Bear River’s biggest rival is Colfax High School. While mainly in sports, the two butt heads aggressively in the student section as well.
While at sports games — whether it’s football or basketball — the tension is strong with the players and the student section. This tradition has continued for many years.
Football coach Tanner Mathias explained the history behind the rivalry.
“Back in the ’90s, Bear River pretty much beat Colfax everytime we played,” Mathias. “Then the early 2000s came around, and Colfax started winning the games. They won from 2000 to 2008. When we played at Colfax in 2009, it was the year that my team broke the streak. We made it a big deal to try and beat them. We wouldn’t let kids wear green at school on Colfax week, whether it was a basketball game or volleyball game, we just shut it down. We are anti-birds, anti- everything like that.”
Though the rivalry started near the 90’s, it still remains to this day. History teacher Matt MacDonald compares how the rivalry was when he was in school versus now.
“We’ve always had a rivalry with them,” said MacD. “When I was in school, they weren’t in our league so we would play them in the preseason and it was a rivalry for sure but it didn’t have the same meaning until they joined our league. That’s when it became a really awesome experience. The game now always means more. It’s such a fun experience and it’s one of those situations where (at least in volleyball), the records don’t matter when we play each other. We’ve played in some mid games over the years, league championships, and we’ve even played on halloween night before. Regardless of how each team is doing each year, it’s just a brawl.”
The student sections have been the glue throughout the years and still until this day. Lindsey Giacomini, a 2011 graduate from Bear River, comments on the best part of the opposition.
“My favorite part of the rivalry was how excited everyone got for the games!” Lindsey exclaimed. “We would have tailgate parties before where we would make shirts and paint our faces. Then we would always have some big entrance with the Superfan section and everyone would cheer and go crazy during the whole game.
Bear River students are looking forward to this upcoming year’s sport games against Colfax. So far, Bear River has had a home volleyball game against Colfax and the Bruins took the lead both in the game and the student section.
Bear River is eager for the upcoming football game that is scheduled on Oct. 28. Junior Gretta Barrieau describes her hopes for this year’s student section and for the future Colfax versus Bear River.
“I am really looking forward to the hype and atmosphere of the gym that the student section brings,” Barrieau explains. “It gets us really hyped up!”
While the rivalry has been full of entertainment and fun over the past years, tit is looking strong on growing further for the next few years.
