The 2023 Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic kicks off Georgia’s high school football season with a four-day, 11-game schedule stretching across five locations.
It all starts on Wednesday (Aug. 16) and when it is over more than 33 hours of bone-crunching action will be televised live on Peachtree TV, the Atlanta News First app (formerly CBS46) and the National Federation High School Network. There will also be select radio games broadcasted on 92.9 The Game (92.9 FM).
The 33rd edition of the Classic will feature some of the top on-air high school broadcast talent in the state.
On television Wednesday, DawgNation’s Brandon Adams and Rusty Mansell of Dawgs HQ/On3Sports will handle the North Atlanta-Johns Creek and Parkview-Kell games at Kell.
Then on Thursday, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Matt Stewart and Chris Millman, the Atlanta Falcons Vice President of Community Relations, will call the North Forsyth-Archer and Cherokee Bluff-West Forsyth games at West Forsyth.
Games Wednesday and Thursday will begin at 4:30 p.m.
On Friday, the afternoon matinee kicks off at 2:30 p.m. at the Fellowship Christian School in Roswell and Stewart and Jeremy Johnson of Dawgs HQ/On3Sports will call the Mount Pisgah-Fellowship Christian game.
Then the games move to Rome late Friday afternoon as Adams and Mansell will call the Creekside-Kennesaw Mountain and Cass-Rome games from historic Barron Stadium.
On Saturday everything moves to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Stewart and Millman will call the Marietta-Norcross game beginning at 10 a.m. Stewart and Johnson will then handle the Brookwood-McEachern game, and Adams and Mansell will call the North Gwinnett-Mill Creek game and the nightcap when Walton and Grayson square off.
DawgNation’s Kaylee Mansell will host all four days with co-hosts Craig Sager Jr. and Najeh Wilkins, both of Score Atlanta, helping handle the halftime and post-game shows.
Score Atlanta President I.J. Rosenberg and Roddy White will serve as executive producers with Ashley Rose as the set producer. Trucks are being brought in to handle the games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday while Saturday’s games will be produced inside the control room at MBS. Some of the best TV crew members in the area, which handle Braves, Falcons, United and Hawks games, will drive the telecasts.
On the radio side Wednesday, 92.9 The Game Brand Manager Mike Conti and Jason Longshore will call the later Parkview at Kell game. Conti and Longshore also handle all the Atlanta United games for the station. On Thursday, Beau Johnson and Eric Slaughter will call the later Cherokee at West Forsyth game.
The Falcons play Friday night on 92.9 The Game so the radio games will pick up at the Benz on Saturday beginning with Dylan Mathews and Norcross against Marietta at 10 a.m. which will be called by Dylan Mathews, Mike Johnson, Beau Morgan and Da Da Lewis.
Longtime Atlanta television voice Sam Crenshaw will call the Brookwood-McEachern game alongside Chris Parker and Lewis.
In the third game, Chris Goforth, Chris Parker and Crenshaw will do the Mill Creek-North Gwinnett matchup before the nightcap game between Grayson and Walton, which will be covered by Slaughter, Bernard Taipas and Caleb Johnson.
Garrett Chapman will play host for the pregame, halftime and postgame for the first two games and Caleb Johnson will do the same for the last two games.
“We want everyone coming to the games, but we have you covered if you aren’t,’’ said Rosenberg, who also now serves as the executive director of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. “Peachtree TV and 92.9 The Game are great partners and understand how much this Classic means to the city of Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. We will be going wall-to-wall each of the four days, working hard to give you the best insight, camera angles, interviews and the stories in the locker rooms. We are very excited with the package we have put together.’’
Wednesday, Aug. 16 at Kell High School
4:30 p.m.- North Atlanta vs. Johns Creek
8:00 p.m.- Parkview vs. Kell
Thursday, Aug. 17 at West Forsyth High School
4:30 p.m.- North Forsyth vs. Archer
8:00 p.m.- Cherokee Bluff vs. West Forsyth
Friday, Aug. 18 at Fellowship Christian High School
2:30 p.m.- Mt. Pisgah vs. Fellowship Christian
Friday, Aug. 18 at Rome’s Barron Stadium
5:30 p.m.- Creekside vs. Kennesaw Mountain
8:30 p.m.- Cass vs. Rome
Saturday, Aug. 19 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
10:00 a.m.- Marietta vs. Norcross
1:00 p.m.- Brookwood vs. McEachern
4:00 p.m.- North Gwinnett vs. Mill Creek
7:00 p.m.- Walton vs. Grayson
