The 33rd Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic schedule was finalized this past January and the excitement has built over the course of the offseason for the massive four-day, 10-game lineup that will kickoff the 2024 GHSA Football season Wednesday, Aug. 14 through Saturday, Aug. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
An effort was made to make this year’s lineup represent the widest range of participants in the event’s history and 10 of the 20 teams taking the field will be making first-ever appearances in the event to meet that pursuit.
“I think if you look at the 10 games and 20 teams playing this year, you will see we worked hard to be as inclusive as possible,” said Corky Kell Executive Director I.J. Rosenberg, also the president of sports marketing company Score Atlanta.
“It took three months to put this schedule together. We also have made a move into South Georgia as well as going back to the Northwest part of the state while getting teams from all over the Metro Atlanta area. And our finale in Mercedes-Benz Stadium between Cedar Grove and Douglas County may be one of the best ever in the 33 years of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic.”
The opening day will feature a double-header at Kell High School— with LaGrange facing Douglass-Atlanta—in what will be the first game of the entire 2024 high school season.
The Astros and Grangers will also make their first-ever appearance in the Classic and it will be the first meeting between the programs. Wednesday’s nightcap will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. and will stage a showdown between North Atlanta and host Kell.
This will be the third all-time meeting between the Warriors and Kell, and first since 2015.
NON-STOP ACTION
West Forsyth will return as a host site for the fourth-straight year for Thursday’s double-header. In the 4:30 p.m. slot, Dunwoody and South Paulding will face off for the first time and Maurice Allen will make his coaching debut as South Paulding’s sixth all-time head coach. Thursday’s nightcap will pair two-time defending state champion Prince Avenue Christian and host West Forsyth in a first-ever meeting and cross-classification showdown. Dunwoody, South Paulding and Prince Avenue Christian will each be making debuts in the Classic.
On Friday, Hebron Christian will host a 4:30 p.m. kickoff between the Lions and Therrell before the action shifts to Rome’s Barron Stadium for Cass versus Callaway at 7:30 p.m. Hebron Christian, Therrell and Callaway will all be appearing in the Classic for the first time. Rome was scheduled for a Friday game against Creekside but cancelled due to an accident earlier in the week.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host a star-powered four-game lineup on Saturday that will open with Brookwood and Walton at 10 a.m., followed by Houston County and Alpharetta at 1 p.m.
McEachern and North Gwinnett occupy the third slot in a must-see Cobb versus Gwinnett County clash and then the grand finale will stage Cedar Grove against Douglas County. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Saints and Tigers and the first Corky Kell appearance for both teams.
Each of the games will be broadcast live on the Peachtree Sports Network and streamed digitally on the Atlanta News First app and the National Federation High School Network (NFHS). On Saturday, each of the four games will be broadcast on Peachtree TV, with live radio coverage from 92.9 The Game.
AT A GLANCE
The GHSA’s reclassification cycle set the new landscape for the next two school years and the result is that six different classifications will be represented in this year’s Corky Kell lineup. Class 6A became the new largest classification after the removal of Class 7A and the creation of a separate Class A-3A Private division maintained the eight total champions that will be crowned this season. Class 6A is the most represented classification in this year’s lineup with eight total teams.
Additionally, six of the 10 matchups will feature one or more teams from Georgia’s largest classification. The two Cobb County-based Class 6A teams (Walton, McEachern) will be facing the two Gwinnett teams (Brookwood, North Gwinnett) from Class 6A on Saturday. The other four teams from the largest classification will face teams from lower classifications with North Atlanta battling Class 4A Kell, Alpharetta taking on Class 5A Houston County, Douglas County meeting Class 3A Cedar Grove and West Forsyth hosting Class 2A’s Prince Avenue Christian.
An all-Class 3A showdown and top 10 matchup will kickoff with Douglass-Atlanta and LaGrange in Wednesday’s opener and Thursday’s opener at West Forsyth will pin Class 5A’s Dunwoody against South Paulding their intra-classification bout. Friday’s two matchups will be the only day without a Class 6A participant, and this stacked lineup will feature Class 2A’s Hebron Christian against Therrell and Class 4A’s Cass against Class 2A Callaway. This is the most inclusive lineup of teams in the history of Corky Kell and the group also shares a combined 20 all-time state titles with an opportunity to add more hardware this season.
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