Rivalries bring out bad blood
Some of the biggest rivalries I have seen over the last 18 years have produced some unsightly results and plenty of bad blood. The West Forsyth-Mount Tabor football games, especially several years back, might have been top of the heap for extra-curricular bad behavior. If I’m not mistaken, when coaches Bob Sapp of Mount Tabor and Russell Stone of West were coaching at the schools, I saw a game in which there were about 13 penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Carver-Parkland games are always intense and on the edge.
Don’t want to leave anyone out, because there are many other rivalries in Forsyth County. East Forsyth-Glenn, North-Mount Tabor, Reynolds-Mount Tabor.
When Reagan High opened its doors in 2005, an immediate border rivalry with West Forsyth was born. Reagan also has a rivalry with North Forsyth, to a lesser degree, but Reagan’s rivalry with West is a two-way street paved with occasional bad intentions.
And that rivalry hit a new high — or low? — on Tuesday night during West’s 51-37 Central Piedmont 4-A win at Reagan in the varsity girls basketball game.
The girls on both teams bumped, shoved, talked and generally ratcheted up the animosity until finally, late in the fourth quarter, it boiled to a head and three players were ejected.
Jourdan Miller and Michelle Price of West Forsyth and Alana Beroth of Reagan were the ejectees after a skirmish near midcourt that appeared accidental when it started, as Price and Beroth got tangled up running downcourt.
Officials from both schools were of the thought that the ejections should not have been for fighting — which carries a two-game suspension under N.C. High School Athletic Association rules, as well as the completion of an online sportsmanship class. But that determination is up to the officials.
Once I find out how this will be handled, I’ll follow up on it here.