What most of us don't know, perhaps even in Tulare County, is that Tulare Western High won 11 East Yosemite League championships last year in 21 opportunities while capturing that conference's all-sports trophy.
But many more of us -- and sure as heck in Tulare County -- know this: In football last Friday, Tulare won its 22nd straight regular season game while Tulare Western won for the first time in three years.
"We also won Valley championships last year in boys soccer and girls softball," Western athletic director Dereck Domingues says, "but the only sport people focus on is football."
He's a bit bitter, and he's not alone among the red and blue who pledge allegiance to the Mustangs.
Talent cycles are common, swinging the balance of power among rival schools in small communities.
But, in Tulare, it has become extreme: The Redskins are 28-1, with a Central Section Division II title and runner-up finish in the past three seasons. Western is 7-16 in the same span, losing 14 straight before beating Golden West 20-14 Friday.
Explanation? There are many in what has become a contentious issue in this community of 57,000.
At Western, they're crying foul, claiming the district administration is pro-Tulare in large part because Superintendent Howard Barger is a former longtime principal at the school. The accusations also say recent boundary changes -- created by the birth of Mission Oak High -- favor Tulare.
At Tulare, they say losing begets blame, that Western is reaching for excuses and that the boundaries -- skewed for years while benefiting the Mustangs -- are merely bringing enrollments into balance.
It is true that only two years ago, Western -- with a facility capacity of 2,072 -- was stuffed with so many students (2,552), it required 25 portable classrooms to help accommodate them.
Tulare, then about 1,700, has grown to 1,860, but still trails Western (2,113).
"It isn't the numbers," Mustangs football coach Luis DeSilva says of enrollment value, "it's the quality of numbers."
He's gentle with his comments, as is Domingues: "I'm trying to be politically correct; I don't want to dig myself into a hole."
What's not disputed is that Tulare High has gained middle-class population; Redskins veteran coach Darren Bennett says they never had one to begin with.
Barger says criteria followed in realigning the district -- decisions he says that were made before he took over in 2006 -- concentrated on balancing not only enrollments, but also socioeconomic class and ethnicity.
Responding to jabs of favoritism, he says: "Decisions are made off information based on what's best for the entire district."
Not to be ignored in the Tulare Tussle is the impact of transfers and how they tend to gravitate toward winning programs.
It's no coincidence that they've long landed at the Bakersfields and Clovis Wests of section football lore. And Bennett doesn't even begin to deny they've found his program, too, like quarterback Trevor Jones (Mt. Whitney) and multiposition star Edward Dillihunt (Western) on this team.
"I don't recruit," Bennett says. "I'm probably guilty of not even recruiting kids on my own campus. But winning breeds winning. Kids want to play where they have a chance to win."
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