FNN football 2014

FNN Football 2014.indd 1 8/21/14 7:50 PM

� is publication is distributed FREE OF CHARGE as our way to support high school athletics and the schools in our viewing area. FNN wishes to thank the various Principals and Coaches that make what we do possible. � e FNN 2014 High School Football Maga-zine is a publication of Jacobs Media Services LLC. All information, articles and photogra-phy contained within is the property of FNN or used under permission. Any use of content contained within this publication without the expressed, written consent of Jacobs Media Ser-vices LLC is strictly prohibited.

PHOTO CREDITS – All pictures used under permission. Saks photos courtesy of Susan Ingram, Saks High School. Piedmont Photos courtesy of Bruce Adderhold. Leeds Photos courtesy of Buddy Roberts. Addition pho-tography provided by Brant Locklier and FNN Sta� Photographers

© Copyright 2014, Jacobs Media Services LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsTable of Contents

Feature Stories

COVER STORY

LINCOLN’S “BIG D”One On One With Jauntavius Johnson

Re-Alignment

John Grass JSU’s Head Football Coach

Miller’s Magical Year Jonathan Miller of Saks

Turnarounds What Does It Take To Build A Winner?

Stadium Spotlight Sylacauga’s Grand Old Lady

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10 Coach Of The Year12 2014 Weekly Schedules26 Schools Schedules And Previews72 Pre-Season Top 10

www.fnnnetwork.com FNN Fall 2014 | 1


Before we chat up the upcoming football season, allow me a mo-ment to reflect back on the eight

months that made up the first full year of FNN High School sports. From Octo-ber, 2013-May, 2014 with your help, we really have “Changed Everything”.

Last season, over 14,000 of you watched a local FNN High School sporting event live on the internet. We had viewers from sixteen different states and eight foreign countries. Thousands more have viewed our telecasts archived on YouTube. We delivered 28 live high school football, basketball, baseball and softball game telecasts last season. For this school year, expect that number to double!

Over 21,000 FNN sports magazines covering high school football, basketball, baseball and softball were put into the hands of readers.

The positive response to what we’re doing has been both humbling and exhilarating, driving us to achieve even loftier goals this season. We very much appreciate your feedback on social media and your support of FNN.

Now let’s look at what’s in store this football season!

Realignment really shook things up around here and there are several things that have my attention as we tee it up.

I’ll start with 3A-Region 6. Three teams from the same region in the ASWA preseason Top 10!! Come Novem-

ber, somebody’s going to face a really good team from this region as a traveling opponent in round one of the AHSAA playoffs and probably get their feelings hurt.

From 3A-R6 we’ve already scheduled Piedmont at “The Hill” to face Wellborn October 10th on FNN in what could be the biggest game in the state that night.

Just as intriguing to me as if Wellborn or Glencoe can upset Piedmont is who will fi nish 4th in the region. Read out team previews and you’ll fi nd our pick. Fans in this region are going to see some outstanding football this season.

How about 4A-Region 3? You have almost the same scenario as 3A-Region 6. Preseason #1 Leeds, #3 Dadeville, Munford, Childersburg and Handley. Imag-ine facing any these in round one of the playoffs. While we haven’t gone “Sharpie” on it yet, we’re looking hard at the 10/17 matchup between Leeds and Childersburg. Again, another crazy good region.

I’ve got my eyes on Saks again this year. Even though the Wildcats have moved up to 4A, they’re still going to be very good. In fact, I believe if they can steel a win at Cleburne County on 10/17, Coach Miller’s kids could post another “perfect” regular season. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s a lot of football to be played.

Lincoln is one of my “sleeper” teams for 2014, and I’m not just saying that because we have Mr. Johnson on the cover of this year’s magazine (but he is one BIG dude). Although the Golden Bears went 4-7 last season, they

Jim Jacobs-Executive ProducerThe Friday Night Network

2 | FNN Fall 2014 www.fnnnetwork.com


were in almost every game. Brad Wallace has had a year now to get things the way he wants them and the facilities at Lincoln are some of the fi nest in the state. Another reason I’m high on Lincoln is the 5A-Region 6 they’ll compete in. I see no “stand out” teams, even though Alexandria enters the season ranked #9 by the ASWA. Somebody’s got a shot at breaking out of the pack, and I believe it can be the Golden Bears.

