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Health & Fitness

One Rivalry to Rule Them All

Redlands and Redlands East Valley put a face to the old-school high school rivalry game Friday night.

I've been doing this high school sports coverage thing for a lot of years. Seen a lot of football games. Seen a lot of rivalry games.

Not a one has ever touched Redlands-REV.

From the early-arriving crowd (REV's sideline stands were packed 45 minutes before the game) to the chanting of insults back and forth ("Go Home Mentone" came from the Redlands' stands more than a few times) to the on-the-field intensity, Friday night's game was THE best atmosphere for a game EVER.

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Not that it was the best technical game I've ever seen (the REV-Mission Viejo game ranks amongst the top of those), but how do you think you'd react playing in front of 7,000 screaming fans ... who never stopped cheering from 6 p.m. to the game's end around 9:30 p.m.

There was genuine pride coming from both sides in their cheers and their play. No one wanted to give in to the other. Back in the dark ages when I was in school, we had a general disdain for our nearest rival, but I can't say it ever approached the level I saw Friday night.

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But for all the trash talk, and slinging of insults, there was very little dirty play. A couple of players tangled at the end of the first half, but that was it for the most part. The teams settled the rivalry on the field without resorting to cheap shots. Any hard hits came from the pure adrenalin flowing through everyone who was on that field.

(Quick side note -- there were A LOT of people on the field. Not to get preachy on these two sides, because it happens everywhere now, but there are a lot of schools that need to dial back the amount of field passes on a given week. Coaches have more important things to deal with than yelling at the people on their sidelines to back up.)

As our region grows, it seems harder and harder to find those one-school town rivalries. And while this isn't one of those, this game felt like it was one. Both sides wanting to defend their turf, and their "town." And with some of those former one-school town powers breaking down due to the opening of new schools (Fontana's a shell of its glory days with four schools in the city, and Eisenhower's been in a steady decline since Carter made it a three-school town).

But despite being split into three now, Redlands feels different than those two schools. There's still a strong tie to that school from students and boosters who care about the program, and its long storied history.

On the REV side of things, they're building themselves a quite a legacy. If this team can stay healthy and keep their heads on straight, they can certainly be playing for a CIF-Southern Section title in seven weeks, and then maybe in the state playoffs after that.

And could you imagine the intensity of next year's Smudge Pot game if REV went on and won a title? They may need to find a bigger stadium.

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