It’s going to be a spirited week for Daviess County and Apollo high school families as the annual football rivalry kicks off with spirit weeks at both schools. While all in good fun, many alumni from both schools recall events surrounding this long-standing tradition and the current principals and staff are as serious about this rivalry — even placing wagers on the competition.
“The Daviess County and Apollo rivalry has a rich history going back to the very first year Apollo became a high school,” said Rick Lasley, Apollo principal. “Both schools love beating the other school — it doesn’t matter what the competition may be.”
Apollo athletic director Dan Crume has been on several sides of this rivalry. Crume’s father was a vice principal at DCHS and his older brothers were on the football team. As a student athlete in the late 1980s, this week provided excitement and energy, he said.
“During the afternoon extended break, it seemed that the lobby was abuzz with energy and events, like my father leading the student body to play the school song with kazoos that were sold to students during spirit week,” Crume said. “On Thursday evening, a massive car bash and bonfire was held in the back parking lot. A donated junk car would be all painted up and the football team and student body would use sledgehammers to destroy the car.”
Crume also remembers the DCHS spirit week pep rally that was typically held in the football stadium.
“There was always a skit, a parade of cars decorated by students, and typically some ‘Apollo students’ driving through the parking lot harassing the student body during the pep rally,” Crume said.
Only, as Crume later found out, the “Apollo students” were people his dad had contacted to “drive through parking lot, blow their horns, wave blue clothes and towels, and yell out of their car windows to work the students into a frenzy.”
Daviess County graduate Amy Nave recalls loving rivalry week and arriving at school at the “crack of dawn” to decorate the halls and lockers for the football players.
“The anticipation of the game and all of the activities that came along with it was tons of fun,” Nave said. “The car bash and bonfire night was one of my favorites. My boyfriend and now husband was a football player and since I was a Pantherette, that made it even more fun! I loved DCHS and all the school spirit that surrounded it.”
Apollo alum and current DCHS guidance counselor Kelly Powers did her student teaching at Daviess County and remembers seeing the school news depict Apollo cheerleaders as mice.
“As a former Apollo cheerleader, it was shocking, but it turns out to be a friendly rivalry,” Powers said.
Her husband Jason, a former Apollo basketball player, Apollo teacher and now a DCHS assistant principal allows Kelly to share some of his old uniforms and spirit wear with different staff to dress up for DCHS nerd day — where most students still dress as Apollo students.
“It’s fun to have authentic items and to see the kids reactions when they see our old stuff and learn we are from the ‘other side,’” Kelly Powers said.
Tim Belcher, a 2005 DCHS graduate, says he remembers spirit week being an all out battle.
“It didn’t matter if you had friends from Apollo, during that week, we were archenemies,” Belcher said. “Obviously it may have gone a bit too far sometimes — like raw chickens on Apollo’s field — but it was honestly all in good fun.”
Jason Powers remembers the same event — when DC students put chickens on Apollo’s field the night before the game. He was a teacher at Apollo at the time.
“Apollo was beating DC pretty badly by the half. Apollo’s students went on the field at halftime and performed the chicken dance to music,” Powers said. “It was pretty funny.”
Toby Alexander played football for Apollo and graduated in 1993.
“It was always a fun spirit week leading up to the game and knowing a lot of the people that went to DC, there was a fair amount of trash talking,” Alexander said. “Regardless of the teams’ records coming into the game, it was usually a close, hard-fought game. Each player really wanted those bragging rights.”
Crume has also experienced the rivalry from a coach’s standpoint on both sides of the field.
“The game has a lot of meaning and as a coach, I learned to expect the unexpected in pre-game events as well as during the game itself,” Crume said. “For both schools, the outcome of the game can create positive feelings about a season that may not be so successful or leave a mark on a season that had been very successful.”
According to Crume, the 1983 football season showcased the effects of this rivalry.
“The DC team went into that game [against Apollo] without a win,” Crume said. “Apollo was having a good season and quite a bit of success.”
Daviess County ended up winning their only game.
“In 1998, a similar situation occurred,” Crume said. “While coaching at Daviess County, the team was struggling to find success. DCHS went into the game with a 0-4 record. Apollo entered the game with a 4-0 record and were ranked in the Top 10 in 4A in the state. DCHS went on to win 33-30 in a wild and crazy game. The energy and excitement from the win helped propel DC to win their next two games. While the Panthers finished with a losing record that year, the feeling around the program and school was still very positive because of the win over the county rival in that 5th game of the season.”
Everyone in the Watts family attended DCHS and, as students, participated in spirit week. Chad Watts, a player for DCHS and 1990 graduate agrees about the game’s importance — and the week leading up to it.
“There’s nothing funny about that week; it is serious,” Chad said.
His wife Leslie said she remembers how the whole school came together and wanted one thing…to beat Apollo.
Their son and daughter remember the pep rallies DC held prior to the big game. A 2017 graduate and Pantherette captain, Lauren remembers a performance at the pep rally where “one of the girls shot an eagle with a bow and arrow.” Beau, who graduated in 2013 remembers watching the DC football players dressed as the Apollo cheerleaders in the pep rally and thinking it was hilarious.
Both AHS and DCHS still carry on some of the traditions of the spirit week with thematic “dress” days where students are encouraged to dress in a spirited way — neon, tie-dye, Hawaiian, movie character — all leading up to Friday’s dress in school colors for a pep rally.
An added twist to the rivalry this year, and all in the spirit of competition, is a canned food drive war for items that will be donated back to the respective schools to help with programs already in place. Both schools are collecting items and the school with the most collected per student wins bragging rights.
“Everything brought in goes back to our own students who need extra help, so all the donations will go to our own school families,” said Heather McCarthy, AHS Family Resource Youth Service Center Coordinator (FRYSC).
Megan Nicodemus, DCHS’ FRYSC said both schools have posted flyers, are showcasing the competition on the school news and will soon promote it on social media.
“Both Heather and I are new to [the district], so hopefully we are starting some new traditions of our own,” Nicodemus said. “I am very competitive and look forward to getting swept up in the hype.”
An incentive for students and staff alike is that the administrators from the opposing schools have a “friendly” wager on who can bring in the most pantry items per student.
“The winning school’s administrative team gets to be served a breakfast or lunch of their choice by the losing school’s administrative team,” said Matt Mason, principal of DCHS.
Lasley said the wager is an effort to bring more attention to the “very worthy” cause of collecting canned goods and hygiene products.
“Regardless of which school brings in the most items per student, this is a ‘win’ for the community,” said Lasley.
Good luck to both DC and Apollo both on and off the field in these friendly competitions.
Editor’s Note: “Full disclosure — I am a DCHS alum, former DCHS teacher and married to the principal of DCHS, who is also a DCHS alum.”
