Past school rivalries were renewed with more intensity when Parkway West’s football field saw the first varsity game against the school’s longtime rivals, the Parkway Central Colts.

Longhorns filled the stands to cheer on their school’s team Sept. 18, but West suffered a loss of 38-7 against the Colts. The competition brought to the field when West and Central face off calls to question just what started the rivalry in the first place.

“I didn’t hear about [the rivalry] as much I thought I would,” Personal Finance teacher, Jaclyn Deelo said.

Deelo, who has taught at Parkway for five years, teaches classes at both West and Central daily. While she does not find the rivalry too discernible, Deelo does confess that one school might take it more seriously than the other.

“I kind of felt like West has a bigger hate for Central than the other way around,” Deelo said.

This may be because of the schools’ continued friction on the football field, with Central seeming to dominate each time the two schools come head-to-head. The last time the Colts’ varsity football team was defeated by the Longhorns’ was in 2008, possibly leading to the Colts’ indifference towards the opposition.

“West has beat Central [in football] by, like, 40 points every game for the past 7 years,” former Parkway Central student, freshman Patrick Burns said. “I didn’t even know there was a rivalry.”

While the gap might not be so wide as Burns suggests, it is not inaccurate to say that Central’s varsity team is successful. The most upsetting defeat in recent years was when the Colts beat the Longhorns 49-0 in 2013. However, while Burns feels the rivalry is almost nonexistent, junior Megan Wallis, who transferred to Central after attending West for her first two years of high school, feels differently.

“There is definitely a huge rivalry,” Wallis said. “After going to both schools, I have been able to see both sides of it. I didn’t even know it was that intense until I stepped foot into Central. I know there was talk of Central making t-shirts for the football game that said ‘wuck fest.’”

However, the mentioned “wuck fest” is more than just “talk.” The phrase has gained popularity among Central students on social medias, with the #WuckFest becoming prominent on Twitter recently. This mocking is shared among the two schools, and not just when it comes to football. Wallis also recalls mean-spirited signs and flags being proudly waved at soccer games. While rivalries between schools can be fun, Wallis has a feeling this conflict might just be doing more harm than good for Longhorns and Colts alike.

“I think every school has a rival for no good reason. It’s just part of high school to naturally butt heads with another school,” Wallis said. “I believe the intent is for it to be fun, but I feel that sometimes people take it too far and need to step back and realize that it’s not as big of a deal as they’re making it out to be.”