South Side Catholic Rivalries

[go_rice]

We don't consider it as the Catholic League. We are in the Blue. We don't play those Green, White or Red teams every year. As a matter of fact we get (1) one of them each year. And as for the 8A thing, our 7A schools have MUCH more of a football pedigree than those 2 8A's you listed. Are you comparing MC, SR & Provi to ND & Benet? GTFOH! Spin it anyway you want RedHawks, but you are the ones that broke up the Metro because you couldn't compete. When all is said & done, we will have played 8 state playoff teams this year. How did that work out? Not great, but we knew it was a young team. You will have played 2? Naz & Benet and we saw how competitive that Naz game was for your program. And you have been invited to come play in the Blue vs the same schools you advertise as rivals & recruit against but you've elected to stay in that sheltered conference. It is what it is. I've said my peace. Good Luck in the playoffs!

 

[septon34]

Feeto is right on. SR and MC love to beat each other but unless there are playoff implications at stake they both root for the other one against BR. I honesty don’t know if that’s always been but that’s the way it has been for as long as I have followed high school football. I didn’t grow up in Illinois and I’m not Catholic.

Now if MC could make SR go 1-8 and BR 0-9 they would be ecstatic. I think SR would feel the same way but maybe with a little less vigor than MC. It goes to all of the schools having to go the same grade schools and compete for students. But come playoffs they all seem to want the other to do well just not as well as they do.

When Marist and BR play there is no where near the hype as there is in the Beverly area for SR/BR SR/MC MC/BR. Maybe in Mt. Greenwood. Marist has no traditional rivals in a reasonable driving area. By playing Marist BR gives Marist a bigger foot print in the area than they normally would have. If you didn’t go to Marist no one in the area of the school cares when they play an other ESCC school. But if MC or SR are playing LA on a Saturday afternoon they may go to BR to see how they stack up.

St. Rita, especially when it was on 63rd Street, and MC were historically different than Rice in that MC/SR were inner city schools who drew most of their students from chicago neighborhoods. Rice drew more from neighborhoods such as mine, evergreen park. As someone who grew up in Evergreen Park and went to St. Rita in the early 90s, I can tell you that Rita kids in that era had a bit of a chip on their shoulder and felt that Rice kids thought they were better than Rita/Carmel kids. Rita guys considered themselves, and MC guys, to be tougher than Rice guys. For those reasons, there was more of a kinship and respect with Mt. Carmel, even though the rivalry with MC was much more intense bc Mt. Carmel was always the best program.

With the astronomical costs of education and the changing demographics of the city, SR now competes head to head with Rice for most of its students. That has increased the rivalry between the schools. Alumni such as me will never consider Rice on par with Carmel as a rival. But the current SR Administration probably considers Rice their greatest rival/threat for enrollment and survival.

Rice has negatively recruited against SR and MC based on the neighborhoods of the respective schools. I think this is a reason why SR and MC continue to cheer for each other when the other plays Rice .

 

[voice of meteor football]

To add to what septon34 wrote, Rice has also negatively recruited against De La Salle as well. When my nephew who lives in Evergreen Park was being recruited, the Rice coach asked my sister why my nephew was interested in 'D' and asked her if she wanted her son waiting for a bus on 35th and State because of the neighborhood. She responded that my nephew was taking the Metra into Beverly anyway from 35th and LaSalle and that there's a Starbucks on 35th and State. My nephew did choose De La Salle and did well as a Meteor.

 

[SOUTHSIDECFD]

I would be safe to say that DLS MC SR are closer to each other than they are to BR and Marist. As an outsider it looks to me that the alumni loyalty might be a shade stronger at city schools than at BR and Marist. Although both schools are in the city by 100 feet they have suburban feel to them - more preppie in the fan base. That does not carryover to the football field. On any given year they can turn out some good teams.

 

[refref01]

I am curious because I posted in it but was off site for a couple of days. What happened to the Brother Rice declining the Prep Bowl thread?

 

[RockSoup]

I am curious because I posted in it but was off site for a couple of days. What happened to the Brother Rice declining the Prep Bowl thread?

To venture a guess, Edgy doesn't let speculation run too far. In my experience here, he might just flush a thread and not any individuals if a lot of unfounded stuff is floating around.

 

[Cat Box]

Just an FYI--there are more suburban schools in the "Chicago" Catholic League (10) than Chicago schools (8).

Also, there are three 8A teams in the ESCC according to the IHSA Numeric enrollments (Marist, ND and Benet). The CCL has two (Brother Rice and Loyola).

But don't let facts get in the way of a fun argument!

No argument from me. Time to shuffle the CCL and ESCC deck together and deal 3 hands.

8A/7A division
6A/5A division
4A/3A/2A division