CORYDON — It takes an extraordinary game to keep the New Albany and Jeffersonville contest from being the Game of the Week, especially when the Bulldogs and Red Devils are both as good as they are this season.

But that’s exactly what Charlestown versus Corydon Central is — extraordinary.

Two explosive unbeaten, top-five teams going head-to-head for the Mid-Southern Conference title. There haven’t been many bigger games in the history of the MSC.

“It’s pretty big. Pretty big,” Charlestown coach Jason Hawkins said. “It’s the first time I can remember two top-five teams in Southern Indiana playing each other. Maybe in history. I can’t recall it in my lifetime — and I’ve been around a long time.”

Class 3A No. 3 Charlestown and 3A No. 4 Corydon have a budding rivalry. A year ago, the Pirates (6-0, 5-0 MSC) kept the Panthers from their first MSC championship in 23 years with a 21-19 upset. Four weeks later, the Panthers (6-0, 4-0) returned the favor with a last-minute drive to knock Charlestown out of the playoffs, 33-28, en route to a sectional and a regional championship.

“We were in the same situation last year, 6-0 heading into Week 7,” Corydon coach Darin Ward explained. “I know this year the situation is a little different. Everybody expects Charlestown to win and [that] they’re the better football team.”

Charlestown’s coaches and players have been looking forward to another meeting with the Panthers since last Oct. 28’s playoff loss.

“When both games were over last year, I’m pretty confident that both teams felt like they should have won both games,” Ward said. “We wanted to win in Week 7, but it’s easy to say that the sectional was a more important win for us.”

Hawkins said winning the conference is more important than avenging last year’s defeat.

“Right now, we’re worried about trying to win a game and a conference championship,” Hawkins said.

For now, Ward said, the Week 7 clash is the most important game to the Panthers. He will not hold anything back simply because the two sides are likely to meet again as Class 3A Sectional 23 favorites.

“We’d love to win. We’ve only won two conference championships [in school history],” he said. “Every week we strap it on we’d like to win. We’ll never not show our hand in fear of playing a team four, five weeks later in the tournament. They’ll get everything we have.”

After six blowout wins, Hawkins and the Pirates are ready to test themselves against a highly-regarded team.

“We’re ready to play Cordyon,” Hawkins said. “We feel like they’re a good team and we’re ready to see where we’re at and see how good we are. We know Corydon will provide the challenge to do that.”

Both teams have excellent defenses, each allowing just 9.3 points per game. Many of those points came against junior varsity players in blowout wins.

However, what worries each coach is the other team’s quarterback.

Charlestown’s Aaron Daniel is a do-everything signal-caller who has been beating opponents with his arm and his legs for the past three years. Corydon’s Chase Burton ranks seventh in the state in passing.

“Their quarterback throws the ball and can move in the pocket as well as I have seen,” Hawkins said of Burton. “He is tough.”

“Daniel has the keys to the offense. He just makes plays,” Ward said. “He’s an elusive quarterback that gives you problems defensively. Somtimes you wish he would just throw a lot, but with the weapons he has, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. He caused a lot of stress for a coaching staff.”

Corydon won its first sectional and regional championships a year ago. The program has been in existence for 49 years and more than 40 percent of the Panthers’ wins have come since 2001. Eight of the programs’ 13 winning season have come in the last 11 years, including this season.

Ward coached six of those season. Jason Timberlake, who took over for Ward when he temporarily went to Crawford County and stayed on Ward’s staff, coached the Panthers to two of the winning seasons.

“It’s turned [Corydon] into a semi-football place now,” Ward said. “Basketball is still No. 1, but people now enjoy coming out on Friday nights. I think that’s all I really ever wanted to do — to put a quality team on the field that the town can be proud of.”

“He’s gotten the kids to believe they can win,” Hawkins said of Ward. “When you get kids starting to believe, it’s easy from there. The kids respect Darin and he is respected by everyone in the conference.”