Oregon Civil War game Splits Fans

MONROE, Ore. (AP) â€” On one wall of the Long Branch Bar is an Oregon State Beavers football schedule. On an opposite wall is a large Oregon Ducks poster. <br><br>``You wait 'til that Civil War game.

Friday, November 17th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

MONROE, Ore. (AP) â€” On one wall of the Long Branch Bar is an Oregon State Beavers football schedule. On an opposite wall is a large Oregon Ducks poster.

``You wait 'til that Civil War game. There'll be sheriffs in town,'' cracked 61-year-old Dick Phillips as he sipped a Diet Coke at the bar.

Monroe is halfway between the hometowns of the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, protagonists in an annual game dubbed the Civil War.

Oregonians' loyalties are split over the Saturday game â€” as shown by the 480 souls who live here. It's even dividing families.

The rivalry between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers always generates a lot of excitement â€” as well as occasional fistfights. But Oregonians are especially revved up over this year's game.

The No. 5 Ducks and the No. 8 Beavers have never been in the Top 10 at the same time. A win would send the Ducks to the Rose Bowl, while Oregon State needs a victory and a loss by Washington to reach its first Rose Bowl in 35 years.

Civil War fever is at a high pitch in Eugene, hometown of the Oregon Ducks, and in Corvallis, home of the Oregon State Beavers. And around the state, restaurants, bars and stores have hung signs and multicolored balloons welcoming â€” or reviling â€” fans, based on their loyalties.

The deep divide between fans of the competing teams is palpable in Monroe.

A Duck fan has painted his fence yellow-and-green â€” the colors of the University of Oregon. An Oregon State fan has plastered her car with Beavers bumper stickers.

Yvonne Flores is a die-hard Beaver fan. Two of her sons, 11-year-old Chad and 13-year-old Kaleb, proudly wear the orange-and-black of Beavers fans.

But 18-year-old Jarrod holds out for the Oregon Ducks, and wears the team's trademark green on his sweat shirt.

His family will watch Saturday's game on a living room couch draped in a Beaver orange-and-black knitted throw â€” but Jarrod will watch at a friend's house.

``I don't want to watch it with you guys,'' Jarrod said. ``You guys are Beavers fans.''

The Ducks have won the showdown 52 times, the Beavers 41 times. They've tied 10 times.

In 1998, fans stormed the field after the game, toppling a goal post and sending one Oregon State student to the hospital with a severe head injury. In 1910, fans fought on a train after the game. In 1937, Oregon students held Oregon State students hostage in a restaurant â€” letting them out only after the Beavers agreed to be dunked in a frigid stream.