It all started a year ago.

After a friendly social media post wager between Monett Superintendent Mark Drake and Cassville Superintendent Merlyn Johnson based on the outcome of the Barry county Brawl football game, Drake raised the stakes.

In his profession of Cassville’s football dominance, while wearing the Wildcat colors, Drake issued a challenge Johnson could not decline — a punt, pass, kick competition at halftime of this year’s contest.

“I thought it would be fun and would get some energy behind the Barry County Brawl,” Drake said. “It’s more about having fun than anything.”

The event will coincide with a drive for hygiene items to be donated to Barry County residents. Fans who bring a hygiene item donation will also be entered into a drawing, where on the week of Oct. 24, the Monett and Cassville chambers of commerce will draw four winners of $50 in the choice of Cassville Cash or Monett Cash.

In a punt, pass, kick competition, each person gets to punt once, pass once and kick once, with scoring based on distance and accuracy.

Johnson said although he never officially agreed to the competition on social media, he did reach out to Drake informally to accept the challenge.

“I have been encouraged by the staff, and even the students are helping me train,” he said. “I think the school board has also put this on my annual evaluation, so I’m taking this very seriously.”

Both superintendents have athletic backgrounds. Drake played football in high school as a quarterback, defensive back, kicker and punter, and he played baseball. He pursued the latter in college, and he attempted to join that football team, as well.

“Dr. Johnson is not lying if he says I kicked and punted in high school,” Drake said. “I played baseball at Pitt State, and I tried to be the placekicker, but I just couldn’t do both with the practice schedule, so I had to drop that.”

Johnson was a multisport athlete in high school, though his did not have football, and he played baseball and ran cross country in college.

“I was average in every sport I played,” he said. “It was more participatory for me. I heard Mark was a kicker in his college days, but either way, he definitely has the edge and picked something he’s good at. He’s also way younger than me, or at least he looks way younger than me.”

Drake said although he has some experience, it’s been more than two decades since he truly touched a football.

“When you’re 46, you don’t do much kicking and throwing of a football,” he said. “I am still probably most confident in my kicking. Twenty-five years is a long time, but I think I can still kick off a tee just fine. I should have one good kick in me, so hopefully, it doesn’t go off the side of my foot.”

Johnson, who is a whole two years older than Drake, said he feels most confident when the ball is in his hands.

“Passing is my strongest skill because I can control the direction of the ball,” he said. My kicking is a little bit — erratic. I get a good one in every once in a while. I’ve been practicing, but I’m not very consistent.”

Being the second year of superintendent bets or challenges, Johnson said he’s not sure if the trend will continue.

“If I were to choose something, we play each other at pickleball a lot and have pretty equal abilities,” he said. “That would be my choice of sport, but you can’t really do that at halftime of a football game. To be wise, I should probably throw in my cards after this. It’s for a good cause, but it’s been two years in a row so maybe some other groups should get involved in these challenges besides the superintendents.

“But, I’m always open for a challenge and will never run from one. That’s part of my foolish pride.”