Hate to see a ‘Good Rivalry’ end

Page-Grimsley
Smith-Dudley
High Point Central-High Point Andrews
Ragsdale-Southwest Guilford
Northern-Northeast Guilford
Northern-Northwest Guilford
Eastern Guilford-Northeast
Southern Guilford-Southeast
*****All of those make for good rivalries from over the years and some may have more history and may be more heated than others and what about Northwest-Western Guilford???*****

NWG and Western have been going at it for many years and I would hate to see this one end, but that is what we are hearing coming out of the weekend….Hearing reports of fighting follwing the basketball game between the Hornets and Vikings this past Friday night at NWG and it sounds like it got very heated and rough and that extra security had to be called in to get everything sorted out and settled down….

It is always a big battle when NWG and Western get together, in fact the two schools are only about 6.5-7 miles apart….Very close together and have been for years….I still recall the days of playing games against NWG when I was part of the Western crowd and I lived right in the middle of the two schools….Good names from the past like Bobby Joyner, Dennis Cole, Jack Southern, Mickey Marshall, Randy Tuggle, Kommie Johnson, Robbie Soyars and many more…..

And now this Rivlary could be set to end and I suppose that would include all sports…..I remember last year, in the game for basketball with Northwest at Western, they had several fights break out after that game and it spilled out into the parking lot after the games were over and extra security had to be called in…..

Would hate to see it all end, after all of these years, but Ralph Kitley, the principal over at Northwest, has some tough decisions to make, in regards to the future of this series…..

Maybe the NWG-WG Series can not be saved, but again, “I would hate to see it all end”…..

*****On a footnote, I think this series with NWG-WG goes all the way back to about 1964 when Northwest Guilford High School first opened…..Back then Western was still Guilford High School and then they became Western Guilford around 1968 or 1969…..*****

Page-Grimsley
Smith-Dudley
High Point Central-High Point Andrews……..
WESTERN-NORTHWEST GUILFORD……..Sure would hate to see this one end/ go away…….

11 thoughts on “Hate to see a ‘Good Rivalry’ end

  1. This is where the “fans” and adm that want to see it continue need to step up. I remember when the A&T and NCCU rivalary ended almost 20 years ago because a basketball game fight not only happened but made national news. Whether both sides will admit it or not, that rivalary cost both schools a lot in funding for their programs. Rivalries can also end for other reasons such as conference changes as the case with UNC not playing NC State twice a year in basketball going forward with the new ACC. The point that I am trying to make is that these decisions cannot be made on emotions only and the schools must consider the financial impact. Replacing Western with a Forsyth Co school or a Guilford Co school on the other side of town just will not satify the fanbase. There is no way to replace the experience at a school like NW with just anybody. It is something special when schools like Western, Southwest or a Norhern come to the school. It can also be a great experience when other passioniate fan bases come in from schools like Dudley or GDS but there is no way to simply replace the historical passion that comes with a Western. Whether NW or Western is any good, these games will be packed. In this day in time when people easily forget what they did 5 minutes ago or only care about the hottest players of the day, we should do all that we can to maintain rivalries that define our community.

  2. “Keep the Games”…….Very well said, Remember a few years ago in college football, ECU and NC State got out of hand and they made them quit playing for awhile. Not saying to do that in this situation. I think traditional rivalries should have more staff and officers on hand. Nip things as you see them starting to happen(a warning on the PA to the fans and players if things get too heated). You can’t just stop them from playing each other and kill a great rivalry.

  3. YES “Keep the Games” – Look at the Page / Grimsley rivalry. If they can continue to play year after year surely NW and Western can!

  4. I’ll tell you why they are going to keep the rivalry going…….THE $$$!!! NW Guilford has 3 huge gates every season in Football……Western, Northern, and Homecoming. They are not going to cut a 1/3 of that because some fights breaking out in the parking lot after the game. Just hire more off duty cops and keep the Rivalry going.

  5. My daughter and I went last Friday and that place was going WILD! What an electric atmosphere. It rivaled games you’d see on College Game Day. But I will say this: It got a little too physical on the court. Blame the coaches and the refs for not nipping that in the bud early. You could see it building in the 2nd quarter. The crowd fed off of this.

    I too would hate to see the games end. We can’t remove our kids from every potential danger or heated life situation. How about teaching them how to handle themselves better? This message can be sent by the schools and echoed by parents. Student Council, booster clubs… where you at? Send the same message and it will sink in.

    Other schools manage to address these problems. Why can’t NW and Western get it done? Burying our collective heads in the sand teaches our kids nothing.

  6. I keep hearing this would end it for all sports, but what is bigger with NWG and WG??? Is it the football game or the basketball games??? You gotta figure that baseball is pretty big between these two too……

    Haack vs. Marrero and go from there……..(Pitching matchups that is.)

    We want to see some fun, healthy competition and we hope the rivalry can continue between these two teams that are riight there in each other’s backyard…….Where do they draw the attendance boundaries/lines for these two schools these days? It used to be Pleasant Ridge Road, then it became parts of Fleming Road and then it was John Smith’s Creek…….Now is it the New Garden Road, Fleming Road and Old Oak Ridge Road intersection?????

    The old Hornets used to own this series and I’d hate to see it end with NWG owning all the games the last year….NWG football and basketball this year and WG might have picked up two wins in Basketball in the games at Guilford College….Anyhow, if it is gone, NWG still ends up on top at the end, since they won the last two contests…..Now all we’ll have is the games at the College on Thanksgiving Day…..

  7. The school system should have never changed the boundaries. I remember when all of The Cardinal went to Western. Those folks that live out there now would move if they were to bring The Cardinal back to Western. Back in the day the kids were neighbors but went to different schools. That’s why it became a great rivalry.

  8. There are many screwed up school zones in this county.
    The 2 that win the prize for the most EFFFED up belong to SW Guilford and Eastern Guilford.
    What is the GCS BOEd thinking?

  9. Hmmm, i didn’t see or hear anything in mainstream media (news and record, digtriad) about this…..interesting, if this had been smith and dudley it would have been the lead story and front page news….get outta here!

  10. I agree with “Smith” 100% that if this was between Dudley and Smith, it would have been front page of the News & Record and most tv stations. In fact, they would still be running the news coverage days or weeks later asking the Adm what they are considering. The fairest in coverage is clearly better than when many of us (40 plus) grew up but it still exist on many levels. One good thing about a stie such as this is that we all have an equal opportunity to express our views (within reason).

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