A pair of teams who did not make the playoffs in 2009 but are looking for serious improvement in 2010 will collide Friday night when the Screven County Gamecocks of new coach Greg Manior and the Effingham County Rebels of new coach Rick Tomberline face off at Kelly Memorial Stadium. 
Kickoff time is 7:30 p.m.
Coming off a 3-7 campaign, the Rebels have not been to the post season since 2005 and have not won a postseason contest since 1995. 
Coming off a 5-5 campaign, the Gamecocks have not been to the postseason since 2007 and have not won a postseason contest since 2003. 
For both teams, tomorrow night represents the chance to start anew.   
Effingham County hired a big-name coach in Tomberline, late of Valdosta. The last time he came to Kelly Memorial Stadium he was a mentor of the Washington County Golden Hawks and the night was Dec. 17, 1994, and the game was the Class AA state championship. What Tomberline did in his early season scrimmage sounds a lot like what he did at WaCo.
“They run the I-formation most of the time but they will spread it out and get in the shotgun and go trips or double twins,” said Manior, an Effingham County graduate himself. “They try to pound you up the middle. They will use some misdirection with counters and they try to get the quarterback outside on bootlegs and sprint out passes.”
Defensively, the Johnny Rebs run a 4-3 and according to Manior “try to play a gap control. Their linemen are quick and the linebackers are sure tacklers. The free safety is a freshman, but is very quick and loves to hit.
“We have got to put pressure on the quarterback and force them to make mistakes,” said Manior of keys to a Gamecock win. “We can’t let them get outside and our linebackers have to run downhill and make plays.”
Manior owns a 3-1 advantage over his alma mater as a head coach.
After looking at Saturday film and evaluating what went right and what went wrong, Manior came to some realizations.
“The team that makes the least amount of mistakes will win,” Manior said. “Our goal this week is to take care of the little intangibles to be successful. Our penalties have to be at a minimum and we have to play smart football.”
A series that dates back to 1962, which was just the third season of football at ECHS, the Gamecocks have a commanding 16-6-2 lead. 
The last time the teams met was 2005 when the Red and White went into the Rebels’ backyard and came away with a 47-19 victory. The Blue and White last came to Kelly in 2004 and left with a 28-12 win.
In the previous decade, the Roosters owned a 5-1 record.