Oregon’s Arik Armstead and Washington’s Shaq Thompson represent the north and south side of the Pacific Northwest, just as they did representing north and south Sacramento. However, their journeys to their respective schools brought to light a friendship that “no rivalry is going to break up,” Armstead said.

Living about 30-45 minutes away from one another, these Sacramento natives didn’t know of each other until their sophomore year in high school, but the word on Thompson was out from an early age.

“When Arik was younger there was always this legend of Shaq Thompson,” Arik’s father Guss Armstead said.

The two met at a football camp at Stanford. Even though they didn’t get a chance to play each other in high school, the two used each other as support and paid attention to what each other had been up to on Friday nights.

“Arik was a really big fan of Shaq,” Guss said. “He always wanted to see what Shaq did.”

After meeting during their sophomore year, the two embarked on a pursuit toward finding the perfect fit as to where to play in college. But they wanted more than that. They wanted to attend college together.

“We were pretty much talking to all the same schools,” Arik said. “We were trying to figure out where to go together.”

Following their senior seasons, the two were invited to play in the U.S. Army All-American game, which was held in San Antonio, Texas. It was the first time that they played together in a game and they both had the same game plan: represent the city of Sacramento.

“Both being from Sacramento we had a chip on our shoulder,” Arik said. “People kind of sleep on Sacramento so we always are trying to put our city on the map, represent where we’re from.”

During the visit, the two spent a lot of time together as they always had, and dealt with what Guss said was the “height of recruiting.”

“You got everyone on you. Notre Dame wants to see you, Oregon wants to see you, USC wants to see you,” Guss said. “They were going through all those things together.”

On January 29, 2012 Armstead announced his commitment to Oregon.

“We talked about both coming here together,” Arik said. “It just came down to the best decision for him.”

It was only days later when Thompson made his decision.

“We were supposed to go to the same school,” Thompson said. “But we decided to go our separate ways. Arik always said go where you feel most comfortable. Washington was where I felt most comfortable.”

But they’re not giving up on the chance to play together just yet. They still plan to take another step after their college careers.

“It didn’t happen in college, but maybe it’ll happen someday,” Arik said.

Three years later the two will reunite again come Saturday. The two will hold their conversation until the end of the game Saturday, where they will be “enemies” said Thompson.

But after the game, well “it’s all love” said Arik.

Follow Andrew Bantly on Twitter @andrewbantly