KELLOGG — A new spirit event has students at Kellogg High School excited to show how much they appreciate their community.

After nearly two decades of exciting matchups between Kellogg and St. Maries in the Brawl for the Ball, scheduling conflicts began making things difficult for the two schools and it was decided this year that the event would be canceled — along with any games between the two schools.

Fortunately a quick replacement was found in Bonners Ferry High School and just like that the Clash of the Claws was born.

The event is put on by the two schools’ respective leadership classes and while much of the event will remain the same as Brawl, there will be a few differences for the new event.

“Our event will include two varsity basketball games, a battle of the bands, a competition between both schools in their dance routines, a cheerleading competition and a two-month long food drive competition,” said KHS Leadership Instructor Kelton Enich. “After all of the events, whichever school wins the overall points, will be the first official winner of this new tradition.”

The boys and girls JV games will be played on a different night, this will ensure that with the two-hour drive (if weather permits) any students on the road won’t have to travel during the early morning or late night hours.

As always, these events hinge on community involvement and the students at KHS are looking for quite literally tons of support.

“The first way is to contribute to our food drive competition,” Enich said. “This year, we are hoping to reach the goal of 10,000 pounds of food that we can contribute to our local food banks all around the valley.”

At the beginning of the week, they were just over a third of the way to their goal, but it always seems that whichever school has that final surge of donations is the one that wins.

“Another option is to give a monetary donation that we will contribute to the local food banks,” Enich said. “Just write a check out to Kellogg High School and drop it at the front office noting that it should go to ‘Clash of the Claws.’ Any monetary donation toward the food drive competition will be converted into pounds.”

The final way that folks can be involved in the Clash of the Claws is by heading up to Bonners Ferry on Jan. 15 and sticking around for an exciting, fun-filled day of hoops and school spirit.

Anybody who would like to donate food can drop off non-perishable foods to Kellogg High School, Yoke's, Barney's, Kellogg Plastics, Walmart, Carousel Gas & Tire or Kellogg Plastics.