Jones: East or West, which is the best?

The East Bladen-West Bladen varsity football game has the “Battle for the Bell,” or “Battle of the Bell,” if you prefer.

What about the other sports? Which school has the best overall athletic program?

After exhaustive investigation which involved texting one person, it’s been determined there’s no official, or unofficial, recognition for overall athletic superiority between the two Bladen high schools.

Let’s change that for the 2025-26 school year. Unofficially, of course, since I wield the power of a dead battery.

Don’t have a name for this unofficial competition. The Bladen Cup is used for preseason soccer scrimmages at East Bladen and The Sonny Jones Trophy is a bit narcissistic, don’t you think?

So, if you can think of a catchy name for this East-West athletic competition, then email or tell me when you see me out and about.

Here are the rules: When East Bladen and West Bladen meet in any athletic competition, the winner will receive a point. If the contest ends in a tie, then no points will be awarded. Simple and straightforward.

Score through fall sports: East Bladen 5, West Bladen 4 (1 tie)

Here are the results for fall sports:

Varsity volleyball: West Bladen 3, East Bladen 2

JV volleyball: East Bladen 2, West Bladen 0

Boys’ soccer: West Bladen 0, East Bladen 0 (draw)

Girls’ tennis: West Bladen 6, East Bladen 3

Varsity volleyball: West Bladen 3, East Bladen 1

JV volleyball: East Bladen 2, West Bladen 0

Boys’ soccer: East Bladen 2, West Bladen 1

JV football: East Bladen 28, West Bladen 22 (5 overtimes)

Varsity football: East Bladen 26, West Bladen 0

Girls’ tennis: West Bladen 6, East Bladen 3

It’s shaping up to be a tight race with the winter sports season and spring sports season to come.

2024-25 results

If this competition were held last school year based on available scores, the schools, appropriately enough, would have tied with eight wins each.

East Bladen won in football, JV football, twice in girls’ basketball, once in JV girls’ basketball with a game not reported and in girls’ soccer.

West Bladen won twice in boys’ basketball, once in JV boys’ basketball with a game not reported, varsity baseball, jv baseball and softball.

The schools split two meetings in volleyball and jv volleyball

No results were found for girls’ tennis nor boys’ tennis. Weather issues prevented the schools from playing each other in boys’ soccer.

Dominance

There are matchups between the schools that have been extremely one-sided. Check these out.

In football, East Bladen is 24-1 against the Knights with West Bladen’s lone win coming in 2001, which was the first year the school opened. In those 25 meetings, the Eagles have outscored West Bladen 900-219 and posted eight shutouts.

In softball, West Bladen has won 21 of the past 25 games against the Eagles dating to 2011.

The East Bladen girls’ basketball team is 44-1 against the Knights dating to 2007. West Bladen’s lone win came in 2013.

Following last Wednesday’s win, East Bladen is 28-0-2 dating to 2010 in boys’ soccer. The first draw came in 2010 and the second draw came less than two weeks ago. It’s much the same in girls’ soccer with East Bladen having won 25 straight dating to 2011.

The West Bladen boys’ basketball team holds a commanding 30-14 series lead dating to 2006.

The West Bladen baseball team holds a 17-15 series edge dating to 2008.

In volleyball, West Bladen’s win last Wednesday evened the series at 18 wins apiece dating to 2007.

There’s no listed history for boys’ tennis, girls’ tennis nor junior varsity games.

So, there you have it. The first “Whatever we’re going to call this” competition is underway for the 2025-26 school year. Which athletic program do you think will win?