High School football is made for rivalries, and most are not what they used to be.
Last Friday, I sat in the stands at one of the biggest rivalries in the area — Midland Valley and North Augusta — and realized that this is rare and that these kinds of games don’t exist much anymore. This Friday, I’m taking in Thomson at Burke County which is another local rivalry that gets top billing.
From the fans of both schools packing out both sides of high school football stadiums and creating that roar of the crowd as loud as they could at any positive result for their team, to the coaches going all out for four quarters, regardless of the score, working to assert their dominance over their rivals.
Finally, to the players who know how much these kinds of games mean to the community, and they put their bodies on the line every down because it’s about the guys that came before them.
All of this is what has made high school football special for decades, and I feel like we have gone away from that and everything is not as intense as it used to be.
Friday night football has become a place to hangout rather than somewhere fans come to create the proverbial 12th man and have an impact on the game.
Where there was once a time when people used to look forward to Friday night and make their week about it, it seems like it’s now just something to do when you’re bored.
That’s just the start of the problem, as I believe there are other factors.
One of the biggest issues, in my opinion, is the lack of consistency of opponents. It seems like every two years, the regions are completely shaken up, and all of the sudden you’re playing a team you’ve never played in the history of your program.
Believe it or not, the opponent the team is facing has a pretty big influence on fan turn out, even on the high school level. So, when it’s a team no one is familiar with, the fans that are trying to decide whether or not to come may make their decision on who’s playing who.
Another factor is the price of these games. I understand the schools have to make their money somehow, but the prices have gotten north of $10 a ticket, especially during postseason games, and that’s more expensive than some smaller colleges.
With all of these factors working against the high school football rivalry regime, I feel as though it makes it tough for the sport to thrive like it once did.
Some things are beyond our control. But together, through things like fan support and more students filling out the student sections, we can all work to make high school football rivalries in this area what it used to be and get that excitement for the sport back to an all-time high.
Because that’s what these kids who work so hard for eight months of the year deserve.
Justin Gray is student at Augusta University where he serves as sports editor for the school’s student newspaper, The Bell Ringer. He’s also a sports writer for The Augusta Press.
