On Friday night, the football teams from Lumberton and Purnell Swett high schools will tangle in Big Mo Stadium in Pembroke, and for the first time in a long time, the game means much more than bragging rights for the two cross-county rivals.

The Pirates, 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the Southeastern 4A Conference, and the Rams, 8-2 and 2-2, are battling for second place in the league, and trying to enhance their chances for a deep run in the upcoming state playoffs.

What a difference two years made.

It was in 2007 that both schools, mired for years — decades in the case of Lumberton High — on the south side of even mediocrity, hired proven winners as head coaches. Lumberton High turned to Mike Brill, who built a winning program at South Robeson before health issues sidelined him temporarily, and Purnell Swett returned to Mark Heil, who in the early 1990s turned the Rams into one of the elite programs in the state.

Expectations for both programs seemed lofty at the time, but are being met. If you want to dig deeper into the football side, we will send you to Page 1B, where our sports staff is dissecting the game that is being billed as the Backyard Brawl. A full page entirely devoted to the game is scheduled for Thursday’s sports pages.

The coaches and their players have not only won football games, they have invigorated their communities. Football has always been king at Purnell Swett, but a bit less so at Lumberton High. Now Big Mo and Alton Brooks stadiums routinely rock on Friday nights, giving their fans, people of different color, backgrounds and social status, a reason to cheer together. Never underestimate the value that a winning high school football program can have on a community’s self-esteem.

But Friday is more than a football game between two rivalries. It is also Lumberton vs. Pembroke, which has always been a fractious relationship. And if we are honest, we will acknowledge the racial element to this contest as well.

It is the nature of sports that on Friday there will be a winner and a loser. Emotions are traditionally high when these two county rivals tangle, but because of the high stakes, they will be even more so on Friday.

We hope that the winning team, its coaches and players, will be gracious in victory, and that their fans will be as well. And we trust that the losing team, its coaches and player, will be accepting and congratulatory in defeat, and that their fans will be as well.

We know that security will be tight — and that there will be little tolerance for the few bad apples that would spoil the evening for others. This will be a night to celebrate, not only a victory by one team, but the resurrection of two programs.

Remember, it’s just a game. A big game — finally.