2026 Corky Kell to feature nine top-10 teams, a return to Georgia State
The Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic announced its 11-game August lineup Thursday. It includes nine top-10 football teams from the 2025 season, nine first-time participants, a Grayson-North Gwinnett main event and a return to Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium for the first time in eight years.
As reported last month, the opening four games, scheduled for Wednesday-Thursday, Aug. 12-13, will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which staged Saturday games in seven previous years.
Those four games, which include the Grayson-North Gwinnett game Aug. 12, will be played a week ahead of other football openers around the state with the permission of the Georgia High School Association. Mercedes-Benz did not have a weekend available.
The schedule change means the Lanier-South Gwinnett game on Wednesday, Aug. 12, could be the first high school game played nationwide this season.
The Friday games the next week, scheduled for Aug. 21, will be played at Center Parc. They will feature 2025 Class 3A-A Private champion Hebron Christian against Carver of Atlanta, Coffee against Parkview and West Forsyth against Houston County.
Those will be the first Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic games at Georgia State since 2018.
The other venues, each with two games, will be Kell High and Blessed Trinity.
Top-10 teams from 2025 playing will be Grayson (No. 3 in Class 6A), North Gwinnett (No. 5 in 6A), Roswell (No. 2 in 5A), Houston County (No. 6 in 5A), Cambridge (No. 8 in 4A), Kell (No. 3 in 4A), Blessed Trinity (No. 9 in 4A), Carver (No. 4 in 2A) and Hebron (No. 1 in Private).
Also playing are Walton and West Forsyth, programs that reached the 2025 Class 6A quarterfinals.
First-time participants will be Lanier, South Gwinnett, Cambridge, Pebblebrook, Clarke Central, Centennial, Blessed Trinity, Decatur and Coffee. That will bring to 88 the number of schools that have played in the event.
The Grayson-North Gwinnett game will mark the first time those Gwinnett County programs have played each other since 2017, when North Gwinnett won a state title and beat Grayson in the playoffs. They are the two winningest Gwinnett County Schools programs since 2017.
This will be the 35th staging of the Kell + Hunter Classic, first held with two games in the Georgia Dome in 1992.
Full 2026 Corky Kell schedule
Wednesday, Aug. 12 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
- 5 p.m.: Lanier vs. South Gwinnett
- 8 p.m.: North Gwinnett vs. Grayson
Thursday, Aug. 13 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
- 5 p.m.: Cambridge vs. Brookwood
- 8 p.m.: Roswell vs. Walton
Wednesday, Aug. 19 at Kell
- 4:30 p.m.: Pebblebrook vs. Clarke Central
- 7:30 p.m.: Kell vs. McEachern
Thursday, Aug. 20 at Blessed Trinity
- 4:30 p.m.: Centennial vs. Dunwoody
- 7:30 p.m.: Blessed Trinity vs. Decatur
Friday, Aug. 21 at Center Parc Stadium
- 2 p.m.: Carver-Atlanta vs. Hebron Christian
- 5 p.m. Coffee vs. Parkview
- 8 p.m. West Forsyth vs. Houston County
About the Author
Todd Holcomb covers high school sports across the state. He rejoined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2025 and has worked with the AJC in varying capacities since 1985. He is a co-founder and editor of Georgia High School Football Daily.
