Tonight Monarch and Broomfield will meet helmet to helmet under the stadium lights to play a passionate game of football. With the schools in such a close proximity to each other, there’s bound to be a little friendly competition between them. Senior Colin Hart, a middle linebacker on the team, said, “It’s big for our town and our communities because we are so close to each other distance wise. Also, it’s always a physical game because both teams are laying it all on the line. And that’s how you know its a big one, when neither team gives an inch.”
As Hart said, this game is not just big for the fans, it’s a physical challenge for both teams. “I’m a big fan of huge hits and both teams always play for their lives. And you always get that when we play each other,” said Hart.
When asked how this game is different from others, junior running back Ethan Marks said, “We try to go into it just like any other game, but we know this game you can’t leave anything out on the field.”
Although it may be treated like a normal Friday night by the football players, the students go all out for this game. Students like senior Jimena Mohedas are getting ready to pump up the fans. “We want it to be a memorable night, and we want to show our boys how much we love MOHI football,” said Mohedas. After an eventful few weeks at Monarch, the coyote pride is coming out. Mohedas said, “The game is revealing a lot of school pride that we don’t see much of. People are proud to be coyotes and are showing it.”
The rivalry has brought up some acts of negative sportsmanship between the two schools. Students have been battling it out on a Facebook event page and with poor behavior from students in the past few years, the rivalry has been unneighborly. Senior Cheerleading Captain Tatiana Warman said, “The way some people are handling it might be wrong, but everyone just wants our boys to take it away.”
As for the jammed visitor stands of students and parents, “We try and do a lot of cheers where the fans can yell with us to pump up the players and push them even harder,” said Warman. For Hart, the cheerleader’s attempts to pump them up are successful. “I love walking down to the field seeing a sea of black and gold on are sideline cheering us on,” said Hart. Marks added, “My favorite part is seeing the all fans go crazy and seeing all of them there to support the team.”
In the end, the rivalry comes down to the players on the field and the final score of the game. “We as a team go out there and play our game. We don’t talk, we just go out there and show you [the fans] how physical we are and we let our pads do all the talking,” said Hart.
