Athens set to host Pepsi Challenge, featuring five top six teams

Published 8:57 am Friday, December 16, 2016

Athens is set to host the third annual Pepsi-Mountain Dew Classic, beginning tonight and concluding Monday, December 19.

Eight varsity boys teams will participate in the tournament, which Athens won last season when the tournament was hosted by Decatur. One of the most highly anticipated matchups is Saturday night’s game between Athens and Tanner.

Because of an incident that happened in the stands at Athens the last time the teams played one another, this will be the first meeting on either team’s home court in more than a decade. The teams have played one another a few times in tournament games over the last decade, but none of those games were on either team’s home court.”

“We’ve never played them at home or away since I’ve been here,” said Athens head coach Stace Tedford. “It’s one of those deals where enough time passes and it’s time to play again. It’s never been an issue between players or coaches. We really want to develop a home-and-home with them. It’s too good a rivalry not to play.”

Along with Athens and Tanner, the tournament will feature Colbert County, Austin, Pope John Paul II, Decatur Heritage, Florence and West Limestone. The tournament features plenty of talented teams with more than half field ranked in the top five in their respective classification.

“We’ve been in this tournament the past three years,” said Tanner head coach Chris Whitt. “We’re in it to make us better. You can always benefit from playing better teams.”

Each team will play two games with the team winning the most games awarded the championship. Some of the most highly anticipated matchups include 6A No. 2 Austin (11-0) against 5A No. 6 St. John Paul II (7-4) Friday and Austin against 4A No. 4 West Limestone (9-1) Monday.

Make no mistake though; there won’t be an empty seat Saturday night when Athens welcomes Tanner to town.

“So many people at Athens and Tanner know each other, we’ve been trying to get them back on the schedule,” said Whitt. “It’s always been a good game. We haven’t been allowed to schedule one another because of something some outsiders did, but that is a thing of the past. It had nothing to do with the players, coaches or fans from either team.”

Athens and Tanner tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m. Saturday.