ANACORTES — Most sports rivalries are born from fierce competition, proximity and friendship.

But sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

To boost student spirit, students and staff from Anacortes High School this fall asked their counterparts at Burlington-Edison High School to be their rival for the next basketball game.

But instead of laughing the Seahawks off the court, the B-E Tigers answered the call, and the Tiger-Hawk Challenge was born.

The query was fueled by two Anacortes administrators’ memories of an annual, epic contest between Joel E. Ferris and Lewis and Clark high schools in Spokane. The Rubber Chicken game is held every year at the Spokane Arena, but the winner is decided by the fans in the stands, not the players on the court.

Between quarters and during half time of the girls’ and boys’ basketball games, more than 9,000 screaming fans compete in spirit contests for a rubber chicken trophy named Chuck.

“If you looked at the Ferris side, it was a sea of red,” AHS Athletic Director Rick Mergenthaler said.

For seven years, Mergenthaler dreamed of igniting that type of fire in his student body. But it wasn’t until he mentioned it to Principal Pam Estvold — a former Lewis and Clark assistant principal — that a plan was hatched.

Proximity fuels rivalries

Rivalries run long and deep in Skagit Valley. Concrete and Darrington high schools have had a decadeslong rivalry, Principal Don Beazizo said.

“They’ve always been our arch-rival, even back when I was going to school here,” said Beazizo, a 1986 graduate. “We’ve always had pretty good-sized crowds.”

But a rivalry is more than large crowds, he said.

“I think it’s just the atmosphere of the game itself,” Beazizo said. “It seems like Darrington and Concrete are always competing for something.”

Burlington and Mount Vernon are natural rivals, said Dave Riddle, Mount Vernon High’s athletic director. He said he can depend on a large student crowd at all football and basketball games against the Tigers.

And as a coach, the game takes on more meaning, Riddle said. Coaches talk with their players to “keep them on an even keel.”

“It’s just a game — but man, it’s a big game,” Riddle said.

Eventually, those games become the stuff of legend, which continues to fuel the rivalry.

“Of course, the older you get, the better those games were and the bigger your part in it was,” Riddle said. “I like to relive that because it’s fun and you’re with friends and you remember that time.”

As people graduate from high school and move to communities within the valley, the rivalry maintains a friendly air.

“Kids go off and graduate and work alongside somebody they considered a rival or that they played against,” Sedro-Woolley Athletic Director Todd Torgeson said. “It’s kind of a special connection that we have within Skagit Valley.”

Searching for a rival

The old rivalries between Anacortes and nearby schools — Oak Harbor, Arlington and Stanwood — had died off because Anacortes has lost students while the others have grown, putting the schools in two different leagues.

“Many of the old-timers come in and talk about the old days,” Anacortes’ Mergenthaler said. “It’s changed dramatically. We don’t play those schools anymore.”

So who are the Seahawks’ rivals now?

Students all have different answers. Some say Mount Vernon or Sedro-Woolley. When trying to choose a rival, students and staff wanted to pick a contest that could grow over the years.

A rivalry with the B-E Tigers made sense, said Laura Andrich, Anacortes student and co-chair of the Tiger-Hawk Challenge planning team. Burlington already has two intense rivalries in the valley, including with Sedro-Woolley and Mount Vernon high schools.

“I thought (the Tiger-Hawk Challenge) was really great because we haven’t really had a connection with other schools,” Andrich said. “I was really excited.”

The two schools are natural basketball rivals anyway because the games are often close, said Burlington-Edison teacher Kevin Gudgel, who helped organize the event.

So the schools created rules for the Tiger-Hawk Challenge. Each school could use two props for audience-wide skits. Judges from neutral schools would score the fan enthusiasm. Bad sportsmanship or jeering would cost points toward the final score.

The winning school would keep a traveling trophy — an antique metal milk can painted half blue and gold and half purple and white. Originally set for Dec. 19, the game had to be rescheduled to Jan. 5 at Anacortes because snowstorms shut schools down for three days.

Andrich said Anacortes students planned for the contest through winter break, all the while hoping that students would show up at the game — and fearing they wouldn’t.

“Most of our games, we get good crowds. We had a couple of games where we’ve sold out,” Gudgel said. “A big, hyped-up game with Anacortes you’ve never had an issue getting a ticket for.”

By game time on Jan. 5, the Anacortes gym was already full before the girls’ game began at 6 p.m.

“We had kids there that never have come to a basketball game before, and now they’re starting to come to games,” Mergenthaler said.

Adults did a double take as they tried to find their usual seats that night, Mergenthaler said.

“They looked at the crowd, and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They all made the comment that it hadn’t been like that for years in Anacortes,” Mergenthaler said.

Principal Estvold said the game reminded her of a playoff.

“Our girls played at the state basketball tournament last year, and I think … this is equivalent to that,” Estvold said. “There’s so much noise.”

Chris Hyde, captain of Anacortes’ drum line, said he’s used to performing in front of near-empty stands.

“I was actually expecting there to not be many Anacortes kids,” Hyde, 18, said. “They proved me wrong. There were a lot more than any other basketball game I’ve ever been to.”

And though it was an away game for Burlington students, they showed up in force and won the spirit contest, Gudgel said.

“They had a ton of kids, and we had a ton of kids. It was back and forth,” Gudgel said. “Our girls especially were not used to playing in that kind of atmosphere. It was very loud and very spirited.”

Will rivalry continue?

Fallout from the contest in early January is already making waves in the valley.

Mount Vernon’s Riddle said the Burlington fans at a recent basketball game in Mount Vernon had obviously prepared for their part in the stands.

“Burlington brought a fantastic student crowd,” Riddle said. “They sat in a huge section of the gym, and they were all wearing yellow and blue. They were loud and in sync, and they were a force.”

Students used to be afraid to cheer, said Cole Whited, student body president at B-EHS. Not anymore.

“Now it’s more uncomfortable to not cheer,” he said.

Already students and staff are planning the next Tiger-Hawk Challenge. Adding male cheerleaders is on the discussion list for the competition.

Next year’s contest will be a tight squeeze when it moves to Burlington-Edison High. Officials expect a sold-out crowd before the gates open. The Anacortes gym was almost full, and it holds 1,800 fans, Mergenthaler said. B-EHS holds only 1,200.

If the Tiger-Hawk Challenge continues to grow, the teams will have to face off on a neutral court, possibly Mount Vernon’s, which can hold 2,000 fans on a packed night.

Hyde, the drum line captain at AHS, said he thinks the game will turn into a fun tradition.

“It was definitely an intense experience,” Hyde said. “All of the students were on their feet the entire time. I think the only time students sat down was maybe at halftime.”

* Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .