Here's the 5 best 'Backyard Brawl" games ever played in the Penn vs. Mishawaka rivalry
MISHAWAKA — The Backyard Brawl is back.
After a four-year hiatus, the football rivalry between Penn and Mishawaka will be renewed Friday at Freed Field.
The series was briefly stopped due to Mishawaka moving from the Northern Indiana Conference to the Northern Lakes Conference at the start of the 2020-21 school year. Since both schools already had pre-existing contracts with other schools to play non-conference games, the two weren’t able to find a common date to play again until this year.
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A four-year contract has been signed between the schools, with the 2023 and 2025 games at Penn and 2024 and 2026 at Mishawaka.
A brief overview of the Backyard Brawl
Prior to 2020, the teams had played every year since 1965. The Kingsmen hold a commanding 48-15-1 series lead over the Cavemen, including the postseason.
A 35-game winning streak from 1981-2008 is what allowed Penn to seize control of the rivalry. It’s been more even since then, with the Kingsmen ahead, 8-5, since 2009.
Mishawaka dominated the series at the start. After the first encounter between the two schools ended in a 0-0 tie, the Cavemen rattled off eight-straight wins from 1966-73. Penn finally broke through in 1974, knocking off Mishawaka, 26-12, for its first win in the series.
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The Cavemen led the overall series 10-5-1 before the Kingsmen’s 35-game winning streak.
The teams have had nine postseason encounters. Penn won the first seven before Mishawaka won sectional championship thrillers over the Kingsmen in both 2009 and 2010.
The best of the best
While Penn may hold a comfortable advantage in the series, that doesn’t mean the games have been lopsided. Of the 65 total matchups, 24 have been decided by 10 points or less, with some of the best games in South Bend area history taking place amongst those.
Here are five games that are arguably the best in “Backyard Brawl” history.
5. Sept. 26, 1980: Mishawaka 35, Penn 32
The last win for the Cavemen over the Kingsmen until 2009 proved to be a memorable one.
It wasn’t supposed to be a competitive game going into the contest, with Mishawaka being 5-0 and Penn 1-4 at the time. Yet, the Kingsmen came to play that night, building a 17-7 lead in the second quarter. They eventually went ahead, 24-21, midway through the third quarter before the Cavemen rallied.
Mishawaka quarterback John Coppens gave his team the lead with a 72-yard touchdown pass to Brett Candler. The Cavemen then went ahead, 35-24, on a touchdown run from Coppens following a blocked punt.
The Kingsmen would not go quietly into the night, as backup quarterback Bill Pabst connected with Henry Barrier for a 71-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to three. Penn got the ball back, driving into Mishawaka territory as time expired.
Desperate for a win, Kingsmen coach Chris Geesman called up a trick play, with Pabst pitching the ball to Dennis Hoffman, who threw to wide receiver Derek Frantz. The pass was intercepted by Mishawaka’s Randy Usenick at the 13-yard line, sealing the victory for the Cavemen.
4. Sept. 30, 2005: Penn 41, Mishawaka 35 (OT)
The final four games on this countdown are all overtime contests. This one was the closest Mishawaka had come to snapping the 35-game losing streak to Penn before 2009, as the Cavemen went ahead, 14-0, early on a 46-yard touchdown run from John Carlson and fumble recovery for a score by Jamie Lukaszewski.
Mishawaka led, 21-7, at the end of the first quarter before back-to-back touchdown passes by Penn quarterback Nick Keim to Matt Patillo and Brady Iams, respectively, tied the game. The Cavemen then scored late in the half on a touchdown run from Nick Turrell, but missed the extra point to be up, 27-21, at the break.
Penn took its first lead of the game in the third quarter, with Keim throwing a 44-yard touchdown to Joe Beehler. The Kingsmen pushed the lead to eight, 35-27, on a one-yard rushing score from Keim later in the period.
Mishawaka forced overtime with a touchdown and two-point conversion in the fourth, as Brandon White threw a touchdown pass to Josh Fulton, then the two-point pass to Randy Schuster.
In overtime, the Cavemen had the ball first, missing a 32-yard field goal attempt to give Penn a chance to win it. On its first play of OT, Keim connected with Iams for a 10-yard touchdown, giving the Kingsmen its 28th-straight win over Mishawaka and 130 consecutive NIC wins at the time.
3. Sept. 29, 1978: Penn 21, Mishawaka 20 (OT)
It took nearly a decade for the first truly classic game between the Cavemen and Kingsmen. While they had played a handful of close games across the first 13 encounters, this was the first one to truly have late-game drama.
Both teams came into the game ranked in the top 10, with a 5-0 Penn team ranked fourth and a 4-1 Mishawaka squad in the No. 9 spot of the polls. The Cavemen controlled the game early, as they marched down for a first-quarter touchdown. Quarterback Bryan Anderson connected with Dave Wayne for a 12-yard score. The extra point attempt was blocked, putting Mishawaka ahead, 6-0.
