BALTIMORE CITY VS BALTIMORE POLY: "THE GAME" SINCE 1889
The Poly-City football rivalry is the oldest American football rivalry in Maryland and one of the oldest public school rivalries in the U.S. The rivalry began in 1889, when a team from Baltimore City College (City) met a team from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly), and has continued annually. The game is no longer played on Thanksgiving or at Memorial Stadium, but is now located at the home of the Baltimore Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium, at Camden Yards in downtown Baltimore. City College defensive end Malik Hamm had two fumble recoveries and an interception as the Knights won the 129th meeting in 2017 by edging Poly by a final score of 22-18, the school's sixth consecutive victory in the series. Poly now leads the series 62–61–6.
City remained undefeated in the series until 1908. In the 1920s, the rivalry turned so fierce that riots erupted on the streets of downtown Baltimore on the day before "The Game" when opposing parades clashed resulting in the sons of both the Mayor of Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland were arrested in 1928. By the 1930s a "Peace Pact" was sworn annually and signed by student government leaders of both schools before the cameras of the press in the Mayor's Ceremonial Office in City Hall. Several student disturbances at games or on transit buses afterwards in the late-1960s and early-1970s threatened to put an end to the athletic tradition reflecting the tense tenor of the times, but goodwill eventually prevailed again by the quieter 1980s. By the 1950s, it had become a Baltimore tradition that after a morning of church services, parades and rallies, the two Catholic high school football powers of Loyola High School (Loyola Blakefield) and Calvert Hall College would play on Thanksgiving Day morning at 10 a.m., followed at 2 p.m. by City-Poly as the two public school rivals at Memorial Stadium on 33rd Street. That evening's TV news and sports casts led off with the scores and highlights of "The Game" and half-time shows and parades. Next day's The Sun and The News-Post and American had special sections and stories covering all facets of the day before.
Little is known of the first American football game between Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Poly) and Baltimore City College (City) in 1889, except that a JV team from Poly met City, in Clifton Park and City emerged the victor. That began the oldest football rivalry in Maryland. City continued to win against Poly through 1901, however in 1902, for the only time in history of the series no game was played; though, in 1931, an extra game was played to compensate. Between 1903 and 1906, City won the series, but the tide turned in 1907, when the first tie in the series occurred. The next year Poly scored its first victory in the rivalry.
Poly dominated the series in the 1910s. The only year of the decade that City won was 1912, and between 1914 and 1917, Poly shut out City. Poly's streak continued through 1921, completing a nine-year winning streak, which City broke in 1922 with a 27–0 victory.
In 1926, one of the most famous Poly-City games was played. Prior to the game, the eligibility of City's halfback, Mickey Noonen, was challenged. A committee was formed to investigate Noonen's eligibility, but Noonen's father—frustrated with the investigation—struck one of the members of the committee. The result was that Noonen was not only barred from the team, but also expelled from the Baltimore City school system. In spite of Noonen's removal, the two teams met at the Baltimore Stadium with 20,000 fans in attendance. The game remained scoreless well into the fourth quarter. Finally, Poly's Harry Lawrence—who later became a coach at City—kicked a successful field goal from the 30-yard leading to a 3–0 victory over City.
The 1930s ushered in a period of resurgence for the City team. Poly, which had dominated in the previous two decades, only picked up two wins in the 1930s In 1934, Harry Lawrence, who had kicked the winning field goal against City in 1926, became the head coach at his former rival. Lawrence led City to a series of victories over Poly through the 1930s and early 1940s. In 1944, the game, which had been played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, was moved to Thanksgiving Day. The change was the result of a scheduling conflict with the Army – Navy Game The game remained on Thanksgiving Day for nearly 50 years.
