Clarksville to host East-West All Star Classic

After losing out on its bid to host the TSSAA state football championships last month, Clarksville secured another high profile football game.

The 2017 Toyota East-West Football All Star Classic featuring the state's top 88 high school seniors is coming to Austin Peay in December.

"We're excited about it," Visit Clarksville Executive Director Theresa Harrington said. "This gives us another opportunity to showcase our city and promote what we can do."

Harrington estimated the event will generate more than $88,000 in revenue for the city.

The game is scheduled for Dec. 8 at Austin Peay's Fortera Stadium.

The university joined city officials last month in an effort to bring the 2017 state championship games to Clarksville, but the TSSAA chose to keep the state title games in Cookeville for another four years.

That disappointment turned into an opportunity weeks later. Bill Marbet, executive director of the Tennessee Athletic Coaches Association, said he was contacted by Harrington and her staff the last week of January about the possibility of hosting the All Star Classic. Cookeville has hosted the game the past four years.

"We were treated tremendously by Cookeville, and this was a very difficult decision to make," Marbet said. "Our decision had nothing to do with how we feel about Cookeville. But it was just the things that Clarksville could offer us that made our decision, really."

Primarily, Austin Peay's new football facility played an important role in convincing Marbet. He and members of TACA's Board of Directors toured Clarksville last week, including the river front and hotel.

"Clarksville is a new place, and we're excited about it," Marbet said. "It's centrally located in the state, and I think the distance for player travel kind of evens out. But we don't know how long it will be here. We're still trying to figure that out."

For Austin Peay, the chance to have some of the top high school football players in its backyard could pay dividends. During the players' four-day stay in Clarksville, Govs coach Will Healy will be allowed to attend practices and the game but is allowed only one day to interact with players.

"I told them how bad I wanted that game here," Healy said. "It's huge. It's the top 88 players in the state of Tennessee."

Healy is coming off a high profile recruiting effort, landing the No. 1 recruiting class among FCS schools. Healy also played in the East-West game in 2002 as a Boyd Buchanan quarterback. Montgomery County has sent dozens of athletes to the game in the past 10 years, including most recently Kenwood star Antwuan Branch. Branch, who signed with North Carolina earlier this month, was named the West team's MVP last December after scoring two touchdowns and rushing for 89 yards.

"It's a great opportunity to get the best players on our campus to see what we have to offer," Healy said. "We believe, with the facilities we have, we can give them the best experience."

Harrington said the city has offered to assist the event organizers with ticket sales and help players and families with transportation. Players will arrive Dec. 5 and spend time practicing, meeting with Austin Peay coaches and touring Fort Campbell's military post, Harrington said.

"That's one of the things they wanted to do," she said. "I think they like the idea of being involved with the military and getting those student-athletes involved. So we'll work closely with Fort Campbell to try to get the players a couple of hours to go out there. There's all kinds of things you can do at Fort Campbell."

Reach George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com or 931-245-0747 and on Twitter @Cville_Sports.