Is it a rivalry?

If you’re a part of the Colby and Abbotsford communities, you knew there was an important football game going on this past Friday. Abbotsford and Colby faced off at Colby High School and ultimately, Colby came out on top.

High school football is a contact sport with 48 minutes of players beating and banging on each other. Naturally, things can get heated between teams. What history and even some of the hype leading up to the game might tell us is this rivalry should be filled with chippiness or maybe even some trash talk. But by my observation, granted, I’m not down on the field, it was a pretty civil game.

The players were generally kind and helping each other up off the turf. They took pictures with each other after the game. The band even featured both Abbotsford and Colby performers which was a very cool sight to see. A lot of the camaraderie you see between schools existed when I was in school but it is made even more noticeable by an increased number of combined sports. Colby and Abbotsford now share a baseball team. I remember Colby senior Mateo Lopez broke up a pass intended for Abby senior Brandon Diedrich and Lopez gave Diedrich a little pat on the back after the play. Both guys play on the baseball team together and I think that plays into the rivalry and its intensity or civilized nature.

As a Colby alum, I remember playing Abbotsford in a playoff baseball game our senior year. The game was tight throughout and you could tell in that Red Arrow Park dugout, that game had a different feel than just another game. During the game, it was cool to play against guys I had worked with, hung out with and even played CUDA football with but at the same time, winning that game meant more than just a playoff win.

We won that game in extra innings but I thought I might feel elation or an excitement but instead, I just felt a sadness that the seniors that were in my same position were done with their high school athletic careers.

It was a weird blend of emotions that I won’t forget. This brings me to my overall point. How lucky are we to No. 1, have two schools that are so close that we get to witness friendships that are created outside of the sports atmosphere, get tested or strengthened on the football field and No. 2, we get to see these two schools face off year after year now that they are in the same conference. Up until 2020, the teams only played if they met in the playoffs or scheduled a non-conference game.

Friday night was a lot of fun from a Colby alum’s perspective. I’m looking forward to the next 20 years of matchups between these teams. I’d love to hear an Abbotsford alum or fan’s perspective on what facing Colby year after year means to them.

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