Border war has long history for Cook, Berrien

Homepage

Related Photos

Cook.jpg
berrien logo.jpg

November 1, 2012

Border war has long history for Cook, Berrien

Becky Taylor CNHI The Tifton Gazette Thu Nov 01, 2012, 08:00 PM EDT

TIFTON — Twelve thin miles of highway and the New River are all the difference between Nashville and Adel.

That little stretch of Ga. Highway 76 will be packed tonight when the lights of Cook Memorial Stadium come alive as the Cook Hornets (6-2) host their archrivals, the Berrien Rebels (3-5) in a Region 1-AA contest.

“It’s our little border war, right here,” said Cook’s head coach Ken Cofer.

For generations, the two have battled on the playing fields. The two schools could actually be playing under the same banner, but the original border war is what made them different.

The original rivalry started about 100 years ago. It probably festered longer, but the earliest attempt to formally create Cook County was recorded in 1911.

Of course, neither county has existed forever, but Berrien came along in 1856. Its borders measured from the Alapaha River to the Little River. Clinch and Coffee counties as immediate neighbors on the east, Colquitt County on the west.

A site was laid out for the county seat and named Nashville. It was a sleepy, sparsely-populated town and by the end of the century, the two fastest growing places in the county’s grasp were on the railroad. Tifton would boom so much, it would get its own county in 1905.

The other, Adel, wanted to lead its own county, too, and began a long battle to get one. The plan was rejected several times, but western Berrien was undeterred. The state finally agreed to put the measure on the ballot as a constitutional amendment in 1918.

Nov. 5, 1918, would signal the end of the Berrien land war, when Cook County became reality. Six days later, a land war ended in Europe when Germany agreed to Allied terms, signaling the end of World War I.

Football had caught on as a sport in Georgia in the 1890s, but it would be the mid-1910s before it found its way to the bottom of the state. For some smaller schools, it would start a bit later.

Nashville began football in 1922, Sparks-Adel High in 1927, but it looks like the two avoided each other until 1931, Nashville taking the win, 18-2.

The original gridiron rivalry would be short, as Sparks-Adel dropped football after the 1934 season and the feud was resumed when postwar football started back up for both in 1947. The 1948 game would feature a fistfight and a 13-7 Sparks-Adel win. Both teams were the Hornets then, and would be until Berrien High’s formation in 1954.

With the exception of 1972 and 1973, the teams have faced each other as Nashville or Berrien and Sparks-Adel or Cook since 1947. Over that period of time, the school from Adel has held a 46-13-5 advantage.

The Hornets have taken the last 14 games in the series, the Rebels last winning in 1997, 41-9. Cook was in the processing of rebuilding their program that year. They finished 1-9, a year after an 0-10. In 1998, they were up to 5-5 and have not looked back.

Rob Armstrong, Berrien’s head coach, believes that the losing streak might actually be beneficial for his team.

“The longer it gets, perhaps the odds are more in our favor.”

The Rebels knocked off Pelham, 21-7, last week. It was a doubly big win for them. First, it broke a streak of 15 consecutive losses in region games - their last win had been the 2009 season finale over Mitchell County.

Secondly, as Armstrong said, “we’re going across the river to play Cook and the playoffs are on the line.”

Cofer agrees.

“It’s definitely a big game for Berrien.”

For Cook, winning over Berrien tonight would lock up their state bid. Berrien also still has a shot at the state tournament. If they were to beat Cook this week and the Hornets were to lose to Early County next week, they would slip in. It would only be their second appearance.

The lone Rebel state appearance was in 1991. It was also arguably the year of their biggest win in the series. They had taken the regular season game, 27-12, but the two were paired again in the Region 2-AA tournament.

Berrien was up, 7-0, late when Cook drove down inside the 10. Three plays, they were on the one. Fourth and inches, and a defensive stop. Berrien took over on downs and on the very next play, they broke a 99-yard run to ice the game and secure their spot in state.

The Hornets would return the favor in 1992. They took a dramatic regular season win, 7-3, scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

When paired in the region tournament, they had the joy of knocking their rivals from further playoff contention with a 22-12 win.

Even with the decade-plus dominance from the western side of the border, both teams still see it as a big rivalry.

“We’ve never had a problem getting up for Berrien,” said Cofer.

He said his team is not looking past them, either.

“No one’s talking about Early County,” he said.

Though they are rivals, the two head coaches have tremendous respect for the other side and for each other.

“They have a lot of good players,” said Armstrong.

Cofer said he liked what his counterpart was doing in his first year in Nashville, especially how.

“He’s set a guideline for discipline,” he said. “He’s doing it the right way,”

Text Only

Homepage

Search Results

Related Photos

Border war has long history for Cook, Berrien

Site Map

Contact Us