‘Twin Bowl’ goes to Grand Rapids
For four quarters every October, on a Midwestern football field, the lifelong rivalry between identical twin brothers Kenneth and Steven Ender gets a little more serious.
The duo — the presidents of Harper College in Palatine and Grand Rapids Community College in Grand Rapids, Mich., respectively – are the inspiration behind the annual Twin Bowl, a gridiron battle between the two colleges that guarantees both opponents will truly meet their match.
The 2011 edition played out Saturday in Michigan, where the GRCC Raiders, who came into the bowl series 2-0, proved victorious again, beating Harper 50-7 despite an early Hawks lead.
The win gave GRCC official possession of the Twin Bowl trophy for the third straight year.
Brotherly bragging rights, arguably the most coveted prize, also landed in the Raiders’ lap.
But Harper President Kenneth Ender said his Hawks still deserve the praise.
“Our team fought hard. Those boys play every game with a lot of heart,” Kenneth Ender said. “Anyone who has a sibling knows it’s not fun to have them beat you. But we gave it our all, and I already told my brother that next year could be a whole different story.”
The twin Enders donned their respective schools’ colors to cheer on their teams, and were on the field together for a joint coin toss before the game and for the trophy presentation afterward.
The Twin Bowl tradition started in 2009, when the brothers took over the presidencies of their respective colleges and made the surprising discovery that their football teams played each other every fall. Not ones to let friendly competition pass them by, they embraced the yearly matchup.
The two say the game is as much about enjoying a good college football battle as it is about supporting the student-athletes, in an effort to encourage success on and off the field.
“At the end of the day, this is all about enjoying two good schools and a bunch of guys who really want to compete hard. That’s what we’re there to support,” Kenneth Ender said. “You don’t really do this to just play the game. You do it to enable these young men to find their way in college and live a life of success. So if this moves that along, we’re happy to be there.”
The Hawks scored on their opening series, but after that netted 24 yards of total offense on the next 47 plays.
Grand Rapids finished with 542 yards of total offense to 84 for the Hawks.
Harper quarterback Cody Miller completed 5 of 12 passes for 56 yards and was sacked six times.
Hawks running backs Greg Kennedy and Ronald Zollicoffer combined for 28 yards rushing after totaling 252 the previous week against College of DUPage.
Grand Rapids QB Cody Kater completed 17 of 22 passes for 184 yards with a touchdown.
The Hawks were officially eliminated from bowl contention for the third straight year and fifth time in the last seven seasons.