A Rivalry is Born
By: Stephen Bond
Updated: November 5, 2011
One area team is spawning a rivalry in the name of charity. The Utica College football program has partnered with Hartwick College to create the 'battle in the valley'. College football is built on great rivalries. Now Utica and Hartwick are trying to build a tradition while enhancing a sense of community. Texas and Oklahoma have the Red River Rivalry, Ithaca and Cortland have the Cortaca Jug. And now Utica and Hartwick have the Battle in the Valley. Head Coach Blaise Faggiano understands the importance of a rivalry game. "I played in the Cortaca Jug, I've coached in it, it's a great atmosphere, one of the greatest rivalries in college football history really. All were doing as coaches and educators is to enhance the experience of our student athletes, so to have a rivalry game with Hartwick and Utica and there's some great history there." Coach George Penree understand that building a tradition like Cortaca takes time. "The Cortaca is definitely, they've set the bar high and Battle in the Valley being the first year, its going well so far and hopefully someday we can hope to attain that level of a rivalry game, so we're really excited." The idea for Battle in the Valley started with players and they know how important games like these are. "What I've been noticing is the city of Utica really rallies behind this college which is really awesome! I mean you go out and people are like 'that's a Utica College player' that feels great. Now it's not just an Empire 8 game, it's not just Homecoming which is already a big deal, now it's a rivalry game." Battle in the valley is all about community and this community appreciates pioneer athletics as much as they appreciate the community. "This game's important to the community because both schools agreed that we'd like to take some of the money that might be raised at the game and find a local charity. So there's a local soup kitchen here in Utica that I believe has gone form 300 meals a day to close to over a thousand meals that they're serving to our folks, any way that we can help."
