The Battle of Rogers Avenue is an annual matchup between the two public schools in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This rivalry has been ongoing since 1965, with a very tight matchup and overall record of 27 wins for Northside and 24 wins for Southside with two ties.

MVP

Tre Norwood

Northside

SCHOLAR ATHLETES

Tanner Cross

Northside

Tanner is a 3-year letterman on the varsity football team and the baseball team at Northside. He is a member of National Honor Society and Young Brothers Leading. Tanner holds a 4.1 GPA and plans on attending college on a football scholarship.

Colten Key

Southside

Colten is a 2 year letterman for the Southside Maverick Football Program. Colten has a cumulative 4.0 GPA during his high school academic career which is a tribute to his hard work off the football field. Colten is one of the team leaders for the Mavericks and plans to attend college upon graduation.

HALL OF FAME

Dax Dupire

Northside

Dax graduated from Northside in 2009 and was a part of the Northside vs. Southside rivalry from 06-09. During his time at Northside, Dax was able to throw for over 5,200 yards and 35 touchdowns while rushing for over 1,000 yards and 22 touchdowns over his playing career. Dax was named All-State his senior year and was a finalist for the State Farm/Hootens 7A player of the year. Dax went on to play baseball at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith where he obtained a degree in Biology. Dax currently works for the city of Fort Smith as a biologist.

Nathan Norman

Southside

Nathan graduated from Southside High School in 2008. He participated in the Southside/Northside rivalry from 2005 to 2007 where he and his teammates were able to finish 2-1 against the Grizzlies. In his senior game against Northside, he caught 8 passes for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns. After missing 6 games with a broken arm, Nathan finished his senior season with 28 receptions for 641 yards and 3 touchdowns. During the final game of Nathan’s junior season, he caught two passes on the final drive to set up a game winning field goal to win the 2006 state championship. After graduating from Southside, Nathan attended the University of Arkansas where he earned a bachelors in 2012 and masters degree in 2014. He continues to reside in Fayetteville.

GAME SUMMARY

Behind three first-half touchdowns from quarterback Tre Norwood, the Grizzlies sprinted out to a 24-6 lead and went on to defeat the Mavericks, 52-13, at Mayo-Thompson Stadium. It was Northside's first win against Southside since 2005, as Southside had won 11 straight games against its crosstown rival leading up to Friday's game. After taking the second-half kickoff, Northside needed just two plays to find the end zone once more. After tailback Hunter Pendleton sprinted 59 yards to the Southside 21, Norwood took a keeper around the right side to finish things off as he picked up his fourth TD on the night just 18 seconds into the third quarter. Parga's kick made it 31-6. Later in the third, Northside put together its shortest TD drive of the night, which covered 69 yards. Quarterback Max Frazier, who had been out the past two games with an ankle injury, came in for Norwood and engineered the series, as Pendleton's four-yard run into the end zone completed it. Northside made it 45-6 midway through the fourth quarter on a three-yard run by backup quarterback Josh Douglas. Southside got its lone TD with more than two minutes left on a 10-yard keeper by sophomore Taye Gatewood, but Northside's Jordan Dilworth rambled 64 yards a minute later for the Grizzlies' final TD. The Grizzlies generated 652 yards of total offense, 588 rushing. Norwood, named the game's MVP afterward, had 239 yards on 13 carries and four TDs, while Derrick Wise had 126 yards on 11 carries.