COVINGTON, Ga. — Justin Benton and Jean Claude Joseph III will take the field for the next chapter of the Newton Cup rivalry when Newton and Eastside square off on Friday.

Though they’re rivals on the gridiron, Newton’s Benton and Eastside’s Joseph share a friendship beyond competition that spans three generations. 

Joseph and Benton attended the Newton County Theme School together. One day a PTO meeting was held in which both students’ moms, Darlene Joseph and Tiffanie Benton, attended. 

There was an instant connection between the two as Darlene and Tiffanie also grew up together in White Plains, New York as childhood friends. Both attended the same high school, church and even sang in the church choir. Darlene and Tiffanie’s friendship came thanks to their grandmothers being friends. 

Reconnecting through their sons was surreal for Darlene. 

“It was just an amazing feeling that two young girls growing up in White Plains, New York would land in Covington, Georgia and have two sons that are the same age, attending the [theme school], and both playing football,” Joseph said.

After graduating high school together, Darlene and Tiffanie moved to Georgia and, unknowingly, relocated to Covington. It wasn’t until that particular PTO meeting when Darlene and Tiffanie knew they were back living in the same city.  

Despite the time lost between graduating high school and moving to Georgia, Darlene and Tiffanie’s friendship picked up right where it left off. 

“We ran into each other when [Justin and Jean Claude] attended the theme school together,” Tiffanie said. “We saw each other at a parent meeting and from there we kept in contact. It is amazing that our paths crossed and connected the way that they did.” 

After reconnecting, Tiffanie and Darlene have seen their friendship blossom.

“We text each other periodically. [Tiffanie] is a school teacher and I am in social work, so we talk about our jobs and how similar they are,” Darlene Joseph said. “Just having our sons on the same path is so heart-filling.”

Justin and Jean Claude’s friendship goes deeper than attending school together. 

Before they found themselves on opposite sides of a 20-year-old rivalry, Justin and Jean Claude were teammates as kids when they played for the East Metro Steelers.

They then separated when Jean Claude moved to Eastside and Justin went to Newton.

Both Jean Claude and Justin have received multiple offers to go on and play college football at the Division I level — Jean Claude has committed to Coastal Carolina while Justin has pledged his services to West Virginia — and they know exactly how much of a role their mothers played in their success and determination.

“I am grateful for my mom, because I know a lot of people are not fortunate enough to have that,” Justin said. “I am just grateful that I have my mom and dad supporting me.”

“[My mom] has been there all the time,” Jean Claude said. “She has always been supporting me since I was younger, me and my brother. She always has wanted us to do everything to the best of our ability, and is really supportive, both her and my dad.”

From the moms’ perspective, they have had the opportunity to see both of their sons become not just great football players, but great young men as well.

“[Jean Claude] has worked so hard, athletically, and academically. We could not ask for more,” Darlene Joseph said. “He does everything well on the field, in school, at home. [It makes me] speechless, I am very proud of him.”

The dedication to help guide and lead their sons on the right path is something that Tiffanie sees as one of many connections between herself and Darlene.

“I think we are both really supportive moms, who obviously have two athletic and goal-oriented sons, and I think that we are connected in that respect,” Tiffanie said. “I think that our upbringing helped us to raise good young men.”

With both Justin and Jean Claude planning to play college football, there is even more of a chance the two of them will face off in the future once more, but for now there is one more game to settle.

Come Friday, the two moms will see their sons face off against each other under the lights at Sharp Stadium one more time as all four of them plan to write the next chapter to this ‘friendly rivalry.’

"We are always competitive on the field,” Tiffanie said. “When we get off of the field, we are family, but when we are on the field it is about competition. May the best man win.”