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Meet Us at a Game<br />
By DONNELL SUGGS<br />
HHJ Sports Editor<br />
36<br />
The game of football is sacred in the south; some say<br />
more so than in any other region of this country. If nothing<br />
else, it most certainly is in Houston County, Georgia, as the<br />
county has five public school football programs that play<br />
in three beautiful multi-functional stadiums in Perry and<br />
Warner Robins that are most certainly worth a visit. The<br />
three stadiums, Herb St. John Stadium on the campus of<br />
Perry High School, Freedom Field and McConnell-Talbert<br />
Stadium, both in Warner Robins, are the crown jewels of<br />
Houston County football and the pride of the more than<br />
150,000 residents in the county.<br />
“All of our games are important, especially in county,” says<br />
second-year Houston County High School head football<br />
coach and athletic director Ryan Crawford, whose team has<br />
three in-county games on their <strong>2018</strong> schedule.<br />
The Perry High School Panthers play at Herb St. John<br />
Stadium, and on any given Friday night during the fall and<br />
winter, you can visit the edifice and see thousands of locals<br />
tailgating in the parking lot, talking, and catching up on the<br />
sidewalk outside of the stadium, to the right of the Perry<br />
Panthers baseball and softball fields, and filling the home<br />
bleachers. The stadium is named after the late Herb St. John,<br />
At Home in Houston County<br />
a former football coach, teacher, and administrator at Perry<br />
High School. St. John did not grow up in Perry but he did<br />
author the school’s football legacy as its first football coach.<br />
From 1954-1969, St. John was the architect of Panther pride<br />
and for that, his name is forever etched into the football<br />
culture in Perry and Houston County.<br />
The stadium may be an oldie-but-goodie, but the actual<br />
field itself is new. Once grass, the field is now constructed of<br />
turf and made its debut this summer for the Perry Panthers<br />
preseason football game in early August.<br />
McConnell-Talbert Stadium was once the home of four<br />
Houston County football programs, with the home team,<br />
Northside High School Eagles and Warner Robins High School<br />
Demons sharing the field with both Houston County High<br />
School and Veterans High School. For decades, the stadium,<br />
named after LA McConnell, Sr. and Dr. Talbert, longtime<br />
Warner Robins natives and residents, is now once again<br />
solely the home for Eagles and Demons, and arguably one<br />
of the best rivalries in the region. The two football programs<br />
have been playing games at “The Mac” since the early 70’s<br />
and regularly have packed houses of nearly 20,000 fans in<br />
attendance. On Sept. 21, the Demons won the latest edition<br />
36-38 football story.indd 1 10/25/18 3:29 PM
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