Edmond bragging rights are on the line
Edlam: But more than that, the playoff fates of Memorial and North are riding on Friday’s game

BY ROBERT PRZYBYLO, Staff Writer, bprzybylo@opubco.com Comments 2
Published: October 25, 2009

EDMOND – Representatives from the two schools have been going back and forth long before this week. Long before the season even started.

Memorial quarterback Blake Umberham, left, led the Bulldogs to a 35-3 win over North last season. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman Archive

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→When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

→Where: Wantland Stadium, Edmond

→Last year: Edmond Memorial won 35-3

Edmond North and Edmond Memorial felt this season could be something to remember. But never in the 14 years the schools have played each other has a regular-season game meant more.

And after years of being overshadowed by fellow Edlam school Edmond Santa Fe, the spotlight belongs to Memorial and North this week.

"It’s hard to get it out of your mind,” Memorial senior lineman Matt Hall said. "I can’t think of a game ever meaning as much as this one is going to. There is already stuff being talked on Facebook.”

Santa Fe defeated North in a 2003 playoff game and still stands as the biggest Edlam game ever, but none of this year’s crop of players were on those teams. This is their time.

It’s not just bragging rights at stake Friday — though that does mean something as the winner is guaranteed the city title, both having already beaten Santa Fe.

Santa Fe won the city championship the last four years. Memorial hasn’t worn the city crown since 1997 and North’s last city title was 2004.

The playoff fate of both teams are also on the line. Each will enter at 4-1 in District 6A-2, one game behind Midwest City, the team each has lost to. The winner will almost surely host a first-round playoff game, while the loser will have to hit the road.

"This is really good for the kids and for the coaches,” Edmond athletic director Mike Nunley said. "This is about as big as it comes.”

The Huskies (7-1) expected to be in this position. It was last year’s game against Memorial that changed the fate of the team.

North had to win one of its final two games to reach the postseason, but Memorial won 35-3, and the Huskies never recovered.

And never forgot.

"We used it as motivation all summer,” North senior defensive lineman Colton Byford said. "I have a bunch of buddies over there, and we’ve been trash talking back and forth.”

In the first 12 years of the rivalry, the teams played each other in the first four weeks of the season. But last year and this year, Memorial and North have been scheduled toward the latter part of the season, Week 9.

The players have liked it this way.

"I always enjoy the Edlam games, but this way you don’t waste all your energy in the first couple of weeks,” Hall said.

Memorial (5-3) has had a resurgence in the last month. After a 1-3 start, the Bulldogs have won four in a row under first-year coach Justin Merideth.

Instead of trying to fight the emotion and intensity, Merideth is embracing it.

"These are the type of games you want look forward to,” Merideth said. "I want the kids to enjoy the moment. I’m going to as well.”