Something pretty important happened last Tuesday night. Two local schools proved you can have a inner-city rivalry without rancor and turmoil.

When Trinity Episcopal traveled across town to play Cathedral in girls and boys basketball, it signaled the first time the two schools had ever met in the athletic arena, and it also was a lesson in good sportsmanship.

Trinity won both games in blowout fashion, but with Cathedral’s teams in rebuilding mode, that was expected.

However, it wasn’t the final score that made the biggest impact, it was the way both teams’ players and fans behaved afterward.

The teams gathered at midcourt following the game and expressed their mutual respect for one another. Fans from both schools had nothing but good things to say about the other school. Comments on The Natchez Democrat Web site were very positive, and coaches from both schools said this is something they would want to do again, perhaps in other sports as well.

Now contrast that with the animosity that takes place between rivals Trinity and Adams County Christian. There seems to be a general dislike between many fans and players of both schools.

No better barometer of the rivalry exists than the football game between the two schools this past season.

The game got out of hand in the second half when players and coaches lost their cool, and it resulted in three ejections and countless penalty flags.

There were 52 comments on that story on The Democrat Web site and just about all of them were negative.

If the fans of the two schools act that way toward each other, how can we expect the students and players to act any different?

And that brings us back to Tuesday night. The way the Trinity and Cathedral fans, players and coaches acted before, during and after the game is the way it should be.

I hope fans of both the Saints and the Rebels took note. After all, rivalries are supposed to be fun. And trash talk, player ejections and anger is not fun at all.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3632 or at jeff.edwards@natchezdemocrat.com.