CONTRIBUTED BY: SCOTT SERMAN (MU Alumni)
During the late ‘60’s and early to mid-70’s, Milton-Union dominated the football contests between the Tipp City Red Devils and the Bulldogs. What had been an “8-Mile War,” the distance separating the two towns, had turned into a domination of the rivalry by Milton … until the fateful evening in 1976 at Memorial Stadium in West Milton.
Tipp City was having a solid year. Coming into the game, their team had the best shot at knocking off a Milton Union Bulldog squad that was racked with injuries and struggling to achieve a winning season.
It had not been but two seasons before that the only victory the Bulldogs had in an unusual 1 and 9 season was against the Red Devils. Milton bounced back in 1975, winning the league title and easily knocking off Tipp City once again, thereby sustaining the dominance in the rivalry.
However, in 1976, Tipp City was poised to make a run at the ‘Dogs, and potentially achieve something that for 20+ years had not happened, winning the game over MU. The Bulldogs had on their staff Dale Pittenger, a high school star for the Tipp Red Devils who went on to an incredible career at Wittenberg—and even had a tryout with the Washington Redskins. Coach Pittenger enjoyed winning against his old team, and he was very much aware of the fact that he would not hear the end of it if, by chance, Tipp could break the spell while he was there coaching.
On this night, the Red Devils, with some good fortune from the Bulldogs’ poor play, pulled off the victory and walked away with a 21-20 spell-breaking win. Milton went on to end their season with a 5 - 5 record. Tipp City robbing them of a winning record just added some fire to the Bulldog defeat. Coach Pittenger was rumored to have said, “5 - 5 is like kissing your sister!” The Bulldog Team had to wait another year to start a new streak and avenge the loss….
It did happen that the 1977 SWBL season watched Milton run off with the league title, finishing 10 - 0, undefeated, and scoring a win against the Red Devils, 20 to 0 at the old Tipp Field in the park. In fact, the Bulldogs rolled off another 10 - 0 season in 1978 as well, returning the glory to the Milton faithful and beginning the winning streak all over again. But, for that one night, many years ago, that one point made all the difference, and the Red Devils enjoyed a victory in the “8-Mile War.”