0.9 miles. 10 blocks. A four minute drive without traffic — and about seven with. 

Bishop’s and La Jolla High School could not be much closer to each other in distance, yet the proximity does not always foster friendship. From sports games to school cultures, the similarities and differences between Bishop’s and La Jolla High have long fueled a rivalry between the schools. However, students at Bishop’s and La Jolla High feel differently about the rivalry — and what causes it.

While many Bishop’s students view the rivalry as “good fun,” as Tali Ben-Yehuda (‘25) put it, some La Jolla High students feel more strongly about it, bringing wealth, privilege, and the private-public school gap into it. 

Some Bishop’s students do not think there is much of a rivalry at all. Owen Tu (‘25), laughing, asked, “What rivalry? I basically never hear anyone talk about them. And I definitely don’t think about them. I mean, why should I be? Why should I care at all?” Ronik Gupta (‘27) agreed, saying, “I’m not really that close with the La Jolla High kids, but generally they seem nice.” However, Ronik added that he thinks they “sometimes let the rivalry get in the way of their relationships with some of [his] other friends at Bishop’s.”

Similarly, Selene Wang (‘25) dismissed the rivalry, pointing to her own experience collaborating with La Jolla High students. “For All Girls Stem Society, we collaborate with La Jolla High students often and it is great,” Selene began. “There really is no competition and rivalry when it comes to those things — and there should not be!” 

Other Bishop’s students do see a rivalry — but believe it is only a sports one. Laine Jeffery (‘25) said, “I have a lot of La Jolla High friends. I was supposed to go there, actually, and all of our competitive jabs are solely about sports.”

Cash Herrera (‘26) and Isaiah Garcia (‘27), both on the Bishop’s football team, elaborated on how the rivalry shows itself most during the annual Battle for Pearl Street football game in August. Isaiah said, “People don’t mess around with it. It definitely makes us want to put in more work all week to prepare so that we can beat them.” Cash noted that the rivalry adds excitement, and added, “Since we know most of the kids at La Jolla, it’s a big game and a big rivalry.”  

Pedro Tristão Carvalho de Mendonça (‘25), who is on the Bishop’s Boys Varsity Water Polo team, explained. “We all play club together and all know each other which makes the games so fun. So many people from both schools show up. There is so much energy at our games versus La Jolla, it is like a community event. It is just such a fun energy to compete in.” 

Pedro specifically noted this year’s CIF San Diego Open Division semifinal game versus La Jolla High, which went into overtime, as an example. “That was the most packed game I had ever been a part of. There were more people at that semifinal game than there were at the final later that week.” 

 Along with the excitement, Pedro, Cash, and Isaiah explained that the sports rivalry often causes more trash talk on the field and in the pool. Cash said, “It is definitely very competitive, whatever they could do to get under my skin during the game they would do like talk trash…they said some things to me that I don’t think should be repeated.” 

Pedro added that while there can always be trash talk during games, there is “a lot more profanity” and “personal jabs” since everyone knows each other better, but that it is all said in good spirit. Along with trash talk on the field, Isaiah has noticed “both schools taking jabs at each other on social media.”

Ironically, as Pedro pointed out, close relationships seem to fuel the rivalry as well. Tali elaborated on this, saying, “part of what makes our relationship with La Jolla High unique is that so many of us have known each other for a long time. Some of us went to middle school together, others have started at one school and transferred to the other, and of course lots of us know each other and are friends outside of school because we live in the same town.” 

Another place where students from both schools overlap are club sports teams— such as Shores Water Polo and La Jolla United Water Polo Club, according to Pedro. 

At La Jolla High, stronger sentiments fuel the rivalry. Nanette Fu, a La Jolla High sophomore, said, “Some La Jolla High kids don’t like Bishop’s kids because lots of them are too full of themselves and think the world revolves around them.” 

Some La Jolla High students share this perception that Bishop’s students are privileged. 

For example, at the Battle for Pearl Street football game in 2024, some students — including Seffi Morrison (‘27), Lainie Beamer (‘25), and Pedro — saw La Jolla High students holding posters targeting the perceived wealth and elitism of Bishop’s, with posters reading “Daddy’s Money.” In fact, at the game two years ago, while the Bishop’s student section theme was “Black Out,” La Jolla High’s theme was “Country Club,” which some Bishop’s students interpreted as a jab at their private school status and privilege.

Bishop’s students resented this behavior. Lainie said, “the cheers and fan behavior is upsetting and annoying because while it is true that we all go to an expensive school, they also live in La Jolla, a very expensive place, so they could be called the same thing, but we would never do that.” In fact, the average house price in La Jolla, according to Zillow, is $2,323,094, over six times the median house price in the U.S. of $359,099. And as Pedro pointed out, almost all students must live in La Jolla to go to La Jolla High.

Despite this, some La Jolla High students view Bishop’s as a more privileged and wealthy school. One La Jolla High student, Nanette, admitted, “I like Bishop’s kids a lot,” but also expressed that some of them “are very selfish and show off their parents’ money.”  Nanette also added that some La Jolla High students felt that a lot of Bishop’s students look down on La Jolla High for being a public school.

Ashton Horowitz, a La Jolla High alumni from the Class of 2022, who still keeps in contact with friends from Bishop’s, said that, when he was at La Jolla High, he felt “a culture where it was La Jolla High versus everyone.” 

Other La Jolla High students think the rivalry has more to do with their strong school spirit and pride. 

Gabriel Delaume, a new La Jolla High senior, noticed immediately that “there is a lot of school pride at La Jolla High…this gets blurred into a rivalry with Bishop’s. We think we are better at everything: better sports, better teachers, better kids, better everything. Even when we literally lose to [Bishop’s] in something, we still think we are better.” 

School pride emerges most clearly during sporting events. Marketing games between Bishop’s and La Jolla high as battles fuels conflict, division, and rivalry between the student bodies. Before games, it is not uncommon to see students and players from both schools post trash talk on social media about the opposing school and team, as Isaiah explained. 

At this year’s Battle for Pearl Street football game, things went even further. Mr. Joe Cavaiola, the Vice Principal of La Jolla High, explained that this year’s game had “defined fan boundaries” to make it “easier for our security to monitor and respond to any issues quickly.” Mr. Cavailoa cited “crowd control” and “overall safety issues” as specific reasons for the decision. Additionally, Mr. Cavaiola said, “rivalry games can sometimes become tense due to the competitive nature of the event. As a host site, our goal [was] to keep the focus on the game itself rather than any potential disruptions.”  

One La Jolla High sophomore, Aviana Cavaiola, thinks many students, especially athletes, are “annoyed that [Bishop’s] can have people coming from out of La Jolla to help [its] sports teams because the sports rivalry is especially really big.” Unlike La Jolla High, Bishop’s has the ability to recruit athletes for sports teams from across San Diego. Aviana sees this as an unfair advantage. 

Despite differences in opinion, some students ultimately enjoy the rivalry and prefer having it. “Even if it is annoying at times, I love the rivalry and would not change it at all,” Laine reflected, “in a place like Bishop’s where we work so hard academically, still having that traditional high school experience with fan base energy and a fun rivalry is important.”

Aviana agreed, saying, “I think it’s fun having our crosstown rivalry because everyone gets so invested and the energy at the games is unreal. It’s also fun to connect with people in our community.”

Perhaps Lainie put it best when she, almost whispering, admitted, “Deep down, we love the rivalry and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”