09/14/08 — CONNEAUTVILLE — No one has ever complained about room size at the recently remodeled Conneaut Valley High School, but when the Steelers and Browns meet head-to-head, four walls just don’t seem big enough to contain the pre-game rivalry of two opposing diehard fans.
Kathy Noble, a math teacher, and Kody Kelly, a senior, have spent the past four years “talking trash” about each other’s teams.
But Kelly, who said he loves to needle Noble about the Steelers, is sure this Sunday “will be the one” when the Browns come out on top.
“The Steelers’ biggest problem isn’t that they are a bad team,” Kelly said, “it’s their attitude — they’re just way too cocky.”
Noble, who is a native of Pittsburgh, would prefer to think of them as confident due to their experience — having won five Super Bowls.
“They’re just a great team with a really great work ethic,” she said. “They’ve consistently played honest, hard-nosed football.”
Both showed up at CVHS Friday sporting their team’s apparel and, as usual, claiming that their team would win during tonight’s 8:15 p.m. game in Cleveland.
“I’m trying to be very diplomatic,” Noble said. “But let’s just say that the Browns aren’t going to win because for the past few years they haven’t been a very strong team — they’ve had an awful lot of injuries.”
Kelly said he can “just feel it” that the tide is changing and that the Steelers are going down Sunday.
All joking aside, Noble, who has taught for 23 years, said football gives her a means of “winning over” some of her harder to reach students, and has given her an avenue of helping her students succeed.
“Fun rivalries between teachers and students provide chances to really get to know students and to establish open lines of communication between them,” Noble said. “When I was a young student I had a teacher that I trusted and believed in — I became a teacher because I wanted to be able to do the same for students.”
Kelly agreed and said the “football fun” has actually encouraged him academically.
“I didn’t need to take another math course this year because I’d already gotten all of my math classes in that were necessary to graduate,” he said. “But I decided to do it anyway because I knew that if I needed extra help that I can always talk to her.”
Football seems to have built a bridge at Noble’s door, and there’s no shortage of students who drop by her classroom just to say hello. And, of course, they come to reminisce.
The 51-yard field goal kicked by Phil Dawson in 2007 during the last 3 seconds of the game was Kelly’s most memorable “Browns moment.”
“The ball hit the goal post and then bounced all over,” he said.
The field goal has been referred to as “wacky” and “controversial” after it hit the upright, the back of the crossbar and then bounced out. But the ball was found to be “in” and led to the Browns tying with the Baltimore Ravens, which they ended up beating in overtime.
The statistics, however, speak for themselves. Noble reflected on the Steelers’ fourth Super Bowl win in a six-year period in 1980, and their “one for the thumb” game in 2006 which gave them five Super Bowl rings.
Noble and Kelly said each has riled the other, and “put up with a lot.” And chances are, the frivolity will not end today no matter whose team is victorious.
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Teacher, students bond with friendly rivalry
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