The friendly exchange came at the very end of the 100th meeting of two of the oldest Catholic high school football rivals in the country. Jude Boyle, a member of the Gonzaga College High School class of 1992, walked over to the end zone and shook the hand of the winning head coach of rival St. John’s College High School, Pat Ward, after St. John’s had defeated Gonzaga in a hard-fought game, 20-17, on Nov. 5.
“One of my proudest moments is playing St. John’s,” Boyle said, noting he worked so hard to stop Pat Ward, then a junior playing for the Cadets and now in his first full season as head coach at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School. “It’s one you never forget,” said Boyle.
The Catholic high school rivalry, played annually on the last weekend of the regular season, is thought to be one of the oldest in the country – certainly the oldest in the nation’s capital. With the victory over the Eagles, Ward and the Cadets finished the regular season undefeated (9-0). Ward said he remembered his own game against Boyle, as well as many of the St. John’s/Gonzaga matchups during his school days and over two decades of assistant coaching.
Describing the annual competition as “part of the fabric of Washington,” St. John’s coach added, “For me there’s a reverence to the rivalry – there are great kids on both sides of the ball, there are great coaches on both sides of the ball.”
That night’s historic game which also coincided with Gonzaga’s own 200th anniversary year was definitely “bigger than when we played, (and) more festive,” Boyle said.
However, all the tradition, all the interconnectedness, and all the memories hung like Halloween spirits over the chilly air of the early November evening. “My grandfather graduated from Gonzaga in 1925,” Boyle said. While Ward quickly countered, “And my grandfather graduated from St. John’s in 1937 – it’s generational.”
“We grew up with the rivalry,” Boyle agreed. “As a young boy, this is what you aspired to, we knew and followed Gonzaga football” before ever watching any professional football team from Washington.
The game lived up to emotions as both teams battled throughout all four quarters, including a tied score and three lead changes. Despite a missed extra point by the Cadets in the fourth quarter, St. John's scored three touchdowns – one each in the first, third and fourth quarters – to pull away from Gonzaga.
The Cadets, led by quarterback Wyatt Hagan and senior captain and wide receiver Josh Gary, had 10:44 left on the game clock and a 20-10 lead. But the Purple Eagles, who scored a touchdown to start the second quarter and a field goal in the third, were able to find the end zone again with 8:45 left on the game clock, with Gonzaga wide receiver Brendan Lee scoring on a 65-yard touchdown.
Ultimately Gonzaga never touched the ball again as the Cadets controlled the action with some crucial first downs melting the clock to the final whistle and final score of 20-17.
With the rise of social media, current players may follow professional and college athletes more closely today – but the players still know and claim the oldest rivalry in Washington, D.C., as theirs. “This game is always bigger than the sport itself,” said St. John’s Adrian Littleton, who is a defensive lineman and tight end for the Cadets. “Everybody knows each other, everybody knows it’s like two different cultures battling for the city.”
Littleton praised his team’s fans, noting, “We know everyone is going to come out to support us. The student section gives us life, gives us energy to go the extra mile. The student section is a big part of our success."
Every rivalry comes with bragging rights, but administrators at both schools recognized this one as an opportunity for students to see the game as bigger than themselves.
“For the St. John’s community – we view this game through the eyes of St. Pope John Paul II,” said Jeffrey Mancabelli, president of St. John’s. He noted that Pope John Paul II “looked upon sports as bigger than an athletic contest. During the October 2000 Jubilee of Sports, the pope said, ‘Sports give us a sense of brotherhood, generosity, and respect for one’s body – sports are held to build a civil society where antagonism is replaced by healthy competition.’”
David Dugan, the director of development for Gonzaga and a graduate of the class of 1998, also tied the St. John’s and Gonzaga game to faith. “It is part of the Catholic mission of both institutions – the game is the main connection of these two schools,” he said. Dugan also played football while at Gonzaga, along with his brothers and earlier his dad – and they all remember the games against St. John’s. “It’s about tradition, it’s about the history of Washington, and both schools’ involvement in the city as well as all the young sons and daughters of the city,” he said.
More than 51 years ago, Knute Knutson, a member of the football team and the class of 1970, arrived at Gonzaga prior to receiving any sacraments in the Church. “I was blessed to come here,” explained Knutson, who travelled from Arizona to be at the rivalry game. Members of the classes of 1970 and 1971 were being honored for their 50th reunion with a special reception in the library where the game was live-streamed. Knutson said Gonzaga will always hold a special place in his heart for the friendships he made and because in his junior year, “I was baptized here. It was a gradual thing, but this faith is what I wanted to be a part of,” Knutson said.
As for the rivalry game, Knutson, who is now 69, said that “all the games were important, but the one against St. John’s was always elevated.” Today he said that he can’t relate to the young guys on the field, but “I know they know the heritage of Gonzaga – so they have to know it’s special.”
For Gonzaga freshman Henoch Ndjiki-Nya, watching his first rivalry game as a student was already special. “It’s just a great atmosphere to be here. This is a great school – both of these are great schools, both are great football teams,” Ndjiki-Nya said. “And being able to see what’s been passed down for generations is kind of amazing.”
Alumnus of the class of 1972 and former St. John’s teacher Stephen Grant explained the rivalry as simply friendship. When it came time for his middle school class from Blessed Sacrament School to choose high schools, about half the boys went to Gonzaga and half chose St. John’s. The students and the players of both schools are all friends, he said. “They are going to remember these games for the rest of their lives,” Grant added.
During halftime, the students who had been on separate sides of the sidelines greeted one another with waves and high-fives. They gathered in small groups recognizing one another from their neighborhoods and their middle schools. “I think it’s very exciting,” said McKenzie Ennis, a junior at St. John’s. “It shows the passion we have for our schools, our school spirit and shows how much a community we are.”
Sometimes that passion spills over into local pranks, including the year some enterprising Gonzaga students worked for a year for special permission from the Department of the Interior to perform a science experiment. Their “experiment” resulted in changing the lights at the Washington Monument to shine purple, turning the landmark their school color. This year, the Gonzaga students hung a banner reading “God is purple” over the brick entrance sign to St. John’s. And a St. John’s alumnus arranged for a large video screen to be parked on a truck outside of Gonzaga’s campus on Friday afternoon. As the students were dismissed from school that day, a two-minute St. John’s football hype video was broadcast on a loop from the screen.
Traditions are made on the field as well, noted assistant coach and member of the St. John’s class of 2008, Antwon Bailey. “We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us,” said Bailey, who was a standout player at Syracuse University and now also teaches math at St. John’s. He recalled his junior year when St. John’s needed the regular season win against their rivals to make it into the conference playoffs.
“For these kids, tradition is very important, it’s a huge deal for both schools,” said Stan Lowe, a member of the Gonzaga Fathers Club. “It proves the value of Catholic education in Washington, D.C. These guys will know each other for the rest of these lives.”
Another of member of that club, Nick Swezey, is a 1988 alumnus of Gonzaga. “We certainly remember the rivalry game and the camaraderie, the friendships and certainly the education,” Swezey added. Swezey, who is reconnecting with other classmates who are still involved in the school, said his son is currently a sophomore and hopes his younger son will be part of Gonzaga’s class of 2034.
Sporting a wooly winter beanie with a purple G on it and a white puffy vest with SJC on it, Frederique Irwin said she is a mom in a house divided – one child is a sophomore at Gonzaga, and one is a freshman at St. John’s. Having missed last year’s season due to COVID-19, Irwin said she was so happy to see the students out having such a great time. “It’s really sweet to see the students all rooting together for their own favorite teams.”
The principal of St. John’s agreed, noting that the anniversary game was another step forward to getting back to normal after the many restrictions from the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. When Christopher Themistos first arrived at St. John’s in late 2001, he did not understand the lore, memories and tradition surrounding the Gonzaga game. Then he saw it firsthand. “I’ve never been to a high school football game like it,” he said.
The administrator said this year’s game is especially poignant as it is “one more occasion not just to celebrate the rivalry, but to celebrate the tradition – a tradition we took for granted when every year it should happen, but it didn’t last year.”
The rivalry is so heated that some school officials at St. John’s are taking issue with including the statistics from last year’s unusual COVID season when the two teams actually met in the spring of 2021. The 99th meeting of the two teams took place at the St. James Academy in Springfield, Virginia on April 15, 2021 with Gonzaga defeating St. John’s, 13-9, and their squad completing an undefeated 5-0 spring season. With the Nov. 5 victory for the Cadets, the all-time record now stands at 48-47-5 in Gonzaga’s favor.
After the game, Coach Ward acknowledged the close win, “It’s always good to win, especially when your team has room for improvement – and ours does.” But the two schools from the storied rivalry were already destined to meet again – even before one single play on the Eye Street field that night. Based on their previous records, it will be Gonzaga’s turn to board the bus and travel up the road to St. John’s campus and play again in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference playoffs, when they begin on Nov. 13. “Gonzaga is such a worthy opponent,” Coach Ward said, “That’s how it’s always going to be – everyone’s going to play their hearts out.”
