By Matthew Abrey
Special to the Western News
Penticton Senior Secondary hosted Princess Margaret Secondary School Tuesday evening in their annual cross-city volleyball match.
Both schools were out in full colours to support their teams, with one side of the gymnasium decked out in Mustangs black and red, and the other in the home-team Lakers purple and gold. But, it was ultimately the home crowd Lakers fans who got the results they came for.
The Pen High Lakers ladies were dominant in their match, taking it in straight sets over the visiting Mustangs, 25-17, 25-13.
The Lakers boys also took home the cross-city trophy, winning in straight sets, 25-17, 25-21.
The atmosphere was electric on both sides of the stands the entire night, with everything from airhorns to four-foot drums being used to attempt to throw the other team off their game. The friendly-match also included mid-game entertainment with a poutine eating contest sponsored by Jefferz Fryz that was won by Rhys McDonald and Ethan Konno.
“It was pretty loud,” said Princess Margaret player Liam Brown. “From both Maggie and Pen High, there was just so much energy and noise which made it pretty cool to play in.”
Fantastic turnout, and great matches at the Cross City Bball game matches between @maggiemustangs & @PENHI67 #sd67 #volleyball #greatcrowd #poutineeatingcontest #musicalchairs pic.twitter.com/V8ZwUfNh5t
— Bo Boxall (@MrBoxallSD67) November 15, 2017
Pen High vice-principal Andrea DeVito echoed Brown’s feelings on the atmosphere.
“There has been a great energy in the school all day in anticipation for the game,” said DeVito. “It’s really grown in popularity over the last five years, and it’s excellent for school spirit for both the Lakers and the Mustangs.”
The event collected 250 food items for the 10,000 Tonight campaign, which for over 20 years has included all the city’s high schools, in support of the Salvation Army Food Bank, with the ultimate goal of collecting 10,000 food items in one night. The main collection event takes place on Nov. 29, but the Lakers and Mustangs took advantage of Tuesday night’s games to get a head-start.
Last year, over 17,000 items were collected. The schools are aiming to break that number this year.
