Bemidji and Brainerd Football Ready for Clash in Battle for Babe’s Bell

Friday night’s football game will mark the 79th meeting between Bemidji and Brainerd, and it’ll be the 7th time that they will battle for Babe’s Bell, one of the state’s most iconic traveling trophies.

Currently, the Warriors are in possession of Babe’s Bell, having won it the last two years running. With the rivalry game being held in Bemidji, they’d love nothing more than to load that trophy back on the bus and celebrate all 98 miles to Brainerd.

“It would just be a huge part in the chapter of our senior class,” said Brainerd senior TE/LB Rowan Plested. “We’ve gone through some adversity this year and this would just be a huge trophy and staple on the year. Brainerd, Bemidji just care. From the fans to the players, everybody involved. It goes back in hockey and football, baseball. I mean, it just kind of embodies Minnesota sports.”

“You know, obviously it means a lot to the historic rivalry in Minnesota. Yeah, just really enjoy playing them,” said Brainerd senior OL/DL Waylon Larson. “[Head coach Jason] Freed was just talking to us in the locker room. You know, we haven’t won up there in a while, so it’ll be fun to win up there.”

The Lumberjacks have had the misfortune of traveling to Brainerd two years in a row and coming back empty handed, but this year they will play at home, where they have not lost to the Warriors since 2010. The Jacks are hoping to continue that streak tomorrow.

“A lot of the alumni are going to be there. I was talking to a few of them yesterday, so it would be fun to win it back with them there, too,” said Bemidji senior RB Owen Frazer. “It means a lot to our team, too. We go and pretend win the bell before every practice when it’s game week ’cause we don’t have it.”

“He wants us to visualize it just so you see what it’s going to be like when we do win it,” added Bemidji senior LB Hudson Pink. “Since my freshman year, I just remember that being in our school, seeing it every day, and I haven’t seen it in a while, so it’d be nice to see it every day.”