by Thomas Edson

In many different athletic events, certain games have a rivalry trophy that the winning team boasts for a year every time they win. For example, the winner of the Michigan-Michigan State football game each year takes home the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Jamesville-DeWitt High School and Fayetteville-Manlius High School have recently decided to come together and form a similar type of award for hard work on the field.

    Starting this academic year (2015-2016), the two teams will collide in a variety of athletic events at the modified, junior-varisty and varsity levels. The school that wins the most contests will win the JD-FM Sportsmanship Award.

The idea originated with J-D Athletics Director, John Goodson, and F-M Athletics Director, Scott Sugar. According to Goodson, the two got together last spring (2015), and started scheduling non-league games between the two schools in many different sports. “We were just trying to bring the J-D and F-M communities together a little bit more,” said Goodson.

More recently, they decided to add the trophy portion of the competition. It will function much in the way a college rivalry trophy works, residing at the winning school starting each spring, and changing residence when the other school wins it back.