The line between the red and gray of Slippery Rock and the black and gold of Grove City will be blurred Saturday afternoon.

The two communities are intertwined when it comes to their girls basketball teams, which face off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the District 10 Class 5A championship game at Farrell High School.

It's a unique situation. Grove City girls basketball coach Chris Burtch is a history teacher at Slippery Rock High.

Many of the Rocket players are in his class this year.

Junior forward Hallie Raabe is one of them.

“Mr. Burtch is a great teacher and a great coach,” Raabe said. “He always says good luck to us on game days.

“We talk mostly every day about basketball, but it's funny because our daily basketball talks kind of come to a halt the week we have to play him,” Raabe added. “He's a great guy and he has a great team. I'm super excited to face off against them this Saturday in the championship.”

At Slippery Rock, head girls basketball coach Amber Osborn and assistant coach Chalsie Kennedy both played for Grove City.

Kennedy is in her first season on the staff, but said she has been a “super fan” since her best friend Osborn took over the Slippery Rock program four years ago.

“At first it was a little weird rooting for Slippery Rock,” Kennedy said.

For Burtch, who has been at the helm of the Eagles for five seasons and was the boys coach at Slippery Rock for five years until he stepped down in 2004, coaching against the Rockets was very weird.

Still is — to a lesser degree, however, he said.

“It was very, very uncomfortable the first couple of years, no question about it,” Burtch said. “It's become more comfortable because it's part of who I am. I give the girls a lot of credit. I've maintained a good relationship with the Slippery Rock girls basketball players. We just kind of manage to have a normal teacher-student relationship.”

Kennedy is a Spanish teacher at Jamestown High School and said she couldn't fathom doing what Burtch is doing.

“I can't imagine coaching against my students,” Kennedy said. “I think that would be so hard to do.”

Burtch manages because of the respect he said he receives from his students — and occasional rivals — in class.

“I certainly feel that they really want me to do well,” Burtch said. “Unless they're going up against me.”

That may be why, as rivalries go between communities that are just eight miles and a county line apart, it's been an amicable one.

“I noticed when Grove City was playing Warren before us (in the semifinals at Oil City Wednesday), my players would cheer when Grove City scored,” Osborn said. “They respect us and we respect them.”

Burtch has the utmost respect for the job Osborn has done at Slippery Rock, which will be playing in its fourth consecutive district championship game.

“You can't help but have a tremendous amount of respect for the success the players have had and what Coach Osborn has accomplished in four years — four championship berths,” Burtch said. “I know how hard she works and she knows how hard I work.”

On the court, Slippery Rock has had Grove City's number for nearly a decade.

The Rockets have won 19 straight games over their rivals, including two this season. The last Eagles' win over Slippery Rock came on Feb. 14, 2011.

That fact is largely ignored by the teams, however.

“We don't think about that at all,” Osborn said. “Each game is its own game.”

Burtch has had his most successful season as a coach this year with Grove City, which is 20-3.

He said it's also been one of his most enjoyable.

“I've coached 10 years and this is the least-fatigued team I've had this late in the season,” Burtch said. “This is the most excited team, the team that is having the most fun this late in the season.”

Burtch, though, will try to have fun Saturday against Slippery Rock with all the emotions that go into playing in a championship game against a rival.

A rival with so many ties to him.

“People who love me and who I love will be there wearing red,” Burtch said. “And people who love me and who I love will be there wearing black and gold.”