Wonder what type of crowd to expect for the Page-Grimsley game TONIGHT at Page High School???

There will be some fans there on Friday night who will just be coming out for the sake of curiosity…Many fans will want to part of this historical moment with the game being played at Page for the first time ever in the history of this series…

Based on what the two teams have been able to do on the field this season, conventional wisdom tells you that Page at (6-1) will be the heavy favorite over Grimsley at (2-5)….

But this will not have any effect on the crowd because the fans want to come out and see what it is like, when the two teams line up at Page against each other, on the Varsity level for the first time…

We mentioned conventional wisdom up top and this Friday night at Marion Kirby Stadium may take on the character of a some sort of convention….

Quite a few people come back to town each year just for this game and the game has drawn crowds that have exceeded 10,000 fans over the years(at Grimsley’s Jamieson Stadium) and could we expect a crowd in that neighborhood for this year’s game at Page High School???

Page Athletic Director Rusty Lee told Joe Sirera of the News and Record,

“We’ve known for some time that the Page-Grimsley crowd has not been 10,000,” Lee said. “Before we submitted the idea to Grimsley about bringing it back to Page, we showed everybody what the numbers were and inflated them with people that are walk-up.

“We know our facility will seat 6,900,” Lee added. “That’s shoulder to shoulder, bottom to bottom on a 24-inch seat. But we have a lot of people that come to our games who never sit down.”

We have seen very large crowds at Page for playoff football games in recent years and I remember being there for the Page-Matthews Butler and the Page-Mallard Creek games back in 2011 when Page was in-route to a perfect season and the 2011 NCHSAA 4-AA Football Championship….Mallard Creek had tailgaters in town by 5pm and they had a band set up and playing music in the visitor’s parking lot at Page…

Rusty Lee to Joe Sirera on those two contests at Page,
“We know for a fact that when we played (Charlotte) Mallard Creek here and when we played (Matthews) Butler, those two weeks one of those was about 6,900 and the other was about 7,600,” Lee said. “We knew we could do that. It’s a little different because we have to separate the crowds(for the Grimsley game) and that takes away a little bit of the standing room.”

I can remember those big crowds at Grimsley from over the years when the rivalry really got heated up and I always will remember the Greensboro Police Department and the traffic cops that would line the field to keep the students off of the field after the game and the Grimsley students would rush the field after a win and they did not come often, but when they did, the celebration was on….Whirlies broke up a long losing drought back in 1999 and went on to win a few more games in the early 2000’s, but as of late, Page has owned the gate….

Well not really, Page would get the gate every other year, as they would be the home team away from home, at Grimsley every other year, but this year a new trend is about to begin….

You can also look back to the Dudley-Smith games that were played for a period of time over at Aggie Stadium, on the N.C. A&T campus and those games for about a 2-3 year stretch, drew crowds of 20.000-plus fans…

Dudley and Smith thought that both schools would be better served to bring this game back home to their respective campuses and with the recent expansion, over at Dudley’s Tarpley Stadium, this has proven to be a good overall move/decision…

The Page-Grimsley game will be at Page this year and then next year the Grimsley-Page game will be held back over at Grimsley….

Page has a chance to host the big event and for the sake of reality, you still wonder how many fans can they get in there over at the Marion Kirby Stadium???
(Remember what Rusty Lee said, “We have a lot of people that come to our games who never sit down.”“.)

We saw 7,600 back in 2011 when James Summers and his mates were going full throttle and now how long far will they let the gas pedal go this Friday night and do you think they might have to cut off the crowd or stop selling tickets at a certain point???

Seems like this would be a nice problem to have if you are in the business of funding a high school athletics program and to go along with the funding, the real fun will be on the field, with it still being anybody’s game prior to the first whistle…Then when that first whistle blows, look out from that point forward, because there are going to be some points on that scoreboard….

I am going to put the number at 8,500 fans and cap it off at that and then see how it all goes from there and you really need to be there to soak it all up and take it all in this Friday night at the Marion Kirby Stadium, on the Page High School campus…..

This will be a historical moment and one that should not be missed if you are a true Page or Grimsley fan, since you know for certain that they will be talking about the nature of how this game came about and how the crowd turned out and they will be talking about this event/game for many years to come….

