Doesn't matter when it is, it's still Elgin-Larkin, and worth supporting

Over the past few years, I always have people ask me during Elgin-Larkin week if the annual football clash between the city rivals has lost its luster, its excitement, its meaning.

I wonder that myself sometimes when I look at how things have changed over the years, with the addition of Bartlett and South Elgin and, to those old enough, to go back to when Streamwood opened.

So, sure, things have changed. The world changes a little more every day, does it not?

But if you talk to the coaches and administrators from Elgin and Larkin, they'll be quick to tell you that today's Town Jug game has every bit the meaning it always has to the kids playing in it and to the families, friends and fans who follow the teams.

"A lot of kids are talking about going to the game. It's a big deal," said first-year Larkin athletic director Chris Neibch, who was involved in his share of rivalry games between Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South when he was growing up.

"There's a lot more excitement this week for sure and hopefully we'll get more attendance."

The Elgin-Larkin game, long a Friday night staple of the football season, was moved to Saturday a few years back when safety at Memorial Field became a concern. This year, the start time has been moved from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a move both Neibch and first-year Larkin coach Mike Scianna hopes will help fill the stands.

"We did get it pushed to 1:30 because the Pee-Wee programs are still playing their games in that 11:30 time," said Scianna. "We needed to push it up to get those kids involved and let them know this is the show they want to be a part of someday."

Neibch coached with former Larkin coach Dale Schabert the last two years at South Elgin, so even though this is his first Elgin-Larkin game wearing Royal Blue, he's not foreign to what Elgin-Larkin means to people in the city of Elgin.

"Coaching with Dale I'm familiar with the rivalry and what it means," Neibch said. "I'm looking forward to it and I know it's going to be a great game. It's exciting to get the whole community involved and there's still a lot of tradition."

When South Elgin opened and School District U-46 redrew the attendance boundaries, it created a unique situation that may actually help keep the fire burning brightly on the Elgin-Larkin rivalry.

"Twenty years ago we really didn't know many of them and they didn't know us," said Elgin coach Dave Bierman, also an Elgin grad who played in the Town Jug games as a teenager. "But with the way the boundaries are set up now, these kids know each other and some of them even played on the same teams growing up. It's more of a backyard, I wanna beat my buddy game now."

Bierman, whose team will play its first Saturday game of the season, says he's seen the anticipation build around school this week.

"We've been fortunate this year with great crowd support and great student support," he said. "It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd comes out. The kids were talking a lot in the hallways about it today and everyone seems excited."

Scianna doesn't work at Larkin this year, as he did the past two years when he was a Royals' assistant coach, but he says he sees the Elgin-Larkin fervor when he does get to school.

"It's very definitely and very obviously Elgin week," Scianna said. "It's the 50th meeting and they have the Town Jug. We want it back. You wish you could bottle this (excitement) and use it every week. These kids all played with each other growing up and they know people around town will remember them for this game."

I'm still an advocate of moving the game back to Friday night. While it's understood and appreciated that safety is a concern, what happened a few years ago was an isolated incident. If East and West Aurora can play on Friday night, Elgin and Larkin can, can't they.

"I think football should always be played on Friday nights," Scianna said. "This longer week (stinks). I wanted to play (Friday night)."

Bierman was a bit more diplomatic.

"You have to look at the safety aspect first," said Bierman, who coached at Burlington Central before Rocket Hill was endowed with lights. "If you make the playoffs, and that's our intention, you might have a Saturday afternoon game so it's good to get a feel for it."

Neibch didn't sound optimistic when I brought up my yearly request to move the game back to Friday night.

"I don't know if that will happen," he said. "We'll continue to talk about it but I don't know if that will happen."

So Saturday it is. And the move to 1:30 is a positive thing.

And whether it's Friday, Saturday or midnight Monday, it's Elgin-Larkin, the oldest continuous high school sports rivalry in the Fox Valley.

That alone should be reason enough to get off the couch and come out and support the Maroons and Royals Saturday afternoon.

jradtke@dailyherald.com