Some people would argue that there’s no more joy in a big rivalry than embarrassing your opponent. Beating your rival by some inconceivable score difference just makes some competitors smile. But, then, others would argue it’s not really a rivalry if one team blasts the other. They want a tight score. A close game. A battle. They believe nothing creates more excitement than that last second goal or two evenly-matched teams battling back and forth as leads change over and over. Well, for those who love tight games, the 2016 editions became instant classics.

The first East-Central soccer game took place at Central’s Riske Field. The Lady Thunderbirds battled to a double-overtime tie, 0-0. There were numerous close shots on goal. Junior MacKenzie Paintner made a fingertip save at the last possible second after Central’s Larissa Cussins took a laser shot toward the upper right corner of the goal. East’s best chance to score came at the 69^th minute when senior Abby Morillon worked her way through Central’s defense and took a shot that bounced off the left post, ricocheted to junior Jessie Erickson, who then took a 25-yard shot, but Central’s Abby Fearneyhough made a leaping save to keep the tie score.

“Central did a good job of playing defense and packing it in,” said East’s girls soccer coach Jim Gardner in an interview with wyosports.net. “They had a good game plan and it took us a while to figure it out.”

On the boys’ side, the Thunderbirds fell short to Central, losing 1-2. Senior Anthony Barnes scored the T-Bird’s first and only goal with an assist from senior Nick Hellyer. East racked up more scoring opportunities than Central, taking 17 shots to the Indians’ 14, including 13-3 shots on goal. East kept the 1-0 lead until the last ten minutes of the game, when Central had scored the final two goals during a five-minute span to take the final lead and win the game.

“When our opportunities arise for us to put the ball in the net, we have to figure out a way to do it,” said East’s boys soccer coach Ryan Cameron in an interview with wyosports.net. “You can have possession, knock the ball around and look good, but at the end of the day, if it doesn’t hit the net it really doesn’t matter.”

On April 28, the Thunderbirds and Indians squared off for a second time this season. Unlike the first meeting, the girls decided a winner. And, unlike the first time, the East boys took down their biggest rival.

The Lady Thunderbirds found themselves down at the 12th minute when Central’s Faith Meredith scored. The Indians held the lead until late into the game, when everything happened at once. The craziness started in the 71st minutes when Central’s head coach was ejected for arguing with the official. Then, in the 78th minute, East was awarded a penalty kick when Central fouled East’s Cassidy Hixon in the penalty area. Senior Karly Thompson blasted the penalty kick past a diving Central keeper to knot the score. It looked as if the teams were headed to another overtime, but Central’s Kieli Stultz found the back of the net in the 80th minute to steal a win from the Thunderbirds.

The boys’ teams found themselves in another classic face-to-face battle. Central scored first on a 15th minute goal by Derek Peoples, but East’s Dawson Eldridge answered right back with a score in the 22nd minute. From there on out, it was a struggle. Both defenses clamped down and squeezed out any scoring chances. But, in the 68th minute, East took advantage of a Central mistake. East’s corner kick bounced around in front of Central’s goal for several moments as the Indian’s defense desperately tried to clear the ball and the East offense swooped down. East’s Anthony Barnes finally took control long enough to blast a shot past the keeper for the game-winner.

“These guys have played with each other and against each other for years now, and there’s a lot of pride that goes into this game,” said Coach Cameron, in an wyosports.net interview. “Both teams worked their tails off, (but) we just maybe caught a lucky break and found a way to find the net.”

The Thunderbird squads will compete in Regionals in Sheridan, on May 19-21, and then head to State, also in Sheridan, on May 26-28.