SRV vs. MV Football: Historic Rivals

On a rainy Friday in November 1981, Tim Wise turned the muddy Monte Vista High School football pitch into his personal playpen.

The senior all-league kicker, who hit a record 59-yard field goal earlier in the season, boomed punts of 52, 55 and 73 yards to pin San Ramon Valley High School in bad field position all night and enable Monte Vista to win by the improbable score of 5-0.

Four years earlier Guy Houston -- the future member of the California State Assembly -- capped a three-year varsity career as the Wolves' starting quarterback by connecting with Mike Campbell on a long scoring strike. The only touchdown of the game gave San Ramon Valley a 7-3 victory over host Monte Vista, and the East Bay Athletic League championship along with it.

Flash to 2010 when Bryce McGovern caught 11 passes for 207 yards and Monte Vista beat San Ramon Valley, 38-31. Two weeks later, however, the Wolves as visitors again got revenge in the NCS quarterfinals, "limiting" McGovern to 148 yards, for a 27-16 victory.

San Ramon Valley and Monte Vista have met 48 times in football and the rivalry is one of the best in Bay Area prep football.

The 49th chapter in the 43-year series comes Saturday night at Sam Zackheim Field when the Mustangs host the Wolves with a ticket to the Dec. 10 NCS Championship Game on the line. Game time is 7 p.m.

Crowds that has been estimated at nearly 10,000 turn out for the annual battle of Danville with one side of the field clad in SRV's green and gold and the other in the familiar red and black of Monte Vista. Big-game rallies, a hearty helping of trash talk and school pranks have been part of the event as well.

"This rivalry is rooted in a rich history and tradition," said San Ramon Valley High's John Raynor. "In my 25 years as an athletic director I can say I have witnessed some of the most exciting high school football that is played in the Bay Area."

Monte Vista leads the all-time series 28-19-1 over San Ramon Valley, which had a 55-year head start on the Mustangs having played its first football game in 1913.

Fourteen of the 48 meetings have been decided by six or fewer points. Interestingly, when Monte Vista beat host San Ramon Valley 34-33 on Nov. 10 this season in their most recent meeting, it represented the first time the game was decided by a single point.

If history is a precursor to Saturday's outcome, Monte Vista should be warned that playing at home in this series is no advantage. The Mustangs are 10-14 as hosts while San Ramon Valley is only 5-17-1 at home. The second of two matchups in 2002 -- the first time the rivals met twice in the same season -- was played on neutral turf.

Monte Vista has enjoyed the longest winning streaks in the series -- seven wins in a row from 1986-92 and six straight from 2001-05. San Ramon has mustered three victories in succession twice (1971-73 and 1998-2000) and won four of five from 2006-08.

The Mustangs have outscored the Wolves 1,009 to 805. San Ramon Valley was shut out six of the first 19 meetings but not since 1986. The Mustangs failed to score in two of the first five grudge matches but have scored in every game since 1972.

"Fans, players, coaches and community members circle this game on their calendars each year, and this contest proves to be a positive and exciting event that the town of Danville embraces each year," Raynor added.

Maybe no game in the series epitomized Raynor's description as the doozy on Nov. 15, 2002 when the Mustangs escaped with a 46-44 win at home in what stands as the highest scoring game between the two schools.

University of Miami-bound quarterback Kyle Wright threw his sixth touchdown pass of the game with four seconds left as Monte Vista capped a 10-0 season and clinched its first EBAL title since 1992.

Wright's last-minute 71-yard scoring drive came just 40 seconds after Sam Keller tossed his fourth TD pass of the second half to give the Wolves a 44-40 lead in what appeared to be their ninth win in 10 games only to result in a second loss in the end. Keller would go on to star at Arizona State.

Keller and Wright combined for 670 yards the previous season when Monte Vista beat San Ramon Valley 38-34.

"The SRV-MV football rivalry is very special to our players, coaches, fans and community members," Raynor said.

And don't expect that to be any different on Saturday night.