Schedule announced for the 2025 GeorgiaConstructionCareers.com Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic

The 34th annual GeorgiaConstructionCareers.com Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic presented by IBEW schedule has been announced and will jumpstart the 2025 GHSA football season as some of the best teams from around the state will compete in the historic event. The event features a four-day game slate that starts on August 13 at Kell High School and concludes on August 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic features 11 games at five different locations around the state of Georgia.

Out of all 22 participants in this season’s Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, St. Pius X is the only first-timer to Corky as the rest of the schools all participated a year ago to kickoff the 2024 season. The Golden Lions replaced Alpharetta for this season’s Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic as the Raiders kicked off against Houston County in the event a year ago at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“Across the board, I think we have solid matchups in all 11 games,” said Score Atlanta President and Director of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, I.J. Rosenberg. “One of the additions we will be making this year will be going between our new television studio in Roswell and the games. This will allow us to expand the coverage of halftimes and in-between game shows and starting August 4, we will focus our daily noon-1 p.m. show on Corky, bringing players and coaches into the studio to advance the games. I also like the fact that the 22 teams include 11 different counties including two from Gwinnett and Troup, three from Cobb, three schools from Atlanta Public Schools and three private schools.”

All games in this season’s Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic will be broadcast live on the Peachtree Sports Network, which is available on cable as well as YouTube TV. PSN has grown exponentially over the past year, and a select amount of games will also be televised on Peachtree TV.  In addition, the games will also be streamed digitally on the Atlanta News First App as well as the National Federation High School Network. Tune in for pregame, halftime and postgame of each Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic matchup as we will send it back to Roswell at the Score Atlanta Studios for the breaks in the action. The games will also be available to listen to on 92.9 The Game.

The opening day of the 2025 Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic will feature two games at Kell High School as the Prince Avenue Christian Wolverines will take on the Callaway Cavaliers in the first matchup of the 2025 season with kickoff slated for 4:30 p.m. This will be newly-hired Prince Avenue head coach Jon Richt’s first game as the head coach of the Wolverines, taking over for the departed Greg Vandagriff who left in the offseason. Richt is the son of former Georgia football head coach, Mark Richt. Following the matchup between the Wolverines and the Cavaliers will be South Paulding and our host-school Kell, who will continue the event kicking off at 8 p.m.

The event continues on Thursday night as West Forsyth will play as host for a fifth-consecutive season, with the Wolverines hosting two high-level Georgia high school football games. Thursday night will kickoff at 4:30 p.m. with the defending Class A-3A Private state champions, the Hebron Christian Lions taking the field against the North Atlanta Warriors followed by the Douglass-Atlanta Astros facing off against the hosting West Forsyth Wolverines.

Friday night will feature three games at two different locations as Buck Godfrey Stadium will play host to Therrell facing off against Cedar Grove at 2 p.m. Across the way at the famed-Barron Stadium in Rome, the LaGrange Grangers and head coach Matt Napier will take on Steven Gates and Cass at 5 p.m. followed by the Creekside Seminoles taking on the Rome Wolves following Rome’s bus accident a year ago that cancelled the scheduled game.

The event concludes on Saturday with a four-game slate beginning at 10 a.m. on August 16. The first game of the day will be between Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic-first timer, the St. Pius X Golden Eagles, as they will take on the Dunwoody Wildcats in the first game of the day. At 1 p.m. Brookwood will make its 34th Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic appearance as new head coach Chad Nighbert looks to start a new era with the Broncos, leading his team to face Jeremy Edwards’ Houston County team. In the late afternoon slate, the McEachern Indians will take on the Walton Raiders at 4 p.m. followed by the nightcap of two talented rosters as Douglas County and North Gwinnett will square off in the final game of the 2025 installation of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic.

LET’S KICKOFF THE SEASON

Prince Avenue Christian and Callaway will kick off the 2025 season at Kell as the Wolverines will be in their first game since Vandagriff accepted another job in Tennessee. This will be the first time since 2015 that the Wolverines will have a new head coach as first-time head coach Jon Richt looks to seize the opportunity at hand with the 2024 Class A-3A Private runner-up’s. The Wolverines are led by a pair of high-profile juniors in quarterback Ben Musser and 4-star running back Andrew Beard as they lead a dynamic Wolverines offense. Callaway will have its hands full as Beard totaled 2,886 all-purpose yards along with 26 touchdowns throughout the 2024 season. Callaway finished the season 9-3 for the second-straight year before being eliminated in the second round for the first time since 2015.

