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On Oct. 17, 1924, two high school football teams from Coffee County met on the gridiron for the first time. The players, coaches and fans in attendance may not have known this at the time, but this was the beginning of a local rivalry that would be still be going strong and remain as fierce as ever a century later.

The faces may have changed and new memories have formed, but the passion for the annual Coffee Pot game between Coffee County Central High School and Tullahoma High School has remained the same.

“Getting ready for a game the magnitude of this week, in terms of what it means to both communities, I think we’re in a good situation to see some major growth,” first-year Coffee County coach Brandon Harmon said. “One of the big things I think for us is you’re not gonna have to worry about the kids being locked in come (Monday) this week, when you follow up week 1 with a game like this. I think the things that we’ve gotta get better at and the things that we’re gonna really harp on, I think it’s the perfect storm. Our kids are gonna be locked in from the time they walk in the weight room (Monday morning) through kickoff on Friday night.”

While a 16-0 loss in the 2023 edition of the rivalry was one to forget for Coffee County, history has been on the Red Raiders’ side more often than not as of late.

Most recently, Coffee County came out on top in the 99^th meeting between the two programs last season, toppling the host Wildcats 24-21 in a closely-contested battle this past August. The 2024 victory gave the Red Raiders Coffee Pot supremacy in two out of the last three contests, a statistic they will hope to raise to three out of the last four this Friday.

“I think for the most part, the guys that we have this year, what the last couple of years have done, the two out of the last three, I think for a lot of our current guys, it does set a little bit of tone that we can play with these guys. We can compete with these guys,” Harmon said. “At the same time, I’m a firm believer that you may return 11 out of 11 starters on offense or 11 out of 11 on defense and it’s still gonna be a different team because year in, year out, players evolve. To be quite honest, a lot of our guys this year didn’t have major roles in last year’s game, so I think, as a staff, we’re balancing that act. Yes, we would love to be a little more experience-heavy rolling into a game like this, but at the same time, there is a side of it that you hope that these guys, when you don’t know what to expect fully, sometimes that’s not a bad thing. That’s what we’re rallying around.”

Both Coffee County and Tullahoma will be coming into this week’s game fresh off of week 1 victories.

On Friday night, the Red Raiders made the trip down to Winchester to open the season against Franklin County. After a slower start in the first half, the offense found some life in the final two quarters and went home to Manchester with a 30-14 win over the Rebels.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, kicked off their season in Tullahoma Saturday, taking down visiting Shelbyville Central 35-14.

For Coffee County, the come-from-behind win at Franklin County was the first true Friday night lights experience for many players on Harmon’s less-seasoned 2025 squad.

With lessons learned and some experience dealing with adversity gained, the Red Raiders will look to continue building on what they did week 1 and give Coffee County fans plenty to cheer for in the team’s home opener.

“For us, it’s gotta be a fast start. We’ve gotta control the football. They (Tullahoma) have a very good running game. Their running back is definitely one of the better ones we’re gonna see all year. They’re solid at both o-line, d-line, so for us, defensively, we’ve gotta find a way to contain their running game,” Harmon said. “Offensively, we’ve got to finish drives. I felt like we moved the ball well, 30 to 30, last Friday on every drive. It was just being able to finish the drive with points and this is gonna be one of those games where you’re gonna have to try to take advantage of every chance you have to score points. We’ve gotta be solid in the special teams. I think this will be a game where you’ll see a fake punt, you’ll see an onside kick, you’ll see some things like that because that’s what rivalry games tend to bring out.”

Coffee County and Tullahoma will kick off the 100^th edition of the Coffee Pot at Carden-Jarrell Field in Manchester this Friday. Game time is set for 7 p.m.