How many times are you able to be a part of a first….You never know, this might be your last chance on Friday….Kickoff 7:30 at Marion Kirby Stadium and get there to get a parking spot and a seat…

*****And keep in mind what AD Rusty Lee said up above, “We have a lot of people that come to our games who never sit down.”*****

18 thoughts on “Wonder what type of crowd to expect for the Page-Grimsley game TONIGHT at Page High School???

  1. Thought it might be a little fun to bring this back and here is what the fans were saying when news of this move first broke back on March 12 of this year/2015….People always have thoughts and are never at a loss for opinions…..

    Gfan said,

    This is the dumbest thing ever. This is a revenue game for both team why have the game in a cracker box?

    Page Alum said,

    Bout time the game came to Page stadium.

    just sayin said,

    Glad to see Page not give up a home game to Grimsley every other year. Not that it matters Grimsley will just have to drive a couple miles now for their annual butt whipping!

    hahaha said,

    Page is just moving the game to their other home stadium…..they’ve owned Jamison for along time. Its real nice of them to let Grimsley play their home games there.

    CJones said,

    Parking at Golden Gate shopping center?

    Andy Durham said,

    Additional parking in the bus parking lot and possible parking in old Ham’s lot across the street and they can also use parking lot across the street where that shopping center used to be…Lots of spaces over there across Cone Blvd….

    Accurate said,

    They have played for 54 years beginning in 1960.
    They have played 55 times since one year they met in the playoffs.

    triadwatch said,

    it is not like page has a 10 game losing streak at jamieson stadium. This is a huge revenue driver game and you just took out and I am being conservative on the numbers probably close to 2,000 spectators at $5 a person $10,000 plus concessions. Have you seen the visitors side of page stadium. Please tell me where the band, students, parents and alumni will sit. Will they deny spectators to sit on home side because the visitors side is WAAAYYY TOOOOOOOO SMMMMAAAALLLLL

    maybe? said,

    Maybe it will be like a normal football game where the whole stadium is the home side….find a seat and cheer for your team.

    Southside said,

    Who cares?????

    Andy Durham said,

    The Page fans sure do care. They are glad to have the game at their place…It means a lot to them, that is for sure…Now the game really is their HOME game, because it will be played on their HOME field…

    Good job by AD Rusty Lee and Coach Kevin Gillespie for getting this done…This is a piece of history here when you look at the fact that the game had been played at Grimsley for all those years….

  2. “Accurate” is still inaccurate. Grimsley and Page have played multiple times in the state playoffs. The all-time series is 47-11-3 in favor of Page, and both schools have the year-by-year scores to back it up. Listen to the N&R’s podcast this week talking to Joe Franks, Mac Morris and Phil Weaver and they reference and tell stories about a number of those years when the schools met in the regular season and the playoffs.

    Just because “Accurate” doesn’t remember those games doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, just that “Accurate” doesn’t have a very good memory.

  3. Watching the fans begin to gather and then file into Marion Kirby Stadium might well be worth the price of admission on Friday night….

  4. Funny when the only talk about this so called Rivalry is how big the crowd will be….Cause the Football game will be one sided and horrible. This game will be over by the end of the first quarter.

    PAGE-60
    Grimsley-0

    If they take their foot off the gas in the 4th

    Page 49
    Grimsley 0

  5. I did a little research and yes Shuping’s teams beat Page as did Coach Stewart back in the early 2000’s. Funny how neither one is there now.

  6. Looking forward to the game on Friday and ready to see Page fill that place up. Not expecting many Grimsley people to show up. When Grimsley’s down their people don’t come out. Current Grimsley coaches are hanging in over there but it has to be tough. They may have to open up the track and let Page fans stand down there. Page will pack that place out and it should be a festive atmosphere and a lit up scoreboard.

    Looking for a crowd of say maybe 7,000-7,500.

  7. Last check we had Coach Shuping was the assistant coach along with head coach Chuck Henderson down at Lexington….Currently Lexington is (4-2) on the season….

  8. According to the MaxPreps records Grimsley last won vs. Page back in 2006 with the score Grimsley 21, Page 10…

    Over the past 10 years or so it has gone like this:

    2014 Page 46-6
    2013 Page 43-14
    2012 Page 49-25
    2011 Page 49-0
    2010 Page 41-20
    2009 Page 42-14
    2008 Page 19-6
    2007 Page 24-23
    2006 Grimsley 21-10
    2005 Grimsley 41-14
    2004 Grimsley 23-22

    All above numbers coming in from MaxPreps….

