Lisbon celebrates its 41-21 Spaghetti Bowl win over Leetonia on Friday night in Leetonia. (Photo by Michael Burich)

LEETONIA — Current Leetonia assistant coach Artie Altomare helped start the Spaghetti Bowl tradition in 1977 when he was the head coach for the Bears.

In what have been the last “bowl” game for the foreseeable future between Lisbon and Leetonia, the 77-year-old ended up on his back with his son Matt after players got tangled up in a little scuffle after a play on the Bear sidelines in the fourth quarter in a Lisbon 41-21 victory on Friday.

It might have been a fitting end to a series that will likely come to an end due to a scheduling dispute between the two schools.

“I was just telling the kids I remember every play of my senior night game which was against Lisbon,” Matt Altomare said. “It was my last high school football game here at Leetonia and I ended on my back on that last play, too.”

Lisbon retains the pasta bowl shaped trophy as it has won the last five in the series of what is currently the longest running continuous rivalry game played in Columbiana County. The game has been played every year since 1940 and was a contentious rivalry game even before that.

There were quite a few players on each side who had generational connections to the rivalry game. Lisbon junior quarterback Grant Minor was one of them as his father Jeremy played under Jim Tsilimos at Lisbon.

Grant Minor ended up playing a big role in Friday’s game completing 11 of 21 passes for 176 yards and three touchdowns. Marc Moore hauled in a 25-yard strike and Brady Lively caught a 14-yard touchdown pass in the first half for the Devils, while Wyatt Newbold’s 37-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter sent the game into running clock territory for about 11 minutes before Leetonia’s late scores got the game back under the mercy rule threshold.

“If you’re a kid growing up in the Lisbon-Leetonia area you know about this game,” Minor said. “This is a huge deal to everybody involved. It looked it out there. You had two teams who gave it everything they had.”

While the win improved the Blue Devils to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference, it was a bittersweet victory.

Minor said he’s let down he likely won’t get to play it in his senior season.

“It’s one of the biggest disappointments,” Minor said. “It was one of the most fun games of my career. The Spaghetti Bowl is always something we are excited for. It’s a trophy game and it’s going to feel really good to walk through the hallways and see it in our case.”

Leetonia senior lineman Michael Mango was on the other end of that sentiment. His father Jason graduated in 1995 from Leetonia and his grandfather was a long time assistant coach under Matt and Artie Altomare.

“It’s sad to see it go,” said a teary-eyed Mango. “It’s weird to see tradition go. We’re completely leaving and I kind of hate it to be honest. I kind of feel like I let (my grandfather) down tonight.”

The Bears (3-6, 1-5 in the EOAC) had some sparks of life in the game including quarterback Dylan Johns who completed 12 of 18 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns. Johns also had a fumble recovery. Ethan Mathia, who was the Bears’ emotional leader, caught touchdown passes of 40, 63 and 45 yards.

Lisbon’s workhorse running back Ashton Hinchliffe had 10 carries for 167 yards and three touchdowns — all coming in the first half as the Devils led 35-7 at the break. He did not carry the ball and only saw limited action in the second half.

“We took him out,” Lisbon coach Bill Meek said. “We have a big game next week. He’s our horse and we didn’t want to get him hurt.”

The Devils will be playing for a Div. VII playoff berth next Friday with a home game against Columbiana. The Clippers also likely need a win to keep playing in Week 11.

Leetonia will be at Wellsville to close the season next Friday.

Game notes

¯ Leetonia athletic director Nick Sferra said the Bears are still open to scheduling Lisbon in the first three weeks of the season, but the school district needs to have additional scheduling partnerships in other sports — including junior high sports — with the Devils to make the relationship viable.

¯ Sferra said he didn’t like the comments made by Lisbon athletic director Kyle Bing in Friday’s edition in regards to Leetonia not being truthful in its departure from the EOAC.

“The bottom line is we are here to serve the kids and the school districts we represent,” Sferra said. “We’ve been trasnparent from the beginning here. If there are personal things he wants to address he has my number and he can call me.”

Sferra also said he didn’t want to drag things out in the media but said he would if he had to.

¯ Both head coaches are sorry to see the rivalry come to an end.

“It’s unfortunate because it has been played for so long,” Altomare said. “Because my dad started the Spaghetti Bowl almost 50 years ago, I hope eventually cooler heads prevail and we can figure something out.”

¯ For a few decades the Spaghetti Bowl tradition entailed that the losing team would serve the winning team a spaghetti dinner after the season. That part of the tradition has not existed for a while, but the teams do compete for a trophy currently.

“I think it’s very sad,” Meek said. “It’s evident here. You had great crowds from both communities. I have spoken and said what I have needed to say. It’s sad that it’s ending and I’ll just leave it at that.”

¯ Artie Altomare was all right after falling down in the scuffle.

“Not bad for a 77-year-old,” he said.

¯ Leetonia lost wide receiver Brayden Gainey to a knee injury in the first half.

¯ The 50/50 raffle prize was $190.

LI: 14-21-6-0–41

LE: 7-0-0-14–21

SCORING

LI–Ashton Hinchliffe 1 run (Baylen Jackson kick)

LE–Ethan Mathia 40 pass from Dylan Johns (Johns kick)

LI–Ashton Hinchliffe 10 run (Johns kick)

LI–Marc Moore 25 pass from Grant Minor (Baylen Jackson kick)

LI –Hinchliffe 3 run (Baylen Jackson kick)

LI–Brady Lively 14 pass from Minor (Jackson kick)

LI–Wyatt Newbold 37 pass from Grant Minor (kick failed)

LE–Mathia 63 pass from Johns (Johns kick)

LE–Mathia 45 pass from Johns (Johns kick)

——

LI LE

First downs 19 8

Total Yards 373 2-6

Rushes-yards 24-197 32-12

Passing 176 194

Comp-Att-Int 11-21-1 12-18-0

Punts 2-15 5-36

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 10-98

——

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Lisbon, Ashton Hinchliffe 10-167, Devin Kelly 9-21, Grant Minor 5-9.

PASSING–Lisbon, Grant Minor 11-21-176-1; Leetonia, Dylan Johns 12-18-194-0.

RECEIVING–Lisbon, Wyatt Newbold 3-61, Cooper Terdina 2-41, Marc Moore 1-25, Brady Lively -25, Zylar Mundy 2-15, Devin Kelly 1-9; Leetonia, Ethan Mathia 6-161.

INTERCEPTIONS–Leetonia, Dylan Brown

FUMBLE RECOVERIES–Leetonia, Johns