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The stakes will be even higher when Verbena hosts Thorsby on the gridiron Sept. 8 with both principals making a friendly wager heading into the contest.

Verbena principal Todd Davis and Thorsby principal Corey Clements agreed that the loser of the game would be “janitor for the day” at the winning school.

“Mr. [Tommy] Glasscock talks about that we all have our schools, but the big picture is that we’re all from Chilton County,” Davis said. “I think this will be a good natured way to show that in the grand scheme of things, we’re all in this together.”

The plan is for the principal of the losing school to stop by in the morning and sweep the halls of the winning school.

Davis and Clements have been friends for some time and the idea of the wager came about during a conversation the two were having earlier in the week.

“We’re competitive and he [Davis] wants to be us [Thorsby] just much as we want to beat them,” Clements said.

Both have spent time as coaches as in the past and they understand that athletics has a way of bringing school pride to the forefront.

“At the end of the day, we’re still going to be friends on Saturday morning,” Davis said.

The wager showcases the respect that the two schools and football programs have for each other going back to the relationship of former head coaches Billy Jackson and Mike Harris and continuing currently with Daryl Davis and Tyler Kelley.

“It’s a good thing, and doesn’t do anything but add to it,” Kelley said. “Anything to get their [players’] mindset into a game, we’re definitely going to look to take advantage of it.”

The wager adds even more excitement to a game that already pits two county teams against each other and also counts as a region game.

According to both coaches, they have not tried to disguise the fact that it is an important game and the wager will only add to the intensity level leading up to and during the matchup.

“With it being a big rival, you know that both teams are going to come out and play hard,” Daryl Davis said.

The teams enter the game having experienced different outcomes during the first couple of weeks.

The Rebels are 2-0 and full of confidence at a last second win, while the Red Devils are 0-2 and still in search of the first signature victory of the Kelley era.