Perhaps it is because neither has anything to prove.

When Joliet Catholic Academy and Providence Catholic collide on the football field, kids and coaches on both sidelines consider it a must-win. But the respect most programs must earn already is in place in this rivalry, and both sides know it.

Joliet Catholic has won 13 state football titles and has been to 17 championship games. Providence owns nine titles in 12 trips to championship game – hopefully to make it 10 titles in 13 trips in Saturday’s Class 7A title game. If either ever misses the playoffs, it’s a sign of the Apocalypse.

For two programs in one state to have that sort of success is not unusual. For those schools to be neighbors, about eight miles apart, however, helps create the bond that exists between them.

Players past and present, and die-hard fans in both camps, are unanimous in their feelings. While you might not be particularly fond of the guy lined up across from you on game night, your respect for him never wavers.

JCA graduate Mike Ivlow, a freshman running back at Saint Xavier University, loved his coming-out party in the 2013 season opener at Joliet Memorial Stadium. He rushed for 310 yards in 17 carries and scored touchdowns on runs of 80, 59, 67 and 32 yards as JCA beat Providence, 42-35. That performance jump-started an all-state caliber season.

“When I went 80 yards on the first play against Providence, I came off the field and saw coach (Dan) Sharp smiling,” Ivlow said. “I said right then that all the hard work paid off.”

Ivlow transferred from Minooka after his sophomore season.

“My first varsity start as a sophomore was against Providence and we lost, 7-0,” he said. “That Providence team was really good. Then my junior year, my first game at JCA, we lost the ESPN game [40-34] to them, which was disappointing.

“Senior year was my favorite high school game of all time. The way that game builds up, all the hype, it is the ‘Holy War.’ All those questions on Facebook and Twitter. It’s like a college game or a state title game in the season opener. Everyone who plays gets their name out there.”

Ivlow said he has gotten to know several Providence alumni at Saint Xavier.

“They all say their biggest rival is Joliet Catholic,” he said. “There’s always the argument which conference is better, the East Suburban Catholic or Catholic Blue. That’s another little battle.

“Our right guard, Frank Markasovic, is from Providence. He’s a captain and just a tremendous kid.”

Saint Xavier coach Mike Feminis, whose Cougars won the 2011 NAIA national championship, attends the JCA-Providence game whenever possible.

“That has to be one of the best rivalries in the state,” said Feminis, a former NAIA All-America linebacker and assistant coach at University of St. Francis in Joliet. “Within a few miles of each other, you have two of the best private school programs in the state. It’s a credit to the coaches [Sharp at JCA, Mark Coglianese at Providence] and to coach Seff [Providence legend Matt Senffner] that they play each other. The game is a treat for everyone.

“Maybe the two best all-around players we have had came from those programs, Mike Maher [Providence] and Billy McKeon [JCA]. Every year there are a minimum of a couple guys and as many as eight or nine in that game that we want in our program.”

PLAYOFF MEETINGS

With this season’s 21-10 victory, Providence leads the series 8-3. The first meeting was in the 1989 playoffs, when future Notre Dame and Minnesota Vikings linebacker Pete Bercich tried to play basically on one leg for the Celtics. He went as long as he could. JCA prevailed, 15-0, with a sophomore running back named Mike Alstott – the future Purdue and Tampa Bay Buccaneers standout – making his varsity debut.

The teams also met in playoff games in 2002 and 2008. The Celtics won the 2002 meeting, 41-0, after they had beaten JCA, 10-2, during that regular season; and Providence won, 24-21, in overtime in 2008. JCA had collected three straight state titles entering the 2002 season and tacked on two more in 2003 and 2004.

“They came out and dominated us,” said JCA’s 2002 quarterback, Ryan Quigley, who went on to pitch in professional baseball. “It humbles you a little bit. We hung our heads after that one. At least it was good to see them go on and win state that year.

“The first time we played them, in the regular season, it was on an ESPN station. There were about 10,000 people at the stadium. I’ll never forget that one.”

Quigley got his revenge for the two losses, however. He pitched the regional final the following spring and beat Providence, which was one of the top teams in the state and one of the best in the Celtics’ rich baseball history.

“We got ‘em back in baseball,” Quigley said. “I think they had seven or eight D-I players on that team.”

That’s another aspect of the JCA-Providence rivalry. As much as football matters, the rivalry also burns in other sports, with baseball heading the list.

“It’s a great rivalry,” Quigley said. “In football or baseball, watch any of the area Catholic schools and there’s a special rivalry. You hate each other in high school. Then you meet guys later who were from Providence, or Mount Carmel, and you have a special connection.”

Quigley attended Saint Xavier with Providence’s 2002 quarterback, Nick Stanton. His roommate there was Pete Pignatiello, a former Providence athlete and brother of ex-Celtics pitcher Carmen Pignatiello, who had a cup of coffee with the Cubs.

“Those guys were good people off the field,” Quigley said. “I really have an appreciation for the Catholic school upbringing and the work ethic at both JCA and Providence.”

Josh Mander, a JCA linebacker when the 2008 team lost the overtime playoff game to Providence, said he got to know the enemy on a different level.

