If there’s anybody that knows the Lena-Winslow and Stockton football rivalry, it’s Jesse Snyder.

He played in it for Lena-Winslow and has coached in it from both sides of the field, first as a head coach at Stockton and now as an assistant for Le-Win as offensive and defensive line coach.

Snyder, a former assistant and head coach at Princeton, will be right in the thick of things again for Saturday’s Class 1A semifinals at Stockton.

“I’ve got soft spot in my heart for Stockton being there three years. There’s a lot of good people in that community. I always wish them the absolute best when we’re not playing them,” he said.

“Lena is my alma mater, too, so it’s pretty awesome to teach and coach where I came from.”

Snyder, a 2003 graduate of Le-Win, believes the rivalry between the two schools located just 11 miles apart is a little bigger now than when he played for the Panthers.

“When I was in school, my class had never beaten EPC (Eastland-Pearl City) since the sixth grade. In our mind, it was we need to beat this team we had never beaten before. Super highly competitive at the time,” he said.

While Le-Win beat the rival Blackhawks 44-14 in the second round of the playoffs last year on their way to a state runner-up finish, Stockton (12-0) returned the favor by routing the Panthers 38-10 in Week 2 this season to take over the No. 1 ranking in 1A.

Saturday’s game has been one the Panthers especially have been waiting to play.

“I’ll be honest. I think ever since week 2, as long as we had the opportunity to get here, the kids have had this one on the calendar,” Snyder said. “It’s something they’re looking forward to. I know it’s something the coaches have been looking forward to. I know it’s only Wednesday but it’s been a pretty intense and fun prep for this game. It’s pretty exciting.”

Both schools have rich playoff tradition. Stockton makes its 35th appearance with an overall 48-32 record, including two first-place finishes and four seconds. Le-Win makes its 31st playoff appearance with a 63-24 postseason record, six state championships and two runner-up finishes.

Le-Win has won the last three of the five playoff meetings between the schools with Stockton taking the first two. The neighboring powerhouses have never met as deep in the playoffs as the semifinals before. The teams have split a pair of quarterfinal matchups.

Snyder, who had been a Tiger assistant coach coming right out of college in 2008, took over a stagnant Princeton program in 2012 that had eight straight losing seasons. Success didn’t come over night as Snyder endured two straight 0-9 campaigns and a 3-6 in his third year. But Snyder led the Tigers to a breakout 2015 campaign with the program’s first ever 9-0 regular season record on the way to a 3A quarterfinal appearance and 11-1 finish.

He returned to his home area as head coach at Stockton in 2017, leading the Blackhawks to three straight playoff appearances, including two second-round berths with an overall 22-10 record.

“The school was super supportive of me and we had some phenomenal kids,” Snyder said. “At that time, I was walking into the program that was pretty much established by coach (Chris) Thornton before me. It could have been pretty easy for kids to not buy into things but they really did and really worked hard. The kids from that town care deeply about football and being successful on the football field.”

Snyder came back to Princeton as assistant under Ryan Pearson, sidelined in the fall of 2020 by COVID but coaching the 2021 spring season. He had considered to go into administration, but he said COVID “made me realize I definitely don’t want to stop coaching when we didn’t have football for awhile.”

He returned to Princeton with every intention of staying there, but life took his family back north. He and his wife, Holly, are the parents of three young boys, Jackson (sixth grade), Stone (3) and Ace (23 months). Holly is the daughter of Hall of Fame wrestling coach Pete Alber of Dakota.

“Princeton was a really really hard place to leave. To be able to do the things we did there is pretty special,” he said. “I think Ryan (Pearson) has done a phenomenal job of continuing that culture, building that program today where it’s continually successful. I think there’s a large group of kids that went through some pretty (tough) years but they’ve really been able to build the foundation for success and it’s continued today.”

At Le-Win, Snyder has been reunited with the coach he played for, Ric Arand, who has never had a losing season in 29 years, winning nearly 80% of his games since taking over in 1997 with six state championships.

“It’s an honor to have that opportunity to be able to coach and with the guy you have so much respect for. It’s pretty amazing,” Snyder said. “His resume is not by happenstance. You can tell from someone who played for him and where he’s at now how much passion he puts into the game. His willingness to change when things need to be changed. Or make adjustments to what we’re doing in the weight room or looking at different avenues how to develop speed.

“He is so willing to do what is best for our program and our athletes. So it’s something pretty amazing to see. I feel pretty fortunate to coach with him and for him.”