CINCINNATI — Despite the football rivalry between St. X and La Salle, the two schools are coming together under the Friday night lights, all in support of something that's bigger than football.
“This will be the biggest game we’ll have this year,” said Ben Knoop, La Salle senior football player.
Each student section usually dresses in a certain theme.
"From cowboy to country club, USA, there's always a theme. Blackout, white out, you name it.” said Brian Reinhart, St. Xavier High School’s athletic director.
The two schools aren’t typically wearing the same color, but this Friday they will coordinate their themes for something bigger — Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“Sports aren’t everything, and sometimes it’s something as big as cancer that’ll bring everyone together,” Knoop said.
Each school has designed their own t-shirt for students to wear to the game.
St. X will be donating their proceeds to Pink Ribbon Good, formerly known as Pink Ribbon Girls.
La Salle is raising money for Lasalle mother, Kim Fellinger, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.
“It was a very scary time,” Fellinger said. “We had just lost my sister, Max’s mom, to a very rare cancer. And I was diagnosed one day shy of nine months later.”
After being diagnosed, Fellinger said everything started happening quickly.
“I had tons of testing, had a double mastectomy, lost all my lymph nodes in my left arm and then had reconstruction all within a few months time frame,” she said.
Fellinger is in remission now.
She caught it early, and she caught it herself. Now, she’s encouraging other women to speak up when it comes to their health.
“Not negligence, but there were things I really had to push the hospital for,” she said. “Till the day I die, I will be an advocate for people having to fight for themselves.”
On Tuesday, La Salle presented Fellinger with money raised from T-shirt sales, as well as alumni and staff donations.
But as for the rivalry, it'll be there when the two teams step on the field.
“It’ll still be there, we’ll definitely still be going head to head and pounding each other,” Knoop said. “But it’s all fun and games at the end of the day.”
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