Barnes Blogs about rivalries

It's still non-district time for everybody in high school football. District play will start next week for nine team districts, like the 4A district in Austin. But, district play is still six weeks away for four team districts, like the one in 25-3A, involving Wimberley and Llano.
Some rivalries, like Reagan and LBJ, have been around for decades and are almost always in district play. Others, like Anderson and McCallum, are former district rivals who have continued their rivalry in non-district play. But I think teams can "create" rivalry games.
Westlake and Lake Travis are doing that. They used to be too different in size to even play, much less form a rivalry. But as Lake Travis grows, the schools have gotten together and agreed to play every year to foster a new "grudge" match. I was in Westlake coach Derek Long's office last year during the playoffs and saw they had a trophy, prominently displayed, that showed they won the game last year against Lake Travis.
As I've mentioned before, non-district games really don't mean anything in high school ball, as far as getting to the playoffs and winning state, but these schools have taken on an attitude that this game is important and there are things on the line. Especially... bragging rights. Those aren't around for non-descript games in non-district play. And can put the "blah" in some games. But when the coaches... the players... the students... the parents... the teachers... the fans... put some effort into it, the game really does mean something. Even if it's only something to brag about.

Posted by Mike Barnes  at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)