  9. This game will be boring! You would see better football games being played by your local Pop Warner teams. It will be over at halftime and if not for a running clock Page could score 100.

    PAGE-70
    GRIMSLEY-0

  10. JD Springer and Accurate were both inaccurate

    2014 Page 46-6 (43-12-3)
    2013 Page 43-14 (42-12-3)
    2012 Page 49-25 (41-12-3)
    2011 Page 49-0 (40-12-3)
    2010 Page 41-20 (39-12-3)
    2009 Page 42-14 (38-12-3)
    2008 Page 19-6 (37-12-3)
    2007 Page 24-23 (36-12-3)
    2006 Grimsley 21-10 (35-12-3)
    2005 Grimsley 41-14 (35-11-3)
    2004 Grimsley 23-22 (35-10-3)
    2003 Page 18-10 (35-9-3)
    2002 Page 24-21 (34-9-3)
    2001 Page 21-0 (33-9-3)
    2000 Page 35-6 (32-9-3)
    1999 Grimsley 27-14 (31-9-3)
    1998 Page 41-14 (31-8-3)
    1997 Page 28-20 (30-8-3)
    1996 Page 54-6 (29-8-3)
    1995 Page 28-22 (28-8-3)
    1994 Page 24-10 (27-8-3)
    1993 Page 36-7 (26-8-3)
    1992 Page 38-28 (25-8-3)
    1991 Tied 13-13 (24-8-3)
    1990 Page 27-24, Page 23-16 (Playoffs) (24-8-2)
    1989 Page 9-7 (22-8-2)
    1988 Page 22-21 (21-8-2)
    1987 Page 56-7, Grimsley 10-7 (Playoffs) (20-8-2)
    1986 Page 49-15 (19-7-2)
    1985 Page 39-0 (18-7-2)
    1984 Page 49-13 (17-7-2)
    1983 Page 35-3 (16-7-2)
    1982 Page 34-0 (15-7-2)
    1981 Page 35-7 (14-7-2)
    1980 Page 34-0 (13-7-2)
    1979 Page 16-6 (12-7-2)
    1978 Page 12-0 (11-7-2)
    1977 Tied 24-24 (10-7-2)
    1976 Page 25-7 (9-7-1)
    1975 Page 56-0 (8-7-1)
    1974 Page 25-15 (7-7-1)
    1973 Page 31-0 (6-7-1)
    1972 Page 7-0 (5-7-1)
    1971 Grimsley 16-8 (4-7-1)
    1970 Page 24-8 (4-6-1)
    1969 Page 25-8 (3-6-1)
    1968 Tied 6-6 (2-6-1)
    1967 Page 12-7 (2-6-0)
    1966 Grimsley 27-6 (1-6-0)
    1965 Grimsley 13-12 (1-5-0)
    1964 Grimsley 12-7 (1-4-0)
    1963 Page 7-6 (1-3-0)
    1962 Grimsley 21-7 (0-3-0)
    1961 Grimsley 26-6 (0-2-0)
    1960 Grimsley 26-6 (0-1-0)

  11. I bet the Page fans wouldn’t mind seeing some scoring like Z was talking about….Teams love to wear out their rival if they get that chance….In terms of teams we are talking about players and the fans. The coaches know each other very well and they have a code that runs among the coaching ranks and it looks out for other teams in situations where things could get real crazy and out of hand…

  12. Made a small mistake

    Page leads all-time series (42-12-3)

    unless i missed some more playoffs games

  13. @JoeB Again, you’re not including all the playoff games. There were more than two, and they were all won by Page except 1987. The ADs also have the 1965 game as 13-12, Page not Grimsley, but maybe they’re both wrong.

  14. JD Springer, yeah I thought i missed some more playoff games. I would like to get everything right though.

  15. If anybody is going to go after it, that Joe B will go after it and the same can be said for Mr. Springer…

  16. For historical reasons it should be noted while this is the first time the game is being played on Pages campus it’s not the first time it’s being played at Pages home field. Until 82 or 83 Page played all of their home games at Jamieson. Who remembers the red cheerleader stand on the Page side? Page also won the state championship at Jamieson in 85 vs Terry Sanford on a blocked FG by Tripp Welbourne and 75 yd scoop and score by Wayne Brame.

Comments are closed.