September 14, 2001 12:50 AM
1968 teammates' sons square off
By Steve Tappa, Dispatch/Argus Staff sports writer Jake Bevans needs to
win.
Not just for his town or his team or his school. The Moline High School junior requires
a victory in tonight's football game with arch-rival Rock Island for his own peace of
mind.
``If we lose, I'll never hear the end of it at the dinner table and all of our holiday
and family get-togethers,'' said Bevans, a Rock Island-born, Moline-schooled outside
linebacker making his first start tonight for the Maroons.
``My dad and all my uncles played for Rocky, and they're talking all the time -- `Rocky
this, and Rocky that.' I don't mind. It only makes me play harder. But, I have to win if I
want to be the one talking at the table next time.''
The Rocks have won four straight in a series that ranks as the state's oldest at 103
years. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at Moline's Browning Field.
However, it's not just six uncles Bevans needs to shut up -- four on his mother Barb's
Hodge side of the family, and two brothers of his father, Rick, a starter for the Rocks in
1968-69.
``My grandma's the worst,'' Jake Bevans said about Rock Island's Muriel Bevans, a
diehard Rocky fan, who is making friendly wagers with family members against her
grandson's team tonight.
``I always try and get her to come out to `The Game,' but I think she's afraid Moline
will win. So, she'll definitely be the first one I call if we win. I know she'll be
listening on the radio, and watching the highlights on TV, but I'll definitely want to rub
it in.''
While the Bevans family feud is obviously a unique situation, it certainly underscores
the essence of what makes the annual matchup between Moline and Rock Island so special.
It's a bragging rights battle handed down through the generations, from father to son,
since 1899.
Bevans, lineman Andy Spriet and running back Jay McAdams-Thornton are among those on
the Moline sideline tonight with an acute sense of the matchup.
Spriet's father, Dale, played for some superb Moline teams in the late 1960s.
McAdams-Thornton's paternal grandfather, William McAdams, was an all-state running back in
the 1950s for Moline.
Among those on tonight's Rock Island roster with generational ties to ``The Game'' are
Ray Muskeyvalley, Mike Leonard and Drew DeVore.
Muskeyvalley has had several family members play for the Rocks. Leonard's dad, Bob,
wore the Crimson-and-Gold. Ironically, DeVore's dad, Drake, was a two-way senior starter
on the same 1968 Rocky team that included a junior named Rick Bevans.
``It's ironic our sons are playing against each other,'' Rick Bevans said. ``It's a
proud moment for both of us that they're getting to experience something we did so many
years ago.''
Rick Bevans started at cornerback, and was Drake DeVore's backup at quarterback that
1968 season. The 6-3 campaign was highlighted by a 33-20 win over Moline at Rock Island's
Public Schools Stadium. The Maroons went 8-1 that season.
``They had a great, great team led by Paul Carther and Curt Anders, and that made our
season,'' recalled Drake DeVore, who transfered to Rocky from New Mexico as a
second-semester junior earlier that spring.
``When I came up here, I heard the two real big games were Alleman and Moline, because
Alleman was an intra-city game, and Moline was the next door neighbor.
``But, I never imagined how big it was until we played Moline that season in the sixth
week. There were 12,000 to 14,000 people filling up that old stadium, all the way around
the (horse shoe-shaped structure). I'd never seen anything like that. That's when I knew
how big it was.''
A slightly smaller crowd -- perhaps 8,000 or more -- is expected tonight. Still, it's
the memory-making game every year on each school's schedule.
``You play just as hard as any other game. The Alleman and United Township games are
obviously rivalries, too. But there's just something extra special when you say Moline and
Rock Island,'' Rick Bevans said.
``That's the one where your eyes get big, and everybody seems to hit just a little
harder. I think that's because those two schools have traditionally been the powers on
this side of the river.
``Alleman and United Township have had their years, but if you're at Moline or Rocky,
usually you're measuring yourself against the other school.''
And, there's no sweeter feeling than winning the big game.
``Hatred is too strong a word, especially considering what's happened this week in the
real world,'' Drake DeVore said, pointing to the terrorist attacks in New York City and
Washington, D.C.
``This is as intense as rivalries come, but it's a friendly rivalry. It's something
that brings you together with guys from the other school, maybe you slap hands and trade
stories when you see somebody you played against at the mall. But, of course, you don't
want to be the one that didn't win.''
Not tonight. Not ever.
``I hear all of my dad's old stories, but it seems bigger this year, maybe because I'm
finally playing in it,'' said Drew DeVore, a starting junior defensive tackle for the 3-0
Rocks.
``They were picked (in the preseason) to be the (Western Big 6 Conference) champs this
year, but we're the defending champions and feel like we're still the team to beat until
somebody does it.''
The Maroons are just the team to do that, Jake Bevans said.
``We might be only 1-2, but we've been beaten by two really good teams,'' Jake Bevans
added. ``We're better than that, and we're going show that.''
Rick Bevans grudgingly admits he hopes his son is right.
``I still root for Rocky, just not against Moline anymore,'' said Rick Bevans, the
starting quarterback of a 9-0 Rocky team that topped the Maroons, 20-14, in 1969. The
starting backfield for that fourth-ranked unit included Division I college talents Lou
Miskowicz (Notre Dame) and Bobby Johnson (Illinois).
``Let me tell you, it was hard in the beginning. With four daughters who played
softball, I was able to root against Rocky in other sports, but football I just couldn't
do it until Jake came along. Having played for Rocky, that was still my team, you know?''
Rick Bevans said he still gets a strange feeling watching the Crimson-and-Gold come
bursting out on to the field.
Two years ago, sitting with a group of Maroon-clad parents on the Moline side, Bevans
made an embarrassing subconscious slip.
``I sat during the Moline fight song, and stood during the Rocky school song,'' said
Rick Bevans, who grudgingly moved his family from Rock Island to Moline when Jake was
six-months-old. A sweetheart deal on a house forced the move.
``I didn't realize I was all mixed up with the songs until my wife told me. Needless to
say, I haven't been allowed to forget that yet.''
Of course, Rick Bevans has it coming, if only for the teasing and trash-talking he's
unloaded on his son.
``We're good buddies -- we hunt and fish together. We have a great father-son
relationship, and this is part of that,'' Rick Bevans said of the rivalry. ``It's all in
good fun. I tease him all the time -- `We should have stayed in Rock Island so you could
have played for a real football team' -- stuff like that.''
Prior to taking a picture to run along with this story, Rick couldn't resist another
barb, asking his son to carry his letter sweater from the car. Jake refused, of course.
``He's always messing with me,'' said the younger Bevans, who doubles as Moline's
backup quarterback. ``I guess I'll just have to get him back (tonight).''
Besides family bragging rights, Jake Bevans has something else riding on the line.
``His grandmother has a rock garden with a big, red-and-gold Rocky rock in it,'' Rick
Bevans said about his mother, Muriel. ``But, if Moline wins, she's told Jake he can put a
rock painted Moline Maroon in it.''
And, so goes the rivalry.
Copyright 2001, Moline Dispatch
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