Rogers, Cheney initiate new spirit games, ‘Railroad Rumble,’ at Reese Court
Rivalry week at the Spokane Arena starts on Monday, but a new rivalry tipped off at Reese Court on Wednesday, as Cheney’s girls and boys hosted their counterparts from Rogers for the “Railroad Rumble,” adding to the pageantry of the Greater Spokane League’s spirit games.
“We originally were going to have it at Rogers,” Pirates athletic director Aaron Brecek said. “And then, you know, when COVID kind of took off again and numbers went up, we decided it just wasn’t a big enough venue.”
With the Arena already packed with high school games next week, officials at Cheney reached out to Eastern Washington, and the new spirit game had its new venue. Brecek said the hope is to have Rogers host at the Arena next year.
“We haven’t had a spirit game since 2009,” Brecek added. “None of our kids knew what it was, so we kept trying to tell them, ‘Hey, this is a big deal, come out.’ So yeah, I’m real happy with the numbers we got.”
While both student bodies and faculty did a fabulous job with the spirit competition, the strength of the superlative Rogers dance team pushed the Pirates over the top to claim victory.
On the court, the four squads combined for nine wins on the season entering play. While the teams’ successes on the court this season might not be what the coaches and players hoped for at the beginning of the season, it didn’t damper the enthusiasm for the pair of nonleague games.
“It was awesome,” Cheney girls coach Tim Ryan said. “With all the fans and everything, I’m very excited about that.”
“It was fun,” Rogers girls coach Lindsey Hernandez said. “It was really fun for the kids to play in front of a big crowd for the first time.
“I wasn’t sure how they would deal with the crowd, but they were able to calm down and play.”
Girls: Paige Evans hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points and the Blackhawks (6-12) topped the Pirates (1-14) 43-31 in the early game.
Jalayla Brown led Rogers with 12 points and Sydney Vining added 11.
“It was super fun,” Evans said. “We did really good and we’ve been improving every week. It was really neat to have that many people in the stands cheering you on.”
Cheney used a 12-5 run in the second quarter, fueled by three 3-pointers by Evans, to build a 20-9 lead at halftime.
“Paige finally started hitting her 3s,” Ryan said. “We’ve been working hard on that, her and I have put in the extra time to get her going.”
Macey Richards scored on a couple of putbacks in the third and Cheney went up by 15 going into the final quarter.
Rogers cut it to 12 early in the fourth on three straight 3s by Brown, Vining and Ajah Garza, but the Blackhawks made their free throws down the stretch to hold the double-digit lead.
Hernandez was happy to see her squad push back in the fourth quarter.
“They finally made some adjustments and just did the things we were telling them to do, and it worked and that’s all we can ask of them,” Hernandez said.
Boys: Evan Stinson scored 35 points and the Blackhawks (3-14) beat the Pirates (1-15) 64-54 in the late game.
“The atmosphere was amazing,” Stinson said. “We played really well, played our hearts out and the fans were a big part.”
Geremiah Hilburn led Rogers with 23 points.
“Long time coming,” Rogers coach Karim Scott said of the rivalry game. “Hopefully, next year we’ll be at the Arena.”
Trailing by four with just under 6 minutes to play, Stinson was fouled and a technical was called. Stinson knocked down 3 of 4 free throws to stretch the lead and his putback next time down made it an 11-point game.
Stinson scored 14 points in the first quarter to stake Cheney to a 22-15 lead.
He headed to the bench in the second and Hilburn took over the game, slashing through the paint for 12 points in the quarter. The Pirates trailed by just five at halftime.
Rogers’ Hartman Warrick (nine points) made a 3 midway near the end of the third quarter to make it a three-point game.
“We competed well,” Scott said. “I wanted to win, I know (his players) wanted to win. … But at the same time, we competed.”