Franklin and Waverly high schools first battled on the basketball court in 1915, and they've met continuously since the 1924-25 school year.

When they met Friday night in Waverly, it marked their 177th matchup. And while the Flashes and Scotties could pair up again in tournament play later this season, Friday's contest — a 68-56 win for Waverly — was their only regularly scheduled game.

And after several years of resistance and debate, Friday began the drawdown of an almost century-old civil war that's been more friendly than ferocious.

In hopes of fielding one team that will be more consistently competitive, next year's Waverly and Franklin players will combine on a co-op team to be known as the South County Vipers. (It's about the kids, and they voted for “Vipers.”)

Waverly athletic director Shane Gray's sense of history and tradition are reflected in his various salutes to the past at the Waverly Holiday Tournament. He planned to do more of the same Friday night, scheduling a pregame ceremony recognizing the history of the Franklin-Waverly rivalry but reminding everyone of the new era on the horizon.

Hometown pride

For small communities still fortunate enough to have their own high schools, the hometown team is as big a source of civic pride as the American flags lining the main drag.

Sure, it would be great to get a state grant for an upgrade for the local water plant. But those championship trophies always will be on display in the gym lobby. Our boys and girls did that.

Since high school basketball was split into classifications based on enrollment in 1972, many Illinois towns have become forever linked to their teams' state conquests. Teutopolis. Lawrenceville. Nokomis. Mount Pulaski. Pana. Nashville. Pinckneyville. Woodlawn.

But it doesn't take a state championship for local chests to puff with pride.

Ask Divernon fans what it felt like when the Dragons from “Divy” won the Sangamon County Boys Basketball Tournament in 1976. Every Bluffs backer will claim they were there when the Bluejays conquered mighty Pittsfield for rare boys regional championships in 1997 and '98.

The local team, not to mention the mascot or nickname, give citizenry a sense of “us.” It can be as unique as the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes or mainstream as the Beardstown Tigers, but the words on a sweatshirt or T-shirt say, “This is where I'm from.”

Before ESPN discovered the Upper Peninsula outpost of Watersmeet, Michigan, nobody south of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, knew about the home of the Nimrods.

Franklin and Waverly, just 6 miles apart in Morgan County, are among Illinois' most unique nicknames. Franklin is the home of the Flashes, and Waverly is home to the Scotties. They share the same orange and black school colors, and their student-athletes team up on several co-op sports teams. In fact, boys basketball is the only sport in which Franklin and Waverly compete separately.

Loss of identity

For those opposed to the sports merger, it was more about losing each school's singular identity than about animosity for the other community.

They're already interchangeable. Former Franklin coach Ned Seymour looks every bit at home in the cozy Waverly gym as he does at Franklin's Red Calhoon Gym. Gray, a Waverly graduate, was previously a teacher and coach at Franklin.

With enrollments of 89 and 111, respectively, Franklin and Waverly have gone through ups and downs on the basketball court. The co-op is intended to give their players a better chance.

And it's not as if Franklin and Waverly are the first to combine athletically, if not completely.

Ridgway, 1973 Class A state champion, is now a part of Gallatin County High School. Findlay, the 1992 champion from Shelby County, is part of Bethany Okaw Valley.

Divernon kids aren't Dragons anymore. They're Auburn Trojans. Bluffs still has its own school, but its athletes team with those from nearby Winchester in a sports co-op called West Central. The athletic teams are known as the Cougars.

Their predecessors were the Bluffs Bluejays and Winchester Wildcats. West Central's boys and girls basketball teams both have made runs to the state basketball tournaments in Peoria and Normal. There didn't seem to be any opposition to Cougars by then.

“They say a high school mascot is the hardest thing to kill,” Gray said. “But we've got to look to the future.”

Contact Dave Kane: dave.kane@sj-r.com, 788-1544, twitter.com/davekaneSJR.