In a back and forth basketball game, AL clutched a win 75-54 to beat TJ. TJ came out hot in the first quarter leading the game, however AL wouldn’t take no for an answer and pushed through to take that lead. AL and TJ are huge rivals and kids from both schools thrive off of it. Fans talk about these games in multiple sports weeks before they happen.
Does the rivalry drive kids to do more? “It definitely brings out a lot of passion for the boys,” said coach Kenny Neelon.
“I think it’s a huge game, one of the biggest rivalry games in the city,” said Neelon. “Our boys definitely get up for it. I know the TJ guys get up for it. I think it’s good for the city to bring the whole city out and watch our boys go out and play some good basketball. It brings good energy and good morale. Most of the guys are friends from both teams so they want to play their best and show off.”
Isaiah Lusajo is a junior at ALHS and plays football.
“It shows that AL is the better school physically, academically, morally, and skillfully. There’s bad blood between us and there is a lot more competitiveness and you can remind them what happened either in a good way or to prove them wrong,” said Lusajo.
Caiden Dorr is a senior at ALHS, he plays football and baseball.
“It’s more of a pride thing between schools. At the end of the day we all want to be better than the other school and take home whatever it is that’s going on between them. It’s always one that you want to win just a little bit more, whenever we are playing a school like TJ there’s always a little smack talk that goes on and you want to win even more,” said Dorr.
Obviously we like rivalries but who knows, maybe it drives us to be a better athlete and person in our everyday lives.
