For the first time in history, the cherished Madison City Stadium was not the home of the Bob Jones Patriots, but the host of the Patriots on the away side. With the addition of first year school James Clemens, the first annual “Madison Bowl” will be delegated yearly between the two. The new kids on the block James Clemens claiming home field in year one yielded much abhorrence to the Proud Patriots.
“I feel like the new school coming in and taking our stadium the very first year is wrong,” Rufus Aldridge, who is a Senior Offensive Lineman for the Patriots, exclaimed, “but then again it won’t matter because our fans and students will be louder and our football team is just better.”
Bob Jones defeated Athens 28-7 in their jamboree game while the Jets fell to Grissom 28-14. In the opening week of the regular season, Bob Jones lost to Northridge 40-30 while James Clemens lost to Johnson 20-7.
Sitting on the away side with the whole student body, parents, and other fans brewed up a recipe for disaster; the game in the minds of Bob Jones is an extra home game but from a different point of view. The polar shift of fandom didn’t come without preparations: “We are going to add extra bleachers for the Student Section,” Bob Jones Principal Robby Parker pridefully announced, “I want it to be crazy over there.”
The momentum shifting student section adapted valiantly to the obstacles of causing havoc on new territory. Josh Hersh is a senior at Bob Jones and avid participant in the student section. He and many others did everything in their power to show that putting them on the away side was a bad choice. “I am looking forward to making the most out of the student section on the away side. We are the first to do it and have to make the most of it,” Hersh passionately proclaimed, ”I guarantee the loudest student section in Bob Jones history.” Bob Jones defeated James Clemens 72-0.
There is no doubt that the football game will set the tone for bad blood in sports for the rest of the year and for years to come. Kyle Campbell is a Senior at Bob Jones and expressed calmly what we lose from this game: “Bob Jones and Madison City Stadium go hand in hand with us and all of the residents. James Clemens students might be our friends, but Madison City Stadium is our home, and it always will be.”
Bob Jones might have been the clear favorites to win the football game, but football is only half the battle.
