The Hatchet game is the famous football rivalry that has stretched for over half a century between the Garden City Buffalos and the Dodge City Red Demons. The new head football coach, Joe Price, said,
“I’m excited about it. I think it’s a cool tradition. A rivalry game is always a game where one team could be not so good and it still ends up being a really good game because both teams are going to give it their best effort.”
The match on Oct. 7 ended in a loss for The Buffalos.
“The Hatchet game, in my opinion, is one of the greatest rivalries in Kansas,” Culden Plankenhorn, Trade senior, said,
“To me, it means so much, and even though we lost, I saw pride in it because the younger classmen, they have a chance to win it.”
For the seniors, they have a split record over their four years experiencing different leadership dynamics.
“I feel like there’s enough strong leadership on our team this year that I think it’ll translate over to the lower classmen, especially with the junior class now, since they’re going to be seniors. I feel like there’ll be some pretty good leaders in that class,” Plankenhorn said.
The team takes the competition seriously, with a fiery spirit of competition. The rivalry creates tension between the two schools. Sophomore Mackoy Hemmert, who plays wide receiver and free safety said,
“It’s kind of like bragging rights, you know. This part of Kansas, if you win, then you get bragging rights for the rest of the year and so the next game, the cycle starts over again.”
Both teams being evenly matched, just makes it better. As the Hatchet remains with the Red Demons, for the second consecutive year, the loss has only further sparked the team’s motivation.
“It’s kind of emotional after that game because it was (the seniors) last game, but for us younger guys, it’s just setting the tone and what we got to bring to the table in the future—to go beat these guys and get our get back for the older guys,” Hemmert said.
Through this motivation, the team hopes for the future.
“I’m really optimistic about the future of our football program since we have a lot of dudes who are younger. I think we could have the chance to be really good,” Hemmert said.
“Keep hope, and this isn’t the end. We’re going to be back next year for sure.”
