New rivals raise money for breast cancer awareness

Jets and Patriots softball players gather after raising money for the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund on April 10. (CONTRIBUTED)

By Aldo Amato

Staff Reporter

MADISON – Two local high schools put their rivalry aside for nearly a month in a goal to find a cure for breast cancer.

Both James Clemens’ and Bob Jones’ softball programs partnered with the Liz Hurley Breast Cancer Fund in March and eclipsed the $1,000 mark in raised donations.

Bob Jones head coach Kent Chambers said the Patriots have normally played in breast cancer awareness games but this year was special as they partnered with the new Jets program.

“We’ve done it with different schools in the past,” he said. “But with the addition of James Clemens to the school system, we thought we’d just do it within Madison this year.”

Chambers said the teams did not have a set goal and that every single donation counts towards.

“It’s a fantastic thing Liz Hurley does,” he said. “All we can get and every little bit helps. It’s a real plus to help out that foundation.”

The schools plan to alternate the hosting privileges each year with James Clemens hosting the awareness game in 2014.

Jets coach AJ Daugherty said the partnership has been one of his favorite parts of the Jets’ first season.

“It was just an awesome, awesome partnership,” he said. “Coach Chambers has been great and all the Bob Jones parents and players did an awesome job raising money. We’re glad we were part of a partnership with Bob Jones to raise money for a great cause.”

Daugherty said that he is proud of the effort of his players as well.

“I think they did a good job in raising the money,” he said. “We hope that in the future we can commit more to the initiative and raise money for this great foundation.”