It didn't take long for this rivalry to develop.
"You can tell it's a rivalry, it really hasn't been between the two schools in most of the sports just yet, but it definitely is in this one," Capital City coach Travis Cairer said after Monday night's 2-0 victory against the Jefferson City Jays in the Class 3 District 4 semifinals at Capital City High School. "It's two pretty evenly matched teams going at each other and you don't know who's going to come out on top.
"Those can be good games to watch. At least from the fan's side of the field, not from this side."
The crowd was good - and loud - for both teams from the start.
"I think it's a good things none of the fans could play because they were just as excited as the players were," Cairer said.
It was exactly what Jefferson City was expecting.
"You knew it was going to be a battle," Jays coach Scott Blake said. "It will be that way for the future, we know that."
The Cavaliers got on the board midway through the first half when Miles Andrews drilled a shot from distance that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar into the net.
"Hit that bottom side and snapped down and in," Cairer said. "He got a good strike on it."
"Miles can run at you and he did," Blake said. "He found his shot."
It's a shot Cairer would like to see the Cavaliers take a little more.
"Sometimes, we almost try to do too much instead of just letting one go," he said.
The Cavaliers took that 1-0 lead into intermission.
"Giving up the first goal in a postseason game can be a killer," Blake said. "But our guys responded and stayed with it."
It wasn't the most comfortable lead for Capital City.
"There's always potential when you play them," Cairer said. "You believe that if you go out and play your game, you have a good chance to win. But they always have the potential to find a way."
The Jays played a defensive style in the first half and did not have a shot in the opening 40 minutes. It wasn't due to the fact Jefferson City wasn't making offensive runs, they were whistled six times on offside calls.
"We got into their half plenty, but we weren't organized in transition," Blake said. "We had some wide play, we didn't get anything out of it. We were lacking the final touch."
In the second half, the Jays added a second forward to try to get on the board.
"There were times we looked really good on offense, we possessed it for long stretches," Blake said. "Being down, we couldn't just knock it around the park. But we moved it well.
"I think we deserved a little something on the board."
Blake didn't think the Jays gave up anything defensively with the change in shape.
"We did a good job of keeping our defensive structure when we changed our shape and that's growth," he said.
The Cavaliers picked up an insurance goal with 23:51 left when Mo Yanis ended a scramble in front of the Jays net with teammate Landon Carney for a score.
"I think he got it, it was pretty close, but Mo sealed the deal by trying to kick it through the net," Cairer said.
Cairer wasn't comfortable with the two-goal lead as the time wound down.
"Four minutes, three minutes, two minutes," Cairer said. "When it got down to a minute, I thought we had it."
Jefferson City, the No. 3 seed, ends its season at 13-11.
Capital City (15-6), the No. 2 seed, will take on top-seeded Rockwood Summit (13-10) at 6 p.m. Wednesday for the district title. Rockwood Summit picked up its second mercy-rule win in the district in Monday's first semifinal with an 8-0 victory against fourth-seeded Rolla.
"Rockwood comes flying at you with six or seven guys in the box repetitively," Cairer said. "We have to try to nix that as early as we can around midfield, because once they get rolling on their attack they're coming and they're coming with some force."
The title game will be played either at the 179 Soccer Park or at Capital City High School.