LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One of the biggest high school football games in the state of Arkansas on Friday night will be in Maumelle as the Hornets of the 5A Central host the Greenbrier Panthers of the 5A West.
"We're really excited to be in the playoffs," said Greenbrier head coach Randy Tribble. "That's what you play for all year is to be in the playoffs."
Friday night's matchup will mean something a little more than just a playoff game— it means that two friends will reunite on the field.
Maumelle's head coach Brian Maupin was recruited and coached in college by Tribble, the current Greenbrier head coach.
"Coach Trib’s always been my guy. You know when I signed with Harding and came up there my freshman year he was a big part of why," Maupin said. "He was just always such a great man, a great football mind. It's always just a good conversation. I mean, he treated me like family."
As many kind words as Maupin had for his former coach, Tribble had equally nice things to say about his former player.
"It's special. Anybody that you've kind of watched grow up and they're close to your sons," Tribble said. "As you can imagine, he had a lot of energy as a player, you could tell he understood football, and he liked learning football and related to people well."
However, as neat as it’ll be for the two head coaches on Friday night, there’s no doubt, they both want to win.
"I told the guys, 50% of the kids in the state are done playing already, and 50% more will be done Friday, and 50% are on the road this week," Maupin said. "So to be in that top 50% that gets to host a playoff game, we don't take that lightly."
"It'll be serious business [on Friday night], it won't matter who's over there much tomorrow night, we're just trying to keep this team together and get to play another week," added Tribble.
A competitive spirit of two head coaches, forged by a friendship creates a recipe for what should be a memorable game on Friday night.