Earlier this school year, the football rivalry between Elder and Oak Hills was renewed after a six year hiatus.  The cheers and Twitter wars were fierce.  Elder came away with the 34-6 blowout victory and sights were set on an arguably bigger rivalry between the two schools in basketball.

Elder and Oak Hills have competed one-on-one in basketball 43 times, including this season’s two games. The schools have met only 32 times on the gridiron and Elder has the 27-5 advantage.

The basketball rivalry has always been prolific, but has not always been a regular match-up.  The first two meetings between Elder and Oak Hills on the hardwood were playoff games: Elder, coached then by Dave Hils, defeated Oak Hills in the 1964-65 and the 1968-69 playoffs.  The series became a regular match-up in the 1979-80 season and has been played every season since then.  In fact, Coach Schoenfeld, who graduated from Elder in 1977, never played against Oak Hills.

Elder would go on to win the first six games, including another playoff victory in the 1981-82 season.  Oak Hills’ first victory against Elder came in the 1982-83 season and since then, the series has been a little more even and no matter how good the teams may be, the game will be fierce.  In fact, during the 2005-06 season, Elder, led by sophomore Kyle Rudolph, went into Oak Hills with an undefeated 15-0 record and left with their first loss of the season.

Elder leads the series 28-15 overall.  The series has been much closer than the record indicates.  Overall scoring comes to 2527 points for Elder all-time to Oak Hills’ 2370 points.  A difference of only 157 points separates Elder and Oak Hills in the all-time series.

Earlier this season, Oak Hills came to The Pit and again looked to knock off an undefeated Elder squad. Oak Hills played tough and at one point was up 14-7 over the Panthers.  Elder, led by junior Frankie Hofmeyer’s 20 points, battled back and came away with the 43-40 victory.

As the playoffs arrived, Elder was given a first round bye and would play the winner of Little Miami and Oak Hills.  Oak Hills got the 59-46 victory and the Elder versus Oak Hills matchup was set again.

“It kinda loses the weirdness when you play [Oak Hills] twice.  The game was also at Hamilton and the gym set-up made the cheering sections watch and cheer for the game more than cheer against the other section,” said Coach Schoenfeld.

The game had more at stake and even more people in attendance.  It was another tough battle, but Elder once again came out on top 51-41 after a strong fourth quarter.  It was Elder’s fifth playoff victory against Oak Hills.

As Elder basketball continues to march in the tournament, Oak Hills will brush it off come back next year. They always do and Oak Hills will reach for the respect they deserve, but do not always get.  The rivalry will continue in the baseball and volleyball seasons this Spring.  After Spring, the fun will start again next school year.

Check out this interactive link regarding the Oak Hills/Elder rivalry.