Ponderosa, Rivalries and Fight Songs
Contributed by Scott Seman
During the ’60s and early ‘70s, if you grew up in West Milton or Englewood, during the fall, you know about the Northmont – Milton Union high school football rivalry. The SWBL Title was usually settled by the winner of this game. This rivalry was so much like the Ohio State – Michigan rivalry that players were like present day rock-stars, bragging rights of two towns were established for the year, and fans would wait in lines for hours, standing three and four deep around the field to watch the game.
The two coaches, Ned Booher for the Thunderbolts and Wat Farrar of the Bulldogs, were the local Woody and Bo equivalent, and these two towns and the students in the schools lived this rivalry every day. Men from both of these bedroom community towns worked in the same factories, and this rivalry was generational in nature!
During the mid-seventies, Northmont along with the other Triple AAA schools, pulled out of the SWBL, and the last game these teams played was a lopsided Milton loss to the T-Bolts. It almost seemed like Northmont was on a trajectory up the high school growth ladder and the Bulldogs? Well, it seemed their glory days may have been in the rearview mirror. Then along came the ’75 Bulldogs, who carved out a Championship season. Then, in ’77, the sophomores that played on that ’75 team started a winning streak that began to bring back memories of the ’69 undefeated season.
So, you may be wondering, what does Ponderosa and Fight Songs have to do with this rivalry that had ended in 1974? Well, it all began with a group of Milton players on the ’77 Team that loaded up into a couple of cars after the Friday High School pep assembly and drove to Englewood to eat a steak at Ponderosa. The second Friday of the season, this band of Bulldog players rolled into Ponderosa, and it turned out the entire Northmont Football Team was eating their Team dinner at the restaurant. Since their school was closer, they all had finished by the time the Milton boys started rolling in the door. After dinner, the Northmont Team stood as one and sang the Northmont Fight Song. Then they proceeded out the door. Well, the Milton boys, not to be outdone in their singing, finished eating and they decided to entertain the Ponderosa faithful with a song of their own, the “Stroh’s Beer” jingle! In case you have forgotten the words, it went like this. “Cars ain’t all they make in Detroit City. They started brewing beer there long ago; and it’s still around today, brewed the same great way, Stroh’s Beer, from the family Stroh. From the old world to the new, great taste comes through to you, Stroh’s Beer, from the family Stroh!” The Milton boys got a great laugh from this and off they went out the door.
Well, fast forward. Week after week, both Milton Union and Northmont kept winning. As superstitions go, when on a winning streak, every routine that you ever did the first week must be repeated, for fear of jinxing the winning streak. So, every week, the Northmont Team ate at Ponderosa and finished about the time the Milton crew arrived at Ponderosa. Every week, they stood and sang the Northmont fight song and, to avoid any type of jinx, the Stroh’s Beer song was repeated by the Bulldog crew. Now remember, this was just a small group of Bulldog players, not everyone was driving down to Ponderosa, but the few that did, had to keep going every week. Until the second to the last week of the season…. something unprecedented happened….
When the Bulldog Boys rolled into the Ponderosa, the Northmont Team all stood up to sing but this time, that Northmont Team of 50+ boys broke into: “Drive, drive on down the Field, Men of the Red and the White; don’t let them through that line, we’re going to win this game tonight, rah, rah, rah, smash through to victory, our praises ring on high, our honor defend we will fight to the end for Milton High.”
Northmont coach Ned Booher himself then came over to us, wished us well and told us to keep the winning streak going. We told them the same, albeit we were stunned to say the least. They had just sung our fight song in Ponderosa to our band of brothers from MU!
When we got to the locker room that evening to get ready for the game, we told Coach Farrar what Ned Booher and the T-Bolt Team had done. Coach just said, “That’s nice” and walked away. Well, we won that night, and so did Northmont, and both teams were on track to end the year 10 & 0.
The Milton Boosters decided that for Week 10 they were going to sponsor the entire Bulldog Team’s dinner at Ponderosa after school the last Friday of the season. I have always wondered if Coach Farrar did not have something to do with this idea, but nevertheless, our Team was all going to Englewood to eat at the same restaurant at the same time as Northmont.
On Thursday we always practiced under the lights. It was a pre-game preparation run-through, and Coach wanted us to get ready on Thursday for what we would see the following night. This Thursday evening, before we went out to practice, Coach had everyone down in the lower locker room and he handed out a xeroxed, handwritten page with the words to Northmont’s Fight Song. And right there, in the Bulldog locker room, 40+ guys from Milton were learning to sing the words and tune of: “Fight on Northmont High, let our Fight Song lead us on! Win for Northmont High, let our echoes fill the air. Thunderbolts on Field and Court, and in the classrooms to, on to win victorious, always loyal and true. Fight On Northmont High, Green and White we’ll follow you!” We sang it over and over, Coach Farrar wanted it perfect.
That Friday after school, Coach Farrar hustled us out of the pep rally and those buses rushed down to Ponderosa as fast as possible because Coach Farrar was not going to have ole Ned Booher one up him! We all rolled out of the buses, got into the restaurant, formed up the Bulldog Football Team Choir, and belted out ‘Fight On Northmont High’ in a manner fit for the stage!
Everyone got a great cheer out of the event. Northmont players were as shocked as our little band of Stroh’s Beer singers had been the week before. Both the T-Bolts and the Bulldogs finished the ’77 seasons, 10 &0, undefeated. In some small way, the old rivalry that transcended generations in both towns was somehow tempered by singing—and by the mutual respect for what both schools and teams were accomplishing that year.