A rivarly -- a bitter, ugly, hateful, nasty, dirty, obnoxious, oncouth, steaming rivalry -- was born on the football field Friday night between Souderton and Downingtown East.

Well, apparently the rivalry is a year old. Souderton just didn't know it.

After the Indians desimated Downingtown East, 42-14, in the opening round of the 2006 district playoffs, there was some trash talk -- between players and between fans. Souderton didn't give it much thought, but the Cougars stewed over the humiliation.

So, this year, when District One surprised everybody with its seedings and had Souderton matched up against Downingtown East in the first round again, the Cougars jumped all over it.

The Cougars coaching staff harassed Souderton coach Ed Gallagher on his answering machine, claiming he was violating an "unwritten rule" by not exchanging game film -- and threatening to report him to District One. Gallagher, meanwhile, had only just found out about the seedings himself and hadn't had a chance to give Downingtown game film yet.

"How are you going to report someone for violating an 'unwritten rule' anyway?" Gallagher wondered.

On Friday night, the Cougars didn't want to just beat Souderton on the Indians' home field, they wanted to rub it in. There was viscousness in Downingtown's postgame celebrations -- pointing and posturing and more trash talk.

If the Indians didn't feel a sense of rivalry with Downingtown East in the past, they do now.

-C.D.

A dirty little secret was exposed in Souderton's loss to Downingtown East in the opening round of the district playoffs.

Penalties.

The Indians have been so dominant all year, overlooked has been the fact they've averaged nearly six penalties per game. That's not an extraordinarily high number, but it's more than Quakertown and Central Bucks West (four per game each) -- whose combined record is 3-18. It's almost twice as many as North Penn.

On Friday, Souderton was flagged nine times, including twice on the Cougars' game-winning drive.

Souderton coach Ed Gallagher, emotional after the defeat, wasn't happy with the officials. In fact, he'd had issues with the same crew in two previous games, which Souderton won.

Nonetheless, penalties alone didn't cost Souderton -- and plenty of good teams absorb penalties. The offense couldn't sustain drives on Friday, particularly in the second half. A running attack that averaged 280 yards per game produced just 95 yards on 41 carries against Downingtown. There was also a missed extra point.

And there was the fact Downingtown just kept hanging around. Although the Cougars truly seemed out of it at times, and Souderton simply felt destined to win this one, the Indians couldn't ever deliver that final knockout blow.

"I started getting an eerie feeling as the game went on," Gallagher said. "I can't explain it, but I think they wanted this more than we did."

-C.D.