The Bell Game


The Bell Game is an annual football contest between two high schools in Pueblo, Colorado, USA: Centennial High School and Central High School. They have been playing each other since Thanksgiving Day 1892 in what is believed to be the oldest ongoing American football rivalry for high school teams west of the Mississippi River and the highest annual attendance for a high school sports event in Colorado, typically drawing 15,000 fans to Pueblo's Dutch Clark Stadium. The rivalry is sometimes referred to as the "One Hundred Year War". Since 1950, the teams have played for ownership of a railroad bell mounted upon a wheeled cart, along with the right to paint the cart the winning school's colors and keep the bell in the winning school for sporting events and school activities. In years where the bell is transferred from one school to the other, the senior cheerleaders from the losing school wheel the bell to midfield at the conclusion of the game where it is handed over to the senior cheerleaders and players from the victorious school. The bell's cart is repainted in the winning school's colors, with one small area retaining the color from the other school to symbolize the rivalry.
YearWinnerScoreNotes
1892Central4-0
1893Centennial4-0
1897Centennial16-0
1898Central74-0Central would go on to win an unofficial Colorado state championship.
1900Centennial30-0
1900Centennial11-0
1903Centennial10-0
1904Centennial70-0Centennial would go on to win the first official Colorado state championship.
1905Centennial11-0
1906Central4-0
1907Tie Game6-6
1921Central13-0
1922Central9-0
1923Centennial5-0
1924Central22-13
1925Central43-0Future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Earl "Dutch" Clark played his senior year at Central.
1926Central6-3
1927Central13-6
1928Central21-0Central would go on to win Colorado state championship.
1929Centennial12-0Future Hewlett-Packard founder David Packard played his senior year at Centennial.
1930Central20-0
1931Central24-6Central would end up Colorado state runner-up.
1932Tie Game0-0
1932Centennial27-0
1933Centennial26-13
1933Centennial12-6
1934Centennial26-2
1934Centennial7-6
1935Central21-6
1935Central13-0
1936Tie Game0-0
1936Tie Game0-0
1937Tie Game7-7
1938Central13-7Central would go on to win Colorado class A state championship.
1939Centennial20-13Centennial would end up Colorado class A runner-up.
1940Centennial7-6
1941Centennial1-0Central forfeited the game for using ineligible players.
1942Tie Game0-0
1942Central12-7
1943Centennial13-0
1943Central7-0
1944Central40-0Central would go on to win Colorado class A state championship.
1945Centennial19-0Centennial would end up Colorado class A runner-up.
1946Centennial26-21Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AA state championship.
1947Central33-13Central would go on to win Colorado class AA state championship.
1948Central7-6
1948Centennial13-0
1949Central19-9
1950Central40-27First game where winner took possession of the victory bell.
1950Central25-15
1951Central13-7
1952Centennial14-0
1953Central32-14
1954Central24-0
1955Central19-14
1956Tie Game0-0
1957Central19-0
1958Central26-12Central would end up Colorado class AAA runner-up.
1959Central13-6
1960Central6-0
1961Central28-14Central would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1962Central13-0Central wins six straight Bell Games; to date the longest streak of the rivalry.
1963Centennial14-7Centennial would end up Colorado class AAA state runner-up.
1964Central7-0
1965Central46-0Central would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1966Tie Game7-7
1967Central10-0
1968Centennial13-6
1969Central44-13
1970Central21-20Central would end up Colorado class AAA runner-up.
1971Central6-0
1972Tie Game7-7
1973Central17-14
1974Centennial13-12
1975Centennial19-0
1976Central14-7
1977Centennial6-0
1978Centennial13-7
1979Central16-3
1980Centennial19-7
1981Central35-8
1982Central35-0
1983Central20-0
1984Centennial13-6
1985Central14-6
1986Centennial14-0
1987Centennial28-10Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AAA state championship.
1988Central15-12
1989Centennial29-17
1990Central20-18
1991Centennial40-15
1992Centennial30-6Centennial would go on to win Colorado class AAAAA state championship.
1993Centennial34-15
1994Centennial26-0
1995Central21-14
1996Centennial28-25
1997Centennial7-6
1998Central27-950th Bell Game played
1999Centennial69-53
2000Central28-13100th rivalry game played.
2001Centennial20-0
2002Centennial42-14
2003Central19-13
2004Centennial58-14
2005Centennial35-13
2006Centennial32-14
2007Central14-6
2008Central22-21 First overtime game in series history.
2009Central29-20
2010Centennial32-20
2011Centennial51-22
2012Centennial41-39
2013Centennial41-29
2014Centennial28-26
2015Central27-24
2016Centennial31-7
2017Centennial14-8
2018Centennial24-12
2019Central23-0

Decade-by-decade victories for each school:
DecadeCentennialCentralTie Games
1891-1900420
1901-1910311
1911-1920000
1921-1930280
1931-1940744
1941-1950581
1951-1960181
1961-1970271
1971-1980541
1981-1990460
1991-2000730
2001-2010640
2011-2020720

As of the 2019 game, in the all-time series Central has 57 wins, Centennial has 53 wins, and the teams have tied 9 times.
In 1895 and 1896, Centennial and Central combined to form a single Pueblo high school team.
Centennial did not field a team in the 1901 or 1902 seasons, nor from 1913 to 1919.
The series was temporarily suspended after the 1907 game ended in a brawl between the two teams and their respective fan bases.
In many years the two teams would play twice each season: a regular season game, and then a special Thanksgiving Day game if neither team was playing in the state playoffs. The Thanksgiving Day games ended after the 1950 season.