Though Maplesville and Billingsley have played every season for at least more than 30 years, those with ties to the programs think 2014 might represent a return to the rivalry’s roots.

Maplesville has dominated the series recently, but this year will mark the first that the Red Devils and the Bears will square off in the playoffs since 1997.

That year, Billingsley earned a hard-fought 6-0 win over Maplesville that propelled the Bears to the state championship.

In a defensive struggle that was scoreless until the waning moments, Hal Harrison, then a Maplesville senior, now recalls the punt that Billingsley’s Andre Brown ran back for a touchdown with less than a minute left to play.

“I’ll never forget his name,” said Harrison, a Maplesville resident who serves on the Town Council. “I will continually say that was the most disappointing loss I had as a high school athlete, without a doubt.”

Jeremy Carter, a senior that played fullback and middle linebacker on the ‘97 Billingsley team, also has a vivid memory of the game, including a key block thrown by Thomas Hubbard and the fact that Brown ran the punt back exactly 72 yards and left exactly 42 seconds on the clock.

“Anytime you played Maplesville back in those days, to us, it was a huge rivalry game,” said Carter, who coached the Bears during the 2009 season and now coaches at Morgan Academy in Selma. “That was always a game of great players and great coaches.”

Billingsley and Maplesville met during the regular season in 1997, with Billingsley running away with a 48-0 win.

Maplesville was coming off its own state championship in 1996 and dealing with the graduations of several important players.

By the time the playoffs came around, the Red Devils were ready.

Ironically, this year it will be Billingsley hoping it has improved since a regular season meeting won 54-0 by Maplesville.

Carter has seen plenty of football teams find their way over the course of a season.

He watched the Bears defeat top-ranked Brantley last week, the first Billingsley game he had seen since he coached there.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “Their defense played well.”

Carter said he always enjoyed the challenge of competing against a top program like Maplesville.

“It’s not all about the X’s and O’s,” he said. “It’s about the execution and how bad you want it.”

With the rivals meeting in the semifinal round of the playoffs, Carter and Harrison can see similarities with the high-stakes games they were used, and both said they thought the teams’ success this year is good for the programs, schools and communities.

“The rivalry used to be big from the standpoint that you knew everyone on the other team, and you knew you had to go through Billingsley to get to the state championship,” Harrison said. “Both communities embraced the rivalry. Even as a kid, I remember it being a big game.

“The rivalry, I think, has picked back up. I’m excited to see it back again. It brings back a lot of feelings and emotions I had as a player.”