Rivals to Rivals: Le Roy and Cal-Mum football unite for 2024

After more than a century as the football version of mortal enemies, Le Roy and Cal-Mum are now teammates.

“It was definitely kind of a shock,” said Le Roy senior D.J. O’Geen.

“It’s crazy,” said Cal-Mum senior Ethan Larzelere. “My first game as a freshman on varsity, we were playing Le Roy. And now we’re playing with them.”

The rivals are actually still Rivals. In an insanely clever move, the new program nickname is the Rivals. The uniforms will be Le Roy black with a Cal-Mum maroon helmet decal. The two high schools are nine miles apart on route five, so the logo is in the shape of the sign for any major New York State route. An “R” is in the middle.

Le Roy/Cal-Mum head coach Mike Humphrey spearheaded the decision to combine. It actually wasn’t much of a decision at all. It was about survival.

“There wasn’t enough kids playing football to keep three levels of 11-man football,” Humphrey said. “We didn’t want to go 8-man. We didn’t want to go Mod A. Caledonia was looking to merge with other teams. It was either grab them now or we might lose out on that. It was now or never.”

Combining these programs was much easier on the field than it was anywhere else in Le Roy or Cal-Mum. Each school has been playing football for over 100 years and hating each other for nearly every one. Longstanding members of the community were going to have a hard time letting go of that.

It was easier for the players because most of them never lived the rivalry. Cal-Mum and Le Roy haven’t been in the same class for five years. That’s five years of neither having to get past the other to win a sectional championship. They haven’t gone head to head at all since 2021.

Though players and coaches did expect some obstacles at the start, it wasn’t very long at all before the Rivals were just another high school football team.

“My family members were like, ‘Really?!?’ (when they heard the news). Cal-Mum and Le Roy back in the day was Ohio State-Michigan,” Larzelere said. “All the guys playing on this team, we don’t have anything to do with that. We all pretty much knew each other. There’s no animosity. It’s just… same team now.”

“It didn’t feel like normal practice, but after those first days, first few hours, it’s just like they’re your teammates,” O’Geen said. “Like you’ve known them your whole life.”

This decision may end the decades of legendary battles between Le Roy and Cal-Mum, but it’s also a beginning. There has been football in this part of the state since the turn of the 20th century. There’s no reason these new Rivals can’t be around for at least 100 more.

“It’s my senior year and this is the first year this is happening. And it’s gonna be a great team, too,” Larzelere said. “I’m excited. We all just can’t wait to get to week one.”

“We get to lead a completely different program and a completely different team,” O’Geen said. “We get to be the first to do it. Feels pretty cool. Pretty honoring.”

Game one for the new Rivals era is Friday night at Le Roy against Batavia.

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