In the 51st meeting between the two high school football teams, Prairie now has a 26-25 edge after scoring with 5 seconds left to top Battle Ground — the fifth lead change of the second half

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

There have been a handful of close games in this rivalry, and a lot more blowouts.

Yet after 50 football games since 1979, no program had the edge.

Going into the 2024 high school football season, Prairie had defeated Battle Ground 25 times, and Battle Ground had defeated Prairie 25 times.

A team was going to take the series lead Friday night at District Stadium. 

It turned out that a team was going to do so in dramatic fashion.

Going through the scores, it is clear that this was the first Prairie-Battle Ground game to feature five lead changes in the second half.

Jackson Kimball caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Deven Vigue with 5 seconds left, lifting Prairie to a 43-38 victory over their in-district rival. 

Battle Ground High School and Prairie High School are both part of the Battle Ground School District. 

But should that name change?

Kimball wrapped up the post-game team meeting with an announcement: “Prairie School District,” he screamed.

The Falcons won bragging rights for at least one year.

The coaches understand just what this rivalry means. Junior Miller, in his first season as Prairie’s coach, played in this game as a Falcon. Mike Woodward, in his third season as Battle Ground’s coach, played in this game as a Tiger.

“Back when I played, Prairie wasn’t really a great football team,” said Miller, who graduated in 2002. “We were a struggling team. I don’t remember if those games were competitive or not. The rivalry has always been there, though.”

Battle Ground won those games back then against Miller’s teams, winning in the fall of 1999, 2000, and 2001.

Woodward remembered his time as a player when the Tigers went 7-2 in 1986, but both losses were to Prairie. 

“It breaks my heart when I hear people say it’s not as big of a deal anymore. Not just ours, but all the rivalries across town. I think they are a huge deal,” Woodward said. “It means a lot, not just to the players, but all the kids at school, the administrators, and the teachers. It’s a big deal.”

Yes Battle Ground and Prairie scheduled each other twice a year on a few occasions back in the day. That is how a school — Prairie — that opened 45 years ago had played its district rival 50 times going into this season. 

Clark County Today talked to two players before Friday’s game, to chat about the rivalry. It turned out, both made major contributions in the game.

Owen Mereen of Battle Ground described the importance of the rivalry, and how much it would have meant to the Tigers to take the lead in the series.

It did not happen, but Mereen said he and the Tigers had another goal for the game.

“We’re going to try to play with class today,” Mereen said.

Mission accomplished. And it was a mission for both schools. You see, last month, there were some hostile moments between the teams in a jamboree. School administrators preached rivalry this week, but good sportsmanship, too. 

There were a number of penalties Friday night, but most were for pre-snap miscues or holding. Just the regular football variety penalties. Character wise, for the most part, this game was championship caliber.

Mereen also showed plenty of resilience. He played with a cast on his broken left hand — even on offense, as a wide receiver. Not going to sugarcoat it. He did drop at least one pass because of that cast. But he was clutch in the fourth quarter for the Tigers.

He caught a touchdown pass from Ethan Adams to give Battle Ground a 32-29 lead. And a few minutes later, he caught a pass to set up his team for a first-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Battle Ground had the lead again, 38-36, with 1:05 to play.

“That’s the dedication they teach us here, and the grit,” Mereen said of playing with the injury.

Kimball said before the game that Prairie wanted to show everyone that the Falcons earned the right to call it their district. Prairie and Battle Ground share District Stadium, and this was a “home” game for the Falcons, even though they had to travel to Battle Ground’s campus.

“This game is marked on our calendars all year,” Kimball said. “This is the game we are pretty hyped up for” when it comes to the non-league part of Prairie’s schedule.

The Falcons wanted to salute their crowd, too.

“Everybody came out supporting us. They wore ‘blackout’ to school. Teachers are wearing rivalry shirts,” Kimball said. “Everyone is in.”

Three or so hours later, it was Kimball catching the deep pass from Vigue, then breaking a tackle en route to the end zone for the victory.

Vigue said the Falcons never gave up, not when trailing 26-14 early in the third quarter, and not even when Battle Ground took a 38-36 lead with 1:06 to play. 

“It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable. It’s such a great team win,” he said. “We’re a family. We work for each other. We support each other. I knew we were going to pull it out in the end.”

And that final pass?

“I trust that guy with my whole life,” Vigue said of Kimball. “He made a great play and got into the end zone.”

Vigue is now the quarterback who put Prairie into the lead in the rivalry. Vigue had a touchdown run and three touchdown passes in the second-half comeback.

“It’s always fun playing Battle Ground. This whole week leading up to this, everyone wanted to win. It’s great. You can’t explain it. To come out here with the team, and the atmosphere this week, it was crazy.”

The Falcons and the Tigers put on a show in Week 3 of the high school football season, proving that this rivalry still means so much to so many.

Note: A thank you to Bryan Levesque, Southwest Washington football historian who has researched scores for every team in the region, going back decades. 

Scoring plays after Battle Ground had taken a 26-14 lead:
The final six touchdowns, which included five lead changes, as captured by reporter Paul Valencia and posted on his X account.