By KEVIN MOBLEY – Guest Writer
Westside; eastside. Red and gold; blue and orange. Death Valley; the Jungle. 45 meetings, 17 combined region titles, but only one team will prevail.
This Friday night, Clarke Central High School will face Cedar Shoals High School away in the cross-town rivalry known as the Classic City Championship. Each team has key players going into this game. Infographic by Austin DeFoor.
Clarke Central High School and Cedar Shoals High School have shared a deep rivalry for the past 38 years. On Nov. 9, the two programs will meet once again, and all of Athens is waiting for that day to arrive.
“It means a lot to the community,” CCHS head football Coach Leroy Ryals said. “Because of the alumni from both schools, there are a lot of people that have graduated from both schools still in the community. It’s a good, clean rivalry, and they have a lot of fun with it. It’s just bragging rights for a year.”
The series between Athens’ two public high schools began in 1974, two years after CSHS was opened as the second public high school in Clarke County.
The Gladiators currently lead the series with a record of 30-15 against the Jaguars, including a 13-win streak by CCHS from 1979-88 and a 5-win streak by CSHS from 2001-05. The Gladiators will enter this year’s game 4-0 against the Jaguars since 2008.
“It’s huge,” CSHS English department teacher and alumnus Bryan Moore said. “It’s our measuring stick because of the historical success of Clarke Central, one of the most-well known programs in high school history.”
Unlike that of the 2011 meeting, which was the first game of the season, the game between Gladiators and Jaguars will be the regular season finale for both schools.
“I’m glad the game has been moved to the end of the year,” Moore said. “When it was the first game of the year you invest so much emotion into that game that for whoever loses, be it us or (CCHS), it feels like the season’s over, when it’s just began.”
The Gladiators’ 49-13 victory in last year’s meeting propelled CCHS to a 10-2 season, including a 9-game win streak that lasted until they lost in the second round of the state playoffs to Northside Warner Robins High School.
The Jaguars finished last season at 5-5 overall and in region play, and, with a 3-5 record so far this season, the best case scenario is to achieve that once again.
Both teams have 3-5 records so far this season. However; the Gladiators lead CSHS in region play with a 3-3 record, while the Jaguars’ record is 1-5.
“At this point our goal is to win out,” CSHS head football Coach Chris Davis said. “I think we can; we’ve been through the meat of our schedule; 7-3 is where we want to end up at this point in the season,” Davis said during their bye week.
Key running losses going into the game for CCHS include 1,790 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns from running back Quenshaun Watson, who is now a freshman at the University of Tennessee. From this year’s team, junior running back Rodney Willingham, who accumulated 496 yards and three touchdowns in five games, broke his ankle on Oct. 2 and has been sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Both teams are identical schematically. Physicality has been ingrained from day one: both teams run multiple-look offenses, which includes spread and power-I formations from both teams and odd-front defenses, mostly based off of a 3-4 package. The main goal for each team every game is to establish the running game on offense and to minimize yards on the ground on defense.
The Gladiator defense has been more consistent than its offense thus far, allowing 1015 yards in seven games, an average of 145 yards per game.
A large part of that dominance has to do with senior defensive tackle Demond Stovall, who has been a huge presence, literally and figuratively, as a 5’ 10″, 300 lb. nose guard.
“He’s a very talented kid, who plays hard every down,” said CCHS defensive line Coach Marcus Washington. “He’s one of those guys who’s a leader on our football team that you can count on to make big plays.”
CSHS junior running back Adrian Washington has been the workhorse in the backfield for the Jaguars this season, totaling 916 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in only six games, averaging 4.93 yards per carry. Washington sees the game against the Gladiators as another opportunity to prove that he can captain his team to victory under the bright lights of a heated rivalry game.
“This year it will be a good feeling to finally win against our rival team. This is all the whole school talks about; they don’t even think about the other games we have to win,” Washington said. “All they think about is beating Clarke Central and finally getting that win.”
