Food Fight Bowl

Overview

The Annual Food Fight Bowl is an annual football game played between arch-rivals Pickens High School Blue Flame and Easley High School Green Wave. The rivalry started when Pickens and Easley first played in 1923, which Easley won. The rivalry was named the Food Fight Bowl by the Pickens County Meals on Wheels just before the 2008 season. The two schools have about a month before the game to collect donations from students to see who can collect the most money before the annual Tailgate Party held in Legacy Square in Pickens or Old Market Square in Easley at 4:00pm. At the party, along with enjoying the food supplied by local diners, a Talent Show begins between four students (two from each school) at 6pm. People vote through donations to Meels on Wheels. The school who collects the most money combining the votes in the Talent Show along with the money that was collected from students over the past month wins the Ultimate Food Fight Trophy, which is awarded at halftime. Than at 7:00pm, the bands and cheerleaders lead the procession to either Brice Field* in Easley or Bruce Field* in Pickens. Kickoff for the game is always at 8:00pm. The winner of the football game is awarded the Food Fight Bowl Trophy. Although Easley holds the series record at 35-17-1, Pickens won the most recent meeting on Sept. 12, 2008 by a score of 48-30. In addition, Pickens collected a total $5744.83 compared to Easley's $3014.54, therefore alson winning the Ultimate Food Fight.

*Both schools are getting new school facilities by 2011, so these are subject to change

1969

Although the rivalry has been canceled many times to keep the rivals from getting violent, the most severe occurrence happened in 1969. Easley was slaughtering the Blue Flame (the final score was 65-6) and Green Wave fans were getting a kick out of tormenting Pickens fans. Suddenly, a Pickens fan punched an Easley fan, which eventually led to a full scale fan fight that covered the entire stands. After the National Guard settled things down, the two teams did not play again until 1982, which Pickens won 21-0

Results

Note: Pickens and Easley played each other twice in 1983, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997.

References

[http://www.pcmow.org/foodfight.htm] Pickens County Meals on Wheels
[http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080913/PREPSPORTS/809130327/-1/YOURUPSTATESPORTS0210] Herne, David (2008-9-13). "Momentum fuels Flame over Easley Green Wave", Greenville News.
Credit for chart goes to Robinson, Ben (2008-9-10). "Friendly Rivalry between Pickens, Easley still intense", The Easley Progress and Pickens Sentinel (The Progress and the Sentinel write a joint sports section)
Johnson, Ginny (2008-9-19). "Food Fight a Big Success", Easley Progress
[http://www.htosports.com/pickensblueflame] Student-run website for Pickens High School Football
The other information is based on interviews with the PHS Librarian and Principal