They’ve faced each other in baseball and golf. But Friday will be different.

Rusty Charpia’s friendship with David Perno was born in the same town where it will be suspended — temporarily.

Charpia’s Cedar Shoals Jaguars will try to upset crosstown rival Clarke Central, coached by Perno, in Athens on Friday. Charpia and Perno have been close friends for over 20 years, but all that love will soon be lost for a few hours.

“I know he would drop anything and help me if I needed it, and I would do the same, but not Friday night,” Perno said.

Both coaches are fine with the competitive fire burning hotter this week. After all, it ignited their friendship.

Charpia was playing football and baseball at Clemson when he met Perno through a teammate. Former Clemson quarterback Chris Morocco is Perno’s cousin, and he often brought Charpia to his home in Athens for family meals.

Charpia and Perno are both self-described overachieving undersized athletes, and they respected that in each other. They could see the competitiveness in each other long before they shared a field.

Cedar Shoals coach Rusty Charpia and Clarke Central coach David Perno will renew Athens' biggest high school football rivalry on Friday. From 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Perno said, the two will quit being best friends. (Photo Courtesy/Rusty Charpia)

“It was an easy fit for us to be really close because we were very similar, our mentality,” Perno said.

Perno and Charpia first competed on a college baseball field. Perno was a second baseman at Georgia, and Charpia was a shortstop at Clemson.

Charpia’s and Perno’s playing careers ended within months of each other, so they started coaching around the same time, too. Charpia and Perno — along with Perno’s fellow teammate and former NFL coach Derek Dooley — stayed close through similar seasons of life.

For over 20 years, they’ve also gone away for annual golf trips, which have long served as connective tissue as they worked in different states.

“One time, I think coach Perno looked at me and said, ‘This might be the greatest day of my life,’ and that has stuck with me for a long time,” Charpia said.

To be clear, Charpia and Perno are just as competitive on the golf course as they are on the football field. Charpia likened their trips to the Ryder Cup — the professional team golf competition between the United States and Europe — but the teams are divided into Clemson and Georgia alumni.

Charpia admitted Perno’s Bulldogs won this year but quickly noted that his team won the year before.

“(Perno) is still just getting over his surgery, and the guy is still shooting par,” Charpia said. “And he don’t say a word to you while he’s playing. He’s so focused.”

Two sections of Perno’s lung were removed in March after he was diagnosed with cancer. The diagnosis only caused Perno to dig in deeper at Clarke Central. He’s in his 11th season leading the football team, and the spring will be his first full season as Clarke Central’s head baseball coach.

Clarke Central head coach David Perno watches his Gladiators play during the second half of the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic football game Wednesday, August. 19, 2026 at Kell High School. (Daniel Varnado for the AJC)

Perno has leaned on Charpia as one of his closest friends through the process.

“There’s three or four people that, when things are tough, I’m going to reach out to, and (Charpia is) obviously one of them,” Perno said. “He’s always got a very good perspective. It’s positive, but it’s real, and it’s true, and he’s very sincere about it.”

Charpia recently leaned on Perno when he left his last school in South Carolina. Charpia wanted a coaching job in Georgia before the 2025 season, and to Perno’s surprise, he was struggling to find one.

Charpia asked his longtime friend about the opening at Cedar Shoals, the Clarke County School District high school across Athens. Perno initially advised Charpia not to take the job, as the program was coming off an 0-10 season and hadn’t won a playoff game since 2019.

Charpia wanted the job, though, and Perno recommended him to someone involved in Cedar Shoals’ coaching search.

“They hooked up, and the process got going, and the next thing you know, he’s the head coach,” Perno said.

Charpia’s first game at Cedar Shoals was against Perno. The underdog Jaguars narrowly lost, 13-12. Cedar Shoals finished the 2025 season winless.

The stakes are higher for Charpia and Perno’s second game on Friday. Cedar Shoals-Clarke Central is a region game for the first time since 2019.

Cedar Shoals Head Coach Rusty Charpia coaches during his first game of the season against Heritage High at Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, Ga., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. (Abbey Cutrer/AJC)

The coaches will also enter Friday night in different positions. Charpia is trying to pull off a highly unexpected upset while Perno has the pressure of proving he has the best team in Athens.

“It’s different for me than it is for (Charpia),” Perno said. “I have to win, and I have to win comfortable, or I’m not going to have a job very long.”

Clarke Central is 2-1, with its loss coming against nearby football power North Oconee. Cedar Shoals is 1-2. The Jaguars’ win over Seckinger on Aug. 28 snapped a 22-game losing streak. Their most recent loss came against a ranked Hart County.