How Deep is the Rivalry between Tumwater and Black Hills High Schools?

The 2014 Pioneer Bowl resulted in a Tumwater victory of 48-7 over the BHHS Wolves.
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By Taylor Tryon, Tumwater High School Intern to ThurstonTalk

Tumwater senior David Cooper during 2014-15 League Championship game against Black Hills.
Tumwater senior David Cooper during the 2014-15 League Championship game against BHHS.

In the Tumwater School District, there are two rival high schools – Tumwater High School and A.G.West Black Hills High School.

The two schools were a combined Tumwater school until the opening of Black Hills in 1997, splitting the student body. So how is a rivalry born out of something that was once a unified team? Where did this rivalry begin? Or is it really a rivalry at all?

As a Tumwater native I have known of the rivalry for as long as I’ve known of the high schools. Knowing I would eventually attend THS, I immediately sided with the Thunderbirds. As someone on the outside looking in at this high school strife, I seem to have given it more weight then, than I do now as a student at Tumwater.

I have memories of past Pioneer Bowls in which kids of opposing schools threw popcorn, hurtful words, and allegedly even a punch or two at each other in the name of loyalty to their favored school. Although, I started to notice this behavior was mostly occurring in those who were not yet attending high school.  I found it odd that people were quick to so vehemently defend something they weren’t yet directly involved in.

As a current sophomore at THS, I don’t really give much thought to the rivalry, with the exception of rivalry game days. I am friendly acquaintances with many BHHS students as are most of my friends. Of the students I spoke with about this supposed rivalry, I found that most don’t take it very seriously.

“I mean, yeah its fun to play around with it [the rivalry], but most of us are actually good friends with the kids at Black Hills,” said Tumwater sophomore, Jessi Blaylock, about the feud.

The 2014 Pioneer Bowl resulted in a 48-7 Tumwater victory.
The 2014 Pioneer Bowl resulted in a 48-7 THS victory.

Let’s take it down to the technicalities of athletics. The main rivalry sporting event is the annual Pioneer Bowl football game. This year marked the 17th Annual Pioneer Bowl and yet another THS victory. Black Hills has taken the trophy home with them only three of the seventeen games. Earlier this year, the Tumwater varsity boys’ basketball team took on BHHS on their home court for the league championship and for the first time in history, THS won the match. Black Hills and Tumwater both achieve athletic excellence in their own respective sports as well as in the classroom.

One of the best things to come out of this rivalry to date is the Pioneer Bowl Rap. For those who aren’t familiar with this piece of THS history, the Pioneer Bowl Rap is a song written and performed by THS alumnus Ryan Bert. The song was his way of pumping up his fellow students at the 2008 Pioneer Bowl assembly he would be missing due to a league tennis tournament. However, it became locally viral and now harbors nearly 19,000 views. I was in the fourth grade when the video was released and knew the words by heart within a week, as did most THS-bound kids.

THS alumnus Ryan Bert's 2008 Pioneer Bowl Rap video went viral and is still popular today.
THS alumnus Ryan Bert’s 2008 Pioneer Bowl Rap video went viral and is still popular today.

The YouTube video is now a fond memory many THS students still think back on often. Black Hills students however, were not so fond. A similar video was made in rebuttal for the girls’ basketball team rivalry game which stirred much controversy between the two schools but was ultimately harmless.

Whether the rivalry between Black Hills and Tumwater High Schools holds any real ground or not, there is undoubtedly a sense of community found in the feud. We share a district, a stadium, and many Friday night memories.  This makes the rivalry, to me, just a bit of fun to spice up a district game and fill students with school pride.

 

 

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