The Clarke Central High School Gladiators’ JV basketball team tips the ball to begin a game against the Cedar Shoals High School JV basketball team. The event was known as the Cedar vs. Central Basketball extravaganza and featured all four basketball teams at the school: varsity and JV and boys and girls. Photo by Mackenzie Caudill
The East and West sides of Athens came together at Clarke Central High School on Jan. 5 for a basketball extravaganza.
Clarke Central High School graciously hosted the Cedar Shoals High School Jaguars in the CCHS New Gym on Jan. 5 for a Cedar vs. Central basketball extravaganza. While the Gladiators junior varsity basketball team’s schedule rarely aligns with the varsity schedule, both the boys and the girls JV and varsity teams took on the Jaguars back to back on the same day, with the JV girls kicking it off at 11:00 a.m.
The stands were sprinkled with orange, blue, red and gold as parents and community members poured in for a day’s worth of entertainment. Seats were filled up so quickly it discouraged anyone from leaving theirs. One could find it hard to discern the screams of a proud mother standing at the very top of the bleachers from the feedback of a coach standing directly on the sideline.
Clarke County School District mothers have some lungs, as many of us have experienced.
However, the best thing to watch wasn’t the extreme support from the die-hard fans of the rivaling teams gave– it was the camaraderie between them. Cheerleaders in blue and red were seen laughing and talking during halftimes. Families from opposite sides of Athens were seen sitting right next to each other. Coaches conversed and even shook hands.
It was something unlike crosstown football games, where the East and West sides are separated by an entire football field. The rivalry was still prevalent through the scoreboard, but the gathering itself was a union rather than contention between the East and West sides.
Sure, people rooted persistently for who they wanted to win, like at all sporting events, but there was no solitude in the crowd, no bleacher that didn’t contain someone from the opposite side.
Despite the fact the teams split games, each winning two, it was the Classic City that won the day with renewed fellowship through this wholesome family event.
