Traditionally, the cross county rivalry contest between Richmond Hill High School and Bryan County High School kicks off football season in Bryan County.

Not in 2010. The two teams will not play each other this fall due to scheduling conflicts, Richmond Hill assistant football coach Michael Pollard said.

"In an effort to reduce travel, be competitive and increase revenue, RHHS scheduled neighboring Savannah area schools as quickly as possible," Pollard explained. "This enabled RHHS to host two additional games. These added games have the potential to considerably improve gate receipts which in turn will benefit all sports at RHHS. Savannah area schools were very limited in the dates they were available due to their region structure therefore RHHS had to schedule around their limitations."

Bryan County Athletic Director Ron Lewis said he tried to schedule Richmond Hill and when that fell through he attempted to get a scrimmage, but was told the Wildcats already had an opponent lined up.

Pollard said BCHS wanted to play RHHS the first game of the season but RHHS was not able to accommodate BCHS due to a previous commitment to play Beach. He said RHHS held a date open for BCHS but it was not suitable for them.

The rivalry began with the first RHHS versus BCHS football game in 1987 and continued on for the next eight years. Reportedly due to scheduling conflicts, the rivalry took a break from 1995-2005, but started up again in 2006.

Out of 13 games, Richmond Hill won eight, Bryan County won four and one game ended in a tie.

Read more of this story in Wednesday's Bryan County News print edition.