NORMAN — Maybe they should hold the Crosstown Clash at Harve Collins Field every year.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s too crowded, there’s not enough parking, there’s not enough seats.
But, man, the excitement in that stadium Friday night was palpable.
It’s been a long, long time since Norman High and Norman North fans crammed into The Harve like they did Friday. Even during that 2006 playoff game, it wasn’t nearly the same.
Sure, Owen Field is nice.
But the stands aren’t nearly as full, the atmosphere not nearly as electric (unless you’re in the tunnels with either side during a three-hour rain delay, that is), as it was Friday night.
“This place was just amazing,” NHS linebacker Greg Offenburger said. “The crowd was wild.”
It was.
The closed-in confines of The Harve made the football Clash seem more like the basketball Clash. Both student sections chanted back and forth to each other from across the field (the NHS fans had another chant directed at the press box), and as Offenburger said, it was “wild.”
“This is a great atmosphere and it was a great game,” North coach Lance Manning said. “It’s been four years since we’ve played this game here, and it was loud and it was exciting.”
And that was from the coach on the losing end.
NHS coach Greg Nation looked like he was about to bust after the game. The red-faced, extremely happy Tigers’ head man summed it all up in one sentence: “This is what high-school football is about!”
But there are still valid reasons to play the season-opening Clash at Owen Field, no matter how exciting things were at The Harve.
Seating is a big issue.
Norman Public Schools athletic director Frank Thompson said the maintenance department did a heck of a job on one day’s notice getting The Harve ready for Friday’s game.
The administration even brought in extra bleacher seating that was laid askew on the east and west sides of the main visiting grandstand to make up for the increased crowd.
But there were still plenty of people standing.
“This stadium can hold around 8,500 people,” Thompson said. “I’d say there’s around 9,000 here.”
The problem? At Owen Field, the Clash can bring in 15,000-20,000 fans.
And it’s a much tougher task for campus security and the police to handle traffic and crowd control around the NHS campus than at a field used to being filled with upwards of 80,000 fans.
The players and coaches love playing at Owen Field, too.
Most players on both sides won’t set foot on Owen Field outside of a Clash game.
“This was a great atmosphere, and a lot of fun, but there’s something about playing at OU,” North linebacker Zac Pierce said. “It’s just special to play on Owen Field. This was exciting, and if it was our home game, it’d be even better. But playing at Owen Field is incredible.”
So, we may not get another night like Friday for a long time, or at least until lightning moves the game back to The Harve.
Enjoy it, fans from both sides. It was quite an experience.
And come back.
That’s the main message.
As great as the fans were Friday, it was still obvious that it hasn’t been like that in years. North plays at The Harve Thursday night against Del City. NHS plays Moore there Friday night.
The press box should be shaking then like it was for the Clash.
“It should be like that every game,” Nation said. “These kids, this team, we rely on the support of our fans. Come out, support us, cheer for us and we’ll feed off that energy like we did tonight.”
Jeff Johncox 366-3535 jjohncox@normantranscript.com
