It is hard to believe now that just 26 years ago Rangeview and Gateway were one school because of how intense the rivalry is between the two schools today.. From their students test scores to the rivalries that are involved within the staff, on each of the sports fields, and even in clubs, Rangeview is always trying to be ahead of Gateway and vise-versa.
Now the schools, separated by just about four miles, are involved in what is known as the “Backyard Brawl” and battle each year for the Anvil trophy which was created from an idea of Rangeview’s Head football Coach Dave Gonzales. The winner of the Varsity football game each year gets to take the trophy home and display it in the hallways of their school as a symbol that they beat their rival school.
“All I know is it is going to be in the Rangeview hallways for now and we’ll figure out the rest later,” Gonzales told the Aurora Sentinel after the teams engaged in the 25th meeting all time on the gridiron. RHS is 13-12 all time against Gateway.
Rangeview dominated this chapter of the rivalry as they won the game in a stunning 41-0 fashion as the Raiders overwhelmingly owned the trenches on both sides of the football. The offense rushed for nearly 400 yards averaging a shade less than 10 yards per carry. Starting running back Jon Matthews ran wild on the Oly defense, he gained 216 yards on only 20 carries and had three touchdowns in the game. Quarterback Jaleel Awini also had his most impressive game of the young season, he added three touchdowns of his own with two on the ground including a 60 yarder, and added another through the air.
The defense held the Gateway offense in check as the Oly’s gained just 145 yards of total offense, 118 of them were by one player.
“We got dominated in every aspect of the game.” Gateway head coach Justin Hoffman told the Sentinel, “It’s not a good feeling whatsoever. They are just better than we are right now.” He later added, “It’s been nice to have that trophy for 365 days, but I just want them to know it’s on loan.”
The Rangeview-Gateway rivalry is the high school equivalent of the Broncos-Raiders, or the “Rocky Mountain Showdown” between CU-CSU, and like these two great in-state rivalries Rangeview vs. Gateway is here to stay and the staffs, students, coaches, players, and those who just watch for entertainment will get to enjoy the “Backyard Brawl” for many years to come, because in case you haven’t noticed student turn-out and attendance in general is always higher when it’s Rangeview-Gateway competing in what ever event they are competing in.
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