Strained Rivalry

The ongoing feud between Fruita Monument high school and Grand Junction High School is an everlasting competition for every school event. From wrestling to football, basketball and swimming. Wildcats and Tigers are always doing their best to one-up each other. Has this fun and games grown into a bigger issue? Have we taken it to far? We venture into the depths and secrets that are held within these schools and their love for the competition no matter what sport.

Grayson Gehl from Grand Junction High School has this opinion on the issue: “ I think its a cool tradition and it makes everything surrounding sports a lot more heated. It’s cool to have some healthy competition. I love the trash talking and it’s fun to see each school try to step up. I was actually at the game when they were throwing eggs at each other and I heard a lot of people got talked to for that.” It’s nice to know that the students think it is fun and not disruptive and everyone thinks its a fun way of involving yourself in the school activities. We have many ups and downs in our competition sometimes losing sometimes winning but if we look back in the past we can see it spiral into more than just a game.

A few years ago before a football game on the Fruita field Junction had snuck in and graffitied “GJ all day” in orange and black spray paint on the home side of the bleachers. Then they poured deer urine on the side and our fans and students had to sit in it throughout the game. The culprit was found and received the acceptable punishments but the event was soon to be forgotten. Last year the Fruita Monument High School football team even beat Junction at their homecoming game 23-0 and that caused quite a ruckus in the sports arena of the two schools.

Denny Squibb the FMHS athletic director even says “Its always been quite a rivalry.” Junction high school hosted a basketball game this Winter season. Some Junction students from the home side began throwing eggs at Fruita even hitting some of the beloved wildcat fans in the head. We’ve heard Grand Junctions side of the story but a Fruita student named Nathanial Matheny has a different opinion: “I thinks that’s dumb that they think they should just throw eggs at us cause we’re better than them or because we beat them at their homecoming game last year. I wasn’t at the game but I heard about it from some friends and yeah it’s kinda funny but we should have planned it  and had a full on egg war!!” The Fruita side seems to think that Junction still holds a grudge on us for that, but we should forgive and forget and keep this fun tradition going for future millenials to enjoy.

Photo By: Alaina Hayden