on this particular game," Fife said with a laugh.
Even the Golden Spike reenactment locomotive engineers are on opposite sides: Stephen Sawyer is from Brigham City and Ron Wilson from Bear River.
"When it comes to football, the unity is not there," Wilson said.
"We all have to work together, but football is football and we all have our differences there," Sawyer said.
KSL's own Rod Zundel was once a quarterback for the Bears. In his junior year, the team was defeated in a last-minute loss.
Zundel described the heartbreaking post-game moments for the players. "Full gear, into the showers, sat down on the cold tile, and we all cried."
Once the sting of defeat subsided, the Bears used the loss as motivation for the next match.
"Next year we got revenge on those Bees," Zundel said. "The Bears beat them, and that's what it's all about. The greatest feeling of all time."
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Story written with contributions from John Hollenhorst and Lindsay Maxfield.
