By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE ­– Whiteford and Ida will renew a rivalry on the football field in 2020 for the first time in more than four decades.

Whiteford will play at Ida in Week 2 of the 2020 season and host the Bluestreaks in 2021. The two teams will also play in 2022 and 2023.

“I’m excited that we have the opportunity to play a great program like Ida that is in our neighborhood,” said Whiteford head football coach and athletic director Jason Mensing. “This is what high school football and local rivalries is all about. I’m certain that it will be great memories for the student athletes who get to play for both schools.”

Whiteford and Ida were River Raisin Conference rivals from 1959-1971 before that league broke up and both members of the Michigan-Ohio Border Conference in 1973 and 1974. The two teams remained on each other schedule’s for Whiteford’s first two seasons of Tri-County Conference play. The last meeting between the Bobcats and Bluestreaks was 1976.

Ida has been a member of the Lenawee County Athletic Association since 1988.

Whiteford went 5-5 and qualified for the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season in 2019. Ida is coming off a 4-5 season. Prior to 2019, they had been in the playoffs for seven of the previous eight seasons. Jeff Potter is the Ida head coach.

“Whiteford has arguably the best football program in the county in the last decade, so it will be an honor and a challenge to compete with them,” Potter said.

Ida holds a 12-6 lead in the 18 previous meetings, including the last eight meetings. Whiteford’s last win over Ida came in 1968.

All-time series results: