BISBEE — For the 139th time, the high school football teams of Bisbee and Douglas met on the gridiron in one of the nation’s longest running rivalries.

Bruce Whetten / Douglas Dispatch Douglas’ David Figueroa runs for a few tough yards in the Bulldogs season opener with Bisbee Friday. Douglas won the game 49-12 retaining custody of The Pick for the third straight year.

And for the 14th time in the last 16 years, the result was the same — a blowout win for Class 4A Douglas over Class 2A Bisbee. On this night, in the 100th anniversary of the first time the rivalry was played at Historic Warren Ballpark, Douglas piled on the points late to win 49-12 and keep the treasured copper pick trophy in their possession.

But to the thousands on hand, the typical lop-sided result was beside the point.

“I work here and have a lot of friends here, and we’re all good about it,” said “Pie” Escarcega, a Douglas native who dared to dye his hair in Bulldog black and gold and wear an old DHS jersey while sitting in the home team’s section. “Bisbee fans are good people.”

Lifelong Bisbee resident Mike Donahue was part of many Pick games of the early 1980s as a trumpet player in the band. Twenty-seven years after graduating, he hasn’t missed a rivalry game.

“The biggest difference is just so much bigger than we are,” he said. “Our team used to be big. Our band had 76 members so the football team was big, too.”

But Escarcega said the biggest change he’s seen has been the dwindling of Douglas rooters.

“I would say there’s less support on the Douglas side,” said Escarcega, who played in two Pick games in his high school days. “I’m impressed with Bisbee because they’re a small team, but they turn out.”

Prior to Friday night’s game, Aaron Farmer, the starting quarterback for the 2006 Bisbee High team that shocked everyone by beating Douglas for the Pick 20-19, sang the national anthem with the accompaniment of director Phil Hirales and the Bisbee High band.

Farmer made it back in time for the rivalry after recently completing basic training in the U.S. Army.

“It means a lot, it’s been around a long time and we hadn’t won it since 1995, and I don’t want it to be that long till we win again,” Farmer said. “It’s like a legacy and it means a lot to the people of Bisbee and Douglas.”

Donahue said he plans to keep coming to the game year after year, though he’d like to see it later on the calendar.

“I just wish it wasn’t the first game all the time,” Donahue said. “It seems to catch our boys in summer rush. I wish it was later in the season, we might have a better chance.”