Sure, the warmth doesn’t hurt, but it’s not just an escape from the elements of Mother Nature that make the environment so desirable. When you shuffle through the crowd gathered in line near the entrance, and you hear the music start to blare over the speakers, there’s nothing else like it.

Small town pride is prevalent throughout the region every winter when basketball season kicks off at the end of November. Every arena is different, from the intimidating environment for opposing fans entering Fredonia’s facility with a litany of banners hanging throughout the raucous gym, to the spacious facilities at Brocton Central School that, despite limited success in recent years, still has full stands at the beginning of each season, as the sounds of musical instruments echo through the Brocton student section.

“The support is fantastic. The kids really feed off that,” Brocton boys basketball head coach Collin Mulcahy said after the home opener this year. “We’re a small town, everyone knows that, but we really banded together in moments like this. I couldn’t be more proud of Brocton and being a member of the community.”

Chautauqua Lake and Pine Valley are among the local gyms that feature a sizable mural on the wall to invoke school spirit. Other gyms leave the expression of school spirit solely in the hands of the fans, like Dunkirk – whose fans have been seen wearing shirts with custom sayings written on them, along with cutouts of blown up faces of members of the athletic family, with Dunkirk boys basketball head coach Sixto Rosario and Athletic Director Al Gens among the faces chosen for the honor.

This mural was created on the wall of the Pine Valley High School gym. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen.

But from the vinyl court at Panama High School to the bleachers on both sides of the gym at Silver Creek, each environment is unique. But nothing is more “one of a kind” than the Dunkirk-Fredonia rivalry.

“It’s a great atmosphere. Both crowds go at it. … There’s nothing like it,” said Fredonia senior Ethan Fry after finishing his career without a single loss to rival Dunkirk.

It didn’t take a thunderous slam from Dunkirk’s Lorenzo Lewis or Fredonia’s Nick Whitfield to make the crowd erupt at a Dunkirk-Fredonia game, just like it didn’t require a critical shot drilled by Dunkirk’s Kymi Nance or Fredonia’s Katie Price. Fans rose to their feet for any occasion in the epic rivalry – whether cheerleaders led the chants or the fans chose their own, like the ever so popular “Shannon Davis” chant so many people have no explanation for.

“The fans really make it what it is. We can go out and play a game, but with no fans, it’s not really Dunkirk-Fredonia. The fans make it the best,” Fredonia senior Jay Hawk said.

Fredonia boys basketball head coach Nick Bertrando said after a Dunkirk-Fredonia game, “It’s one of those things that I tell the guys that very few people get to experience this, and we’re lucky enough to do it.”

Fans compete just as the players themselves do at big games. The tradition of dueling chants at games also appears on the biggest stage in western New York. Fan sections behind each basket at Buffalo State University chanted back and forth all throughout Fredonia’s recent run through the Sectional playoffs to a Class B boys basketball title. Fredonia fans stomped on the stands at Buff. State so hard, some could even be heard remarking that their feet hurt from the gesture.

But as fanbases could be heard echoing the jab of “We can’t hear you,” to urge the other side to keep going, it’s clear that the statement itself is only accurate in its playful use. Anyone who has stepped into a scene like that can attest – we hear you, loud and clear.