November 10 , 2006

Jaguars or Wildcats? It’s a zoo in Blue Springs

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

In theory, it seemed impossible.

Take 500 freshmen headed to Blue Springs and 500 freshmen headed to Blue Springs South, put them in one building, make them attend class together and expect them to happily co-exist for a year.

It was utopian, almost, based on an old-fashioned ideal that said pride in community was larger than pride in school. Yes, the Blue Springs Freshman Center would slowly put an end to the negative rivalry brewing between Blue Springs and its offspring, Blue Springs South. Here, within these walls, they would not be Wildcats and Jaguars, only freshmen trying to find their way.

Eight years later, the experiment seems to have worked. Freshman football players from both high schools eat lunch at the same table, and rivaling cheerleaders braid each other’s hair. Teachers aren’t allowed to wear purple, gold, green or blue, and principal Dan Anderson goes out of his way to have a green pen and a purple pen on his desk.

Knowing all of this, it still doesn’t seem possible. So, three days before Blue Springs and Blue Springs South play in the Missouri Class 6A state quarterfinals, we take a trip upstairs to Kara Wirth’s geometry class, comprised of 16 Wildcats and 11 Jaguars.

A quick survey of the room indicates that these are actual teenagers, not aliens from a planet without Friday night football. Wirth opens the floor for discussion. She asks that the students raise their hands before speaking up.

“So who is going to win Friday night?” the students are asked.

The kids ignore their teacher, raising only their voices, and it comes out something like this: “S%*$O#BL^U@SP!”

After about 15 seconds of incoherent shouting, an awkward silence fills the room. They aren’t just fellow freshmen anymore.

“I hate them,” a future Blue Springs student mumbles under his breath.

Tonight, the state’s No. 1 team, Blue Springs South, will make the short trip north of Highway 40 to face Blue Springs, ranked No. 2. For one week, the state’s eyes are fixed firmly on Blue Springs, and you can feel the glare here in Wirth’s classroom. You can feel it all over town.

The talk started Sunday morning at the First Baptist Church of Blue Springs, where 30 to 40 Blue Springs and Blue Springs South students attended a youth service together. Right in the middle of it were a couple of football players, Blue Springs senior Justin Loper and South senior Ryan Black, who’ve been friends for years.

“You could already hear the kids talking when they first came in,” says Rob Roush, the church’s youth minister. “I moved up here recently, and it’s a completely different mindset in Blue Springs. It’s the place to be on Friday nights. They’re born and raised that way out here.”

The talk continued on Tuesday at City Hall, where the booths were packed with voters on Election Day. In between voting on candidates and amendments, Blue Springs residents participated in an informal straw poll conducted by The Star: “Who will you pull for on Friday night? Blue Springs or Blue Springs South?”

Edie Hunter starts the voting by choosing Blue Springs because she lives on the north side and her kids went to Blue Springs.

But South takes an early 4-3 lead thanks to Terri Shryock, who had a daughter graduate from both schools.

“I think it’s South’s due,” Shryock says. “Blue Springs had their time. They’ve been on top for so long.”

Shryock has a point. The Wildcats have won three state championships to the Jaguars’ zero since South was created back in 1992. So maybe Blue Springs should just donate Friday night’s game to charity.

“No way,” says Cathy Smith, a diehard Wildcat, “not to that outsider. We’re the original. We’re the champs.”

Suddenly, Smith is approached by state representative Gary Dusenberg, who is busy making a last-minute plea to Blue Springs voters in the parking lot. Dusenberg, who’s lived in Blue Springs for 35 years, is asked to vote in The Star’s poll.

“I’m for both of them,” Dusenberg says. “It’s a win for Blue Springs either way.”

Predictably, the politician is the only person who can’t make up his mind.

“Blue Springs South,” James Mead says, “because I went to school there twice, and I dropped out both times! Wooo!”

Even the dropouts have an opinion in this town. In the end, after 30 votes, Blue Springs wins, 18-12, a 20-percent margin of victory. Of course, the ultimate victory will be had on the field at Blue Springs tonight. The all-time series is tied, 6-6.

Back in ’92, Blue Springs athletic director Tim Crone knew this day would come, when Blue Springs South would pull even with his Wildcats. It became especially clear in ’94, when the kids who were once freshmen and sophomores at Blue Springs wore Jaguar green and blue and stomped Blue Springs in the playoffs. Crone says this one is the biggest yet.

“I’ve often wondered,” Crone says, “how good we’d be if we were still just one school.”

Yes, if they combined both schools like they did at the Freshman Center, the town of Blue Springs would almost certainly have a happy Thanksgiving weekend in St. Louis. But will it be enough to have just one school receiving the glory?

Back in Wirth’s classroom, the debate rages on. Would the kids at the Freshman Center pull for the other school if their school was to lose tonight?

“Are you crazy?” says one exasperated voice from the back of the room.

“I wouldn’t pull for Blue Springs South,” says Quinn Shields, who plays in the Blue Springs band.

“They’re still our rival,” says Nick Clark, a future Blue Springs student. “It’s like the Chiefs and Oakland.”

The freshman girls try to talk some logic into the boys.

“I think it’s more of a fun rivalry than a serious rivalry,” says Olivia Hunt, a future Jaguar. “My cousins go there, and a lot of kids from my church go there. I’ve known them my whole life.”

Shields and Aaron Davis shake their heads in disbelief.

“But it’s Blue Springs,” pleads Emma Davis, a future Wildcat. “It’s our town being recognized.”

It seems the freshmen in Blue Springs really are learning more than geometry.

Every week, Kansas City Star reporter J. Brady McCollough will take a look at a unique aspect of the high school football community. To submit a story idea, e-mail McCollough at jmccollough@kcstar.com.

J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell)