OG’s Football History Part Four: THE RYE – HARRISON RIVALRY THROUGH THE YEARS – (‘29-‘13)
Rye's OG (Old Garnet) is giving all of us a history lesson on Rye football: THE RYE – HARRISON RIVALRY THROUGH THE YEARS – (‘29-‘13). Today is part four of six.
FRIEDGEN TO FREIDGEN & TROILO TO TROILO – (‘62-‘82)
Throughout the ‘60s and most of the ‘70s, the teams frequently played even – with an unusual pattern of alternating road victories with home losses. Epic Rye/Harrison battles matched the best Westchester football coaching minds of Harrison’s Ralph Friedgen, Sr. and Art Troilo, Sr. against Rye’s Ben Bedini and John Nugent. In what has become a familiar Harrison pattern, Ralph Friedgen, Jr. played quarterback for his father during the ‘62-‘64 seasons and went into coaching. Friedgen, Jr became this “Old Garnet’s” college roommate at the University of Maryland where Rye’s Coach John Nugent’s brother was head coach and recruited Freidgen.
Two classic games occurred in ‘70 & ‘71. Rye squeaked out a 3-0 win on a late, 29-yard field goal by place-kicker Bob Marx on his only attempt of the season. The following year the Huskies trapped Rye QB Mark Bockeloh for a safety and a 2-0 shutout win.
By ‘74 the series was deadlocked again at 20-20-3, but HHS reeled off 8 straight surging into series control which hasn’t been relinquished since. Repeating the Friedgen tandem, during the ’76-’77 seasons Art Troilo, Jr., Harrison’s current head coach, excelled at tailback and established all-time Husky records lasting for 25 years under his coach, father, and ‘50’s Syracuse University gridiron star during the Jim Brown Era, Art Troilo, Sr.
