History will be made tonight when the Princeton Tigers host the Kewanee Boilermakers to commemorate the 125th meeting of Illinois’ longest running football rivalry.

Princeton won the inaugural 1897 game by a score of 34-4 (Kewanee’s four points came via two safeties). The Tigers won the first three meetings of the series before KHS logged an 11-6 win in 1903.

Last season Princeton book ended the series by defeating the Boilers, 56-7. In all, the Tigers have won 57 games and the Boilers have won 55.

Four of the games ended in tie (prior to the current tiebreaker format). In 1928 there was no score (0-0). In 1935, the score was tied at 14. In 1948, the teams played to a 7-7 draw and in 1959 the score was knotted at 12.

The two teams met continuously for 90 years (from 1919-2009). Kewanee left the now-defunct NCIC in 2009 to join the Three Rivers Conference. The rivalry series resumed when Princeton joined the TRAC in 2013.

Somewhat surprisingly, there’s only been one overtime game and that was in 1982. Princeton outlasted the Boilers, 23-22.

This year’s rendition of the rivalry will feature a 5-0 (3-0) Boilermaker squad that’s hungry to win back the travelling trophy. Princeton, No. 3 in Class 3A and 4-1 (1-0) will be trying to hand Kewanee their first loss of the season and, more importantly, their first TRAC-Mississippi loss.

History of KHS football teams that started the season with 5-0 records:

1934 (team in photo): finished the season 9-0 (before the IHSA playoffs started in 1974).

1943: won their first eight games before ending the season with a 9-1 record.

1951: won the first five games and finished at 7-2.

1982: won their first six games (under Coach Dan Dickel) and ended the season at 8-3. Won their first Class 3A playoff game against Yorkville, 25-21. They bowed out in the second round (then known as the quarterfinals) with a 49-0 loss to Geneva.

1999: Kewanee’s most successful football team (since the IHSA playoffs series was formed). Coached by Greg Christakos, the team won the first five games of the season before losing to Rochelle. They went on to make the playoffs and beat Fairbury (Prairie Central) in the first round, 30-0.

They faced Woodstock (Marian) in the second round and won 7-0. That win marked the first (and last) time a KHS team would advance to the state football quarterfinals (third round).

In the quarterfinal game, the Boilers lost a 7-0 heartbreaker to St. Joseph (Ogden) and ended their successful run at 10-2.

2021: the team got off to an 8-0 start before losing to Sterling (Newman Central Catholic) in the final game of the season. The team was listed in 3A throughout the season, but was bumped up to 4A for the playoffs.

In spite of that, they won the first round game against Plano, 17-14, but bowed at 9-2 with a 48-21 loss to Chicago (Phillips).