Fitch, Boardman get ready to renew rivalry
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Friday night's game between Austintown Fitch and Boardman, Falcons head coach TJ Parker admitted, will not be like every other football game.
As a Fitch alumnus, Parker has been a part of the rivalry as both a player and a coach, but this year's game, the 80th such contest all-time, does seem to mean more than many other meetings between the two teams since their first in 1942.
"Every game versus Boardman is important to us, but I’d be lying to you if I told you there wasn’t a heightened expectation of having so many people that represented our program there prior watching us on," Parker said. "There’s a lot of people coming in from out of town who are watching us play, maybe since the first time that they’ve played. ... I have a lot of kids that I coached in my previous six years that are coming back that I haven’t seen back since they wore the helmet for me, so to have these guys back watching our kids fight and battle and represent them is, for me, it’s a great feeling. But it’s one that I don’t take lightly, and one that I want our boys to put their best foot forward."
The added spotlight is not only because it will be the 80th game between Fitch and Boardman, but also because the Falcons are amidst celebrating their 100th season and their first in years at Division I.
To honor the occasion, Parker said former alumni will be invited to watch the game from behind the end zone with their families. Additionally, Fitch's pep rally will feature bounce houses, a live falcon and tours of the program's new indoor facility, and Fitch will honor several former players as part of a Hall of Fame ceremony.
As the visitor, Boardman will attempt to spoil a special, celebration-filled night.
"The importance of this week is minimizing our distractions," Spartans head coach D.J. Dota said. "There’s distractions now way more than there used to be with the era of social media. We kind of talk to our guys about that. We got to put the focus on us and what we do and how we do it, and we can’t worry about anything that we can’t control. So just stay focused from a mental standpoint of what our job is from start to finish."
Boardman will arrive in Austintown on Friday having an extra day of rest than the Falcons after last playing on Thursday in Week 8.
That game proved to be the Spartans' most successful to date, with a 48-21 win vs. St. Vincent-St. Mary marking Boardman's first win of the season after seven consecutive losses to begin the year.
"It’s a way better feeling at practice," Dota said of coming off a win. "But at the same time, we can only enjoy that for the weekend, and then we got to move on and go back to work on Monday. But I do feel like our spirits were better this weekend [after] getting that win. I think that’s just the nature of the beast."
In recent years, Fitch has dominated the rivalry.
The Falcons have won each of the last 10 meetings, as well as 13 of the last 14, which has widened their lead in a series that has historically been tightly contested. Before the Falcons' string of victories, Boardman had won 32 matchups, Fitch had won 32 and there had been one tie.
Recent success or even the teams' respective records - the Falcons are 6-1, and the Spartans are 1-7 - may not matter much when the two teams take the field, however.
"Those games always seem to be close, the big rivalry games," Dota said. "… Do I think that sometimes, in rivalry games, you could throw records out? Yeah, I think there’s times that that does happen, but at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to execution on Friday night, discipline on Friday night, the turnover battle on Friday night, yards rushed on Friday."
Fitch, though, still has something to prove, which has been a running theme in 2026.
When 'Team 100', a moniker proudly bestowed upon the team, opened the year, a narrow loss to Hudson on Aug. 21 soured its start to the season. And even nearly three months later, that 24-19 defeat still lingers.
"I think they took [the Team 100 label] from the beginning as a group that wanted to do something special and represent all the teams before them. It was a badge of honor that they wore," Parker said. "Unfortunately, that first week left a really bad taste in our mouth, and it’s honestly one that we haven’t fully got rid of. And I think that has motivated us every week, and it has made Team 100 who they are."
Friday's game will not only be about Team 100, though; it will be about all the teams that preceded it in Austintown and in Boardman.
"When you play this game, you’re representing every team, every person that ever wore the helmet prior to you," Parker said. "This is a game with geological boundaries. This is a game where your buddies and friends and people you grew up with, and now guys who have played 50, 60, 70 years ago. They have people who live and work in Boardman or have moved to Austintown and such. It’s one of those hometown rivalries.
"Of course, our alumni and our supporters want to see us win every game of the season, whether that’s against teams from PA or any of that. But this one is one that's talked about in local bars and local restaurants and at the malls and at the festivals. It’s one of those games that has an Ohio State-Michigan feel. It just means so much to both communities. There’s a lot of crossover in a lot of parts of our lives. You want those bragging rights."