Red team wins 107th competition at South Side High School

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Screams of joy filled the South Side High School gymnasium on Saturday night, after learning that the Red team won by a score of 61-39 over the Blue team — claiming “Team Victory” for the first time since 2019.

“Congratulations on another outstanding Red and Blue,” Carol Roseto, the Rockville Centre school district’s athletics director, said before announcing the results. “The last three days have been fantastic.”

More than 400 girls, and several boys, participated in three nights of skits, songs, relays, dance, and athletic events, a Rockville Centre school tradition that has been going strong for more than a century. 

Hundreds gathered for poster and revue night, to kick off the three-night extravaganza on March 2, when the teams performed songs and revealed their themes, “To REDfinity and Beyond,” based on the Disney and Pixar “Toy Story” film franchise, and “The Bluenies,” based on the 1985 classic, “The Goonies.”

The competition heated up from there, continuing with performances, sports, tumbling, and relay competitions on Friday and Saturday, where participants were given the opportunity to showcase all the hard work they put in over the last four-and-a-half weeks.

Under the direction of Jenna Carey and Lisa Guerriero, each team member, consisting of freshmen to seniors, spent hours each day creating and practicing their routines.

To help judge the events, a number of past team captains are asked to return for the weekend. Roseto said that this year, they had six judges score the events on Friday night and a different set of seven judges on Saturday night.

The final scores are determined based on the winners of each event along with points for attendance, organization, and sportsmanship, which help decide the winner.

“Sportsmanship points are awarded on a variety of factors,” Roseto said. “It takes into account the team’s behavior from day one through the very end. It’s also reflective of behavior towards opposing teams and towards their own teammates.”

The atmosphere in the gym was electric, following the final event, as the two teams eagerly awaited to hear the winners in each category.

The Blue team pulled off some big wins, especially in the dance category where they received points for their Jazz A, Jazz B, and Tap routines. They also won points for props, emblems, relays, and attendance.

But in the end it was the Red team that finished out on top, winning points for songs, posters, costumes, skits, tumbling, tug-of-war, and volleyball. 

“I’m speechless,” Erin McCarthy, the tumbling coordinator for the Red team said after learning the team had won the 2023 Red and Blue competition. “It feels amazing.”

Emotions were running high after three days of head-to-head competition. Despite all the screams and the tears, both the Red and Blue team embraced the spirit of the friendly competition, which is all in good fun, by congratulating their opponents for their valiant and noteworthy efforts.

The South Side High School tradition of Red and Blue was originally known as Girls Sports Night. It began in 1917, during at time when girls were not allowed to participate in sporting events. Since then, it has evolved into a three night competition of determination and skill that is celebrated each year throughout the entire Rockville Centre community.