62nd Heritage Bowl gets temporarily relocated to another local stadium

COLUMBUS, Ga. ( WRBL ) — A.J. McClung Memorial stadium is home to many rival football games including the Heritage Bowl where Carver High School and Spencer High School have competed for over 60 years. This year’s game however will be played at Kinnett Stadium.

The Muscogee County School District announced the relocation Thursday afternoon saying, “Due to facility renovations at Memorial Stadium, the 2024-2025 Heritage Bowl (Carver High School vs. Spencer High School football game), on Friday, August 23, 2024 will be temporarily relocated to Kinnett Stadium while the upgrades are being completed.“

Athletic Director for the Muscogee County School District, Jeff Battles, says the decision to move the game to Kinnett Stadium was not made on a whim.

“We sat down with all the stakeholders from the schools, from Carver and Spencer at the district level, weighed our options and decided that Kinnett stadium is probably going to give us the best option to host the event the most successfully.”

Jeff Battles, Athletic Director for the Muscogee County School District

After the announcement, high school alumni and other residents have taken to Facebook about the relocation of the game.

DJ Jones, a former Carver Football Player, shed light on those reactions.

“Those of us that played, those of us who are alumni of both Carver and Spencer, we take a great deal of pride in that particular day.” Jones said. “It’s a landmark here in Columbus, Georgia, for those high school players and the guys that played here and the alumni of Carver and Spencer. You look forward to it every year, but to think that it won’t be here this year is a little disappointing.”

The announcement came prior to the Muscogee County Football Media Day. Here, the head football coaches of the Spencer and Carver teams shared what they think of the relocation.

“ I think the venue, you know, the venue really doesn’t mean much. It still is a football game that has to be played.”

Pierre Coffey, Carver High School Head Coach

“ It’s a football game. I mean, at the end of the day, it was a committee decision. And, you know, we’re happy to play football wherever we play it.”

Joe Kegler, Spencer High School Head Coach

With three weeks until game time, MCSD expects the same excitement from alumni and the fountain city will the same as years prior.

“I hope that people come out and still support both institutions regardless of where we are.”

Pierre Coffey, Carver High School Head Coach

Here is what Jones had to say to alumni who may still have strong emotions about the announcement.

“Football is football. You know, you have an opportunity whether you playing it in the parking lot away, you play at AJ McClung or whether you play in that stadium,” said Jones. “These kids that play both for Carver and Spencer, now they’re representing something bigger than themselves.  And I think that this is a great opportunity for them to go out and of course, make their parents proud, make their schools proud, make the community proud.

Battles also shared safety protocols for this years rival game as last year’s was cut short due to an argument between a small group of teenagers. This escalated to the displaying of firearms that caused panic throughout the stadium.

Battles says, “One of the things that we implemented last year right afterwards was limiting the amount of under high school age kids that are allowed to come to the game without supervision.”

Battles also added that the bag policy for games has been upgraded to a clear bag policy.

Battles tells News 3 some of the safety protocols being implemented at the Heritage Bowl will all be implemented into sports games throughout the district.

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