by Jeremy Benson, GrandRiverConference.com
It's a mere 12 miles that separate Brookfield High School and Marceline High School, as per Google Maps. But what's truly remarkable is the 54-year hiatus since these two schools last clashed in a conference football game.
Brookfield and Marceline were both in the North Central Missouri Conference (NCMC) in 1970. In 1970, the NCMC decided to fold. A new conference with the same name would be organized,
Brookfield remained in a revamped NCMC from 1971 to 1975 before going independent until 1986, when they joined the Tri-Rivers Conference. They jumped to the Clarence Cannon Conference (CCC) in 2010. Marceline was in the Northern Missouri Conference from 1971 to 1974 before joining the Lewis & Clark Conference in 1975, where they would be members for almost 50 years.
However, the history between these two teams goes back much further. They played against each other for the first time in 1909. Brookfield won the first game 44 to 6. They have played each other annually since 1922 in a game referred to as the Armistice Day Game. Brookfield resident Kenneth Duker had donated an old brass bell from a retired fire truck to Brookfield for a school play. The Dukers did not retrieve the bell after the play was over, and thus, the tradition of the Bell Game was born.
Brookfield won the Armistice Day Game in 1936. In the Spring of 1937, a group of alumni decided to award the Bell to the Brookfield Bulldogs in a ceremony at the DeGraw Theater. With the Bell in their possession, Brookfield carried the Bell with them onto the field in 1937 and returned with it by the score of 26-0. Brookfield claims that 1937 was the first game, while Marceline claims 1936 was the first.
The year 1959 saw a dispute over the game's outcome. Brookfield's records show a 19-13 victory, but Matt Floray, author of Linn County Football—A History, found articles from both towns' newspapers that suggest Marceline emerged victorious. The Bell Game record, as per Brookfield, stands at 45-42-1 in their favor, while Marceline insists it's 43-42-1 in favor of Brookfield.
In 2012, USA Today voted it America's Best High School Football Rivalry. According to Wikipedia, it is the third-longest rivalry in Missouri behind Kirkwood-Webster Groves and Charleston-Sikeston. The intensity of this rivalry is not just on the field, but it extends to the two communities. The two schools and communities will stop at nothing to keep it going, showing their unwavering dedication and love for the game.
This was tested in 2004. At that time, the Missouri playoff format had four teams in a district, and those four teams played their last three games against each other. Teams filled out their seven remaining games against conference opponents. They would find non-conference opponents to play if they had any openings left.
Before 2004, Brookfield and Marceline were both in Class 2, and due to their proximity, they were always placed in the same district. Unfortunately for Marceline, their enrollment dropped, and in 2004, they were placed in Class 1. This meant that they could not be in Brookfield's district. When district assignments were released, Brookfield was not placed in a district with any conference opponents. With seven other teams in their conference, they had no openings for non-conference teams. The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) and the Tri-Rivers Conference had left them without an option to play Marceline that season.
When the district assignments were posted, a sense of urgency swept through the communities. Nearly 20 men gathered at Marceline Auto Repair within 20 minutes and called Marceline High School. Meanwhile, at Helm Street Inn in Brookfield, a lunch crowd of 100 people was abuzz with the news of the possible cancellation of the Bell Game. The two schools explored various options, including an appeal to MSHSAA to revise the districts, playing an 11th game, or arranging a JV game against each other.
Ultimately, the Tri-Rivers Conference allowed Brookfield to withdraw from their conference game against North Shelby so that they could play Marceline. The game counted as a forfeit for the conference standings only. North Shelby principal Kim Gaines said, "They contacted us at the beginning, and we were (willing to change). Some of the other schools weren't in favor of it. If we had a game like that and it was gone all of a sudden, I know how important it would be to us." Marceline had scheduled Tipton, so North Shelby played Tipton instead of Brookfield.
In 2012, when Brookfield was a Clarence Cannon Conference
(CCC) member, MSHSAA changed its playoff format and shortened the season to 9
games. The CCC had 10 members and asked
its member schools to play all its games against the other nine. Since Marceline was not a member of the CCC,
Brookfield once again did not have an opening for the Bell Game on its
schedule. Brookfield petitioned the CCC
for the same solution the Tri-Rivers had allowed 8 years earlier. This time, Brookfield forfeited their conference
game against Louisiana so they could play Marceline. The agreement only lasted two seasons until
Mark Twain left the CCC in 2014, reducing the conference schedule to 8 games.
Brookfield is 8-0 overall and 7-0 in the GRC. They have clinched the GRC championship in their first season in the conference, their first conference championship since 2014, when they won the CCC. Marceline is 4-4 overall and 4-3 in the GRC. However, you can throw out the records when these two play. This year's Bell Game will be on Friday, October 25, when Brookfield travels to Marceline. This time, they will play as conference opponents for the first time since 1970.
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