Last fall, you may have heard some of your friends from Long Island or New Jersey talking about “the big game” coming up and wondered why it was such a big deal. In a lot of towns, many high schools have a set school who they consider their rival, usually because they have similar abilities in the athletic fields and a long-standing history of intense meetings between sport teams. Therefore, any game, match, or meet with the rival school is usually the single-most important one of the season.
However, as you may know, some fierce rivalries also happen between colleges and universities. The last game of the football season for both Harvard University and Yale University has been called The Game since 1875. Many of the universities’ students find that winning The Game is more important than the team’s season record. There have been several documentaries, comic books, and articles written about this rivalry, and more specifically, of the annual Game.
So, on to a more pertinent question, who is Hewitt’s opponent school when it comes to sports? I started writing this article expecting to get one school as an answer; however, after interviewing a couple of coaches and students, I realized that Hewitt has no single school as a rival. Coach Ray defined a rival as, “Someone you have respect for, and someone you enjoy competing against.” He also added that the best rivalries are usually fair and each team wins about half the time. As a coach of several competitive teams at Hewitt and head of the athletic department, he included Chapin and Brearley as some of the varsity volleyball team’s rivals and Spence as a rival for the basketball team, which Sophie Heinberg, a sophomore and a member of the basketball team, agreed with. However, Coach Ray did add that while games with the above-mentioned schools are always fun, he always loves some friendly competition with Packer since Coach Darrin is their new athletic director.
When I asked Coach Anna who she considered to be Hewitt’s rival, she replied with a simple, “It depends.” She then listed Nightingale and Trevor Day as Hewitt’s rivals for this past season’s soccer team. When asked why, she explained that both games played with Trevor Day ended in a tie. However, Nightingale is a different story. While the Nighthawks beat the Hewitt Hawks in their first encounter this season, the Hewitt athletes came back for revenge in the tournament at the end of the season and they got it!
So I would like to end this article with a question for you to dig into during your free time – who do you consider to be the Hewitt Hawks’ rival and why?
Go cheer our Hawks this spring season!
For a list of college rivalries click here.
For a list of important high school rivalries in the US click here.
To check out the schedule for Hewitt’s winter season teams click here.