Every school has sports rivalries with other schools that go back for many generations. For CCES, the rivals are the St. Joseph’s Catholic School Knights. Across all sports, the St Joe’s game is circled on every team’s calendar. For football, it’s more than just a game; it’s our culture. The competition with the Knights is once a year, but everyone has their own story to tell about when they played St Joe’s, and if they beat them.
A backyard battle between two independent schools that are less than 5 miles from each other has become a game-filled with emotions. Many CCES alumni remember their experience playing against the St. Joes Knights. CCES football coach, aluminist, and teacher Josh Jackson claimed,” They would always come out real energized and ready to play, might hop out a little bit early like they did last year, 14 – 0, but at the end of the day, little brother will always be little brother”. Last year, the Cavaliers beat the Knights 34 to 14, extending the winning streak to 7 years without losing to St. Joes.
The anticipation for the backyard battle began at the beginning of the week. Both teams posted on their Instagram barstool accounts to talk trash to the other teams. A player from St. Joes claimed,” You know it’s a run, but you can’t stop it”. The trash talk between the two schools has only been fuel and motivation each day in practice for the Cavaliers.
Even though the St. Joes Knights are the for CCES, it hasn’t always been that way. “When I was in high school, they weren’t our rivals like they are now. Our rivals were the Southside Christian Sabres,” said aluminst and teacher Zay Kittredge. The Sabres are also rivals, but that’s a story for a different day.
Historically, the Cavaliers have dominated the Knights in their past meetings. Most years, these teams face once a year, but sometimes twice in the playoffs when the stakes are at an all-time high. Head football Coach Quin Hatefeild states, “We’ve had an overtime games, so you got to be prepared for anything, you got to be ready, but the end of the day, we’re gonna hang our hats on who we are being a more physical team and showing up with a great deal of excitement to play and let it rip on Friday night in Carson Stadium”.
During the mid-season bye week, the CCES football team began to prepare for the St. Joes Knights because of their unique offense. That being said, the 2025 Cavalier football team is ready to compete at a high level tonight at 7:30 at Carson Stadium.
