Local history: 105 years of Hagerstown football

HAGERSTOWN – As the local football season starts to heat up in the tri-state area, we take a look back at 105 years on the gridiron for Hagerstown football. One of the most exciting times of the year for local football fans is the storied rivalry between the North Hagerstown Hubs and the South Hagerstown Rebels. But the team’s great legacy goes back even further than that rivalry.

The beginning of Hagerstown football started in the year 1920, when the Hagerstown Maroon & Gray took the field for the first time. Led by Head Coach Glenn Poffenberger, the newly established team from Hagerstown High School went 5-1-1 for the year and won the Maryland State Championship. It would turn out be Hagerstown’s only state championship to date.

However, it would not be the only championships that the region would claim. As part of the Cumberland Valley Athletic League, the Maroon & Gray would win five regional championships from 1924 to 1930, making the first 10 years of the school’s fall athletics very exciting. In 1932, the team would hit a wall of resistance when they only won two games and lost 16 between then and 1934.

Then came 1935, when the school would face triumph and tragedy. Bouncing back from three years of losing seasons, the Maroon & Gray would once again become CVAL champions with a 5-3 season, but the joy was overshadowed by sadness when the team’s star quarterback, Johnny Farra, tragically died after suffering a broken neck during a game with Mercersburg Academy. The team’s championship season was dedicated to the memory of their young quarterback.

In 1941, the school changed the name of the name of their team to the Hagerstown Hubs, and while the next couple of years would be uneventful, there was a dark cloud on the horizon. In 1943, the league would face a cut in their schedule and only play six games due to travel restrictions enforced by the U.S. government. The reason? World War II.

In 1946, the Hubs were back to their winning ways when they went undefeated under Head Coach Eddie Semler and won another CVAL championship. In 1957, a second high school was built on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown, and the Hagerstown Hubs would now be known as the North Hagerstown Hubs, as they are today.

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Hubs and Rebels met on the field for the first time, and the game ended in a 6-6 tie. It is the only time in 67 meetings that the two teams did not have a decided winner. The hard-fought battle on that fall night would begin a tradition in the area that continues to this day, a rivalry that has lasted six decades and is as fierce now as it was then. The Rebels just barely lead that rivalry with 35 wins to the Hubs 31.

Over the 10-year span from 1958-1968, the Hubs would win the CVAL championship three times, and the Rebels would win it twice. In 1967, under Head Coach Walter Galbraith, the North team would win its first Tri-State League Championship with a 7-3 record. They would follow that up in 1972 with one of their most decorated seasons winning their 12th CVAL Championship, a second Tri-State League Championship, and would win the District 1 championships. In 1983, under Head Coach Glenn Cross, the Hubs would win their third Tri-State League Championship.

Also under Coach Cross’ guidance, the Hubs would win their first Monocacy Valley Football League championship and would be a quarterfinalist in the Maryland 3A playoffs, which is the closet that the team made it to a state championship in 70 years.

Both Hagerstown teams have won their share of titles and honors in the last century. Their rivalry is one of the most anticipated games in the region every year. They have celebrated many victories and some terrible losses. Hagerstown football has withstood the test of time and left behind a long legacy of dedicated coaches, tremendous players and a community with many exciting memories.