Deep-seated rivalry between Sycamore, DeKalb fans

DeKALB – For some people, the DeKalb-Sycamore football game at Huskie Stadium is just a friendly community event. For others, it's like a Bears-Packers game on steroids.

"You know how Green Bay and Chicago gets?" said Sycamore fan Todd Weaver. "This blows it out of the water."

Even as fans from both sides shared a table during the pre-game tailgating party – enjoying pork chop sandwiches and listening to music from local rock band Wired – plenty of verbal jabs were thrown between the rivals.

"We told them to take off their shirts," DeKalb resident Kris Frye said, referring to friends in Sycamore black and gold across the table from her. "But they said no."

For the students, only the deepest bonds could cause them to reach over party lines. When DeKalb sophomore Natalie Stark was asked why she was talking to a Sycamore fan, she quickly replied, "Only because she's my cousin."

Neither school has a bigger rival, and the bragging rights earned from this game can reverberate throughout the year into the DeKalb-Sycamore basketball and baseball games later this school year.

That is why several Barbs fans said they had luck on their side going into the game.

With a brand-new $80 million high school and athletic field, students said destiny was in their favor for the biggest game of the regular season.

But for the Spartans, winning 16 of the past 17 games against DeKalb gave them ample confidence going into Huskie Stadium.

"We win every year – simple as that," Sycamore junior Kelsy Kendall said.

Sycamore would end up winning the game 33-21.

Fortunately, the rivalry seemed to extend only to words as both orange and gold T-shirts mingled together before the game.

Some fans found themselves in dilemmas similar to Stark's, with family and friends rooting for the team they wanted to lose.

Others, such as Carla Fagerstrom, had conflicts that ran even deeper.

"It's bad because I went to Sycamore schools," she said, wearing DeKalb orange.

But more than that, the game represents one of the oldest traditions between the two communities.

Sycamore fan John Garman said he's been attending the DeKalb-Sycamore games – and plenty of other Spartan games – for the past 54 years.

"I just love football," he said when asked what brings him back year after year.

For the students, some who have been to just one or two crosstown games before, the history and traditions can be felt just as strongly.

"It makes it more intense," DeKalb sophomore Ilene Moore said. "I mean, it's always intense, but way more tonight."