It’s become a rivalry again. It usually comes down to the last possession, at least it has two of the last three years. – Roy head coach Fred Fernandes
PLAIN CITY — Roy will travel to Fremont this weekend as region play continues in Region 1, and though this rivalry isn’t rich with tradition, the two schools have quite the history. Roy High School was dedicated in 1965 and served the residents of Roy and western Weber County as the area’s only local high school for nearly 30 years.
As decades passed and more people decided to settle down within the school’s boundaries, it was determined that a new high school was needed to handle the population growth and that forced a reworking of Roy’s boundaries.
Enter Fremont High School, a new school in Plain City built in 1995 that drew students from both Roy and Weber high schools. When Fremont opened, the school's first head football coach was Fred Fernandes, a graduate of Roy High, who ironically will be walking the Roy sidelines on Friday night as the Royals current head coach.
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According to Fernandes, when Fremont opened, it took kids from both schools, but had a greater impact on Roy, especially the football program.
“It literally sent Roy High into a tailspin for 20 years,” Fernandes said. “For 15-18 years, everybody in Roy was going to Fremont.”
When the two squared off for the first year of football back in the mid ‘90s, Roy came out on top due to prior experience. After that, it was all Silver Wolves for the next 15 years.
Looking at the all-time record, Fremont certainly has the upper hand, but Roy is making a comeback. The Royals have won the last three games against the Silver Wolves and will look to make it four-in-a-row on Friday.
While Roy has found itself victorious as of late, Fernandes knows that Friday's game will be just like all the others — a close one.
“It’s a border war,” Fernandes said. “It’s become a rivalry again. It usually comes down to the last possession, at least it has two of the last three years.”
Throw in the fact that Fremont lost a close one last week to Mountain Crest in triple-overtime, Fernandes and company are expecting the Silver Wolves’ best effort.
“(Last week) was the region opener for both of us, (Fremont) lost a heartbreaker,” Fernandes said. “To go 0-2 in this region is digging yourself a big hole. So they’ve got a lot to play for and I’m sure that’s there big topic of discussion this week.”
This rivalry has an angle for everyone involved — the players grow up close to one another, the schools have a rich rivalry history and Roy’s head coach has ties on both sidelines.
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Twitter: @GriffDoug