It’s not just the Big Game. It’s the biggest.

Friday night, more than 6,000 fans — decked out in face paint, body paint, glitter and beads — crammed their way into Memorial Stadium for what Kaylene Moulton, a senior at Vintage High School, calls “the biggest night of the year.”

It’s the night when Napa and Vintage high school football teams square off in a display of Napa’s greatest rivalry. It’s the night when fans pack the stadium with anxious excitement. It’s the night when you’re either blue and gold, or you’re burgundy and gold. There is no in-between.

“We look forward to this all year. This is the big thing,” said Moulton as she climbed up the bleachers on the Vintage side of the stadium.

And it isn’t just students. Big Game draws people from all over Napa out of their warm homes for a chilly seat in the bleachers.

“This is the big night of the year for the whole Napa County,” said Napa High spirit leader Katelyn Griffin, looking around at the crowd of students, teachers, alumni and families. She gets chills, she said. “We’re pumped. There’s a lot of mystery and excitement. The school spirit is unbelievable. ... It’s intense.”

“Ten percent of the town is here tonight,” said Napa High School Athletic Director Brian King. “That’s 10 percent of Napa in a five-acre area. That’s pretty impressive.”

From the parking lot, chants echoed in the air. The stadium appeared a single mass, a sea of people, a single roar.

From the stands, the mood was feverish. Streamers, balloons and glints of gold painted the bleachers. The crowd glittered with pom-poms and flashes of cameras. The air sizzled with the smell of mustard and hot dogs, sweat and suspense.

“It’s home-grown electricity,” said Darla Aaron, a Vintage alum and wife of Napa High teacher and former graduate Justin Aaron.

On the Vintage side hung a banner that read, “Don’t think we can stop u? Think again!” Across the field, Napa’s response, “At least we can think!”

The rivalry infectious, each play elicited a cheer from one side of the stadium and a boo from the other.

In one word, said Vintage senior Clark Beach, “adrenaline.”

“When you’ve got that spirit going on, cool things happen,” said Vintage Principal Eric Schneider. “Kids are excited, they believe in their school, they’re having fun.”

If this is a measure of comparison,” he said, “every year I clean toilet paper off of my front yard. ... This year is the most impressive. I spent well over an hour cleaning.”

Not a quiet corner in the stadium, school spirit had nowhere else to go but up, as one single gold balloon broke loose of its ribbon and volleyballed upward, bouncing in the wind, against a backdrop of harsh, white lights.

“This is the high school experience,” said Alex Nel, a sophomore and spirit leader for Napa High. “This is it.”