Battle for the Boot
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Article By Marc Lea
Photo Credits: David Flannery
When the Chico State lacrosse team arrives in San Luis Obispo late Thursday night, they will drive into town on a chartered bus, players dressed in suits, matching bags in the cargo area, and not a beer can to be found. They will unload quietly, check-in to their rooms, and get ready for “the Battle for the Boot” the following night under the lights in Cal Poly’s Spanos Stadium. (UPDATE: The game has been moved up to Thursday night at Righetti High School’s turf field in Santa Maria.)
It’s not an unusual scenario for most top tier MCLA squads these days, but it’s a far cry from how their rivalry game played out merely a decade ago. Back in 1998, with the rivals squaring off in a WCLL Division 2 playoff game in SLO town, the Wildcats rolled down from Chico in a convoy of players’ cars, literally pitched their tents on the grass at old Mustang stadium, and convinced the perplexed local Domino’s Restaurant to deliver a stack of pizzas to their makeshift tent city.
Chico State went on to upset the higher seeded Mustangs 6-5 the next day, in a grinding, hard-hitting contest typical of that era. The Wildcats took home the Boot, earned a spot in the WCLL Division 2 Finals, and wrote another chapter in the teams’ storied rivalry. As two state schools drawing their student body almost entirely from California, playing high caliber lacrosse was a pipe dream for both Cal Poly and Chico back in the early 1990’s, when their rivalry was forming.
The vast majority of players on both teams were new to the game. Former football, baseball, and soccer players picked up the game only when they arrived on their respective college campuses, athletes ready for a new challenge without the regimentation they experienced during their high school playing days.
Experienced players were few and far between. There was a rare East Coast transplant and maybe a couple of guys from one of the few elite California prep schools that played lacrosse; students who either didn’t get into their chosen university or picked Cal Poly for its famous engineering program or Chico State for its infamous Playboy Magazine ranking as the nation’s top party school.
As lacrosse exploded in the state’s high school ranks, colleges like Chico State and Cal Poly absorbed an influx of experienced lacrosse players and each year their programs improved. By the time that 1998 playoff game arrived, both squads were already on the upswing, following parallel paths toward a brighter future.
Few players, and fewer parents and administrators, want to turn back the clock and return to the days when structure was shunned, and drinking was as central to the team’s mission as their performance on the field. On the other hand, there is an undeniable sense of nostalgia for the guys that played during that era, when friendships between teammates and rivals alike were formed on the field and at the keg party that followed each game.
It was one of those same post-game parties that gave birth to the Battle for the Boot. The boot was one of Chico State’s rather dubious traditions; a crusty old cleat with a handle riveted on to the side, and used as a communal chalice in celebration of their Wildcat victories. Legend has it that back in 1995, a Mustang player of questionable moral stature absconded the boot at a post-game celebration.
The exchange, we are told, went something like this:
“I got it!” exclaimed the unnamed Mustang player.
“Got what?” said a perplexed teammate.
“The Boot!”
Well, get the hell out of here before they realize that thing is gone!”
And so, after a series of ransom notes were sent from various cities across the state, it was eventually revealed that the cherished boot had been brought back to San Luis Obispo. The Battle for the Boot was born, and from its less than auspicious beginnings it has evolved into one of the WCLL’s best rivalries.
By the 2003 season, both teams were starting to make a name for themselves on the national stage. Cal Poly had earned their first trip to the National Championship tournament the previous season, and Chico was routinely ranking in the Top 25 poll. When the rivals’ met that regular season, it marked the first time the Battle for the Boot would hold national implications. Chico State edged out the Mustangs that night, 10-8, in a crazed atmosphere under the lights at Chico’s University Stadium. The loss meant that Cal Poly had to return to Chico the following weekend for a first-round playoff game, another grueling eight hour drive through California’s flatlands.
That playoff game, widely celebrated by Cal Poly and infamously shunned by Chico State devotees, will live forever in the rivals’ history. Things looked bleak for Cal Poly: the game was tied with less than a minute to go, Chico had the ball, and after calling a timeout, had their game-winning play drawn up and ready to go. The whistle sounded and play resumed, but Chico’s scoreboard clock malfunctioned.
As then Chico State head coach, Steve Dini, frantically tried to get the referees attention, Chico found an open man and were poised to score the winning goal. The ref finally noticed the scoring table’s pleas, and blew the play dead a split second before a Chico shot found the back of the net.
The goal was disallowed, the clock fixed, and the game restarted. This time Chico lost the ball, and as Mustang goalkeeper, Ryan Parr, scooped up the loose ball and headed up the sidelines, he got checked across the helmet just seconds before the final whistle sounded. Cal Poly started the overtime period with a man advantage, and less than thirty seconds later, Peter Reed whizzed a shot past the Wildcat goalie’s ear and sent the jubilant Mustangs on to the field in celebration.
A painful moment for the Chico faithful, to be sure, but one of the more memorable moments in the rivalry’s history. The story had a happy ending even for the Wildcats, as both squads were invited to the National Championship tournament that season, a testament to the vast improvements made by both teams and the growing national importance of the long-time rivals.
Cal Poly has gotten the better of the Battle of the Boot match-up since it’s inception in 1995. The Mustangs hold a 9-4 advantage over their Northern California rivals, and a 12-6 record when playoff games are factored in, but the games are always hard-fought contests, see-sawing back and forth as the emotions swing wildly on the sidelines. Regardless of team records or national rankings, it’s a rare year when one team wins by more than a goal or two.
As the teams face-off this weekend to begin the 2008 season, the faces may have changed and the names may be different, but the heart of their rivalry beats strong. As they take the field in sparkling uniforms, thirty players deep on the sidelines, Chico and Cal Poly will battle from the first whistle to the last, playing at a level neither team would have believed possible just over a decade ago. Their rivalry game serves as a testament to not only how far these two programs have come, but how the game itself has grown and flourished across the Golden State.
