The Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, University of Utah and Brigham Young University, and Dixie State University and BYU-Hawaii — what do they all have in common? A rivalry.
For as long as Dixie State has been a Division II school, no matter which sport, many have seen the rivalry in sports with BYU-Hawaii.
The rivalry started with all the fans who come to support BYU-Hawaii at Dixie’s home turf. When we have a game full of fans cheering the opposing team’s name, it is bound to get more competitive.
People come down to these games because it is BYU, and people in Utah love to see another BYU school such as BYU-Hawaii play a Utah school. Many people from all over Utah come into St. George to see this game take place. Not only that, but there are also usually one or two players on BYU-Hawaii’s roster from Utah each year.
The rivalry includes perfect ingredients because it is another BYU school playing in Utah and there are players on BYU-H from Utah.
But it is very much a healthy rivalry. If it were a rivalry out of hatred, people would see more fights on the court or field. Everyone has a will to play hard because he or she wants to win, but it would go farther than if it were anymore than just a rivalry.
Everyone still plays fair and shows respect to each other once off the court.
“It is a good, healthy rivalry,” Athletic Director Jason Boothe said. “There is no animosity on the floor.”
Usually BYU-Hawaii and Dixie State have pretty similar records in all athletics, which makes the rivalry a little more heated, but with all records aside, when it comes to those two teams, it is always going to be a close game.
In the past three years of Dixie State men’s basketball, it has been as close as a three-point game, with the exception of last year’s game where the Seasiders beat the Storm 80-75.
Most of the fans at Dixie’s basketball game last year against BYU-Hawaii were Seasider fans.
Though BYU-H continues to be a tough competition for Dixie in mostly every sport, the main competition derives from the basketball court.
“They are one of our biggest rivals,” Boothe said. “You can see from the crowd and the passion that the fans have.”
He said a lot of people come into town just because it is BYU — so it’s a natural rivalry.
“We have had really good contests,” Boothe said.
