Friday night will mark the 50th all-time meeting between the Clarke Central Gladiators and the Cedar Shoals Jaguars. It will also be the first time this battle of Athens’ eastside vs westside has been televised on GPB. The 50th Classic City Championship Game is loaded with storylines and interesting twists.

The first-year Head Coach of the Gladiators is David Perno. Not your typical high school football coach. In fact prior to this season the last time Perno had been on a high school football field as a participant (player or coach) was December 14, 1985 when he was Clarke Central’s starting fullback in the Gladiators 21-7 win over Warner Robins in the GHSA AAAA State Championship Game. He had never coached a high school football game until a month ago when the Glads opened their season with a 31-0 win over Winder Barrow.

But he’s coached, just not football. Prior to taking over his alma mater’s football program, he had been the Georgia Bulldogs Baseball Coach for 12 seasons. Three times he led the Bulldogs to the College World Series and in 2008 Georgia came to within one win of the national championship falling to Fresno State two-games-to-one in the final. Of course back in 1990, Perno was a member of the Bulldogs only baseball championship team.

Said Perno, “Coaching the two sports is totally different…there is no comparison. But they are also the same because you’ve got to be able to communicate and get the most out of your kids.”

While going from college baseball coach to high school football coach might seem far-fetched, Perno says his closest friends knew it was the perfect career move for him. His former high school teammate and lifelong friend Derek Dooley (former Louisiana Tech and Tennessee Vols head coach and current Dallas Cowboys assistant) told him that coaching football was where he belonged.

That leads us to the other sideline where Leroy Ryals is in his first season as Cedar Shoals Head Coach. He arrived back in Athens after three seasons coaching Thomasville. That’s right, he’s back in Athens. Ryals was the head coach at Clarke Central for seven seasons and led the Gladiators to the 2009 AAAA State Championship Game. In seven seasons with the Gladiators, Ryals was 60-22-1 and made the playoffs every season. He was 7-1 against the Cedar Shoals program he now coaches and inherits a Jaguars program that was 2-18 the last two seasons. Do the math, at 3-1 he’s already won more games than Cedar had won in their previous 21 games. He’s already making a difference on the eastside.

Now back to the Derek Dooley connection. Ryals worked with him on Nick Saban’s LSU staff back in 2004 and here’s where it really becomes “it’s a small world after all.” Ryals played little league baseball growing up in Florida with J.R. Showalter and Ray Suplee. Those two guys would eventually be starters and teammates of Perno’s on Georgia’s 1990 baseball national championship team.

Perno got great advice from the legendary Billy Henderson when he took the Clarke Central job. It was…“be yourself.” It would hard to be Billy. One of the state’s all-time greatest and most-well known coaches, Henderson won three state championships with the Gladiators and was state runners-up four other times. Billy’s Gladiators owned the cross-town rivalry. In fact that’s been the case for most of the series’ history regardless of the coaches. Clarke Central has won eight straight in the rivalry and leads 34-15 all-time.

Back when I was just a pup, I was the Sports Director at WRFC-AM in Athens. I called this rivalry on radio three times. The last time in 1988, Cedar beat Clarke 3-0 snapping a 10-year losing streak, advancing to the state playoffs with the win and ending the Gladiators season. I nearly lost my voice that night it was such an exciting game. Let’s hope for that again…only this time I’ll take better care of the pipes.

Here’s a look at the recruiting prospects to keep your eye on Friday night:

Clarke Central

Sophomore RB Jonathan Sewell - Offered by South Carolina and Charlotte
Zay Brown - ESPN 3-star safety committed to South Carolina
WR Rico Arnold - Offered by Charlotte and Eastern Kentucky

Cedar Shoals

Safety Ryan Huff - Committed to App State
TE/Athlete Stavion Stevenson - Offered by Georgia State