ADEL – There is another huge rivalry game going on this week in south Georgia and though it’s not the Winnersville Classic, it will have post-season implications.

In a big 1-AA battle, the Cook Hornets (4-2, 2-2) will play host to the Brooks County Trojans (2-5, 2-3) this Friday with kick-off set for 7:30 p.m.

“Our kids are right next door, not cross-town rivals, but it’s always been a good series,” said Brooks head coach Ryan Branch on Monday.

“It’s a good rivalry. Our kids are tough and they’ll battle.”

The Cook-Brooks game has a long history, but in recent years the Hornets have dominated. Cook has won five of the past six meetings with the Trojans’ only win coming in 2005.

“It’s a big rivalry game and homecoming game for us, which is a mistake,” said Coach Scroggins. “Usually you try to schedule a weaker opponent for homecoming, but Brooks may be one of the toughest games on our schedule.”

“I wish we weren’t playing them for homecoming because we’ll have to guard our players from all the distractions this week.”

The two teams faced off in a rare pre-season battle between rivals in August and the Hornets controlled most of the game between the varsity squads.

“They have improved a lot since the first time we saw them,” said Scroggins. “It’s very hard to beat a team twice in one year.”

“They weren’t as ready as us then, but they sure look a lot better now.”

This season the Hornets are off to a good start under new head coach Jim Scroggins. After falling to Thomasville 28-0, Cook bounced back last week with a 35-12 win over Albany.

In their win they scored their third highest point total of the season while allowing the second fewest points. Cook now sits in fourth place in 1-AA and owns the tie-breaker against Randolph Clay who is also 2-2 in the region.

“We’re just going to try and execute those things we’ve been doing all season,” said Coach Scroggins. “We’re a wing-t team and Brooks is a team that runs an offense very similar to Thomasville, who we had trouble with two weeks ago.”

“They have really gotten better and better from the film we’ve seen and they’re very fast.”

The Trojans are coming off a tough 35-14 loss to Early County last Friday that stopped a two-game winning streak.