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The Chambers football team will be playing in the SECIS event for the first time in school history.

The SECIS stands for the Southeastern Commission of Independent Schools, and the event will be four games played between eight teams on Aug. 26 and 27.

Chambers will play First Presbyterian Day School from Macon, Georgia at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 27.

The game will take place during week two of the season and will just be a regular season game.

The SECIS will include teams from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi this year.

Chambers head coach Jason Allen is preparing for his first ever appearance in the event.

“This is the first year they’ve started back up since 2019 due to COVID,” Allen said. “There are a lot of really good schools that play in this game. We’re honored to play. To me, it means your program has been recognized for past success. The AISA puts their best teams in this game against the best teams from other associations. I’m excited to play somebody new we’ve never played before.”

Allen compared the event to the SEC/BIG12 challenge in basketball.

“It’s a chance to represent your conference against somebody else’s conference,” Allen said. “It gives our association some flexibility in scheduling. It adds some excitement being able to represent your association.”

Being a school that Chambers has never played, Allen will face a challenge of playing a new team.

“I don’t know hardly anything about them,” Allen said. “I know they’ve been pretty successful. They moved from the Georgia public schools back to the GISA this year along with a dozen other schools across the state of Georgia. They have a coach that has been there awhile a lot like myself. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge for our team.”

Allen knows has done some scouting on First Presbyterian.

“They’re a spread team,” Allen said. “They have a really athletic quarterback that can run and throw. That always presents a challenge for you defensively. Defensively, they’re pretty stout. They have a 330 pound nose guard who’s a really good player, so we’ll have our hands full there. It’s going to be an exciting game, and our kids have been working really hard all summer for it. We’ll go over there and give it our best shot.”

Before they play in the SECIS, Allen is worried about Lee-Scott, who they play week one.

“That’s a big rivalry game for us,” Allen said. “We’ve done well in that game the last four times, so I know they’re really amped up and have us circled on their schedule. When we’re done playing that, we’ll worry about the next game.”

The SECIS used to be played in Montgomery, but now it will move to Carrollton, Georgia for this year.

The only other AISA school in the event is Escambia, who will play on the 26th against Thomas Heyward Academy.

Chambers will begin their season at home against Lee-Scott on Aug. 18.