47th Meeting -- In one of the longest running rivalries in the Midlands, Brookland-Cayce and Airport will square off for the 47th time since the series was started in 1966 and played every season between the Lexington District Two high schools ... From 1988-95, the two schools met twice a year on the gridiron (the first game was a non-region game, but the second was the Region 3-4A contest) ... When B-C joined Class 3A in the Fall of 1996, the rivalry game was moved to the first game of the year ... Airport was opened in the early 1960s as the "branch school" of BCHS and for the first several years the students at AHS participated on B-C athletic teams ... Airport's first football season was in 1966.

The Airport Series -- Airport leads the overall series 28-18 (.609) and has won the past 15 contests dating back to the opening game of the 1991 season ... Prior to that lone Bearcat victory (19-7) in Coach Phil Strickland's only season at BCHS, B-C had lost four-straight to their arch-rival ... Breakdown by decades: 2000-01 (0-2); 1990-99 (1-15); 1980-89 (5-9); 1970-79 (9-1); 1966-69 (3-1) ... Breakdown by coaches: Brad Coleman (0-2); Dusty Triplett (0-8); Jake Brock (0-4); Phil Strickland (1-1); Keith Chapman (1-5); John Daye (4-6); TBA (2-1); Bob Montgomery (6-0); Bettis Herlong (4-1) ... Also interesting in this series is that the two rivals met twice during the playoffs -- both victories for the Eagles: 1984 (2nd Round, 10-11) and 1986 (1st Round, 7-14).

Home Away From Home -- Every game in this series has been played at Lexington District Two Stadium on the Airport HS campus and B-C is 9-12 (.429) when designated as the "home team", while the Bearcats are 9-15 (.375) as the "visiting team" ... Brookland-Cayce will serve as the "host" of this year's game ... Prior to 1995 when B-C began to play selected games at their on-campus facility, The Cage, the Bearcats played all home games at District Two Stadium ... B-C has compiled a 16-13 (.551) record at BCHS since 1995 and is 7-3 (.700) over the past two seasons at The Cage.

Scouting Airport -- Coach Barry Avant enters his second season with the Eagles after replacing longtime football coach Les Evans ... Avant, who previously was the head coach at Manning HS and guided the Monarchs to the 2000 Class 3A Lower State Championship, returns just two starters (Center Brian Mack and Linebacker A.J. Adams) from last season's 4-7 (.364) squad ... Avant is 65-34 (.657) overall as a head coach ... The Eagles have moved from the Upper State's Region 3-4A to the Lower State's Region 5-4A and will compete with Dutch Fork, Irmo, Lower Richland, Richland Northeast, and Sumter ... Airport has advanced to the playoffs 17 times since 1971 and won the Class 4A Division 2 Upper State Championship in 1981 before losing to Hartsville in the title match.