CHARLOTTE- The Carolina Panthers welcomed four high schools to Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday to preview the 2025 Keep Pounding High School Classic presented by Belk. The participants feature defending state champions and title contenders and as Panthers play-by-play announcer and Wednesday's host Anish Shroff pointed out, "All four schools participating have state championship aspirations."

Scheduled for Friday, August 22, the Keep Pounding High School Classic will once again be a doubleheader event, this year featuring matchups between the Hough Huskies and South Pointe Stallions (4:00PM kickoff) and the Grimsley Whirlies versus the West Charlotte Lions (8:00PM kickoff). General admission tickets are $8 and available now via Ticketmaster.com.

"The Carolina Panthers are proud to partner with Belk to kick off the high school football season with two exciting matchups that highlight the important role football plays in bringing communities together," said Kristi Coleman, CEO of Tepper Sports & Entertainment and President of the Carolina Panthers. "This year's Keep Pounding High School Classic will be a great showcase of school spirit and competitive play, featuring four talented programs from both North and South Carolina."

South Pointe will make the short trip from Rock Hill, South Carolina for the kickoff game to represent the iconic Stallions.

"When you're in Rock Hill, it's just a different place when it comes to football, you know, it's Football City, USA," said Stallions coach Bobby Collins.

"We've had multiple NFL guys to come out here and and fortunately for us, some of those guys have been also able to play here at the Panthers at one point in their career. So we're excited for the city. We're excited about playing at 4 o'clock and selling the stadium out before the 8 o'clock game. It'd be a great, great experience for everybody to come out and watch you play."

While Hough and Grimsley won't be facing off in the Keep Pounding Classic, the day will feature the two teams who faced off in the state semifinals last season. Grimsley knocked the Huskies out of the playoffs, giving Hough an edge they're bringing into this season, starting in Charlotte on August 22.

"We don't talk about last year. Last year is last year," said coach David Baker of Hough.

"We got to have an edge. We practice hard, our effort is there every day. So I just feel like the chip that we have on our shoulder that, everybody's saying all this, they can't get it done, they can't do this, you know, we just keep playing back right here."

The title chase and history was evident during the event in good natured ribbing between the coaches, as coach Baker and coach Sam Greiner of West Charlotte promised to see each other in the playoffs, and coach Darryl Brown of Grimsley asked if the Whirlies could join the Lions pep rally and fish fry ahead of the game.

Competition extended to the coin toss, as to be expected when fierce competitors meet in anything. Hough will wear their home grey jersey's against South Pointe's. West Charlotte will sport their new home black and gold jersey's versus Grimsley's white away uniforms.

"West Charlotte's in the back door of Bank of America Stadium," said Greiner, "and I'm looking forward to Lions nation coming and packing out this stadium.

Added coach Brown, "Our kids have played in some big time games, you know, we played in big time environments, big time places and been in big moments.

"We look forward to playing these guys and it's first game of the season and you got a lot more to go, so it's not the end of the world, but we'll be ready to compete and play hard and play loose and have fun while we're out there."

Last October, the Carolina Panthers and Belk announced a muti-year partnership that placed a particular emphasis on the Panthers community pillars, including the naming rights to the Keep Pounding High School Classic.

"Belk takes great pride in celebrating the communities we serve and the moments that bring us together," said Don Hendricks, CEO of Belk. "This incredible event put on by the Carolina Panthers highlights the talent, determination and spirit of young athletes across our region and we are honored to be a part of it."

The Hough Huskies (N.C.) are expected to be ranked as a preseason state title contender following a 12-2 campaign and state semifinal appearance in 2024, while the South Pointe Stallions (S.C.) are poised to challenge for the school's eighth state championship following a 11-3 mark in 2024 and state semifinal appearance. The game also pits South Pointe coach Bobby Collins against the team he formerly coached—Hough—and against his former South Carolina State college teammate and current Hough coach, David Baker.

The Grimsley Whirlies (N.C.) enter the season ranked #16 nationally in Sports Illustrated's "Way Too Early" preseason high school poll following the 16-0 2024 campaign that ended with a 4A state championship in 2024. The West Charlotte Lions (N.C.) are returning 21 starters from 2024's 3A state championship team that finished 13-2. This season, Grimsley will compete in the NCHSAA's new 7A classification while West Charlotte will compete in the 8A class.

"You're going to find out who you are right away from the get-go," said Greiner. "You don't get to roll into the season and really have a warm up game and figure things out. I think that that's what we need to be though," noted Greiner.

"There's a good chance that the hardest game that we play all year might be game 1…I'm thrilled to be in that game."

Find tickets by clicking here.