Is Marion or Murphysboro Carbondale’s biggest rivalry?
This photo was edited by Blake Taylor. Showing the Marion Wildcats logo [on top] and the Murphysboro Red Devil logo [on bottom].
October 29, 202110 Views
The city of Carbondale, located on Route 13 and home to the Carbondale Terriers. Take a left on Route 13, and you will approach Murphysboro. Take a right, you will approach Marion. These cities all have a lot of history together, especially when it comes to high school sports. Coming to a sporting event for the Terriers, you can feel the difference when Marion or Murphysboro comes to town. Both have very good atmospheres, and both are very physical towards each other when they play, but who is the biggest rivalry for the Terriers?
Phillip Johnson, the TE for the Terriers football team gave his thoughts on this issue.
“The biggest rivalry would be Marion”, Johnson said, “Our games have always been more competitive physically and more hype than Murphy games”.
I tend to agree with Phillip on this. Going to many sporting events including both the Marion and Murphysboro games, you can tell the difference. The Murphysboro games, it means more to Murphy than us. Since Carbondale is a bigger school than Murphy, we want to focus more on the bigger games instead, so when Marion comes to town, it is normally a big deal. Marion is in our conference, so normally when we play Marion, we are playing for a conference championship. However when we are playing against Murphy, we are only playing for pride, and that is about it.
Nathan Torres, a CCHS senior and athlete shares his thoughts on Marion.
“I think Marion is the bigger rival”, Torres said, “We are usually on the same competition level in most sports”.
School size matters, especially in our area. Marion and Carbondale have the two biggest schools in the area, so when we are playing each other, we are playing a school that has the same amount of people as us. When we play each other, the physicality will be similar, and the hatred that you need in a rivalry game will be there. You do not really see much hatred on the Carbondale side for the Murphy game, but you will see more hatred for the Marion game.
In conclusion, Marion is Carbondale’s biggest rival, and it isn’t close at all. If Murphy had more students in their school, then you may see more of a rivalry, but until then Marion is Carbondale’s Rival.
