Over the past 40 years Athens has always opened its football season with Decatur. The game is always considered one of the biggest rivalry games in north Alabama during the opening week of the high school football season and is a game built around several traditions.

One of the oldest traditions that goes along with the game is Athens’ pep rally on the town square, a tradition the high school’s dates back to over 40 years ago.

But this year, the Golden Eagles and the Red Raiders will not meet until the fourth week of the season since Decatur was dropped from Class 6A to 5A after the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s class realignment, but Athens principal Chris Bolen said the students will still carry on their season opening tradition when the Golden Eagles have their pep rally on the east side of the square Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.

“We’re going to start football season the same way we always do, with the students and anyone else in the community who wants to participate meeting in the square for our first pep rally,” Bolen said. “The only thing that’s going to be different is our opponent.”

Bolen said it’s important for students to carry on traditions because it gives them a sense of ownership. He believes school traditions are an important part of a community and they help pass down a sense of pride.

“Every school has certain traditions that students pass down through the generations,” Bolen said. “Athens is a school and community that’s blessed with several traditions and every one of them are special.”

So exactly how did the tradition of a pep rally on the town square get started? The event has been going on for so long that most of the school’s current students don’t know why they have a pep rally on the square every yea. In fact, most of the students’ parents don’t remember how the event started.

The first pep rally on the square wasn’t even a pep rally, it started out as a celebration after a season opening win against Decatur over 40 years ago. The story that most people will tell you is that Athens scheduled Decatur that season as a game they were supposed to win.

The Golden Eagles went to Decatur that year and did what they were supposed to do and when the players and students got back to town, they threw a party and danced on the square all night long.

The next season, the students at Athens converted their season opening party into a pep rally.

Bolen said that he believes it is important to keep the tradition in tact even though Athens isn’t playing Decatur.

“When you have a tradition that has lasted as long as this one has, you don’t want to break it,” he said.

Earlier this summer, Athens mayor Dan Williams made a statement on television about wanting to have a battle of the bands between Athens and East Limestone as part of the pep rally on the square. Bolen and East Limestone principal Dennis Black both said they were never officially asked about having their bands perform on the square.

“We are going to have our own pep rally,” Black said. “We always have a pep rally in our gym for the opening game of the season and that’s what we are going to do this year.”

Black said East Limestone will start it’s pep rally in the gym Friday at 2:30 p.m. He said that anyone in the community is welcome to come.