I’m interested to see how the new coaches in new places perform, especially Scott Martin at Ohatchee. I thought the Indians looked pretty good in the Spring Jamboree. We’ll see how the season unfolds up on “The Creek Bank”.

I’m always pulling for teams from our area to do well and earn a trip to the Super 7. It’s not unreasonable to think that we could have two teams from our area be in the 4A state title game in December. The Leeds Green Wave from the south and defending champion Oneonta Redskins from the north. Both teams are loaded with talent and have outstanding coaching staffs. Wouldn’t that be something?

We’re very excited about all the new ways we have for you to view FNN games this fall, especially the addition of live television.

Our partnership with the Alabama Cable Network opens up the quality of football in our part of the state to a world of viewers across Alabama. Each Friday, FNN can be seen on Charter Cable Channel 80 state-wide. That’s providing exposure for our region and its football programs and schools into 169 cities and over a half million homes. If you have Charter Cable, just tune to Channel 80 every Friday at 6:30 PM and you’ll see FNN live game coverage.

For viewers in Calhoun County that are Cable One sub-scribers, you can see all eleven FNN game telecasts on a delayed basis. See our game from the previous Friday each Thursday evening at 7:30 PM on Channel 2. We certainly hope you’ll be watching!

The backbone of FNN’s delivery platform has always been online. No matter where you are on a Friday night this fall, you can fi nd us on any smartphone, tablet,

laptop or PC by logging into www.fnnnetwork.com or www.ourtowntv.tv. Just touch the play button on the video player and the stream automatically detects whether you have an iOS or Android device and your connection speed and sends you the best possible stream for your device.

I can’t begin to share all the heartwarming stories from last season from viewers. A father now living in Mobile getting to see his son play baseball on a Saturday after-noon or the soldier oversees enjoying a piece of home by watching his former high school play in a basketball game. There’s usually one good one from every telecast we do. Each story emphasizes to us just how important FNN is to people every time we go to a ball park to televise an event. It really does matter to people.

Remember, all FNN game coverage is free. We don’t charge you in any way to see our games. FNN telecasts are advertiser supported. Without our sponsors, none of this would be possible. So please do us a favor during the season. Let the people you see advertising dur-ing FNN High School Football know you appreciate them supporting FNN and our efforts to showcase high school sports in East Central Alabama.

For this season, we’ve added more equipment to pro-duce our telecasts, providing more camera angles, replays and on-screen graphics to enhance your viewing experience. Plus FNN is going to be much more active on social networks every Friday night. So if you don’t already, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Instagram, please do. We want you to be a part of FNN every Friday by sending us scores, pictures and video clips from the game you’re attending. You might even see your post on TV!

With the season here, we want to wish all our area teams the best, and express our thanks to the Principals, AD’s and Coaches that grant us access at all the schools we cover. They make what we do each Friday such a joy.

In case you haven’t picked up on it, we’re excited and ready to play some football! See you at the games and thank you for watching FNN – The Friday Night Net-work. ◆



COVER STORY

Jauntavius Johnson has been playing varsity football since the 8th grade at Lincoln High School. He’s big, strong, fast…all the things you would expect from a Division 1 prospect that’s been courted by some of the nation’s top college football programs. Rivals.com

has him listed as the #28 Defensive Lineman prospect nationwide and has him ranked as the 15th most-sought-after player in Alabama.

Say hello to the Golden Bears’ “Big D”, the 6’3”, 323 pound defensive lineman that we’ve selected as this year’s FNN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW MAGAZINE Cover Story.

LINCOLN’S

auntavius Johnson has been playing varsity football since the 8th grade at Lincoln High

LINCOLN’SLINCOLN’S“BIG D”



FNN – How did you get started playing football, and have you always been the biggest guy on the fi eld?

