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Jessica Sachara had her plan laid out.

She wanted to be a part of the cheer squad and all that it offered, including front row seats to games. But her biggest motive wasn't the perks.

It was being involved in Ike-Davis events.

"It's a tradition that everyone enjoys," the 17-year-old soon-to-be Davis High School senior says of the long-standing rivalry.

But that tradition is no more. At least for now.

Recently, teens like Sachara -- and the approximately 4,000 students combined that attend Davis and Eisenhower high schools -- lost the opportunity to experience the spectacle that is Ike vs. Davis.

Although it's probably not permanent, Ike and Davis, Yakima's two largest public high schools, were recently placed in separate divisions in the Columbia Basin League for several major sports, including football, basketball, baseball and fastpitch.

The schools will still face other in every sport, but in sports involving the division split the regular-season contests will not count on their league records.

And students aren't too happy about it.

"It's going to be bad," says Tom McLaughlin, an 18-year-old recent Davis grad and four-time soccer letterman. "Mostly because it's a rivalry that has lasted for so many years -- for generations."

But Sachara, who will serve as the Associated Student Body secretary at Davis during the upcoming school year, might be one of the most adamant opponents. In fact, she's trying to organize a petition, even joining together with Ike students.

"We're on the same level," she says. "We want the games to count. When games don't count, people don't care."

But people did care. It wasn't just students turning out for annual Ike-Davis games. Many members of the community showed up, too. In fact, Sachara says her uncle from Kennewick would make the trip to Yakima to witness the duels.

Now, students "feel like it's just another game," she says.

Though Sachara has a point -- Ike-Davis matches might become "just another game" -- there are some students who think things won't change.

Kylie Svendsen is one. The recent Ike grad plans to attend the University of Washington in the fall. She says she thinks the competition will always remain intense.

"The athletes will still see it as the Ike-Davis arch rivalry," she says. In fact, she says, the new classification could even raise the competition's intensity.

Still, she admits the news of the split was a not-so pleasant surprise: "I was shocked; I just didn't think it would ever happen."

Neither did 18-year-old Elena Boyd, a recent Davis grad: "The Ike-Davis games are the only ones I go to," she says. "Everyone shows up for them. The split just takes away school spirit."

Eighteen-year-old Jennifer Johnson played varsity soccer and basketball and competed in pole vault in track and field at Ike. But the recent grad is moving on. She'll attend Saint Martin's University in the fall and plans to continue her soccer and track careers there.

The new classification mostly affects those left behind: "The young kids coming up won't be able to experience what we've experienced," she says. Impending Ike-Davis games "would pump us up weeks before we even played them, and when we won, it would motivate us for weeks after."

Though Johnson agrees with Svendsen's belief that the split could lead to a spike in competitiveness, she recognizes it's not the same: "It's weird that two schools that are five minutes away from each other aren't in the same division."

Sachara has the same mindset. Why put two schools so close in proximity in separate divisions? And why Ike and Davis, two schools with such a renowned rivalry?

Now, "It will be different," McLauglin says. "I guess we'll have to find a new rival."