On one side of Faurot Field, an RBHS white-out crowd filled the stands and the “Bru Crew,” RBHS’s student section, was out in full force. In the front row, six fans stood all in a line, with the letters B-R-U-I-N-S individually painted in green on their shirtless chests.
On the other side, staring RBHS in the face, was the purple-clad legion of HHS supporters. Both sides hoped their team would prevail as football champion of Columbia and were pumped up to witness the exciting action that would soon follow.
The atmosphere “was overwhelming. It was eccentric,” senior Justin Smith said. “We had people tailgating. I got [to the game] an hour before, and there were people who had been there hours before. …It was super awesome because everybody was just thrilled to be there.”
This year’s game did not disappoint. The Bruins won in a close match 33-27. Last year, the Bruins blew a 17-point lead before winning 24-20, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute to spare.
Various sights and sounds in the stands added to the appeal of the game. Several Bruin fans wore diapers to mock Hickman’s baby mascot. At one point in the game, the fans passed RBHS’s mascot, the Bruin Bear, around the stands.
“I saw on the big screen a shot of a sword and a stuffed bear with a sword through it, and I thought it was funny,” Smith said.
The RBHS-HHS football rivalry hasn’t always been this way. In fact, from the time RBHS opened until 1999, the two schools played each other only three times in football.
“Because we didn’t start playing each other regularly until 2000, the rivalry wasn’t nearly as big then as it is now,” RBHS teacher Marilyn Toalson said.
Even after the Bruins and Kewpies began playing regularly, the event was largely one-sided. Although there were rare occasions in which the scores of the games were close, such as the 1994 matchup in which HHS defeated RBHS 43-42 in three overtimes, most of the contests were blowouts, such as the 2000 game, in which HHS crushed RBHS 55-0.
Because the competitiveness of the RBHS-HHS rivalry is a fairly recent phenomenon, many fans have differing views on the intensity of the rivalry. CPS teacher Kim Buresh and her friend Crystal Linneman, who were at the 2011 Providence Bowl together, don’t think much of the rivalry at all.
Despite supporting different schools, the two women are still friends.
“There aren’t any tensions between each other,” Buresh said in regards to the rivalry. “Many Hickman kids have friends who go to Rock Bridge.”
Likewise, RBHS athletic director Jennifer Mast has mixed views of the RBHS-HHS rivalry. Mast was a student at RBHS from 1990 to 1993, and after that, she coached here. During Mast’s time at RBHS the school was much smaller than it is now, and the Bruins played schools such as Kirksville, Mexico and Helias, with their main rivals being Helias and Mexico.
“The rivalry with Helias and Mexico was very big,” Mast said. “Mexico and Helias always had great football teams, so we needed to beat them both in order to make it to districts.”
Because Helias is the only rival from the 1990s the Bruins still play on a regular basis, Mast continues to believe beating Helias is a cause for celebration, especially since “we haven’t beaten their football team in years.” Nowadays, along with most RBHS fans, Mast agrees HHS is RBHS’s biggest nemesis, and she enjoyed the atmosphere at the Providence Bowl.
“I thought [the fans] were great, very supportive and excited, a big fan section,” Mast said. “They were great.”
However, one part of supporting the Bruins was putting pressure on HHS. Most of the fans in the Bru Crew spent almost all night taunting the Kewpies.
The RBHS fans booed HHS’s players when they were introduced onto the field before the game. The Bruins also booed at HHS fans whenever one braved a walk near their section. Some of the fans took it a step further, yelling at the Kewpies to “Go back where you belong!” or “Go home!”
Whenever HHS committed a foul, the Bru Crew would heckle the opposing team with chants such as “That was stupid,” or “You can’t do that!” Toward the end of the game, when Rock Bridge was winning, the fans chanted “Three in a row,” referencing that it was the Bruins’ third straight win in the Providence Bowl.
Nevertheless, the RBHS fans’ animosity toward HHS was typical fan behavior and didn’t cause any major problems.
“There was definitely some booing, but no more than any other football game I’ve been to,” Smith said. “I feel like in order to not punch someone from the opposing side after the game, it’s important to let it out on the field. So you have to boo when you’re a safe distance from each other.”
Aside from occasional incidents of vandalism, however, RBHS and HHS don’t have much bad blood between one another. Senior Matt Kelly, a leader of the Bru Crew at the Providence Bowl, said most of the students at the game were relatively well-behaved.
“This year, we’re trying to keep it clean. We want to go out with class,” Kelly said. “We’re not much about tearing down the other team. We just want to lift our players up.”
By Isaac Pasley