JJ – I tried to play my Junior B year but I was too big. I’ve always been too big to play little league football. I always wanted to play. I started playing my 7th grade year. Last year, I was one of the biggest guys on the team, and this year, I am the biggest.

FNN – How did you get your nickname?

JJ – Big D? I have a cousin. His name is Dontavius Johnson. We call him D2, but I’m the bigger D so they call me Big D.

FNN – Who gave you the name? Who came up with that?

JJ – Just people in the community. People I grew up around. Everybody just decided they were going to call me “Big D”. That’s how it came along.

FNN – Talk about your love for playing football and what aspects of the game excite you most.

JJ – I love playing football. It’s a sport where you just go out and hurt people. Hurt people for the fun of it…take your anger out. Say you’ve had a bad day at school, maybe got in trouble. You just go out there and live it like that. What excites me the most? Big hits. I like to get the big hit of the night. Stuff like that.

FNN – Talk about this past summer. What things have you been working on to fi nish out your senior year here at Lincoln, then to prepare you to play next year at Auburn?

JJ – I’ve been working on getting in shape. I’ve tried to get down to a better size. Coming into the season, I was looking at playing both sides of the ball again. In prior seasons, it seemed like all the guys were depend-ing on me, so I had to push myself harder, eat right and get my weight down so I could play both sides of the ball. When we came in, the younger guys didn’t want me to go through all that throughout this year. They didn’t want me to strain myself to push them better. Now, I don’t have to play both sides of the ball. They’ve worked themselves up. It seems my motiva-tion for myself has motivated the whole team.

FNN – So you’re just going to play just defense this season?

JJ – Yes.

FNN – Do you like that, or do you want to still play on the offense some?

JJ – I have no problem with this. If coach needs me to go in, I’m willing to take the tote.

FNN – Last year, you were used a lot in the red zone on offense to punch it in because most people just can’t stop you. Do you like that, or do you just see it as an-other part of your job?

JJ – You like scoring touchdowns, but I wasn’t made

Jauntavius Johnson is a game changer. He’s the type of player that can turn the tide of a high school game on one play.

His size and football skills have made him a coveted three star D1 prospect as he prepares to enter his senior season playing for Coach Brad Wallace at Lincoln High School. It’s ironic that Johnson enters his fi nal season in high school without facing another coaching change. It will be the fi rst time that’s hap-pened during his fi ve year varsity career.

At the moment, Johnson is “off the college market” as back on August 6th, with his mother and father alongside, Jauntavius publically declared that he’s on the “Gus Bus” to Auburn next fall.

Upon fi rst impressions, there’s a seriousness and determination about him that you don’t see in many high school seniors. In his foot-ball attire, he’s a bad man.

While “Big D” is all business on the sur-face, break him down a little and you’ll fi nd a young man that enjoys eating at the local McDonalds, playing video games, hanging out with his teammates (many of which are family) and just living life at his age.

Following the announcement, we had the chance to sit down with him one-on-one.



for scoring touchdowns. One day we drew it up in practice then they tell me, “We’re going to run it”. That asked me if I would be ready and I told them yes. We ran it in a game and nobody stopped it so we kept doing it.

FNN – You’re deceptively fast. Once last season, you didn’t go up the middle. You ran wide and outran a DB to get to the end zone. What’s your 40 speed?

JJ – A 5.5. I just have a quick burst. When I start running distances, I get slower.

FNN – With all the attention surrounding your col-lege announcement and where you’ve decided to go, has that bothered you in any way? What’s it been like?

JJ – It’s been hard. Some colleges might tell you something you don’t want to hear. Some might just

give you something good, and then some will tell you what’s real. Some tell you that if you come in, you’ll start right away, then you go and you’re on the bench. Most of all, you’ve got to have a great relationship with college coaches during the recruiting process.

FNN – Tell us about your family and how they helped you in making the decision.

JJ – I had my mom and the family worried where I was going. They didn’t know what was going on.

