You can’t have a football game between college teams located 1.2 miles apart without a little bit of trash talk.

Meet Catawba and Livingstone, who meet on the field for the first time in 29 years on Saturday.

But make no mistake about it. This isn’t your ordinary trash talking. There is no bitterness, no hatred, no past experiences to weigh into the mix.

“There’s no hate,” chuckled Livingstone’s offensive line coach Mike White, a 1991 North Rowan graduate. “We haven’t played in a long time and when the schools did play, none of us were around.”

So the trash talk between the players always consists of a big grin and a playful shove. No one seems tired of talking before the game.

“We know each other,” said Livingstone star Shannon Gainey. “But when Catawba starts talking, I talk back a little. “

Gainey has had plenty of chances to banter back and forth with the Indians. His cousin, O.J. Lennon, was a wide receiver for the Indians last year (he is academically ineligible to play in this year’s game). and along with Blue Bear teammate Mike “Premier” Posey, he worked out this summer at Catawba.

“We had a real good time,” Gainey said. “We all talked trash but it was all good-natured. Nothing bad.”

In fact, Gainey was expecting the trash talk from Catawba. The Indians were 11-2 last season and are considered a national contender this year.

“O.J. talked a lot of junk,” laughed Gainey.“He said they were going to kill us.”

Well, when the Blue Bears hear that, they must retaliate.

“I saw Carl Jones in the grocery store,” said Catawba safety Dyran Peake. “He told me he was going to get 150 yards against our defense.”

Peake grins at that. His Indians return most of a defense that ranked first in the country against the rush in 1999.

But Jones grins too. He simply responds, “It’s like the highway. Speed kills.”

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The Blue Bears will be overwhelming underdogs to the average football fan. And they love that.

“Everybody’s expecting us to lose because we had a bad season last year,” Gainey said of Livingstone’s 4-7 campaign. But we lost four games by nine points and we’ve got good people back.”

One of the best of the good people is Jones, a blazer from North Iredell, who was the CIAA’s leading rusher two seasons ago as a freshman.

“They’re strong up front,” Jones said, “but I look for quickness to beat them”

Jones has a message for those who plan to attend Saturday’s clash.

“The Big Show is coming to town,” he said, referring to himself.

“There’s going to be a ‘Premier’ Sept. 2,” Gainey said, referring to Posey.

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White, who was an assistant at North Rowan until this season, hears a little of the smack and he has to laugh.

“Igot a little junk talked to me from (Catawba quarterback) Mitch Ellis and (defensive lineman) DeVonte (Peterson) at the pool this summer,” White said. “I sat back sort of smiling because neither one knew I was coaching out here. I had fun with it. I said, ‘Mitch you better get ready to wipe your back off.’”

Anyone who knows White knows that was pure joshing. He has always been an Ellis fan, since both have North ties.

“Just seeing Mitch grow from high school has really pleased me,” White said. “It’s going to be hard being on the other side watching him after helping North.”

Jones will see a former North Iredell teammate on the other side of the field. Arnold Gaither is one of several highly-touted receivers for Catawba.

“Iwon’t get to hit him and he won’t get to hit me,” Jones said.

“It’s kind of exciting playing against him and I wish him luck,” Gaither said. “But I want to win too.

“Actually, I played free safety in high school so we had a couple of meetings.”

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There were no other former high school teammates but these guys do feel like teammates in a way. They share the city of Salisbury.

“We’ve just been joking around,” assured Posey. “This is a good thing for Salisbury. The fans can come out and see two good teams battle it out.”

White is really enjoying the hoopla surrounding the game.

“It feels good to finally get this thing going,” he said. “I hope it happens for years to come. We can say that we started it back in 2000.

“You know what I like the best about it? The guys from both teams have mutual respect for one another.”

Gainey can’t wait either. He is one of the CIAA’s most versatile players and is already envisioning 8,000 people packed into Catawba’s 4,000-seat stadium.

“The bigger the crowd, the better I play,” he said.

This will become a bonafide rivalry as the years roll on. but right now, the rivalry has yet to illicit any hurt feelings or bitterness to the losing team. And Gainey said the players on both teams are taking advantage of it.

“All of us are friendly,” Gainey said. “In fact, a few of us are supposed to go out after the game.”

Don’t expect any postgame trash talk, however. After all the Indians and Blue Bears have put into this game, they’ll probably be too tired to talk..