The rivals play nice — in the light of day
Volcano Vista-Cibola rematch is anticlimactic, and peaceful
The teams played nice, the students — what few there were — played nice, and the CibolaVolcano Vista rivalry had some much-needed calm restored to it Saturday afternoon.
At the very least, the West Side neighbors put aside their differences — which will probably always remain — for 90 minutes.
“I think,” Hawks senior forward Jalontae Gray said, “it’s back to normal.”
The final score Saturday — Volcano Vista 59, Cibola 45 — was largely secondary to the peripheral surroundings at Cibola’s gym for this District 1-6A contest.
Two-plus weeks after a postgame fight involving dozens of students from the rival schools brought a slew of unwanted media attention, extra APS Police security was on hand both inside and outside the gym Saturday, plus additional school staff, during the rematch.
The additional safeguards proved to be unnecessary. This crowd was less than half of the one that showed up at Volcano Vista two weeks earlier, and there were, by the Journal’s count, perhaps 125 students combined from the two schools in the gym. And that included Cibola’s band.
“Who wants to come on a Saturday?” asked Volcano Vista junior Nicholas Douglas-Eickhoff, who did attend the game. “Not a lot of people showed up.”
Dozens of students engaged in a large fight following the boys basketball matchup at Volcano
Vista on Jan. 25, a game the Hawks won 65-41.
“The best way to describe it was like a riot,” said Volcano Vista parent Melissa Trujillo, who said she witnessed the fight and whose daughter is a Hawks cheerleader. “It was disappointing. But it was just a few kids that ruined it for the majority.”
The postgame melee, which did not involve either of the two varsity teams, led to repercussions for both schools. Each cancelled their winter balls. Many students received harsh punishment for their involvement, including athletes who were removed from their spring sports team. And one student was reportedly arrested for assaulting an APS Police officer. At least one of the schools (Volcano Vista) also suffered some vandalism. That’s not to mention the escalations on social media.
“There’s always an instigator that can be around,” Volcano Vista parent John Allen said. “You have to ignore them.”
Administrators from the two schools, along with input from APS, decided to move the rematch from Friday night to the middle of the afternoon Saturday in order to “ease tensions,” according to an APS email sent out to Cibola and Volcano Vista parents earlier this week.
Moreover, the students believed to have been involved in the fight were prohibited from attending Saturday’s game.
There were roughly 750 fans in the Cibola gym, a modest turnout for this particular rivalry, which is one of the best in the state. To be fair, afternoon games usually don’t draw nearly as well as night games. There were no visible issues Saturday from a crowd standpoint.
“It’ll blow over,” Cibola junior Sammi Arnn said. She, like most Cibola and Volcano Vista students, has plenty of friends at the other school.
“I wouldn’t blame (the fight) on the rivalry at all,” Cibola senior Raven Pacheco said. “It’s a healthy rivalry.”
Cibola student body president Cole Christiansen was among the spectators on Saturday. He said he was in Mexico during the first game, but saw a blurry video of the fight on one of Albuquerque’s TV stations.
“I was sad to see our school get into the spotlight,” he said. “But I think it’s gotten better since it happened.”
Earlier this week, Christiansen said, the Cibola school officers went to lunch with Volcano Vista’s officers.
“We want to try to establish friendship,” he said.
As for the game itself, the fifth-ranked Hawks (16-6 overall, 5-1 in 1-6A) pulled away in the final minutes from the Cougars (5-18, 1-6), getting crucial late 3-pointers from Jorell Phillips and Andres Vigil.
Volcano Vista has what amounts to a regularseason 1-6A championship game Friday night at home against Cleveland (18-7, 6-1).