FNN – So you didn’t tell them?

JJ – I didn’t tell them. My mom and dad when I was growing up, they always made me make my own deci-sions. I used to be a hard-headed little boy. At some point, they realized I knew right from wrong and didn’t let others tell me what to do. They saw me as a differ-ent person then. They encouraged me to think on my own.

FNN – So when did you tell your mom what you were going to do?

JJ – She was just as surprised as everyone else when I came out with it. She had no idea.

FNN – You play a position on the fi eld that doesn’t get a lot of attention. You’re down there in the trenches. Most people don’t realize how important line play is to a game’s outcome. How do you feel when people talk more about the offensive guys that touch the ball more than what you do?

JJ – It’s never been a big deal to me. My cousin, Tredarian Gamble that used to be here and he got a lot of popularity. It never brought me down. It depends on what type of player you are. Are you going to be a team player or do you just want to think about others getting all the fame and going to set back and chill? You can’t think of it that way. You have to keep a good mindset and go in and do well for the team each night. That’s how I play. I’ve played with a lot of good quar-terbacks and receivers here during my time.

FNN – Do you have a sense of the tradition of playing football here in Lincoln? The expectations within the

COVER STORY



community for you as a star player and the team as a whole. There’s been some good football players at Lincoln over the years.

JJ – To me, to live up to the tra-dition, you have to be a good face in the community. You can’t make others look bad. No matter what you do, in this community, they’re always behind you. They’ll always be someone that may doubt you…

that will say he’s just another “fall in” and stuff like that. But most of them are going to be behind you to the end.

FNN – Talk about Coach Wallace and your relationship with him and how he’s helped you grow as a per-son and a player coming into your senior year.

JJ – I wasn’t too much on coach-es. I’ve had four coaches in the

past four years. I was on the var-sity since my 8th grade year. I didn’t too much care at fi rst. That changed when he brought me in af-ter the J O Johnson loss. He told me, “Big D, we have to get the guys on the road. I’m not leaving. Get that out of your mind.” That im-pressed me. I’m thinking about the younger kids and what he can do for those guys in the years to come. He has really helped me with my

Jauntavius Johnson is a tremendous athlete. He’s a big kid that can move. He has great burst off the ball. He’s a very vocal leader and does his leadership in other ways like being the fi rst one in the group. He has always given tremendous effort. The sky’s the limit for him.

“ “

–Brad Wallace, Head Football Coach Lincoln Highschool



conditioning program over the summer.

FNN - We all know now where you’re going next fall. Will you share with us the other schools that were in the running and how dif-fi cult the fi nal decision was to go choose Auburn?

JJ – The colleges that were in the running were Auburn, Louisville, Alabama and Southern Miss. The closest two were Louisville and Ala-bama.

FNN - What made Auburn the fi -nal choice?

JJ – It all came down to what place would make me feel like I was

at home when I went there. That’s what did it.

FNN – You haven’t signed. You can change your mind. Do you think there’s any chance that could happen?

JJ – I don’t know. Possibly, but I doubt it. We’re going to leave it at I don’t know.

FNN – Let’s get to know you a lit-

tle more personally. Here in town, where do you like to go out and eat with friends and what do like to you order?

JJ – Everybody goes to McDon-alds. I don’t know why. My little crew has this meal we call the Ron-ald McDonald. We put a McChi-cken and McDouble together. Add a small fry and we eat it like that.

FNN – Do you play video games?

JJ – I play on X-Box and Play Station. I play Madden and I love NCAA. That’s my favorite game. I like 2K, too.

FNN – Are you disappointed they didn’t do a new NCAA this season?

JJ – YES…that was my dream to be on NCAA!

FNN – Do you have a steady girl-friend or are you a “man about town”?

JJ – I have a little friend right now. We’re still working on things. I try not to let girls get to me.

FNN – How much can you bench press.

JJ – I don’t know, I’m not going to say more than about 405.