Poly won five straight games against City to open the 1950s, and 9 of the decade's 10 games, under legendary coach Bob Lumsden, for whom the school's current football stadium is named. Lumsden finished with an 11–7 record against City when he retired as head coach in 1966. He also coached 9–0 Poly to the unofficial National High School Championship Game at Miami's Orange Bowl in 1962, against the Miami High Stingarees, but Poly lost by a score of 14–6. The team's fortunes changed later in the 1960s, when City was coached by George Young. Young guided his teams to six wins over Poly, and an equal number of state championships.
Poly controlled the series throughout the 1970s, and well into the 1980s. City lost a total of 17 consecutive games to Poly, before winning the 99th meeting between the two programs in 1987. Poly's dominance during this period is the longest winning streak in the series. City also went on to win the historic 100th showdown a year later, before Poly got on another roll, starting with the 101st clash in 1989. Baltimore City's public schools withdrew from the Maryland State Athletic Association, in 1993, and joined the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA). This change meant that the football season would end earlier, forcing Poly and City to move their game from Thanksgiving Day to the first Saturday in November. Poly and City met for the 119th time in November 2007, a contest marred by the outbreak of a large brawl outside M&T Bank Stadium after the final whistle. Poly and City met for the 120th time on November 8, 2008. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Baltimore City College then met for the 121st time on November 7, 2009 with the score of 26–20. Poly and City met for the 122nd time on November 6, 2010.
One of the most memorable City-Poly games occurred on Thanksgiving Day 1965, at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, with some 25,000 fans in attendance. Both teams entered the game undefeated and City beat Poly 52–6, and completed a 10–0 season with the team finishing the season ranked eighth in the nation by a national sports poll. City's 52–6 victory over Poly in that game is the largest margin of victory in the history of the series. Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke was the quarterback and Maryland Delegate Curt Anderson was the captain.
The game is no longer played on Thanksgiving or at Memorial Stadium, but is now located at the home of the Baltimore Ravens, M&T Bank Stadium, at Camden Yards in downtown Baltimore. City College won the 127th meeting in 2015 by routing Poly by a final score of 42–6, the school's fourth consecutive victory in the series.
City vs. Poly: Tradition Time Is Here Again
By Keith Mills, Press Box, 11/8/07
It has been 15 years since City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute played their football game on Thanksgiving Day, and though many fans of both schools lament the end of that tradition, the two have continued the rivalry with gusto.
A game that was first played in 1889 will be played again Saturday at noon at M&T Bank Stadium. Plenty is on the line as the two teams face off for the 118th time.
In 1993, the city’s public schools joined the state athletic association. That forced City and Poly to move their game from Thanksgiving Day to the second Saturday in November so the Black Knights and Engineers could qualify for the state football tournament, which begins on the third weekend of November.
Countless graduates of City and Poly would still rather see the game played on Thanksgiving Day than watch the two teams competing in the state tournament. But the move to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association has proven to be be a solid one.
The 19 member city schools in the MPSSAA have failed to make an impact in soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, golf, tennis and baseball, although they have thrived in basketball, track and field and football. However, only a handful of schools have either won a state title or reached the finals or semifinals.
City and Poly are two schools that have.
Since 1993, Dunbar has won four state titles (1994, '95, ’04 and '07), reached the finals in '97 and the semifinals four other times. Edmondson is the only other city school to win a state title, winning the Class 2A crown last year over McDonough of Charles County.
Under legendary coach Augie Waibel, Poly reached the finals in 1993, the semifinals in 1997 and the quarterfinals in '94 and '98. City, under coach George Petrides, reached the semifinals in '93, '02 and '06 and the region final last year.
Petrides will coach in his 33rd City-Poly game Saturday after playing in three of them in the mid-'60s for coach George Young. Petrides was the center for quarterback Kurt Schmoke as City beat Poly three straight times while emerging as one of the dominant teams of the 1960s. In 1975, he replaced Ron Chartrand as coach and has been running the program at the 174-year-old school ever since.
A year ago, Petrides' Black Knights beat Poly, 44-8, to roll into the state playoffs unbeaten, but City lost to Franklin, 7-6, in the quarterfinals to finish the season 11-1. It was also the first game in this storied rivalry for Roger Wrenn, who spent 32 years at
Patterson High School before taking over as Poly's coach.
