Fairview at Girard (9/11/26) – PHOTO GALLERY

Tagged under: District 10, Game Photos-Videos, News

Carl Fonticella | September 13, 2026

Fairview and Girard Townships border each other in Erie County, and the two high schools are just a 10-minute drive away from each other. The two towns and two schools have developed such a strong rivalry and hatred of each other over the course of their histories that, in fact, when the Erie County Board of Education submitted a plan in the 1950’s for the merging of rural school districts, both school districts did what to them was the only logical course of action – fight it, and delay it.

And it worked.

For 17 years, from 1953 (the year of the merger proposal) to 1970, both Fairview and Girard did whatever they could to stave off the merger, which in other school districts was seemingly mandatory and not a suggestion.

They continued to build new elementary and junior high schools in their respective school districts, but by 1968, a new name/mascot/school colors had been chosen for the unified school. However, neither school’s board could come to a decision to merge, and the PA State Board of Education backed their decision – was it down to exhaustion? Down to acceptance at the fact the merger would never happen no matter their efforts? Regardless, the two districts remain separate to this day, and the rivalry remains as fiery as ever.

Fairview Football’s first ever game as a program was against Girard 100 years ago, and it should come as no surprise that this rivalry, dubbed “The West County Backyard Brawl”, is the most-played game in either program’s history. Friday, September 11th’s edition of the game was the 98th Edition, with Fairview heading into it with a 59-33-5 advantage.

The Tigers would win in dominating fashion 39-7 on a night they celebrating their 100th Anniversary, and ripped off 39 unsanswerd points after Girard scored the opening TD of the game.

Fairview was led by junior QB Cullen O’Connor and his 17/19, 191 yard and 1 TD through the air, senior RB Caden Oldach’s 21 carry, 131 yard and 1 TD on the ground, and senior all-purpose athlete Joey O’Reilly put in one of the strangest stat lines you’ll perhaps ever see in a football game. O’Reilly finished with 3 rushing touchdowns – on 3 carries, for 9 yards.

The scoring was capped off by an Oldach fumble recovery and a Javis Nesbitt 2-point conversion, who took momentum into halftime with them thanks to a 24-yard TD reception by junior TE Dylan Hill with 30 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter.

Fairview improves to 2-1 (2-0 in Region 3) while Girard falls to 1-2 (0-2 in Region 3). The Tigers hit the road and travel east along I-90 for a non-region game against Harbor Creek next Friday, and Girard will play host to the Northwestern Wildcats out of Albion as both teams look for their first Region win of the season.