FNN – Has it been hard to con-centrate on your senior season here at Lincoln with the stuff surround-ing the college decision? Has it kept you from getting ready?

JJ – It feels good going into my senior season. I just stay humble and push my guys to work hard ev-ery day. I’m trying to be a leader because that’s what they want from me.

FNN – What’s some of your favor-ite music and artists?

JJ – I like Gucci, Peewee Long-way, Young Thug and Walker.

FNN – Is there anything you like to listen to before a game to get you pumped up and ready to play?

JJ – It would be on my playlist. Probably Gucci, “Let’s Go to War”.

FNN – Do you feel there’s added pressure on you to be a team leader because of your talent and what are some of the important traits that you feel you must show for your team to be successful with you as a leader?

JJ – The thing I emphasize with our team is “working”. You’ve got to keep a good attitude about it. When you get tired, your mind loses focus on what you’re doing. It’s something we’ve got to get bet-ter at. We all have a limit of tired-ness. You’ve got to be able to push through it. I have to motivate them. At practice, I’ll say some-

The thing I emphasize with our team is “working”. You’ve got to keep a good attitude about it. We all have a limit of tiredness. You’ve got to be able to push through it.

“ “

COVER STORY



thing crazy. Guys that are tired get pumped off it. If we’re condition running, and there are guys slacking in the back, we clap them up. On our team, we are never giving up.

FNN – Do you ever get on guys?

JJ – Yeah, that’s football. There’s just a time and place and right way to do it.

FNN – Talk about some of your teammates.

JJ – Justin Knight, he plays cornerback. Zay Caldwell is our quarterback. KJ, my second cousin, he plays linebacker and h-back. I have a bunch of cousins on the team this year that are younger that are out there with me. We got “Honey Bun”, Xavier Pearson, he’s playing guard, and my little brother “Little Fox”, Ken-neth Fomby is also playing guard.

FNN – When we say Munford, what pops into your mind?

JJ – I want to beat them. When you say Munford, I don’t have nothing against them…no hatred. It’s built in me that when Munford comes in, you have to play your hardest. Go on and fi nish it out like that. Let the pads talk, the helmets talk and let it be settled.

FNN – Are you on Twitter and Facebook?

JJ – Yes. My Facebook name is “BigDJohnson”. My Instagram handle is “BigDee_longwayyy”. On Twitter, I’m @GeT_LyKe_ME99.

FNN – What do you think about social media and how it may have been used in recruiting you?

JJ – It’s a great thing to have around. When you’re bored you can scroll through. It’s a good way to talk to college coaches. You can’t call or text them.

FNN – To this point, what’s the best play you remem-ber being involved in during a high school football game?

JJ – I would probably say against J O Johnson. I didn’t do anything the fi rst half. Coach told me he needed one more play from Big D. It was 4th down and the dude went out in a scramble. I pushed myself the hardest on this play. He had juked the guy in front of him, He tried to juke me and I grabbed him and

tackled him. It just seemed like it motivated the crowd and the players in a good way.

Another play was at Hokes Bluff when I had the game winning sack to fi nish out the game.

FNN – Lincoln moves to 5A this season. You’ll see teams that you probably haven’t seen on the fi eld be-fore like Sprinville, Moody and St Clair County. What are your thoughts on playing against new teams for the fi rst time?

JJ – It’s nothing different. They’re just down the road. They’ll come in competitive and we’ll be competitive. 5A is just like 4A, 3A and all the rest of them.

FNN – Lincoln fi nished 4-7 last season, yet still made it into the playoffs. Your team was much better than the record refl ects. What are the things that the team has worked on since the playoff loss to J O Johnson to be a better team and have a better season?

JJ – To fi nish a game. You can’t let up. You can play three good quarters of football and fall apart at the end. We have to stay together as one all the way through for 48 minutes. You have to know what you have to do. Everybody makes mistakes. It’s not a perfect world, but when that happens, you have to stay in a good mindset as you go.

FNN – What are your expectations for your fi nal high school football season wearing the black and gold as a Lincoln Golden Bear?