It’s called simply, “The Play,” and it is one of the signature moments in a rivalry that celebrated its 100th birthday in 1988. One year earlier on Thanksgiving Day, City's Chris Smith and Jon Williams combined on a play that is still discussed 20 years later.
“It’s definitely one of the great plays I’ve ever seen,” said Petrides, whose City team beat Poly, 34-22, in that memorable game at Memorial Stadium. It was the Black Knights' first win over the Engineers in 18 years.
With City leading 26-22 in the fourth quarter, Smith, the Black Knights’ senior quarterback, took the snap and pitched to Williams, who was quickly cut off by Poly's defense. Williams reversed his field and ran 50 yards back across the field and another 20 behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a desperation pass back to Smith who was standing near the far sideline.
Smith took the pass and raced down the right sideline for an electrifying touchdown. It went down as a 31-yard score, though the actual distance covered on the play was close to 100 yards. It also clinched City's unbeaten season and its first of three straight MSA B Conference championships.
One year later, Schmoke, then Baltimore’s mayor, threw out the first football in the two schools’ celebrated 100th game. City won, 20-7, behind Curtis Miles and Tony Thorne.
A year after that, it was Poly’s Chris Lafferman throwing two deep touchdown passes to Antonio “Buttons” Freeman as Poly beat City, 36-6, on a snow-covered Memorial Stadium field. It marked the 201st career win for Waibel, who passed away in 2001.
Smith, Williams, Lafferman and Freeman are just four of the outstanding players who joined Petrides, Waibel, Young and such coaches as Harry Lawrence and Bob Lumsden in making the series one of the greatest rivalries in the country.
Lumsden is one of area high school football’s true legends. A former player at Poly, he coached the Engineers from 1949 to 1966, when the City-Poly game annually drew upwards of 30,000 fans and was often broadcast on local television.
Lumsden later coached at High Point College in North Carolina, where one of his players was Tubby Smith, who grew up in St. Mary's County and would eventually lead Kentucky to the 1998 NCAA men’s basketball championship.
But in Baltimore, Lumsden was called "Mr. Poly," and along with Lawrence, Young and later Waibel and Petrides, he defined the rivalry by his mere presence on the sidelines.
Both schools have watched a number of their players take their game to the next level.
Freeman played for Waibel at Poly before moving on to Virginia Tech and later the NFL, where he helped the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XXXI. Lafferman went on to Towson University before transferring to Essex Community College to play baseball, while City’s Smith went to Howard University.
A handful of other City and Poly players have joined Freeman in the NFL. Poly’s Greg Schaum went to Michigan State and played with the Cowboys and Patriots.
Mike Pitts of Poly was a ferocious defensive end on one the greatest Engineers teams ever. Pitts and Brian Baker anchored a defense without allowing a touchdown in 1978. Pitts went on to play for Bear Bryant at Alabama, where he was an All-American, and later played 12 years in the NFL with the Falcons, Eagles and Patriots. Baker played for Bobby Ross at Maryland and later coached with Ross at Georgia Tech when the Yellow Jackets won the national championship. He's now the defensive line coach with the St. Louis Rams.
Then there's former Poly quarterback Jack Scarbath, who grew up in Hamilton in northeast Baltimore and became one of the best players in college football. Scarbath eventually became a first team All-American quarterback at Maryland in the early 1950s. In 1983, he was inducted into college football’s Hall of Fame.
City is also well represented in the NFL. Thom Gatewood and John Sykes both played on the same team with Petrides and Schmoke. Gatewood went to Notre Dame and played two years with the New York Giants while Sykes played with the San Diego Chargers. Bob Baldwin (City '62) played with the Baltimore Colts and Ara Person (City '66) with the St. Louis Cardinals. Bryant Johnson graduated from City in 1999, went to Penn State and is now a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals.