Following the first matchup, the South Paulding Spartans will take on the host team, the Kell Longhorns as both programs are looking to have bounce back seasons. The Spartans, led by Maurice Allen, finished 2024 with a 3-7 record, not making the postseason for the first time since 2020, while Kell went 7-5 as the Longhorns were eliminated in the first round. The Longhorns are powered by Class of 2027 4-star running back Quinterrius “Moonie” Gipson who totaled over 1,900 yards and 21 total touchdowns in 2024. Gipson is the engine that keeps the Longhorns offense moving, as he is effective in multiple facets of the game such as becoming a reliable runner and an effective pass catcher out of the backfield.

ONTO WEST FORSYTH

As they have done for the last five seasons, West Forsyth continues to host the second day of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. The day will start with Hebron Christian taking on North Atlanta at 4:30 p.m. followed by Douglass-Atlanta taking on the hosting Wolverines.

The Lions are coming off of their first-ever state championship victory in program history as they took down Prince Avenue a season ago in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Hebron will be without seven-time state champion head coach Jonathan Gess after his departure to coach high school football in South Carolina. The Lions still return some talent such as offensive playmakers Jarvis Mathurin and Devon Caldwell, who will look to continue Hebron’s success after a state championship a season ago. North Atlanta will have to replace quarterback Ian Reynolds after he has gone onto the college ranks at VMI.

Douglass-Atlanta finished the 2024 season with an 8-4 record, winning its first playoff game since 2019 as the Astros defeated Cairo in the first round before losing to eventual-champion Calhoun in the second round. Following a successful season in 2024 that saw West Forsyth make it to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2020, the Wolverines, led by head coach Dave Svehla will have a fired-up home crowd cheering them on to begin the 2025 season.

PACKED FRIDAY SCHEDULE  

Three games headline a full Friday slate at two different locations as the day will start at 2 p.m. with Therrell kicking things off against Cedar Grove at Buck Godfrey Stadium in South DeKalb.

Both programs are looking to get things back on track after the two schools each won three games a season ago and were eliminated in the first round of their respective brackets. Led by a third different head coach in as many years, Rich Freeman will lead the Saints in his first season at the helm looking to right the ship. Therrell was knocked out of the playoffs by eventual champion Carver-Columbus a season ago as the Panthers look to start the season 1-0 for the first time in two seasons.

Traveling up to Rome, LaGrange and Cass will start the day at Barron Stadium at 5 p.m. followed by the long-awaited matchup between Creekside and Rome at 8 p.m. For the Grangers, head coach Matt Napier enters his sixth season at the helm as his team finished the season strong despite a 1-2 start, making the semifinals. The Grangers offense will be focused around Jardon Stringer as the wideout has accumulated numerous Power 4 offers such as Georgia, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, LSU, Auburn, and Florida. Cass is led by 3-star offensive lineman Bear McWhorter as he recently announced his commitment to Michigan last week.

Following the LaGrange vs. Cass game, Creekside and Rome will cap off Friday night as they will square off at 8 p.m. Both schools had a strange start to the season a year ago after a bus accident carrying members of the Rome football team led to the cancellation of this matchup. Barring any setbacks, the two schools will conclude Friday’s events in a big matchup featuring a pair of schools who made the postseason a year ago.

Led by Maurice Dixon, the Creekside Seminoles won 10-plus games for the third-consecutive season last year, making it all the way to the semifinals in Class 4A. With some top-senior talent on this year’s roster such as Eric Paul Jr. and Sean Williams, the Seminoles will look to make some noise once again in 2025.

Following the incident a year ago, the Wolves put together a successful season, finishing 8-3 with a postseason appearance. The Wolves will have to make up heavy production from a season ago in Tennessee-commit Jaedon Harmon, Boston College-commit Rae Skyes Jr. and Princeton-commit Chance Arthur as the Wolves are primed for another big season.

