For Reynolds head softball coach Ashley Green, April 8 of next year is a date that she’s very excited about.
“It seems like such a long ways away, but it will be here before we know it. It's always fun and exciting when TC and Reynolds play against each other in any sport,” Green said.
When Green was hired as the assistant coach for Reynolds last year, her first time coaching against her alma mater was hard .
“Playing against TC for the first time last year was tough. I still knew many of the girls at TC and was still building relationships with the players at Reynolds. My heart wanted to cheer for both teams. But as a coach, it is exciting to see any player you've coached grow and be successful. Even though TC beat us that day, we definitely came back for revenge on the Rams' turf [in the rematch],” Green said.
Last year, Green was hired as the head varsity softball coach for Rockets, making the transition from a Ram to Rocket even more prominent.
“I still love TC. It's my alma matter, and I'm good friends with many of the faculty there as well. It's one of those things where if TC isn't playing Reynolds, I'll cheer for TC. But when we are, it's ALL green and yellow,” she said.
Roberson and Reynolds have been rivals since the opening of the two schools, which was only seven years apart.
“The rivalry between the schools is there because people (from both schools) live in neighboring areas and because of the proximity of both schools,” said Kasey King, Reynolds alumna and one of the school’s current assistant principals.
King was a cheerleader at Reynolds but had friends at Roberson as well.
“A lot of friends are at different schools, so that tends to make rivalries out of one another. People tend to know each other, and both schools are very competitive in a lot of the same areas,” King said.
“It is a unique rivalry. Like a very mini version of the Duke-Carolina rivalry. I do, however, think Roberson puts a bigger emphasis on the rivalry than Reynolds does,” Green said.
According to Reynolds Principal Doris Sellers, Cane Creek Middle School has played a big part in the current rivalry between the two schools since it opened its doors to students in fall of 2000 because the it feeds both high schools, depending on where students live in relationship to the district lines.
Sophomore Roy Padilla spent his first semester of his freshman year at Reynolds before transferring to Roberson. From his perspective, he was able to see the rivalry from both sides, even though he spent a short amount of time as a Rocket. He does think that the rivalry between Reynolds and TC has become harsher because what is sometimes said on social media.
“Since both schools are fed from the same middle school, I think that’s a lot of it. It’s a friends-vs-friends rivalry,” Padilla said. “I’ve seen a lot of banter on Twitter about who has the better team, and it’s pretty intense.”
Tony Baldwin, Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools, said that because personal relationships exist between people from Cane Creek, excitement is added to the competition, regardless of the record.
Sophomore Brice Ferg plays soccer for the Rams and plays against friends from Reynolds he went to middle school with at Cane Creek.
“Playing against my friends makes the competition more fun and just a better game. I think having friends on opposing teams creates more of a challenge because you just want to be better than them,” Ferg said. Over the years,Both TC Roberson and AC Reynolds have been successful with sports. TC has won 42 state championships and Reynolds has won 49 since both schools opened.
According to Roberson Athletic Director Laura Beatty, the rivalry between Reynolds and TC will likely never go away.
“Even when I went to school here, the rivalry was always a healthy one. With success comes competition,” Beatty said.
Beatty says that the two schools are very similar in many different aspects.
“They have great academics, and their athletic programs are similar with the success that each is having,” said Beatty. “It never gets old beating Reynolds.”