‘West Side Story’ producer and co-director Robert Wise heard his film’s title called 10 times. Sophia Loren’s performance in ‘Two Women’ beat out Audrey Hepburn’s turn as Holly Golightly in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” sits at second behind “Tossin’ and Turnin’” by Bobby Lewis on the Billboard magazine Top Hot 100 songs.
A gallon of gas? Thirty-one cents.
The year is 1961. And, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, a rivalry is just getting kicked off.
Lumpkin County High School suited up its first football program that fall and the start, as one could guess, was not great. The inaugural season was a winless one.
Just four years prior, Union County High School donned cleats and put the pigskin in play for the first time with a 3-2 season.
The two schools, one in Dahlonega the latter in Blairsville, can wind their ways around Highway 19 and find themselves at each other’s front door.
Somewhere in the middle, less than 20 miles from either campus and at the end of the Byron Reece Trailhead, is the peak of Blood Mountain.
The 4.3-mile roundtrip hike leads to, by all accounts, some of the best views in the state of Georgia.
But the Battle of Blood Mountain has nothing to do with testing one’s hiking skills. This battle is one of gridiron supremacy. One that has been going on for 62 years and will see its 42nd installment Friday night in Dahlonega.
“Two neighbors, two very similar communities separated by Blood Mountain,” said Lumpkin County Head Coach Heath Webb. “It’s two very similar programs, two communities that are familiar with one another.
“It’s good competition,” he continued. “I don’t think there will ever be a point where one of us is lightyears ahead of the other. It’s a nice little rivalry and it’s good football.”
In the previous 41 matchups, Union County (1-0) holds a hefty 24-16-1 lead in the all-time record. That includes winning the first 10 meetings.
The last 10 clashes have leaned slightly in the Indians favor, 6-4, including last season’s 28-6 contest in Blairsville.
The Panthers have found success at the Burial Grounds over the years, winning 14 of 21 attempts away from their home field all time. Since 2010, Union County has picked up wins in two of three games in Dahlonega.
The rivalry doesn’t start when the students and athletes step on campus at their respective high schools as teenagers. This rivalry starts around 10 years earlier.
“Kindergarten through eighth grade, we’re part of the Mountain Football League, which includes Union County,” Webb said. “They’ve been playing each other since they’ve been in kindergarten.
“For most of our guys, their whole life has been playing against these guys,” he continued. “I know them by number, but my players know them by name.”
Webb said there was a case of a Union County player who switched jersey numbers this year and the Lumpkin County players were quick to correct him when he started looking for the player on film.
Not only is there rivalry in the air. The Indians’ first game of the season was canceled. So this is now Game 1.
On top of that, it’s homecoming.
Webb is hoping his players don’t get caught up in the hype around the game and leave the emotions outside the lines. For him, the rivalry component only last two plays, then it’s time to play football.
“You’ve got to get past the emotional piece of it,” he said. “I’m a firm believer in emotion doesn’t win football games, execution wins football games. There’s a bunch of hype and distractions that are part of it, but, once the whistle is blown, you’ve got to focus on execution and not let the emotions get the best of us.”
The Indians are returning 16 of their 22 starters from a year ago, including all five starters on the offensive line.
It made for a smooth transition into Year 2 for the Lumpkin County staff because the players were all familiar with what was expected and schemes on both sides of the ball.
According to Webb, after being put out of the playoffs by Oconee County in the first round last season, the offensive line put on an average of 34 pounds and the team’s weight room numbers “went through the roof.”
The buy-in on getting bigger and stronger was spurred by that offensive line group after getting physically beat against Dawson County and Oconee County a year ago.
“They felt the were outmanned and they made a commitment to get bigger and stronger,” Webb said. “Our guys realized we’re very pleased with what we did in 2022, but to take a step further in ‘23, we’ve got to get bigger and stronger. They bought into that right off the bat.”
When Webb took the helm of the program in December 2021, he felt something needed a change. The history of Lumpkin County football didn’t jump off the page at anyone.
In fact, prior to last season’s eight-win team, the Indians program hadn’t put up eight wins in a season since 1976 under Bobby Rich. The only other time it had happened was in 1967 under Don Thompkins.
“The history of Lumpkin County football, quite frankly, is not good,” Webb said. “What we did was rebrand the program as ‘Gold City Football.’”
That rebrand, from the inside, was to completely forget what happened before Webb’s arrival and first season. And not to be disrespectful to anyone who came before, coach or player, but more for a fresh start.
For the head coach, there was almost no pushback to the thought from the community.
“I think there was a willingness to (change). Like ‘OK, let’s give this a shot,’” Webb said. “Our spring game of that first spring, we go to Rome and play Armuchee (High School). We beat them 48-0 in that spring game. I think that gave us a little bit of juice, so whatever resistance was there was kind of lost at that point in time.”
Coming out and beating Banks County by a big margin in the fall scrimmage and winning by 54 in Week 1 of his first season, Webb said he thinks “at that point, people were like ‘OK, we’re on board with this Gold City Football thing.’”
“I think the community was hungry for something different, something new. A rebirth, if you will,” Webb said.
Gold City Football rolled its way to an 8-3 season with region losses to Wesleyan and Dawson County before the first-round state playoff loss.
In Week 1, Union County opened with a 50-12 win over Fannin County.
The Panthers leaned on the rushing attack to achieve victory a week ago, picking up 326 of the team’s 493 yards of total offense on the ground.
Union County did have a score through the air with senior quarterback Caiden Tanner finding fellow senior Jensen Goble.
The defense also did its job, limiting Fannin County to 297 yards of offense.
Junior linebacker Ethan Lester led the Panthers defense with 13 tackles (9 solo, 4 assist). He was followed by senior linebacker Seth Rutan (3 solo, 9 assist, 1 tackle for loss) and senior defensive lineman David Heredia (8 solo, 4 assist, 1 TFL) with 12. Senior linebacker Kooper Ashcraft (8 solo, 1 assist, 1 TFL) also added nine tackles. Heredia also added a forced fumble and Ashcraft had a fumble recovery.
Rutan, Heredia and Ashcraft are all captains on defense for the Panthers.
“Union has got a bunch of kids back too. They’re a lot like us,” Webb said. “The quarterback si a dynamic player – he throws it well, he runs it well. They have a preseason All-State receiver (Goble). He’s a really good player too.
“Defensively, they just fly around,” he continued. “They are super aggressive. Our offense will have to match the intensity of their defense because those guys really play hard.”
Webb praised the Union County football team after winning eight games in its 2022 campaign as well. The Panthers were able to make it to the second around after beating Model and losing to South Atlanta.
“They were good a year ago and they got a lot of them back too,” Webb said. “It should be a really good game.”
When asked what Lumpkin County needs to do to be successful tonight, his answer was simple.
“We win the line of scrimmage. That’s going to be the difference,” Webb said. “Skill player for skill player, we’re pretty evenly matched. Whoever can win the line of scrimmage is going to win the ball game.”
Though it’s a non-region game, there’s a lot that can ride on the first one of the season. For the Indians, it can show Gold City Football isn’t going anywhere.
“I think it will show that what happened in 2022 wasn’t a hoax, that we’re not a flash in the pan,” Webb said. “Union has a very good football team. If we come out in 2023 and we beat those guys, we show that what happened in 2022 is just who we are these days, not a one-off kind of deal.
“Not that we won eight games and now you’re about to fall back to below average. That’s a key for us is to prove that the program is for real and it’s here to stay.”
The Battle of Blood Mountain kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Burial Grounds in Dahlonega.
