Written By: Ariel Connell, Staff Writer
RIVALRY: King and Poly go head-to-head in a tradition that has been going on for decades, and this year’s action did not disappoint.
Hopes were high at RCC on September 13th, 2024. It was the Poly versus King Rivalry Football game, and everyone was hoping Poly would finally take it home this year. At the start of the game, Gabby Torres, a junior at Poly said, “Yes we are definitely winning this year, we need to take that dub!” Caterina, another junior, said “I really hope we win!” when interviewed pre-kickoff. The Poly students were sure of a win this year, and for seniors, this would be their last ever high school Rivalry game. Senior Issac Julian, said he, “thinks we got that,” later commenting, “They didn’t let me into the student section, so we’re losing right now.” The score was 0-14 within the first quarter, “but we’ll make a comeback soon,” Isaac hoped. Gisselle Cline, another Poly senior, states, “I think we need to lock in, but we definitely have a chance.” The students were sure Poly would win on this fateful day, but the Wolves had other plans.
King students were set on their team winning. Near the King section Tyler, a freshman girl at King, said, “I think the score [for King] will probably be in the 30s, and [for Poly] they might make one touchdown.” Not only was she sure of winning, but we interviewed friends Jayden, Paul, and Max, a group of King sophomores, and they had the same response. The whole friend group knew they would win, Paul saying, “we’re taking it all the way this year,” and Max saying, “yeah we are definitely winning.” We also interviewed Nathan White, a sophomore on the JV team, asking him what his score predictions were. He responded, “28-10, there’s no way that we aren’t winning.”
While Nathan was overall correct in his predicted, his score prediction was way off. Poly gave King a run for their money when we ended up scoring 18 points to their 21. The score was still 0-14 within the first quarter, so hopes were of a comeback were waning, but later on Poly ended up scoring 3 touchdowns. To many student’s disappointment, the team missed all their one-point conversions, which ultimately lost us the game. Post-game, we interviewed a King football starter, Justin Coute and asked what he would like to say to Poly after their close game. He said, “you guys played a great game, you guys gave us a pretty good fight, but King’s still better. In the nicest way possible of course.” After talking to the King players, we made our way to the Poly side where we interviewed Marco Morales, asking him what he would like to say to the King team right then. He remarked, “you guys fought really hard, and you won, it really came down to the last second.”
Even though we lost, that was one of the closest games we’ve had against King in a long time. There was a huge fan turn out and the student section and stands were packed.
Our stands at RCC were filled to the brim with people covered in Poly Pride: wearing green wigs, tutus, and accessories. At the beginning of the game, our choir teamed with King’s choir to sing the National Anthem in tandem. During halftime Poly cheerleaders shared the spotlight with King cheerleaders, and the fans went wild on both sides of the field. After cheer performed, Poly Band and Colorguard dazzled the audience with their performance to “You In The Night With The Music” and “Second Nights.”
Way to give it your all Bears. Just wait for next year King!