BY ALLAN STEELE
It used to be one of the biggest events in the San Jacinto Valley. Every fall, Hemet High and San Jacinto High would meet on the football field and the community would embrace what had become a pretty fierce and spirited rivalry. The Victory Bell and area bragging rights awaited the game’s winner. Times have changed. The Victory Bell will make an appearance Friday when the Bulldogs host the Tigers, but tradition has been softened by reality. With four high schools in the valley and the growth of Beaumont, every game could be considered a rivalry game, Hemet coach Jeff Reitz said. The winner of Friday’s matchup — 7 p.m. kickoff at Hemet — earns an automatic playoff berth. That’s plenty of motivation without having to draw on the history of the big game, San Jacinto coach Bill Powell said. “We haven’t talked about it that much,” Powell said of the rivalry and retaining the Victory Bell. “We’re just trying to focus on what the game means and that’s trying to secure a playoff spot … It’s more important to us what’s at stake, not necessarily the bell.” The series started in 1929. As the Hemet population grew, the game became onesided and was eventually halted in 1967. In 2000, the schools decided to renew the rivalry and dust off the bell, although Hemet High’s population and football program were still significantly larger than San Jacinto’s. “I was not real eager for it,” former Hemet coach Andy Boynton said of renewing the rivalry. “At the time, we were a bigger school with a higher level of football and I thought it was a no-win situation for us because we were supposed to win. Then there’s always the fear that they could have beaten us. It didn’t turn out that way. They were pretty lopsided games.” Even so, the players enjoyed the opportunity to play. “It was kind of a big deal,” said former San Jacinto quarterback Alan Norman, who played in the 2000 game. “It was a chance to go against a bigger school and it was a shot to prove ourselves.” The stadium at San Jacinto was packed for the first game. Not surprisingly, Hemet won the renewal game and won the next three meetings. Then the series took another hiatus. “I think for a lot of the old timers it was a big thing,” Boynton said. “In my eyes, our rivalry was West Valley. But the people that had been around and following football for years and years were more excited to see the game with San Jacinto.” With the continued growth of the valley, San Jacinto grew. Hemet West Valley High and Hemet Tahquitz eventually came online. Now all the schools, including Beaumont, play in the same league, giving the Hemet-San Jacinto matchup a different twist. San Jacinto has won all three meetings since the two schools became members of the Mountain Pass League. The Tigers are a perennial playoff contender, while the Bulldogs haven’t been to the postseason since 2006. Powell said he and his team are downplaying the rivalry, but Hemet coach Reitz was taking a different approach. “My first year here, it was just a game,” Reitz said. “It drove Darrell Von Driska crazy because he was a big guy about the bell. The very next year he came in and told the entire team about the bell. It hit all of us hard.” Von Driska was a legend in the Hemet-area sports community. He was a Hemet High alum, a longtime coach and teacher, and was also a founder of the Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District. He died Sept. 18 at age 74 from cancer. “The kids have really grown into the history of it,” Reitz said. “When the kids talk about the San Jacinto game, all they talk about is the bell.” Follow Allan Steele on Twitter at @asteele12000