There was a time when the Jefferson and Carroll football rivalry was one of the featured games in Iowa high school football. Played on Thanksgiving Day a century ago, then moved up a bit to Armistice Day, the “Ramblers” as Jefferson teams where known as then, and the Tigers played some legendary contests.

When the Midwest Conference began competing in 1940, Jefferson and Carroll were members all the way to 1990 when the league disbanded. Greene County’s Rams are now in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference while Carroll is a Raccoon River Activities Conference member.

Conference football in Iowa is long gone and Carroll is a Class 3A football program while the Rams play in 2A, so to play each other on the gridiron it needs to be a non-district game, and that’s the game on Friday night at Carroll Athletic Field. The teams haven’t met in football since 2015 and the Tigers have won the last five games in the series. Both teams had winning records a season ago and both return a bevy of talent. Game time is set for 7 p.m. with coverage at 6:30 p.m. on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.