“I roomed freshman year at St. Francis with Pat Wright, before he transferred to Illinois State,” he said. “He kicked the field goal in overtime that ended my hopes for a second state title. He was a good guy. So was [future Northwestern offensive lineman] Pat Ward.”

ALL ABOUT RESPECT

Despite JCA’s loss to Providence in this season’s opener, Hilltoppers running back Nick Borgra said he would not trade the experience.

“The Providence game is really awesome,” he said. “All summer, you think Providence. You know you’re going to have your biggest crowd, at least until the playoffs.

“There’s big-time respect between the teams. They’ll hit you and knock you down, and then they help you up. They’re special guys, like we have.”

“It’s the most epic game we play until the playoffs,” JCA linebacker Michael Gruben said. “It’s for bragging rights. They’re a phenomenal team, especially this year.”

The feeling is mutual.

“They’re a great team from a competitive conference,” Providence outside linebacker Emmet Trost said of JCA. “Playing them sets the tone for the season. There’s a lot of tension in that game, but we have a mutual respect.”

“Coming off last year’s loss to them, beating JCA this year was on our checklist,” said Providence senior quarterback Justin Hunniford, who was overshadowed by Ivlow but enjoyed a record-setting debut as a varsity starter in the 42-35 loss in 2013.

Joe Rodeghero has seen the success of the two schools up close and personal. He coached in the baseball and football programs at both schools, was head baseball coach at both, and now is a high school football analyst on WJOL Radio in Joliet. His 1994 JCA baseball team won the Class AA state championship, and his 1990 team was the runner-up.

“The proximity of the schools has fueled the rivalry,” Rodeghero said. “The thing I noticed through the years is that there is never animosity between the programs in football or baseball.

“There are lots of great football and baseball schools in the Joliet area. I always felt as a coach that I wanted to help these kids go beyond athletics, and that’s how all the coaches are. The schools don’t give scholarships. I felt I had to try to help parents who have to come up with $40,000 for four years of high school.”

Rodeghero said when he talks with Sharp or Coglianese, he recognizes the admiration both have for the other’s program.

“I admire all the coaches at both schools because they keep their traditions going,” he said. “The character those coaches build in their players is the most important thing. There are lots of good coaches in this area, but there’s a little more pressure at JCA and Providence because of the reputations those schools have.”

Sharp said hiring Joliet weightlifting guru Francis Ruettiger, a Providence graduate, in 1997 as the Hilltoppers’ strength coach “was the best thing that ever happened to our program.”

SEE YOU AT RUDY’S

JCA players make Rudy’s Gym their second home, and Providence players continue to work out there as well. For three decades, ending a couple of years ago, Rudy’s Gym operated the high school football powerlifting championships in late July that served as the unofficial kickoff to football season in the Joliet area.

“The reason I started the meet was to get guys from both schools motivated for the football season,” Ruettiger said. “Kids from the two schools work together at the gym and become friends.”

When JCA defensive tackle Matt Mammosser lost his battle with cancer in May 2012, Providence and its football players responded.

“How great Providence was at that difficult time,” Ruettiger said. “That showed right there how great this rivalry is, how great these schools are.”

Ruettiger recently retired from the Joliet Police Department.

“When I started there, we had only three guys who went to Providence. There were maybe 50 guys who went to Joliet Catholic, and there’s more than that now,” he said. “So when I first got on, I got razzed a lot.”

Jim Boucher is a JCA super fan. He said Casey Colbert, a Providence quarterback from 2002 through 2004, “was hanging out with us in the parking lot before the game this year. We were doing a lot of teasing back and forth.”

Colbert’s dad, Rick, was former major league pitcher Bill Gullickson’s catcher at Joliet Catholic and played and managed himself in minor league ball.

“There’s a lot of ties between the two schools,” Boucher said. “Look how many guys on both teams go to Rudy’s. That’s makes the game that much more interesting. Look at how many kids and coaches there are in that game that as a football fan, you just want to keep following their careers.”

JCA’s run of success in the state playoffs began when the Hilltoppers won four straight titles from 1975 to 1978 under their legend, Gordie Gillespie. Senffner’s Providence teams won their first in 1987 and tacked on eight more, the last in 2004.

“This all started with the reputation Gordie had, what he had done, and then what Matt Senffner did at Providence,” Sharp said. “Our schools hadn’t been facing each other, but it became a natural rivalry.

“You have coaches from JCA and Providence who were together at St. Francis. [Providence offensive coordinator] Luke Senffner and [JCA defensive coordinator] Jake Jaworski were close in college at Illinois. You have two great teams and friendships between the staffs that in many cases were there even before we started playing each other.”

“We know what they’ve done and they know what we’ve done,” Coglianese said. “It’s the traditions.”

The teams will open the 2015 season at Providence. As Celtics athletic director Doug Ternik said, “There’s a huge advantage for each of us to play the other. Here you have two programs committed to doing something great for this area, and yet with the conferences we’re in, it is important to win because we both have to get to five wins.”

Yes, every Providence-JCA game is a must-win. Equally evident, the Holy War is a Respect Bowl.