For one night, two high school football teams and their communities could pretend to be college football programs.

When Evanston Township High School (IL) hosted rival New Trier (Winnetka, IL) on Friday, Oct. 16, in a Week 9 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) matchup, it became the hottest ticket in high school football.

That's because a high school football game became just the third-ever game played at Northwestern's brand-new $862 million stadium — the most expensive college football stadium. That brought together two neighboring communities to total 27,000 fans for a high school football game.

"It was really exciting on the sidelines," New Trier cheerleader Vicky Zalewska said of the atmosphere. "I am really glad our fans stayed the whole game. It was really loud."

The rivalry and the prospect of playing at the brand-new college football stadium certainly lived up to the hype, as fans packed the lower bowls and the student sections were nearly full.

The game itself was a back-and-forth affair, with the Trevians winning 42-28 after pulling away late in the fourth quarter behind a five-touchdown performance from running back Throy Nightingale Jr.

"It's a great experience," Nightingale said. "I'm looking forward to doing it next year, after that, and the year after that in a college stadium. Maybe here, maybe not. But I'm just looking forward to that. It was great."

According to the Ryan family — the primary investors in the state-of-the-art stadium — it's believed to be the largest regular-season high school football game in Illinois history.

"The Ryan Family is proud to be a part of Evanston Township High School (ETHS) hosting New Trier tonight at new Ryan Field for what is believed to be the largest regular season high school football game in Illinois history with almost 27,000 tickets sold – a testament to the power of cooperation (and) collaboration to unify us," the Ryan family said in a statement.

"When Northwestern & the Ryan Family approached the people of Evanston about new Ryan Field, the cornerstone of this vision was creating new Ryan Field as a place to bring our community together for events like tonight’s game. Tonight is the first of what we hope will be many opportunities to unite our community at new Ryan Field for truly memorable events."

A lasting memory for New Trier-Evanston players

Northwestern hosted Penn State on Friday, Oct. 2, in the grand opening of the stadium. The game sold out with 35,000 fans. The following week, on Saturday, Oct. 10, the Wildcats hosted Ball State for their homecoming game. That game brought in an announced crowd of 25,629.

So the high school matchup between New Trier and Evanston outdrew a college football homecoming game.

For reference, Evanston’s home fields can hold approximately 4,500 fans, while New Trier’s stadium holds around 3,000.

"The atmosphere, it was definitely something we never experienced," Evanston junior TJ Gant Jr. said. "Just the amount of people, it's hard to hear."

While New Trier struck first on a touchdown off an Evanston turnover and the Wilkits scored a field goal in the first quarter, one of the loudest moments came in the second quarter following a second field goal from Evanston to cut the lead to 7-6.

It came from the Wildkits fan section, sitting on the Wildcat Wall, the home for the student section of Northwestern students.

It exploded with cheers again when Evanston took a 12-7 lead in the second quarter and then again when they tied it 21-all in the third.

"It was a crazy thing to see," Evanston junior wide receiver Kamryn Farlow said. "All the students in one section getting the chance to make as much noise as they could. It was really cool to see."

Of course, on the other side, while the New Trier fans did not get to be on the Wildcat Wall, they left a major impression on the game as well.

On their side, they saw two of the five touchdowns from Nightingale and a deep touchdown pass from Purdue commit Jackie Ryder to Paul Liang.

"The support was great," Nightingale said. "Our student section was amazing; the whole game was crazy. Our parents, the side with our parents and siblings, were great. We just had great support."

Future games at Ryan Field

The matchup between New Trier and Evanston at Ryan Field is a one-off, for now. Pat Ryan Jr. has expressed more interest in future high school games at the stadium to USA TODAY Sports in the past.

Both coaches are open to the idea of playing more games at Ryan Stadium, including future matchups in this rivalry.

"We want to play here for sure," Evanston coach Miles Osei said. "If it happens to be New Trier, then great. This should be a great venue for hopefully years to come for these guys."

New Trier coach Brian Doll took it one step further, saying at least the 7A-8A state championships should be played at Ryan Field.

Evanston is located just 12 miles north of downtown Chicago. Approximately 75-80% of the 48 teams in both 7A and 8A are located in Chicago or the suburbs.

"I'd also like to see the state finals here, to be honest with you," Doll said. "You get big crowds up here. People wouldn't have to travel far. I'd like to see 7A and 8A up here, since that's where most of the schools are."