For the first time in a generation, Vicksburg High and Warren Central will play a regular-season basketball game in primetime.

Friday’s meeting at VHS, which begins with a junior varsity game at 5 p.m. followed by the varsity at 6 and 7:15, will mark the first time in nearly 20 years that the teams have played at night. Rowdy crowds and vandalism led Vicksburg Warren School District officials to shift the rivalry game to Saturday afternoons in the late 1990s, but after two decades they decided it was time to try Friday again.

“We are trying to start a new tradition. Everybody else plays on Friday except basketball. We wanted an event the community could get behind,” VWSD athletic director Preston Nailor said.

This is the first of two meetings this season between the Warren County schools. The second, on Jan. 7 at Warren Central, will be in the normal Saturday afternoon time slot. Nailor said extra security would be on hand for Friday’s game as a precaution, but if things go well he and his coaches would look at putting both games on Friday night next season.

Warren Central girls coach Jackie Glass was hopeful that the Friday game will increase crowds and be a showcase for all of the county’s teams.

“I hope it works out that we get more people there. It might work out in their favor where they have all their fans at home,” Glass said. “It’ll just be a good environment. I want to be in an environment where we have people in the stands enjoying basketball. That’s my goal, is to get them to watch some basketball.”

Warren Central and Vicksburg have played at night before. They were in the same division for most of the past 20 years and were frequent opponents in tournament games. When those games were in town, they were a hot ticket. The 2013 Division 3-6A boys championship game at Warren Central had a 7:30 p.m. tip off, but tickets sold out 90 minutes before that — even with a Clinton vs. Greenville girls championship game as the warm-up act.

It’s unclear if there will be that much demand for a regular-season game in December, but coaches did feel certain the game will have a different vibe than the Saturday matinees.

“We’re excited to see if we can handle playing on Friday nights. The last time we played on Friday, it was the district championship and it was electric just like it’s always electric when Warren Central plays Vicksburg,” Warren Central boys coach Bruce Robinson said. “I know going over there it’s going to be a heck of an environment. Four o’clock school lets out and they’ll probably start lining up before school lets out. I hope Warren Central people can get in, because I think it’s going to be a hot ticket.”

Although the crowd and atmosphere was the driving factor behind the switch to Friday, there is a competitive angle to the decision as well.

Vicksburg boys coach Dellie C. Robinson said he felt he and his team were being put at a competitive disadvantage by playing on Saturday when a lot of division rivals were not.

“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Dellie Robinson said. “We’ve been trying to get away from as many Saturday ballgames as we can, especially when everybody else is not playing on Saturday. Teams get an opportunity to watch you play. I think that was a disadvantage to us to play on Saturday.”

His counterpart at Warren Central, however, wasn’t as keen on the move this time around. Bruce Robinson’s Vikings played a game Tuesday night against Wingfield, and their gym will be used for a ninth-grade game Thursday.

“I’d rather have it on Saturday. It gives us an extra day of preparation. We have a Little Six game at home on Thursday, so we’re going to have an abbreviated practice time,” Bruce Robinson said.

When it comes to this rivalry, however, that rarely seems to matter. A lot of members of both teams have played together either on the playground or on AAU teams growing up. It’s good, mostly friendly competition that seems to bring out the best in both teams.

Three of the last four boys’ games have been decided by three points or less. The last time one of the girls’ teams won by more than eight points was in 2011. The last 11 girls’ games have all been decided by six points or less.

“With this game, the girls always get up. You see a different spark. Everybody contributes,” Vicksburg assistant girls coach Deborah Brown said.

WARREN CENTRAL AT VICKSBURG
Friday
5 p.m. – Boys junior varsity
6 p.m. – Girls varsity
7:15 p.m. – Boys varsity
Admission: $6