City-County football renews rivalry

"This is the fourth time I've done it and it's cool every time," said retired Hoover football coach Pat Plummer. "It's a pleasure to do this and I'm happy they picked myself and they picked Mike, so I can coach against Mike. It's going to be a lot of fun."

Coach Plummer, and the retired County coach, Mike Sparks of Dos Palos, will lead the teams, offering more than 60 years of coaching experience combined.

"I'm really excited and pumped up to have him coaching me and these other guys," said former Clovis West defensive end Donovan Lewis. "[Plummer will be] giving us this last little bit of coaching before we move on."

But the focus will be on the players, many of whom are excited to play against rivals from different divisions.

"It's always been 'Oh the division one players are so much better than the division four players,'" said former Kingsburg star Garrett Steele. "So we just want to compete."

Steele will team up with Central's Ernest Carter to give the county team an impressive two-headed monster in the backfield.

"We have a few other packages where I'm playing fullback and Ernest is playing running back so we've kind of got the 'Thunder and Lightning' type of deal," said Steele. "He's a small scat back and I'm one of the bigger power backs so it's going to be a good matchup."

Lewis says he and his City teammates have already taken notice.

"They're good running backs," said Lewis. "They're good players. They have moves and stuff like that. But we have a good d-line on this team so we should have a chance to stop all those guys, and anything they throw at us."

And if they do, Lewis says he knows who will come out on top.

"County teams, in my opinion, they're good," Lewis said. "But we're better. So we'll see how it goes."

Kickoff is set for Friday night at 7:30 at Buchanan high school's Veterans Memorial Stadium.