Potato Bowl has lasting history

Casey Ressler/Frontiersman staff

When the final horn sounded, the 25th Potato Bowl officially ended -- and not soon enough for the Warriors who were on the business end of a 42-0 whooping -- and closed the cover on the first quarter-century of Valley football between two schools.

On the Palmer sideline, there was obviously much cheering. There was head coach Rod Christiansen, a man who played football at Palmer and now coaches there. Assistant coach Brad Hanson celebrated as well -- much like he did when he kicked the extra point following the first-ever touchdown (by Palmer's Ron Richards) in the first-ever Potato Bowl. Kay Omer was there, too, after serving on the sidelines for Palmer for forever and a weekend. He has served as a Palmer trainer and a Palmer dad during the rivalry.

If you look in the stands, you were likely to find someone, anyone, who participated in the Potato Bowl at least once. Two of the four lower Valley athletic directors have -- Jamie Smith as the Wasilla quarterback and Doug Bean as the Wasilla coach. Many teachers have. A sportswriter on the sideline did.

And that's what makes the Potato Bowl a community event, rather than just a sports event. People who don't go to a football game all year, who don't have a brother playing or a son playing, show up at the Potato Bowl. People go out for dinner with cross-town coworkers before the game. They show up at each other's houses after the game wearing old letter jackets. They get behind their community.

It's an often-used clich/ that "you can throw out the records when these two teams meet." And that's true for the Potato Bowl, to some extent. While the records matter in the standings and the records, to the general community, the records don't mean much. Wasilla won only one game all year? That didn't deter people from Wasilla who came out to the Potato Bowl. Palmer already won the conference? Maybe a quarter of the people there could have told you that before the game started. It's the Potato Bowl, and people show up for that reason.

Basketball's big and hockey's popular, but football is the main attraction for the Valley. While the Valley won't rival Texas any time soon in terms of high school football mania, games like the Potato Bowl show the appeal high school football has in the eyes of the community.

With 25 years already in the books, it'll be interesting to see how the next 25 years transpire. Will current Palmer quarterback Charlie Bentti be roaming the sidelines as the Palmer head coach in 20 years? Will Wasilla's Jed Wade follow in his father's footsteps and one day coach the Warriors?

Only time will tell, but you can be assured the community will be watching.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor.