1964. The United States elected Lyndon Johnson in a landslide. “Vietnam” was about to enter the vocabulary of the average American. The “Long Hot Summer” of the civil rights movement tested our nation’s commitment to its ideals. Amidst this whirlwind of history, a small up and coming little Air Force town in Central Georgia hosted a football game. The Fighting Demons of Warner Robins High School played their new cross-town rivals, the Screaming Eagles of Northside High School, for the very first time. Warner Robins won the contest 25-6.
At least once a year for the next 42 years Northside and Warner Robins would play in front of crowds as large as 20,000. In the 1970s and 80s,the rivalry intensified even more when Warner Robins won three state and two national titles. Six times, the two would meet in the playoffs. Virtually every year up until 2006, region championships were on the line when the two met. Several times, one of the teams was single-handedly responsible for costing the other one a perfect season, a berth in the state playoffs, or a region title. In a particularly memorable matchup in 1989, Warner Robins came into the game the defending state champions, undefeated, ranked number one in the state and the nation. This team averaged 52 points a game, and lost to their cross town rivals 7-6. They got their revenge the very next week, beating Northside 22-6 in the region playoff, but the damage to their season and psyche was done. They went on to lose in the first round of the state playoffs. In 2000, the two met as the number one and number two ranked teams in the state, with Warner Robins winning 23-20. Over the years, many notable personalities have taken part in this game. WWE Wrestler Ron “Farooq” Simmons, former Cinncinnati Bengal James Brooks, former New England Patriot Richard Holmes, Clemson’s Chansi Stuckey, Florida State’s Willie Reid, and current Georgia governor Sonny Perdue are among the many who have participated in this rivalry.
The town itself would succumb to some sort of “civil cold war” status for an entire week before the “Big Game.” Police would patrol Davis Drive, where Warner Robins High School was located, and Green Street, where Northside was, in an effort to curb carloads of fans from one school from pulling into the parking lot of the other and shouting, chanting, or yelling obscenities. Both schools have been vandalized numerous times by crosstown hoodlums. Each school has been intentionally infested with everything from crickets to pigs. Even the annual Christmas parade was not immune to the rivalry, with each school’s bands and cheerleaders trading barbs with onlookers and each other. Pastors in this Bible Belt town have also gotten in on the act. Warner Robins is probably the only town in the world where you can actually hear fundamentalist preachers praying for the success of Demons. Of course, across town, they pray to cast them out.
Warner Robins has the all-time advantage in the series, with 32 wins to Northside’s 17. However, Northside has had the upper hand in head-to-head match-ups since 1996, winning 8 of 11. Each school also has won a state title since 2000, with Warner Robins winning its fourth overall in 2004 and Northside winning its first in 2006. In 2006, Warner Robins changed divisions and moved up to 5A status while Northside remained 4A. This means that the “Big Game” no longer has the same region and state implications that it had in the past. However, the rivalry, the bragging rights and the coveted City Championship remain. Even the addition of a third high school to the community in 1991 could not diminish this tradition. It may not mean what it used to, but don’t try telling that to the locals, who will still pack it in this fall to watch these two great teams mix it up yet again.
