Irvine Valley College's rivalry with Saddleback in athletics has been a good one over the years.

The stakes have just been upped.

The Irons, a new year-long sports competition between the two schools, has started this fall.

IVC and Saddleback will compete against one another in nine sports and points will be awarded. Head-to-head post-season competition will also be included.

Women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men's and women’s golf, men’s and women’ basketball, baseball and men’s and women’s tennis will account for 30 points per sport in the regular season; 20 bonus points shall be awarded for a head-to-head victory in post-season play; and 20 bonus points will be awarded for an Orange Empire Conference title in any of these sports.

An academic component is also included. Each college must take the proscribed number of athletes from among their squad lists in the nine head-to-head sports to compile a composite GPA. This component will be worth 50 points.

The name of the rivalry was decided based on the land that the two colleges sit on. The holdings were formerly ranches.

And on these ranches, the battles have taken on a new, modern context.

Irvine Valley College, founded on land donated by the Irvine Ranch, and Saddleback College, sitting squarely in the middle of Rancho Mission Viejo, compete on the fields and courts of intercollegiate athletic competition.

A perpetual trophy will be awarded annually to the college most successful in head-to-head intercollegiate athletic competition.

The trophy, made with the same techniques and materials of the Old West, will be comprised of branding irons featuring the logos of each college as well as the Irvine Company and Rancho Mission Viejo.

Already this fall, IVC has defeated Saddleback in women's volleyball, Saddleback has beat Irvine Valley in women's golf and the two schools tied in women's soccer.

The two schools meet again in women's soccer at Saddleback on Nov. 3.