Penn then took the lead in the second quarter on a 14-yard touchdown run from Mark Ward. The Kingsmen went ahead, 7-6, after a successful PAT from Pat Eakins.
It would remain that score until late in the game. After the Mishawaka defense stopped Penn on the goal line, the Cavemen’s John Roggeman busted a 97-yard touchdown run. The ensuing two-point attempt was successful, putting the home team ahead, 14-7, with 3:25 left in the game.
Penn kept its composure after the big play, driving 64 yards downfield. It would force overtime when quarterback Jeff Tallman threw a touchdown pass to Lon Kocsis with 40 seconds remaining. Eakins’ extra point then sent the game to an extra session.
After Tallman connected with Kocsis again in overtime to put Penn ahead 21-14, Mishawaka took possession. On a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Roggeman plunged in to cut the deficit to one. The Cavemen elected to go for the win, trying a two-point conversion attempt. Anderson’s ensuing pass fell just inches away from a diving Mishawaka receiver, ending the game and keeping Penn undefeated.
“That was a great football game between two good teams,” said Geesman in the South Bend Tribune article on the game. “It’s too bad somebody had to lose. If we got beat, I hope we act like Mishawaka did. They are a classy team.”
2. Nov. 5, 2010: Mishawaka 14, Penn 7 (OT) in Class 5A, Sectional 2 championship game
The ninth (and most likely final) postseason game between the two rivals was a classic at Steele Stadium. Mishawaka entered the game with an 11-0 record, while Penn was 7-4. It was the second-straight season the Cavemen and Kingsmen battled for a sectional title, with Mishawaka edging Penn, 24-21, the year prior.
After a scoreless first half, Penn struck first in the third quarter on a 40-yard touchdown run from Zach Oakley. The snowy, wet, cold game between the two rivals remained a seven-point Kingsmen advantage until the final minute of the game.
With its historic season on the line, Caveman coach Bart Curtis dug deep into his bag of tricks, calling a hook-and-ladder play. Quarterback Sam Schrader threw a pass to DJ Strohl at midfield, who then lateraled it right away to Ben Versyp, with the wideout taking it all the way down to the 14-yard line.
Then, with 5.6 seconds remaining, Kevin Day ran in a six-yard touchdown to tie the game for Mishawaka, sending it to overtime.
In the extra session, the Cavemen scored first on a two-yard scoring run from Schrader. Then, facing a fourth-and-goal from the 10-yard line, Oakley was sacked by Versyp, ending the game and sending the home crowd into a frenzy. It was a fourth-straight win for Mishawaka over Penn across a two-season span.
1. Oct. 12, 2018: Mishawaka 49, Penn 42 (OT)
It’s really hard to top the last time this game was played at Freed Field.
Mishawaka had lost seven in a row to its bitter rival heading into the 2018 contest. Both teams were highly ranked, with the Cavemen No. 4 in the Class 4A poll and Penn No. 3 in the 6A poll. It was a game to decide the NIC North Division champion as well, with both teams 7-1 overall and 4-0 in conference games.
The game more than lived up to the hype. Mishawaka raced out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter behind two 50-plus-yard touchdown runs from Sam Shively. Penn scored the next 14 points on a Ron Powlus touchdown throw to Brock Boynton, then a Powlus touchdown run.
Mishawaka then scored 14 more unanswered of its own on touchdown runs by Chris Harness and Shively, putting the Cavemen ahead, 28-14, at halftime.
After a Powlus touchdown run cut it to 28-21 early in the third, Harness ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run to put the Cavemen ahead by two possessions again. They then went ahead 42-28 on the first play of the fourth quarter on another touchdown run from Harness, this time from 38 yards out.
Penn had one more rally in them, using touchdown runs from Ryan Whiteman and Trenton Horvath to pull even. The Kingsmen then had a chance to win it in regulation, but a game-winning field goal attempt from Ryan Majerek as time expired was no good.
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Mishawaka got the ball first in overtime, scoring a touchdown on fourth rushing score from Shively. Then, with the game on the line, the Cavemen’s C.J. Fisher sacked Powlus on a fourth-down play, bringing an end to the best game in Backyard Brawl history. The Mishawaka win snapped Penn’s 47-game NIC winning streak.
Honorable mentions: 1967 (Mishawaka 27, Penn 19); 1982 (Penn 7, Mishawaka 0); 1987 (Penn 13, Mishawaka 7); 1995 sectional semifinals (Penn 13, Mishawaka 6); 2009 sectional championship (Mishawaka 24, Penn 21); 2015 (Penn 41, Mishawaka 34); 2016 (Penn 21, Mishawaka 14).
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA football Penn vs. Mishawaka football 'Backyard Brawl rivalry
