The big game: Central-Western rivalry continues on Friday

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Rival: One of two or more striving to reach or obtain something that only one can possess.

But the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition doesn’t do the noun justice.

In sports, rivalries are the end all, be all. No matter how bad a team is doing, beating a rival can erase a season of misery.

Case in point: Friday night, when 2-7 Central Michigan meets 3-5 Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium for the 82nd time.

“The longevity and history is what makes it so special,” said Herb Deromedi, former CMU head coach and athletics director. “The fact that it’s two interstate schools competing.”

Deromedi would know. He served as head coach of the football team from 1978-1993 and took part in his share of games against the Broncos — 16 of them.

Even more impressive, he recorded a 13-2-1 record during that span.

After taking the head coaching job in 1978, Deromedi didn’t waste any time getting a jump on the Broncos. He led CMU to a 9-2 overall record, including 8-2 in the MAC, that year, capped off by a 35-14 victory against WMU in Kalamazoo. He would go on to win four consecutive games before both teams tied in 1982. CMU’s 22-10 come-from-behind victory at Waldo Stadium in 1980 earned it a Mid-American Conference championship.

“It’s a great feeling when you win on the road,” Deromedi said. “Not only is it a big rivalry, but you have the camaraderie that takes place that lasts a little longer.

“At home you have a locker room and then you send everybody home. When you win a ball game like that, you have a captive audience for two hours and some of those bus rides you never want to stop. You wish you could drive up to the (Mackinac) Bridge and back.”

Turning it around

But things weren’t always so rosy for CMU.

WMU still leads the all-time series record 36-43-2 and dominated CMU in the beginning years.

The Chippewas went 3-15-1 from 1905-50, including losing to the Broncos every season from 1928 to 1938.

“I think it (the turnaround) started first with Bill Kelly, then it really exploded,” Deromedi said.

Kelly, CMU’s head coach from 1951-1966, was challenged to compete with a Western Michigan team that competed in the Mid-American Conference and gave its players full ride scholarships.

CMU was still a Division II school in the lowly Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

“The prestige they had as being a part of the Mid-American Conference gave them an edge,” Deromedi said.

But during Kelly’s reign, the school posted a formidable 8-8 against their superiors in Kalamazoo.

Senior Associate Athletics Director Derek van der Merwe, who played on the CMU football team from 1991-95, said that as a freshman, players don’t truly understand the history of the school.

“That rivalry defined that whole struggle of CMU becoming the institution of its today,” he said.
Under former head coach Brian Kelly, the Chippewas went 2-1. Butch Jones did one better, pulling off a pefect 3-0 record.

Remembering that moment

Come-from-behind wins are always special. Coming back to beat your arch rival is even better.

Van der Merwe firmly recalls CMU’s 1994 game against Western Michigan. While the Chippewas won, 35-28, it was how they won that made the game special.

“It must have been the first three or four minutes of the game, Western went up 14-0,” van der Merwe said. “I’ll never forget the game more than anything because it showed the resiliency of our students and the fact that they never quit. Being down 14-0 in the first few minutes, you could have quit and rolled over. But we never did, and I think that reflects the nature of the game.”

Senior linebacker Nick Bellore, who is 3-0 against WMU and will play in his fourth rivalry game on Friday, vividly remembers last year’s game in which he picked off a pass from Tim Hiller and returned it 50 yards, just short of the goal line.

“I’ve gotten flack for not scoring on that, but personally that was my favorite play,” he said.

On Friday, Bellore and his teammates get one last shot to make a statement.

Not only to Western Michigan University, but to show their loyalty and dedication for CMU and the surrounding community.

That is what a rivalry is all about.