Kendall

Throughout the history of high school lacrosse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a rivalry has been present between two schools. These two schools battle each other for the number one seed in not just the state, but the nation. Lacrosse players from all over America move to Pittsburgh before high school begins to get the chance to be a member of either of these teams. Only the best of the best make the first cuts, and only the boys and girls who have been playing since they were in diapers make the final cut.

The first of the two schools is Pittsburgh Hills High School. Home to prodigies of all kinds, lacrosse is no different. Practically every player that has ever been on their boys' and girls' teams have gone on to get college scholarships and then to pro. The only ones who don't are the mentally and physically weak, or the ones that get injured along the way. Pittsburgh Hills believes in the mantra "Train insane or remain the same." This is exactly what they do. They push their players to be in tip-top condition and weed out the ones that are physically unable to work under their standards. Then comes the mental trauma inflicted upon by their coaches. These coaches, former prodigies themselves, treat the teams as though they are army troops preparing for battle. Barking commands constantly at the players, they are able to break the spirits of many kids. Only those that are truly great can make it to the first game.

The second of the two schools is my school, Lincoln Central High School. Like Pittsburgh Hills, only the cream of the crop make it onto our boys' and girls' lacrosse teams. Our coaches create professional grade players that go on to be inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Our coaches, however, take a more light-hearted approach to the game. Although we practice five hours a day every day including weekends, we are treated as actual humans rather than dogs that are in need of training. We train hard and play hard, but we play from our hearts. We play with a passion that roots back to our pure love of the sport, not from it being drilled into our blood.

Since both teams are incredible, we battle each other year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, for the Pennsylvania slot in the National High School Lacrosse Championships. With two amazing teams from the same state and only one team per state in nationals, a rivalry was bound to arise. The enormity of this rivalry was unbeknownst to the early teams.

In present time, the rivalry comes down to school over blood. It doesn't matter who you know at the other school, if you go to Lincoln Central, you are loyal to Lincoln Central. If you go to Pittsburgh Hills, you are loyal to Pittsburgh Hills. Family members have turned on each other due to one sibling going to one school and another sibling going to the other. Friendships have been broken and couples have broken up since you cannot have connections with anyone from the rival school. If you do, you are considered a traitor and will be shunned for the rest of your high school life.

But during the games played against each other is when the real rivalry is revealed. Both teams come out for blood, determined to walk off the field victorious. Bench clearing brawls break out in nearly every game, fans are removed from the stands due to fighting, car windows are smashed and tired are slashed.

Needless to say, there are no boundaries when it comes to the lacrosse rivalry between Pittsburgh Hills and Lincoln Central. Sometimes the game comes down not to which team has more skill, but to which team will go the farthest to win.

This year's state championship game will be no different, and this year, a line will be crossed that turns a not-so-friendly rivalry into a full out war.

And it all involves the Junior year captains of the Lincoln Central's boys' and girls' lacrosse teams, my boyfriend Josh Thompson and me.