Traditional Bend-Redmond rivalry highlights first week of football

Published 10:01 pm Thursday, March 4, 2021

Matt Craven knows when he is speaking with Bend High alumni from the 1960s or ’70s because they care most about beating their rival.

And they are not talking about beating crosstown rival Summit, or winning the Civil War against Mountain View.

“For the old time Bendites, they always point to Redmond,” said Craven, the Bend High coach who has both played and coached in the football rivalry game for the Lava Bears.

Saturday at 1 p.m. at Redmond High School will mark the first time that the programs have met on the gridiron since September 2017, a 33-0 win for Bend when both teams were part of the Class 5A Intermountain Conference.

After that season, along with Summit and Mountain View, Bend High moved up to Class 6A.

Redmond football coach Seth Womack is no stranger to playing in rivalry games. When he was coaching at Eagle Point High School, Ashland and Crater were two rivalry games he likened to the Bend-Redmond rivalry.

In his second year leading the Panthers — with a shortened, hyper-regional schedule being played over the next six weeks due to COVID-19 — Womack gets to take part in Central Oregon’s oldest rivalry to open the season. But he points out the importance of not buying too much into the hype that a rivalry game can bring.

“At the end of the day it is just another game on our schedule and we have to treat it that way,” said Womack. “It is always bigger to the people outside than us who are playing in it. We are going to prepare this week the best that we can to beat Bend and play a good game.”

Over the last decade, the Bend-Redmond game produced some thrillers, including an overtime shootout in 2012 in which the teams scored a combined 88 points and racked up 900 yards in Redmond’s 46-41 win. In 2014 the Lava Bears converted a two-point conversion to win 21-20, which ultimately kept Redmond out of the playoffs. A year later, Redmond stunned the then top-ranked Lava Bears behind Derek Brown’s 340 rushing yards in a 40-7 route.

However, it would be wrong to think that this is a rivalry of the past. The seeds of the heated rivalry were planted long ago in Redmond senior wide receiver and defensive back Kole Davis.

His father Kris Davis is an assistant coach and played for Redmond High, as did Kole’s grandfather Kurt Davis, who coached at Redmond as well.

“They said that they wanted to play their best against Bend,” said Kole Davis, who last played against Bend High his freshman year. “We just have to keep our head up and leave everything out on the field.”

Making his first start at quarterback for the Panthers is junior Hayden Parrish. He too is excited to take part in Central Oregon’s original high school football rivalry after watching his brother Bunker Parrish quarterback the Panthers against the Lava Bears.

“Now for me to get a chance to play them is really exciting,” Hayden Parrish said. “I got to watch my older brother play and it was always a heated rivalry and high-scoring game. Hopefully we can repeat that.”

Although the neighboring Central Oregon towns like getting after it on the football field, it turns out, players from both schools can become friendly with one another.

When Craven was suited up for the Lava Bears in the early 1990s, the quarterback for Redmond was another member of the Davis clan — Erik Davis, now head coach at Pendleton. Shortly after high school, the once rivals struck up a friendship and Davis even attended Craven’s wedding.

“We decided,” Craven said, “that we actually did like each other.”

Friday games

• Crook County starts its 2021 season on the road against North Marion, a Class 4A quarterfinal team a year ago. North Marion eked out a win last season against the Cowboys, 17-14. (7 p.m.)
• After a playoff appearance in 2019, Madras hosts a Molalla team who has not made the postseason since 2016. (7 p.m.)
• La Pine welcomes Siuslaw, hoping to avenge last season’s 32-0 loss. (7 p.m.)
• In its first season playing a 3A schedule, Sisters hosts Pleasant Hill. (7 p.m.)
• In a matchup of 2019 playoff teams, Culver hosts league opponent Santiam, which beat the Bulldogs 23-14 a season ago. (6 p.m.)
• In six-man football, Gilchrist hosts Triangle Lake, a team the Grizzlies beat by 76 points in 2018 but lost to by 21 in 2019. (7 p.m.)

Saturday games

• Ridgeview will host Putnam, with both teams looking to start the season on the right foot after each finished with two wins in 2019. (3 p.m.)
• Capping off the first week of football will be a Class 6A Special District 6 matchup between Summit and Mountain View. Neither team made the playoffs in 2019, and Summit will try to beat Mountain View for the first time since 2016. (7:15 p.m.)