The Norse Star

NM Lacking Main Rivalry

Thursday, January 28, 2010 By Graham Preston

What do Michigan against Ohio State and Duke against North Carolina have in common? Most schools have a school they truly despise, more commonly known as a rival. But who is North Muskegon’s true rival? "I think our rival is Oakridge or Whitehall because every time I play them it’s real physical. We definitely don’t like each other and every time I play them it’s the game I most want to win," junior Drake Cooke said. Rivalries tend to develop in neighboring cities. This is how it is in the West Michigan Conference. You have Montague and Whitehall, Oakridge and Ravenna, and Shelby and Hart. That leaves no school for North Muskegon to develop a rival against because it certainly cannot be Mason County Central. One might then ask themselves well why can’t Reeths Puffer be a rival and there is one simple answer for this. They are a lot bigger than us and the Norsemen don’t play the Rockets in anything besides tennis and baseball. "I’d really like to see us play Reeths Puffer in more sports. They are our neighboring school and I think that it would be really cool if we could develop a rivalry against them," junior Cody Liverance said. The next nearest school is Muskegon. And there are a few simple reasons as to why they are not our rival. To avoid player casualties North Muskegon does not play Muskegon in football and it is hard to develop a rivalry when the school would have to worry about issues such as this. That would leave three other schools in the area, Muskegon Heights, Mona Shores, and Muskegon Catholic. Muskegon Heights and Mona Shores are not considered rivals mostly because North Muskegon does not play them in any sport. That leaves Muskegon Catholic Central. North Muskegon has only been playing Muskegon Catholic in football since 2008 but has been playing them in other sports like basketball and baseball since the 1970s. "Muskegon Catholic is what I would consider our rival due to the heightened intensity and increased levels of competition when our two schools clash," senior Austin fuller said. With Muskegon Catholic being so close and the tension our athletes share with them, I would consider Muskegon Catholic Central our main rival.