Dover-Phila is one of the most loved rivalries in Tuscarawas County and the state of Ohio. People who graduated years ago still come back to relive the moments they had when they were in high school, . The first rivalry game was played in 1905 which means next year will mark the 120th anniversary of the game. Dover-Phila is the third oldest rivalry in the state. Many fans were watching the game that night both in the hyped-up student section and in the big stands that overlooked the field.
This year, the game was at Woody Hayes Stadium which is home to the New Phila Quakers. The home-field advantage was definitely a bonus to help them win. That doesn’t mean we didn’t put up a fight though. Dover City Schools has a New Phila in one aspect, school spirit. whether that means dress-up days, fun pep rallies, the big bonfire, or the big Friday night game. This year, some of the dress-up days were, mathlete vs. athlete, elderly vs. toddlers, and of course the annual whiteout to blind Phila on Friday. The pep rally was filled with Marching Tornadoes playing all of the fight songs like Dover Victory. Inflatable animals running around the gym, the dance team, cheerleaders, a hype video, and last but definitely not least Mr. Shankle famous poem for all the football players were just some aspects of our school pep rally that had grades k-12 cheering.
Even though Dover wasn’t victorious this year we have had a good run in the division three playoffs defeating Granville, Tri-Valley. Before we talk about the hall decorating, let’s talk about how crazy the Tri-Valley game was. We were down by so much and then we came back with Jameson’s field goal to win it all. Dylan Wertz had this to say about the 2024 football season, “ They had a great season in the end and one of the best football teams we’ve had in a while. Hopefully we will do good our senior year and beat Phila for the last game we get to see while we are in school.” We do not decorate the halls for the playoffs, but the commons have signs everywhere, with one saying, “ YOU TRIED to create a new password, but it was TOO WEAK.” In the semi-finals, Steubenville is undefeated while Dover is 10 and 2 meaning they won ten games and only lost two. We had a pretty good chance at advancing to the next round. Even though Dover lost we had a great season with a lot of unfortunate injuries.
This year has been a really good year for the football team. We will have to wait for November 15th to see if we can beat Big Red and advance to the next round of the playoff series. Stay tuned for the next article about the playoff outcome. Until then, we can only attend the game at Steubenville and cheer them on while Coach Ifft tries his best to fight through Steubenville’s tough defense. The results of the Steubenville game were Steubenville winning with a score of 42 – 14. It was very unfortunate but we had a great 2024 season and we will wish the seniors good luck moving forward.
