In four-way region race, International City rivalry still dominates

WARNER ROBINS -- The four teams that make up the western half of GHSA Region 2-AAAAA couldn't have come up with a better scenario for the final third of the regular season.

Between Houston County, Jones County, Northside and Warner Robins, the only losses recorded by those four teams are to each other. Three of those teams are ranked in top six in the classification by the Georgia Sports Writers Association.

There's a good chance that one -- and perhaps two -- of those teams will wind up in the Georgia Dome in December, playing for a championship.

None of that, however, is important right now to Warner Robins and Northside.

It's rivalry week for the Demons and Eagles. And much of the International City will take pause Friday night to see what goes down at McConnell-Talbert Stadium.

Sure, there are two other big games involving Houston County teams. Second-ranked Houston County is at No. 6 Jones County in a battle of top-10 teams, while Veterans takes on south county rival Perry at Herb St. John Stadium. The Georgia National Fair is wrapping up this weekend, as well.

Northside-Warner Robins, however, is still the big show, the game that likely will draw an overflow crowd in the five-figure range.

"It's over 50 years of tradition," said Northside head coach Kevin Kinsler, who is a 1979 graduate of the school. "With a lot of rivalries, you have the kids and the parents who are directly involved at that time, and then they move on and another group comes in. What's unique about this game is that there are so many people that stay in this community. The rivalry runs throughout this community.

"Most of the kids playing for us now, their parents played at Northside or at Warner Robins. They go to work every day with either a Demons fan or an Eagles fan. The roots run deep in this community. It continues to be one of the best high school rivalries in the country."

A national website, www.greatamericanrivalry.com, is featuring the game as one of the 12 biggest rivalries in the country being played this week. As of early Thursday afternoon, Warner Robins-Northside ranked second in fan voting for the rivalry of the week on the site behind the Tuscola-Pisgah rivalry in North Carolina.

Warner Robins leads the series 34-23, but Northside has won 14 of the past 19 meetings.

"(Kinsler and I) both have been around for quite a long time, and they've been playing a lot longer than I've been here, which is a long time," Warner Robins head coach Bryan Way said. "It's an intense rivalry. It's what high school football is all about. You have two opposing sides, and each side is trying like crazy to win the ballgame. The community gets very involved, and everyone gets vocal with who they're pulling for."

For the Northside seniors, there is pride at stake. From 2001 onward, every Northside senior class has gone 3-1 or 4-0 against Warner Robins.

Should Warner Robins prevail Friday, the streak will be broken. The Demons won the 2013 game 28-18.

"There's a reputation to uphold," Northside linebacker Yacht Jones said. "No one wants to go out as a loser. You want to come out on top in anything you do, especially in this game right here."

The nature of the series is to expect the unexpected. Northside was ranked No. 1 in 2013 leading into the Warner Robins game. The Eagles were ranked No. 2 in 2009 when the Demons claimed a 21-20 victory.

This time around, Northside (6-0, 5-0 Region 2-AAAAA) is back atop the poll. Unranked Warner Robins (5-1, 4-1), meanwhile, is looking to jump back in after losing 34-14 to Houston County on Sept. 18.

"We're going to have to focus on finishing out the play, starting to play in the first quarter and not waiting to play," Warner Robins receiver Marquez Callaway said. "This is going to be a game about focus more than anything else. We're going to have to outwork Northside (more) than they outwork us."

Another interesting note: Each of the past four games in the series -- and five of the past six -- has been decided by 10 points or fewer.

"It's cliche to say you can throw the records out and all of that, but that's true," Kinsler said. "It has been proven in this rivalry where the underdog is not always the one coming up losing and they wind up winning. The kids just play at a different level during this game."

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 8:27 PM with the headline "In four-way region race, International City rivalry still dominates ."