"It's going to be a big change in terms of the community," said Gilroy High School Athletic Director Jack Daley. "Gilroy used to be a one-town, one-team place. Everyone was behind the same team."

For years, the entire community rallied behind the GHS football team, wrestlers, band, choir and other programs. Not the case in a few years when CHS athletes come into their own, possibly presenting a challenge to the strong and successful programs at GHS.

"A rivalry will be fun if it's a healthy rivalry," Daley said. "That's one of the things we'll have to work at maintaining. We'll be part of the same community."

"It'll be great, actually, to have a GHS versus CHS football game every year," he added. "It'll be fun if we can keep a perspective on what we're doing and why we're doing it."

GHS senior and triathlete, Kevin Grove, 17, has mixed feelings about seeing a new high school open in his town. A baseball and soccer player of four years and a first year kicker on the football team, he feels that a rivalry, whether friendly or otherwise, is imminent.

"Having another high school as big as CHS, that's definitely going to create a rivalry," he said. The thought of two teams splitting the town in half let him "kind of sad," but encouraged that an in-town rivalry would push players to their best.

Since CHS is only opening its doors to freshman and sophomores its first year, the GHS varsity teams won't initially be affected. And the CHS team won't pose a threat, either. But after a few years, Gilroy's talent will be split between the two schools.

"You can still have great programs (at both schools) though," Grove said.

Having recently opened a new high school in a previously one high school town, Bonnie Tognazzini, the deputy superintendent of business services in the Morgan Hill Unified School District, said that the two schools will level off after a few years. She added that more kids were exposed to sports and other programs at two smaller schools.

Sobrato High School's head football coach, Dan Brown, said that the key to creating a brand new team is setting attainable goals and establishing traditions.

"You can't take steps that are too big," he said. When his team was brutally defeated by Seaside High School, they turned their loss into a challenge.

"We used that whipping to motivate our kids," he said. "We put a goal on the schedule. That goal wasn't to beat Seaside at our next match, but rather, show them what we're all about." Within two years of being a varsity team, Sobrato became league champions.

And the positive aspects stemming from the new rivalry between Sobrato and Live Oak High School far outweighed the bad, Brown said.

"It's a healthy thing for competition as long as the kids show sportsmanship and respect for each other. It brings the best out of the kids and they perform at a higher level. It's fabulous," he summed up. More than 6,500 fans showed up to cheer their teams on at the last playoff game between the two schools. "It'll be a struggle at first, but give it time. Once they get some quality seniors in there with some leadership, that team's going to blossom."