As per annual tradition, Rye and Harrison varsity football will clash on Saturday, October 17, in the 99th rendition of ‘The Game’. This year, the scene shifts back to Nugent Stadium for a 1:30pm start time. Doors to the stadium open at noon.
For other pregame coverage, be sure to check out our recent feature on the history of Rye Football and our interview with head coach Dino Garr, a Rye Lifer.
For the game preview, we turn to the Steve “The OG” Feeney, the voice of Garnet football:
SATURDAY, 10/17/26 – HARRISON HUSKIES @ RYE’S NUGENT STADIUM – 1:30PM
HUSKIES STILL GROWLING AFTER RYE’S 2025 49-28 CONVINCING VICTORY
Yes folks, it’s the Super Bowl of NYSPHSAA (New York State Public High School Athletic Association) Section One Football Games, having first been played in the 1920’s, and reconvening for the 99th time in 2026. Since the 2003 doubleheader, the Garnets have prevailed in twenty-three (23) of the twenty-six (26) battles, vaulting Rye’s Garnets ahead in the rivalry count by a margin of 51-44-3 (.537). The Maroon and White dominated the series in the ‘70s and ‘90s, stashing a significant cushion of rivalry victories in the Huskies doghouse. It took the Garnet and Black forty-three (43) years to finally even the tally and then gain the upper paw for the first time since 1974.
It goes without question that this contest is the highlight Section One Class A Football Rivalry Game, which for this season, is properly placed in its rightful schedule position near to being the final regular season game, preceding the onset of the post-season playoffs. A few years ago, the student enrollment statistics for Rye bumped the Garnets back into Section One’s Class A, rejoining the Huskies and thereby facilitating the more traditional scheduling model.
Do you believe in analytics or emotion? Comparative scores or total points scored? Record against common opponents? Throw away the history books, it’s the Garnets making it three-in-a-row over the Huskies, and fifteen of the last seventeen, by a razor thin 21-17 margin.
Hey boys, it’s time to strap on the old leather helmets and cinch up the gnawed chin straps – you are not just representing yourselves, your classmates, and your schools, but generations of men and women in your communities who have come before you. Your predecessors had no facemasks in those bygone days, and no “Injury Time-Outs”.
Expect the usual standing room only crowd of over 5,000 fans for Saturday’s backyard bash. If you want prime seats, arrive early. If you want a parking space within a reasonable walking distance of Nugent Stadium, arrive a day early. As the clock ticks downward toward 00:00, and the whistle blows on Westchester’s finest football rivalry game, two evenly matched Section One titans shake hands after doing battle on the Nugent gridiron. Recall that in 1955 and 1960, the Huskies punctured Rye’s two thirty-three (33) game winning streaks with upsets that sent the Bedini Boys home to Rye in silent buses.
HUSKIES PLOW HUSKIES MEOW HUSKIES FOUL HUSKIES HOWL
GARNETS PROWL GARNETS GROWL GARNETS WOW GARNETS NOW
GARNETS 21 – HUSKIES 17