ALL EYES ON SATURDAY

Saturday’s events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium cap off an extraordinary first week of the 2025 high school football season as the four-game slate will begin with Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic first-timer St. Pius X taking on Dunwoody at 10 a.m.

The Golden Lions are coming off of their 19th-consecutive playoff appearance as St. Pius X went 7-4 a season ago. The Golden Lions lost in the first round for the second season in a row, but will look to kick off their season the right way when they begin the final day of event at the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic against Dunwoody. On the other sideline, Dunwoody is still looking for a head coach as Mike Nash stepped down and took the head coaching position at Chattahoochee County. The Wildcats will be without Nash for the first time since the 2014 season after putting together a 4-7 season a year ago that included a win over South Paulding in last year’s Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. Although they do not meet very often, the schools are less than 10 miles a part.

Following the first game of the day, Brookwood and Houston County will kick off the second game on Saturday. Brookwood running back Brayden Tyson will look to keep his momentum from last season going in the right direction with Nighbert now in a full-time role as the head coach. As a sophomore last season, Tyson ran for 2,123 yards on the ground and added 326 yards through the air, leading the team in both categories while also scoring 29 touchdowns as well. Houston County will be replacing Navy All-American and 4-star quarterback Antwann Hill as he has taken his talents to the Memphis Tigers for his college career. Hill threw for 44 touchdowns and 3,373 yards a season ago.

McEachern and Walton will kick off the late-afternoon slate at the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic as both schools put on great shows a year ago in the event against different opponents. Kareem Reid enters his third season as the head coach of the Indians, making the playoffs in his first two seasons at the helm. With a handful of talent in the Class of 2026 such as 4-star wideout Nalin Scott, 3-star running back Jayreon Campbell and 3-star edge rusher Zakir Abdul-Salaam, the Indians are poised for a breakout 2025 season. Walton, led by Daniel Brunner going into his ninth season with the team, is coming off of a 7-4 season that saw the Raiders extend their postseason streak to eight seasons. The offensive fire-power that the Raiders possess is up there with some of the best in the state including both Ward brothers, Christian and Alexander, as well as Jude Cascone as they each have the capability to take over a game.

In the final game of the four-day event, Douglas County and North Gwinnett will square off as two premier teams around the state will share the field in the last game of the 2025 GeorgiaConstructionCareers.com Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic presented by IBEW Local 613. Douglas County has tons of talent in the Class of 2026 including a trio of 4-stars that lead an explosive group. A pair of receivers in Auburn-commit Devin Carter and Texas A&M-commit Aaron Gregory make up one of the best wideout duos in the country. Texas A&M-commit, edge rusher Jordan Carter is another name to watch as well as the Tigers will be firing on all cylinders in 2025. North Gwinnett finished 12-1 in 2024 as the Bulldogs were defeated by Buford in the quarterfinals. Head coach Eric Godfree along with his son, Jake, will look to get the Bulldogs back to the big stage. The Bulldogs will have to replace big names from the Class of 2025 such as Braxton Kyle, Cole Funderburk, and Malekhi Weedon. Both schools started their seasons with wins at the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic a year ago as North Gwinnett defeated McEachern 39-17, followed by Douglas County’s 42-7 victory over Cedar Grove.

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2025 Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic Schedule 

August 13 at Kell High School

4:30 p.m. – Prince Avenue Christian vs. Callaway

8 p.m. – South Paulding vs. Kell

August 14 at West Forsyth High School

4:30 p.m. – Hebron Christian vs. North Atlanta

8 p.m. – Douglass-Atlanta vs. West Forsyth

August 15 at Buck Godfrey Stadium

2 p.m. – Therrell vs. Cedar Grove

August 15 at Rome’s Barron Stadium

5 p.m. – LaGrange vs. Cass

8 p.m. – Creekside vs. Rome

August 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

10 a.m. – St. Pius X vs. Dunwoody

1 p.m. – Brookwood vs. Houston County

4 p.m. – McEachern vs. Walton

7 p.m. – Douglas County vs. North Gwinnett