TWO FOOTBALL FANS wave a South flag at its homecoming game. – Photo by Dave Boehler

In a span of four days, two long losing streaks in the North-South rivalry came to an end.

It started Oct. 4, when North’s football team beat South, 13-6, to halt its nine-game losing skid to the Redwings. The Golden Raiders also snapped their 25-game losing streak, so the ride back to North was pretty rowdy.

“The bus was explosive,” North coach Joe O’Brien said.

It was a bus ride Golden Raider Isaiah Love-Beringer, who scored on an 8-yard run with 2 minutes 19 seconds left in the third quarter to break a 6-6 tie, says he will never forget.

“Man, that was the best high school experience I ever had,” he said. “It was so fun. It was just good vibes everywhere.”

On Oct. 8, South’s soccer team defeated North, 4-0, to end a losing streak that is at least 11 games in a row against the Golden Raiders. During those 11 contests, the Redwings managed a total of only eight goals – and three of them came in one game.

“It was kind of incredible, actually,” South coach Adam Laborde said. “Some of my seniors were emotional after the game knowing that’s the first time we’ve beat them in their four years. … Yeah, it was a pretty surreal feeling.

“They had the drive and the sight and the fire to go out there and give everything they had, all 90 minutes, to win that game.”

North had scored a total of 40 goals in the last five meetings with South, but goalkeeper Nolan Blomwillis picked up the shutout and was aided by Ethan Koenig’s two goals.

“It wasn’t individual efforts on the field that won the game,” Laborde said. “It was them playing as a team. It wasn’t the fact one of my guys scored two goals, it wasn’t that one of my guys on defense was playing lights out, it was the fact they were a team.”

South’s five wins are also its most under Laborde, who is in his fourth season. He has several key seniors on this team but says the program is headed in the right direction.

“We’ve got a good group of juniors coming up and some solid underclassmen I’m looking forward to having,” he said.

“So I think just kind of getting the word out there that things have changed a lot in the last four years compared to what they have been previous to myself and my assistant coach has really brought some guys to our team that I don’t think we would’ve had in the past.”

NORTH STUDENTS celebrate their football victory at South Oct. 4. – Photo by Dave Boehler