Rival, defined by Webster, is "one who tries to get or do the same thing as another or to equal or surpass another."

A rivalry could be defined, especially recently, as "Plymouth vs. Warsaw."

These two Northern Lakes Conference rivals have hooked up in some memorable battles and when it comes to the postseason, things only get better.

Warsaw leads the all-time series between the two teams, dating back to 1922, 65-41. The Pilgrims have the upper hand in the postseason, leading 4-3 since 1970.

"It has developed into that (a good rivalry) over the last several years," Plymouth coach Jack Edison said. "When I first started coaching, Warsaw was a big game to us, but we had other rivals. Now it really seems like it wouldn't matter if we were conference teams or not, it has developed into a really good rivalry."

With the advent of class basketball, it would mean the end to this rivalry as far as the postseason goes. The two teams meet again Saturday when defending regional champ Warsaw (19-4) meets No. 15 Plymouth (21-2) in the first game of the Huntington Boys' Basketball Regional at 10:35 a.m. Valley and Northfield meet in the second game at 12:30 p.m. The championship is set for 8:15 p.m.

"This will be the last one (in the postseason), and that makes it special because of that," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said. "I find Coach Edison the toughest coach to coach against. His teams are always tremendous and very, very solid defense and rebounding teams. They are difficult to play."

Most recently, the rivalry has been about as close as you can get. The Pilgrims have captured the last two regular season matchups, but the Tigers have the big one, a come-from-behind win in last year's regional on Kevin Ault's buzzer-beater that eventually propelled the Tigers into the Final Four.

Both teams lost a considerable number of key players from the teams that battled in the regional. The last matchup between the two in the regular season didn't prove to be much of a battle as the Pilgrims pulled away for an 87-66 win at Plymouth.

It is hard to tell who the hunted is?

"I think the most recent one (matchup) is the one that always concerns you the most," Edison said. "They are so competitive, you can just see the way they play with a great desire to win, that after the loss that they had here they are going to be as ready to play maybe as they have been in their lives. I don't know how big of an advantage that is. It sure seems like a big advantage to me.

"It is one of those games that just happens one in a million times where it is a very close game, and we get a little bit of a run of a few points," he said. "At the end, the score was certainly not indicative of how close the game was. That can make a team a little more determined: not that Warsaw needs to be more determined as well as they have been playing."

With two starters and a few reserves gone, Edison said his players have not even mentioned the disappointment of losing last year's regional at Warsaw.

"We have only three players back that were there last year," Edison said. "It is a pretty different look for us and somewhat for Warsaw as well. We haven't even mentioned anything about that."

The Tigers, however, remember the regular season loss to the Pilgrims. All too well.

"What concerns me is the level that Plymouth has been playing," Rhodes said. "They have been winning by 30 and 40 points. We have not been winning by that much against comparable opponents. We really have our work cut out for us."

Rhodes said Plymouth pretty much dominated the Tigers in the three key phases of the game: offense, defense and especially rebounding.

"We are going to have to do a solid job in the rebounding area," Rhodes said. "They hurt us badly, especially on the offensive rebounds last game. If we don't do that, then we won't beat them. Defensively, we have to contain (Nick) Wise and (Bryan) Wray better than we did without giving as much up. We gave up a lot to (Matt) Cramer last time.

"We played that game, especially after we got behind, in too much of a rush mode on offense," he said. "We have to play with more patience and composure in this second meeting."

Because the two teams, and coaches, know each other so well, there won't be too many radical changes made by either team.

"There maybe some minor changes," Edison said. "I wouldn't expect an awful lot. Warsaw has executed so well all year. They win games because they are so fundamentally sound. It is like the old Green Bay Packer idea. We are going to run right here, but we are just going to block you, and if you can stop us, then OK. They are going to do what they do best and try to win with execution. Obviously you try to make some adjustments with what happened last time."

Since that regular season matchup, things have gone well for Plymouth, while the Tigers haven't fared as well. Plymouth has gone 9-0 since that game with a winning margin of 66-42. Warsaw went 5-1 and won three sectional games by an average of under 10 points each game.

"We have to shoot the basketball better than what we did in the sectional," Rhodes said. "We can't shoot the same field goal percentage, especially from outside, and beat Plymouth. All our players have to step forward." [[In-content Ad]]