What the Indians Say About Eupora...

Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it could have gotten out of hand quickly. That’s when you had your pulpwood boys coming to town on Friday nights. They didn’t mind getting crossed up with somebody if they had a different opinion.
Frank Black
Former Ackerman Football Player

You didn’t like Eupora football, and you really wanted to stay away from anybody from Eupora. It was kind of a social thing; you just didn’t associate with them.
Ricky Black
Former Ackerman Football Player

Used to, you didn’t go up there a lot. If you did, you wouldn’t go by yourself; you would go in a group. Today, most people in Ackerman and Eupora are friends.
Jimmy McClure
Former Ackerman Football Player

We have Mourn for Eupora Day – Mourn the Eagles, which is like the death of the Eagles. Everybody wears black. Last year we actually had a funeral where we had an Eagle in a casket.
Jennifer Cooper
Ackerman Cheerleader

I think this rivalry is steeped in football pride.
Adam Dillinger
Ackerman Head Football Coach

I think there are many similarities between the towns, the schools and the people. It’s a lot of people that are alike.
Jill Dillinger
Former Ackerman Student
and Wife of Head Football Coach

The Eupora-Ackerman game is a huge deal. It’s the Saturday morning talk at the coffee shop and they talk it year round – it’s not just during football season.
Ronda Huffman
Ackerman Principal

If you want to know the truth, I really got my start at Eupora.
Ricky Woods
Former Ackerman Football Player
and Head Football Coach

One time back in the ‘50s, Eupora beat Ackerman something like 60-12. Twenty years later, the folks in Ackerman were still paying them back for that game.
Ricky Black
Former Ackerman Football Player

I played sports in the seventh grade through my senior year. I played two years at Delta State University. I was only involved in one on-the-field fight. That was in the Ackerman-Eupora game my junior year.
Dale Reid
Former Ackerman Football Player
and Public Address Announcer

You don’t lose the Eupora game. There are no excuses.
Ricky Woods
Former Ackerman Football Player
and Head Football Coach

The Eupora-Ackerman game completely defines the meaning of “rivalry.”
Jennifer Cooper
Ackerman Cheerleader

What the Eagles Say About Ackerman...

If you don’t win down there, then you go to the house real quick.
Reuban Walker
Former Eupora Head Football Coach

Because of the football rivalry, we don’t socialize with Ackerman people.
Blakelee Parsons
Former Eupora Student Body President

There’s not much in Ackerman. Well, there is a girl in Ackerman that does good hair.
Molly Pittman
Eupora Cheerleader

Most of the people in Choctaw and Webster Counties know each other and get along.
Phillip Smith
Former Eupora Football Player
 and Sheriff of Webster County

A lot of rivalries seem to hit a lull and fizzle out, but this one has not. Our kids still make a big deal out of it. Everything about the rivalry with Ackerman is special.
Jimmy Pittman
Former Eupora Head Football Coach
 and Superintendent of Webster County School District

There is always going to be something special about the Eupora-Ackerman game, no matter what happens the rest of the season. When it’s over, everybody starts thinking about the game next year.
James Mason
Former Eupora Student and
Eupora Principal

Ackerman is the toughest opponent Eupora has had down through the years.
Tommy Lott
Former Eupora Student and Mayor of Eupora

The Eupora-Ackerman game is the biggest event in Webster County.
James Mason
Former Eupora Student
and Eupora Principal

I’ve eaten at Pap’s fish house once and it wasn’t that good.
Kody Knight
Eupora Football Player

Every time I have traveled to Ackerman to play, there have been signs all along Highway 9 saying they are going to beat us.
Jonathan Holmes
Eupora Public Address and Radio Announcer

It has been a huge rivalry all of my life. You have to beat Ackerman. It doesn’t matter about any other game.
Suzanne Graham
Former Eupora Student and
 Wife of Head Football Coach

When we play Ackerman, I tell our kids, “You’re going to get their ‘A’ game. Kids in Choctaw County know how to play in big games; so get ready.
Junior Graham
Eupora Head Football Coach

There is nothing in Ackerman unless you want to get a Philly from Bumpers. That’s about it.
Blakelee Parsons
Former Eupora Student Body President

We have better-looking people.
Molly Pittman
Eupora Cheerleader

It’s a friendly rivalry, but each side likes to rub it in when they win. It’s like the Ole Miss-State thing.
Phillip Smith
Former Eupora Football Player
 and Sheriff of Webster County

I’ve heard they have Eupora Skank Day the week of the game. They probably dress like they normally come to school.
Blakelee Parsons
Former Eupora Student Body President

I think the kids live the rivalry all year, but the adults on both sides who are such enemies on that one Friday night are friends again the following Monday – for the most part.
Jimmy Pittman
Former Eupora Head Football Coach

I don’t know how it got started – probably by the cheerleaders – but every year since I’ve been affiliated with the school, one day during the week of the game is Ackerman Hick Day. Our students wear straw hats. Some girls wear pigtails and freckles.
James Mason
Former Eupora Student
and Eupora Principal

The Ackerman game is always more intense than any other game we play. You want to win that game like the state championship.
Kody Knight
Eupora Football Player

Kids have to come from an environment where they have to work or they are not going to value some of the things you try to do as a coach. Both Eupora and Ackerman have that environment.
Junior Graham
Eupora Head Football Coach