Texas Roadhouse fuels the I-30 football rivalry between Rockwall-Heath High School and Rockwall High School by hosting a first-ever rib-eating competition on Monday.
Each school assembled a relay team of six football coaches and were tasked with eating a half rack of ribs clean to the bone. Once they were finished, the Texas Roadhouse manager and his family would inspect the ribs to ensure they had been thoroughly cleaned before they could move on to the next relay leg.
The reward for the winning team was set at $500. Friends, family and athletes all piled into a back room of Texas Roadhouse, cheering on their school’s coaches.
Despite the high stakes, both teams relied on a simple strategy: eat fast, don’t choke.
The Heath High School coaches completed all legs of their relay before the Rockwall High School coaches, crowning them the winners. For coming in first place, the Heath football booster club received the $500 reward, and the Rockwall booster club received $250.
“The Rockwall side was just starting their fourth coach when Heath won,” said Ansley Roan, Texas Roadhouse’s local store marketer and wife of Terry Roan, the owner and managing partner.
The schools on either side of I-30 have a competitive rivalry that runs deep. Rockwall High School was established in 1925 on Rusk Street in central Rockwall, while Rockwall-Heath High School was established nearly eighty years later on Lawrence Drive, south of I-30.
When it comes to football, the competition is at its fiercest, and the Heath Hawks currently hold a 9-7 rivalry game lead over the Yellowjackets.
“A lot of times it’s done between the police and fire department, but since we have the north side, south side rivalry, we thought that would be a fun thing to incorporate,” Roan said.
Roan hopes the event will become an annual competition, growing bigger each year as the cross-town rivalry continues to thrive.
