Huntington High School and Spring Valley High School have a football rivalry that stretches back decades — two Cabell County programs that don’t need much of an excuse to draw a crowd. Playing that game inside a college stadium raises the stakes considerably.
The matchup
The two schools are set to clash at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, according to a report published Wednesday, June 4, by Yahoo Sports. The stadium seats more than 38,000 — a far cry from the sideline bleachers both programs call home on Friday nights.
Spring Valley and Huntington sit roughly five miles apart. Their games have historically packed prep-level stands; moving the contest onto Marshall’s turf puts it in front of a venue built for Thundering Herd Saturdays. Whether that setting draws a sellout or simply gives fans more elbow room isn’t yet known — ticket details and a specific game date hadn’t been released as of Wednesday morning.
Rivalry games staged at college facilities aren’t unheard of in West Virginia high school football, but they don’t happen every season either. Both programs compete in the state’s Class AAA ranks, and a neutral — or near-neutral — college venue changes the atmosphere for players used to home-field noise on smaller fields.
Marshall’s stadium sits along the banks of the Guyandotte and Ohio rivers in downtown Huntington, which means neither school is exactly traveling far. That geography could work in the game’s favor when it comes to drawing fans from both sides of the rivalry.
A kickoff time, ticket prices, and whether the game counts toward regular-season standings had not been confirmed as of the Yahoo Sports report.
Yahoo Sports reported the game announcement on June 4, 2026. Read the original report.
