The simmering rivalry between the South Hamilton and South Hardin football teams intensified to flames, quite literally, Friday night and Hawks’ athletic director Todd Coy is less than pleased by the circumstances surrounding it.

Following South Hardin’s 20-6 non-district win, South Hamilton’s players, coaches and fans witnessed the Tigers attempt to burn a poster near the center of the field. The poster was a photo of South Hamilton’s 2020 playoff team with its state qualifying banner, which it received after knocking off South Hardin, 42-12, last October.

South Hamilton also beat South Hardin during the 2020 regular season, 28-6.

Coy felt the act of burning the poster and the photo of the South Hamilton players was in poor taste, and to do it out in the open where the South Hamilton team and its fans could witness it was uncalled for.

“To me, it just kind of takes what was a clean, hard-fought contest and adds a sour taste to it,” Coy said. “I understand the motivation, but I just thought it was an inappropriate place and time.”

Coy said he did not refer the matter to the Iowa High School Athletic Association, but he did contact administration officials from South Hardin on Saturday morning. As of Monday afternoon, he had not received a response.

“I was just letting them know that it took place and I didn’t feel as an athletic director that there is any place for this in Iowa high school athletics, and I think the Iowa High School Athletic Association would agree with me,” Coy said. “If (the South Hardin administration) wants to do something with it, they can, and if they don’t want to do anything with it, they don’t have to.”

Contacted on Monday, South Hardin head football coach Nick Eller said the poster was placed in the Tigers’ weight room last November as a way to motivate his players for the 2021 season. He said he waited until the South Hamilton players had left the field and didn’t intend it as a way to disrespect the Hawks.

“We waited until they were clearly off the field, walking past the track, and we were not trying to be disrespectful or unsportsmanlike,” Eller said. “We actually really respect their program, so the last thing we think is let’s take a shot at them. I looked at it as a goal all summer was to be a more physical team. It wasn’t about them, it was more that they beat us (in the postseason) last year.

“The picture, I get that. But it was just their playoff picture, and mostly it was because they were holding the banner that we would have won. So we used that because it had them holding the playoff banner with the score in the background. That’s all it was. We were just putting to bed a goal that we accomplished and it had nothing to do with disrespecting them.”

South Hamilton and South Hardin are scheduled to meet again on Sept. 2, 2022, in Jewell.