The weather is cold, but that won’t stop the Euclid Entourage from showing up in their cut-off shorts and flannel pullovers. This unusual sight of teenagers wearing their farmer gear is nothing new to the Hayes vs Buckeye Valley rivalry.
The Pacers beat the Barons 59-51 during Wednesday night’s game, adding another win to Hayes’ record against Buckeye Valley. However, the annual event brings up the topic of the Buckeye Valley vs Hayes rivalry, which has been in effect for decades.
“I don’t think the rivalry is almost in a fun sense anymore,” history teacher Nathan Weakland said. “It’s more like just mean now. The teams hate each other. When I went here, you had a mutual respect and you knew each other. Like it was more fun to play them instead of now where it’s almost a mean rivalry.”
The history of the rivalry begins back at both schools’ inception in 1963. The atmosphere was perfect for a high school rivalry, with both schools being in such close proximity to each other, Hayes in a more suburban area, with Buckeye Valley a more rural area. The stage was set for creating a culture around more than just sports but something to bring each high school together.
However, in recent days, many people in the Delaware community are starting to wonder whether the rivalry has gone too far.
On Sunday morning, Hayes students pulled into the parking lot to find a dead deer sprawled out on the school rock with the assumption that it was placed there by a BV student in anticipation of the rivalry game on Wednesday. Surprisingly, the same was done to BV with a dead deer showing up on the BV rock not three days later.
“That was a bit too far,” Hayes senior Joe Moose said. “At that point, it is not just between students [because] somebody else is going to have to go and clean that up. You are just ruining someone’s day.”
With the recent basketball game in the rearview, the issue still stands where the line should be drawn between high school fun and vandalism.
“I would love to see the Buckeye Valley rivalry continue,” Weakland said. “…It’s the community. Buckeye Valley is still part of Delaware, Delaware is still part of Buckeye Valley and it’s one kind of united front. So I kind of hope they keep all of these rivalries going.”