Eastern View wins first Cannonball Classic

Staff report
Published: August 22, 2008

Steven Reynolds and Taryn Bierhuizen walked into Cyclone Stadium hand in hand Friday night. Once they got to the bleachers, though, they said their goodbyes.

Reynolds, a Culpeper County High School senior in a gold Blue Devils T-shirt, walked to the CCHS side. Bierhuizen, a junior at Eastern View, sat with her schoolmates all decked out in Columbia blue.

“I always say my school is prettier,” Bierhuizen said with a laugh. “All he has on me is the cross-country team.”

Added Reynolds: “Yeah, with the cross-country team, we got them. That and their floors are vomit-inducing.”

That was the way it went Friday night as Culpeper embarked on a mostly civil war. The Blue Devils and Cyclones faced off in football for the first time, and though the game didn’t count in any standings, fans and students from both schools came wearing either Culpeper’s gold and navy or the light blue and black of Eastern View.

A few even wore both. Vicky Rossi hand sewed a shirt that was Eastern View blue on the front and Culpeper blue on the back. The reason: her son Lee Rossi was suited up for the Cyclones, but CCHS quarterback Nolon Jenkins was the longtime boyfriend of her daughter Shelly Rossi, an EVHS senior.

“My daughter’s been dating a boy from the Blue Devils for two years, so I have to support them both today,” Rossi said. “I’m not a seamstress, but it works for today. Today I’ll split the difference, but after this, I’m an Eastern View fan.”

As an estimated 5,000 fans poured into the stadium, it was a festive atmosphere without a lot of tension. Students from each school greeted each other with hugs and high fives. As the Blue Devils took the field for the first time they received an ovation from the Eastern View cheerleaders. Even as the Cyclones took control on the field, the stadium stayed friendly.

“I don’t see it as any rivalry,” CCHS boys basketball coach James Thompson said on the Blue Devils sideline. “It’s friends playing friends. It’ll be four or five years before it’s a rivalry.”

Maybe so, but Friday night it had the feel of a big-time game. On top of the huge crowd there were fireworks displays and a trophy presentation for the Cyclones, the winners of the inaugural Cannonball Classic.

Not everything went off without a hitch. There were problems with the plumbing and the public address system. But in the end, most fans went home happy. Particularly if they were cheering for the Cyclones.

The score? EVHS 41, CCHS 7.

Shane Mettlen can be reached at 825-0771, ext. 127 or