Sidni Vaughn says her boyfriend is supportive.
There is just one thing he won’t, or can’t, do.
“My backpack is bright red with the ‘super G’ on it,” Vaughn said. “He will carry my others bags, but he won’t carry that one.”
David Scully probably deserves a pass for the lapse in etiquette. After all, how would it look for a Georgia Tech kicker to carry around a Georgia bag?
Scully, a sophomore from Dawsonville, handles kickoffs for the Yellow Jackets. Vaughn, from Trion, is a cheerleader for Georgia. They’ve been dating for seven months, and when Georgia plays at Tech on Saturday it will mark the first time they both will perform in the same stadium as a couple.
Scully and Vaughn say the rivalry between their schools has been a source of playful banter since even before they started dating. But Vaughn adds: “He hates Georgia more than I hate Tech.”
Vaughn said she believes that sentiment also applies to the rivalry in general. She notes that the Jackets express their disgust for Georgia each time they sing their fight song and roll out the Ramblin’ Wreck.
Scully smiles at the thought of Tech’s unrelenting animosity toward the Bulldogs.
“We chant, ‘To hell with Georgia’ all year long,” he said. “It’s a great thing to come in and beat Georgia. They’ve won too many games recently. We like to put an end to that.”
Scully and Vaughn expect the relationship to survive unscathed no matter the outcome. In fact, Vaughn and Scully already have further bridged the rivalry’s divide by gaining some measure of popularity from the other side.
It turns out Scully is somewhat of a cult hero among some Georgia fans. It started when he wore neon green cleats for Tech’s game at Georgia last season, attracting the attention of the student section.
Some of the students later launched a fan page for him on Facebook — or, to be more precise, the page is dedicated to “David Scully’s cleats.”
Scully went to Athens to support Vaughn for Georgia’s game against South Carolina in September. He didn’t have a ticket but managed to get in the game. Vaughn didn’t know he made it in until she heard Georgia students chanting Scully’s name.
Scully wasn’t wearing anything to indicate his allegiance,
“I was trying to be kind of incognito,” Scully said. “I wasn’t really cheering against them, but I didn’t cheer for them.”
Vaughn had a game-day encounter with Scully before she ever met him. When the Jackets played in Athens last season, she cheered close by Scully as he warmed up for the game and Georgia students urged her to get in his way.
Vaughn later met Scully because her roommate dates Scully’s teammate, Tyler Morgan. Scully’s teammates joke that he out-kicked his coverage by landing Vaughn.
They rib him a bit for the inter-rivalry relationship, but the truth is they like the arrangement.
“It’s more along the lines of, ‘Hey, when are you going to take me to meet some cheerleaders?’” Scully said.
Vaughn confirms that Scully’s teammates often inquire about her squad mates when she visits Tech. She’s been to a couple of Jackets games this season (an injury sidelined her for a few weeks), but she said she didn’t wear any Tech paraphernalia because that might cause trouble with her squad.
So there are some lines that Vaughn and Scully won’t cross. The next test will come in the aftermath of the game Saturday, and Vaughn worries about how she would approach Scully if the Bulldogs win.
“I don’t know if I will want to speak to him,” Vaughn said. “I told him I wanted get a picture together after the game. He said, ‘If we win, they will storm the field and I will be crowd surfing.’ I told him he better come say hello, win or lose.”
The idea that the game could cause problems with Vaughn makes Scully smile even bigger than thinking about the Jackets’ distaste for the Bulldogs.
“It’s fun to joke around with,” Scully said. “She’s too cute not to date.”
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