West End rivals: Foes or friends?
Photo courtesy of: Will Funk
Students dressed in neon pack the student section at the Deep Run homecoming football game versus Godwin.
March 22, 2022
As the population here grows, district rivalries seem to grow even faster. While sports teams compete and battle in the field or on the court, fans clash too.
For years, our school’s main rival has been Godwin High School in the “Battle Across Broad,” but senior and student section hype-man, Nate Baker, feels as if there’s a new friendly rivalry between Deep Run and Glen Allen High School.
“In years past Godwin has been our biggest competitor, but this year Glen Allen has been one of our biggest rivals,” Baker said. “But it’s friendly, and there’s no real beef.”
The rivalries in the stands are spurred on mostly by crowd chants aimed to get under each other’s skin, such as making fun of Godwin High School’s “jail-like” architecture, and other school’s insulting the perceived socio-economic status of Deep Run neighborhoods.
Both Deep Run and Glen Allen have a ‘Can-man’. The Can-man stands in front of the student section and rallies up the students and even some parents. At Deep Run, Baker fills this position, while Glen Allen’s Can-man is senior Trevor Foy. Foy believes that high school rivalries used to be even more brutal, but now schools get offended too easily.
“As schools are getting softer and softer, it gets harder to have a serious rivalry. Deep Run used to have very serious rivalries, but now many chants will get either of our school’s students suspended,” Foy said.
Because of their close proximity, the students at Godwin, Glen Allen, and Deep Run all know each other very well, which makes the rivalries seem more like siblings picking on each other. Like many area students, rival Can-mans Foy and Baker have always known each other and are friends.
“I grew up with Nate Baker. He and I have always been friends, which makes our school’s rivalry so much harder to be hurtful and serious. I also know the Godwin guys pretty well,” Foy said.
The West End rivalries will live on. We may bicker from time to time, but we can all get along, no matter what side of Broad Street we live on.