Someone once asked me, while I was at work, who my favorite high school football team was.
I know this will be hard to believe, but I want every school to do well. It means a lot for civic pride for the towns and counties that throw everything at the academics and athletics. It means that young adults are learning a lot of great core values that they can carry with them through their adult lives and have them rub off on others.
And it makes for great conversation and great stories 365 days out of the year.
So, when schools like North Springs, Jordan, and Atkinson County break long losing streaks, I think it’s the coolest thing I can show on GPB for our “Football Fridays in Georgia.” Because it means a lot to a lot of people.
And, then, there are those rivalry games where towns are split in half, or even in more sections going in. There’s Northside vs. Warner Robins and the “Winnersville Classic” that immediately come to mind. There are hand full’s of them around the state: Washington-Wilkes and Lincoln County, Brookwood vs. Parkview, most of Region 6-5A, the Columbus and LaGrange schools, and I’m fairly sure you have one closest to your heart that you circle on the calendar every season.
Having done stories on both the Warner Robins city matchup and the Winnersville past, it’s interesting to see how it rubs off on people. The mayor of Warner Robins, Chuck Shaheen, is a Warner Robins grad. You can see how that plays. Police cars have front license plates with the corresponding school’s logo that ties with the officer’s alma mater. A blue “N” for Northside and a red “R” for Warner Robins…
Bryan Way, Warner Robins head coach, and his counterpart at Northside, Kevin Kinsler, admits that it’s their most hectic week of the year. And if you ask, both sides, adults and students alike, will tell you that they don’t like each other. The athletes don’t hang out with each other and this has gone on for generations.
When it comes to “Winnersville,” Valdosta head coach Rance Gillespie tells me it’s a different animal from anything that he’s been through in the college and high school ranks. Lowndes high head coach Randy McPherson came from Florida and got a crash course in the game a little over a decade ago. He told me there’s nothing like it.
There are wives tales, unconfirmed stories, and hearsay that in these rivalry games that attach themselves to the stuff of legend and memory.
Here’s one of my favorites, there is a game (I won’t say where) that involves neighboring counties. The police officers have in the past (allegedly) camped out at the county line and pulled over visiting fans heading to the game to slow down their progress and make sure that the officer’s home team was better represented at the rival game.
And it happened both ways, year after year, for decades and I’m told it has happened recently in the rivalry.
Dear reader, what’s your favorite rivalry and why?
Let us know here either by responding on Facebook, reaching out on Twitter, or commenting via e-mail. It’s always fun for me to get feedback from all of you on how things break down across the state.
And if there’s one rivalry game that I need to see, let me know which one and why. Because I also know that games aren’t just Friday night. It takes a lot of activity during the week to make them happen so both sides can enjoy the game- short of the final score, of course,where only one side gets to brag for the next year.
I’d like to always add to my travels and that’s where you come in.
Play it safe, everyone, I’ll see you next time.
Jon Nelson
GPB Sports Correspondent
