There are a lot of big time rivalries in Chicago Area as well as the State of Illinois, but we'll concentrate on Chicagoland. I'm sure folks will nominate their own neighborhood rivalries, and I'd like to hear about all of them. Here's my five:
1) Evanston Township vs New Trier(Winnetka)- Longest running rivalry in the state. Intense with race, class, and everything in between. Central Suburban South rivals play twice a year, sometimes three times counting playoffs. DJ Weeks hitting a baseline jumper in Sectional semifinals at Niles North. Goes for over 100 years and has had some great players like Bob Lackey, Stacy Moraigne, Scott Horne, Gordon Watt, Mike McKinney, James Farr, Everett Stephens, Nojel Eastern, Lance Jones, and Blake Peters for Evanston. Matt Lottich, Todd Townsend, James Romey, Josh Nigut, Boehm brothers, for New Trier. Evanston leads the series 121-96. The Evanston home game is called the Bob Bost Classic after the longtime Evanston coach. At it's peak the game was played twice a year at Northwestern University in front of 8,000 fans. I've been told the game is back at Northwestern University this year.
2) West Aurora vs East Aurora- West vs East is what the locals call it. They've played 228 times since 1913. They play once a year since they are not in the same conference sometimes twice with playoff matchups. The town of course takes sides of course but it seems like a friendly rivalry off the court, but very intense with players, coaches, the townsfolk the week of the game.
3) Oak Park River Forest vs Fenwick(Oak Park)- The Battle Oak Park has been contested the first Friday in December the last few years at the Chicago Elite Classic. Players like Iman Schumpert, Isaiah Barnes, Eric Locke for Oak Park. Bryce Hopkins, Trey Pettigrew, Mike Smith, Corey Maggette are just a few for Fenwick. No record could be found on who leads the series, but there was a problem outside the UIC Pavilion a couple of years ago between students from both schools. Hopefully precautions have been taken for this year's battle.
4) Simeon(Chicago) vs Morgan Park(Chicago)- Former Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin nicknamed it "The Battle of Vincennes" which is appropriate given both schools addresses encompass Vincennes. Jabari Parker, Derrick Rose, Talen Horton-Tucker, Zack Norvell, Tim Flowers, and Kendrick Nunn of Simeon. Ayo Dosumnu, Marcus Lovette, Nimari Burnett, Charlie Moore, Wayne Blackshear of Morgan Park. These teams were contenders in Class 4A and 3A respectively and have played for the Chicago Public League title.
5) Bolingbrook vs Romeoville- Always an exciting game as they play once a year. Bolingbrook has dominated the rivalry but still a buzz in the air when these teams play. Fast paced, a lot of pressing by both teams and big time dunks gets the fans in a frenzy.
There are more I'm sure, I can think of two off my head who are just off this list. One is the Battle of Glenbrook with Glenbrook South(Glenview) vs Glenbrook North(Northbrook), another is North Chicago vs Waukegan.
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