It’s official. In fact, it’s been official since this summer.

The Land O’ Lakes and Sunlake football game is a rivalry.

Although the past meetings don’t reflect it (the Gators have beaten the Seahawks 28-0 and 26-0 in two varsity contests) an incident over the summer has made it so.

According to Land O’ Lakes coach Matt Kitchie, the weight room and football locker room was broken into and ‘Sunlake’ was spray painted on mirrors and walls inside the weight room. Additionally, the team had just received its order of team cleats, gloves and other equipment and according to Kitchie, there was plenty missing.

“In my mind, it’s time to take our respect back because they disrespected us and we’re going to take our respect back,” Kitchie said.

Add this to the flames: Land O’ Lakes suffered its first loss of the season last week to Pasco – a district game. This, too, is a district matchup, which means if Land O’ Lakes wants to sniff the playoffs for its 13th consecutive and 18th overall time, a win is imperative.

Let’s see if any sparks fly between these two Land O’ Lakes football teams Friday night inside Gator Stadium.