Ankeny rivalry showcases the best soccer teams in Iowa
ANKENY, Iowa (BVM) — In 2013, fresh off an IHSAA 3A girls soccer state championship, Ankeny High School Hawkettes head coach Chris Allen was giving his usual speech at the team banquet held at the end of the season.
However, this banquet was different. The following year, Ankeny High School would be splitting to create another high school in the town called Ankeny Centennial. Allen would be going on to start the program at Centennial, but he knew that the Hawkettes were going to be OK.
“My assistant coach at the time actually reminded me of saying something along the lines of, ‘There is so much talent coming up through the system that we’ll be playing each other for a state championship within five years,’” Allen said.
He was dead on. In 2018, the Ankeny Centennial Jaguars beat the Hawkettes in the state final, 3-2.
“It was awesome and I have never seen a crowd like that at any state tournament game,” Allen said, “and then to have the match up that we did in that game was absolutely amazing as well.”
The Jaguars and Hawkettes didn’t immediately form a rivalry. When the schools split in 2014, both teams saw players leave because they didn’t want to play against their closest friends. It wasn’t until 2015 that you could feel that this was going to be a game the whole town circled on the calendar.
“That game that year you could definitely tell there was a rivalry,” said Allen. That was also the year Ankeny High School won the 2A state championship. The following year when both teams were back in 3A, the Jaguars won their first state championship in school history.
An Ankeny school has made it to the state final each of the past four years. Three of those four years saw an Ankeny school hoist a trophy and in 2019, the Hawkettes were the ones to do it. It was their first 3A state championship since the split in 2014.
The high level of soccer and competitiveness that is found in Ankeny is only part of what makes this rivalry special. Second-year Hawkettes head coach Simon Brown has already taken notice of it.
“It’s an awesome rivalry,” Brown said. “It’s very unique; we look after each other as far as the town of Ankeny is concerned, but when it comes to playing each other it’s a battle.”
Many of the girls still play club soccer together or hang out outside of school. There’s a closeness and camaraderie that comes from being from Ankeny. Even last year, after the Jaguars lost to Waukee in the semifinals, the team showed up to the state championship to cheer on the Hawkettes.
The coaches are just like the players. Allen has established good relationships with the two coaches who were at Ankeny High School before Brown and has done the same with Brown. They appreciate the competitiveness that the rivalry brings out in their players, but also want to keep that sense of community as well.
Unfortunately, the rivalry will have to wait a year. In late April, the IHSAA made the decision to cancel spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hawkettes can’t defend their title and the Jaguars are not able to contend for it. Both teams would have gone into the season as favorites to win it all.
“It’s tough not getting to defend it,” Brown said, “going from a good team that won it to a great team that can win it again.”
Since getting the news that their season was canceled, the girls have been reaching out to one another, thanking the seniors for all they have done over the last four years and working together to get through this unprecedented situation.
“I have seen that come out of our kids with facing this pandemic and how they’ve reached out to one another and how they’ve supported one another, but also how they’ve supported members of the community,” Allen said.
“More than soccer, the foundation of the successes is that both programs are working with great quality-character kids.”
