Football fans throughout Nebraska are happy to see the rivalry between Chadron State and Wayne State revived this fall. This year's game is the first of what will be at least a four-year series. Next year, the Wildcats will be the Eagles' guests in the season-opener for both teams. Saturday's game will be just the fourth on the gridiron between the teams since 1985, but for many years they had played one another on an almost annual basis. The Eagles hold a slim 34-28-1 margin in the all-time series. The Wildcats were the first Nebraska college team Chadron State played. That was in 1912 with the Eagles winning 27-0. The score was the same in 1920, when the teams met for a second time. But Wayne won the following year, 33-12. Chadron State won the next five games in a row, including a 61-3 rout in 1924. That is by far the most lopsided game in the series. The Eagles were pretty salty during much of that era. They were 56-12-2 from 1922 through '29. The Eagles also dominated the series through most of the 1930s and had a 17-5 bulge when both schools suspended football in 1942 because of World War II. CSC also won the first two games after the war, but the Wildcats handed the Eagles their only loss in 1948, by a 17-14 score on a 24-yard field goal by Gus Hinrich late in the game, and were just one of two teams to beat CSC in 1949. That score was 14-6. The Eagles won 6-3 in 1950, but Wayne took the next five games in a row and really dominated in the 1960s, winning eight straight before CSC stopped the bleeding in 1968 with a 26-0 shellacking. The 1969 game was an eventful one for Mike Winchell, who has lived in Norfolk most of time since graduating from CSC. In the previous game against Eastern Montana, starting quarterback Tim Turman was injured. Winchell took over and set a couple of school records by throwing for 352 yards and five touchdowns during a 34-20 victory. WSC won three of the next four, including a 13-7 verdict in 1973, when the Wildcats scored late after 6-4 defensive end Stan Lewis tipped a pass that teammate Mike Schuster claimed and returned 12 yards to the CSC 22. Thanks to its defense, the Eagles got back on track in 1974. All-American safety Dennis Fitzgerald blocked a Wayne punt early in the fourth period that linebacker Anson Korte recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. A bit later, another CSC linebacker, Mike Mitchell, intercepted a pass and returned it 22 yards to Wildcats' three to set up the winning score. The kicking game was responsible for CSC's 3-0 victory in 1975. Chad Emanuel booted a 41-yard field goal for the only points and All-American Duane Fritz averaged 49.7 yards on nine punts to set a CSC single-game record that still stands. The 1976 game was much more wide open but it was also close. The Eagles won 34-29 after leading 34-14 entering the fourth period. The teams did not meet in 1977, but Chadron was a 34-7 winner in '78 to make Jerry Welch's coaching debut a happy one. Quarterback Brad Fults completed 21 of 34 passes for the Eagles. The teams fought to a 9-9 deadlock in 1979 for the only tie in the series. The Wildcats missed a short field goal as time was running out. Wayne won 14-9 in 1980 when a CSC drive that had reached Wildcats' four was aborted by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The teams combined to complete just nine of 35 passes. The Eagles prevailed 16-13 in 1981 and 14-0 in '82 behind quarterback Scott Wickard, brother-in-law of current CSC Head Coach Bill O'Boyle. Wickard threw two touchdown passes in the fourth period of each game. Lanky Jim Fairfield caught one of them in each contest, covering 48 and 37 yards. The Eagles also won 10-0 in 1983 in a rather boring contest. The teams combined for fewer than 300 total net yards. Wayne rolled to a 36-7 victory in 1984. CSC Coach Don Turner said afterwards "it could have been 136-7," In other words, it was not a good day for the Eagles. They finished with just seven first downs. But there's more to the story. The Wildcats' star was a former Chadron State student, Herve Roussel. A native of France, Roussel had been a foreign exchange student at Ainsworth, returned to his homeland to serve in the Army, then enrolled at CSC. Roussel had played soccer in Europe and tried out as a kicker for the Eagles. But the coaches who had preceded Turner at CSC were not enamored by his long hair and the fact that he smoked. Maybe Roussel had cleaned up his act by the time when he transferred to Wayne. At any rate, he kicked field goals of 46, 47, 47, 48, 38 and 46 yards against the Eagles to win NAIA National Special Teams Player of the Week. No other Wildcat had ever kicked more than four field goals in an entire season before Roussel worked his magic against the Eagles. Roussel was still on the Wayne team the next year and scored the game's first points with a 23-yard field goal. However, the Eagles' John Morgan booted three field goals and CSC won 16-12. Wayne completed 26 passes for 373 yards, but also threw six interceptions. Four of the pass thefts were by safety Keven Logan, who tied Verne Lewellen's CSC record that has never again been equaled. That suspended the series until 1990, when the Eagles frolicked to a 30-3 victory in Chadron as quarterback Steward Perez tossed three touchdowns while the Wildcats completed just three passes for 19 yards. It was a completely different story the next year at Wayne. Perez had an uncharacteristically bad game, throwing five interceptions, while Wayne quarterback Troy Mott completed 26 of 45 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns and had no passes picked off as his team frolicked 55-28. The teams didn't play again until 1998 when the Eagles won 30-2. CSC's Dan O'Donnell booted field goals of 42, 49 and 41 yards and the Wildcats finished with a negative two yards rushing after their quarterbacks were sacked 11 times. To say the least, the Chadron State-Wayne State series has been filled with dramatics. It's a safe bet that the next four years will bring more of the same.