Wauwatosa East High School's varsity boys football team, despite a resurgence in recent years under coach Tom Swittel, has continued to find it difficult to notch a regular-season win against crosstown rival Wauwatosa West.
That drought continued Sept. 19, when the West Trojans defeating the East Raiders, 21-7, with all of the offense occurring in the first half. The Raiders, now 3-2, scored their only touchdown early in the first quarter, then were held scoreless for the rest of the game as the Trojans, also 3-2 but undefeated in conference games, racked up three touchdowns of their own and kept their regular-season winning streak against East alive.
The Raiders haven't beaten the Trojans in the regular season since 2011, according to stats tracked on MaxPreps, though a 2024 playoff game between the two teams ended with East victorious. East only lost once in the regular season last year, but it was the game against West.
When the two teams returned to the field to face off again on Sept. 19, the game was featured in the Great American Rivalry Series. And this year, the matchup came with an unexpected twist — West playing an away game at home.
The Trojans would not have hosted the Raiders at the West football field if not for the severe flooding that struck Wauwatosa and other communities in the region last month. The Hart Park football stadium, East's home field, remains closed because of the flood damage. And with repairs to the playing surface still pending more than a month after the floods, the Raiders moved three of their home games to the Tosa West stadium, including the Sept. 19 rivalry game.
WITI-TV (Fox6) has footage from the game here in its High School Blitz.
One silver lining for Tosa East in the loss was the return of the Tosa East Marching Band. It was able to perform its halftime show for the first time this season, though on the Tosa West field.
The combined East and West bands also came together on the field before the game, as seen in the video below.