JJ – Win the region. It’s something I want to do before I leave here. I want to go far in the play-offs, too, but most of all, I want to win the region.Opposing teams will see a much leaner Johnson this season. If Coach Wallace has the depth to keep John-son playing strictly on defense, it should help Lin-coln improve on their 4-7 mark in 2013.

Can “Big D’s” team fulfi ll his dream of winning the region title in his senior year? Absolutely! Lincoln’s move to 5A-Region 6 places the Golden Bears in an area where, in our opinion, no member stands out above the others. This leaves the door wide open for a team to step up and take control. Why shouldn’t it be Lincoln behind their “Big D”, Jauntavius John-son? ◆



WEEK 1 GAMES 8/22

Waterloo @ ASD

Alexandria @ Jacksonville

Ashville Fall Jamboree

Central of Clay County @ Munford

Woodland @ CCHS Jamboree

Etowah at Northridge

Fayetteville Fall Jamboree*

Randolph County @ Handley Jamboree

Pleasant Valley @ Hokes Bluff Jamboree*

Madison Academy @ Leeds

Gadsden City @ Auburn

Jacksonville Chris, @ Shades Mntn.

Alexandria @ Jacksonville

Hamilton@ Moody*

Central of Clay County @ Munford

Ohatchee @ Southeastern

Oxford @ Southside*

Walker @ Pell City

Piedmont@ Champions Challenge**

Ragland @ Lincoln Jamboree

Saint Clair County @ Saks Jamboree

Springville @ Boaz Jamboree

Chilton County @ Sylacauga

Talladega @ Talladega County Central

West Blocton @ Vincent

Winterboro Jamboree

Childersburg @ Reeltown*

*Thursday Game **Saturday Game

2014 WEEKLY

SCHEDULES



Piedmont@ Champions Challenge**

Ragland @ Lincoln Jamboree

Saint Clair County @ Saks Jamboree

Springville @ Boaz Jamboree

Chilton County @ Sylacauga

Talladega @ Talladega County Central

West Blocton @ Vincent

Winterboro Jamboree

Childersburg @ Reeltown*

WEEK 2 GAMES 8/29

Handley @ Anniston

White Plains @ Ashville

Childersburg @ BB Comer

Benjamin Russell @ Central of Clay Co.

Cleburne County @ Munford

Donoho @ Shoals Christian

Cullman @ Etowah

Fayetteville @ Coosa Central

Glencoe @ Plainview

Handley @ Anniston

Hokes Bluff @ Southside*

Leeds @ Trinity Presbyterian

Oxford @ Gadsden City

Jacksonville @ Weaver

Pell City @ Lincoln

Cleburne County @ Munford

Oneonta @ Pinson Valley

Cherokee County @ Piedmont

Ranburne @ Pleasant Valley

Gaston @ Ragland

Mount Zion @ Randolph County

Walter Wellborn @ Saks

Sylacauga @ Springville

John Carroll Catholic @ Saint Clair Co.

Vincent @ Corner

White Plains @ Ashville

Locust Fork @ Westbrook Christian

Coosa Central @ Winterboro

Woodland @ Beulah

Wadley @ Horseshoe Bend*



WEEK 4 GAMES 9/12

WEEK 3 GAMES 9/5

Indiana School f. Deaf @ ASD**

Lincoln @ Alexandria

Hayden @ Anniston

Ashville @ Weaver

Beulah @ B.B. Comer

Central of Clay County @ Leeds

White Plains @ Cleburne County

Shades Mountain @ Donoho

Etowah @ Randolph

Holy Spirit Catholic @ Fayetteville

Glencoe @ Westbrook Christian

Handley @ Holtville

Hokes Bluff @ Crossville

Gadsden City @ Grissom

Coosa Christian @ Jacksonville Christian

Jacksonville @ Sardis

Mortimer Jordan @ Moody

Elmore County @ Munford

Ohatchee @ Piedmont

Good Hope @ Oneonta

Oxford @ Chilton County

Pell City @ Opelika

Cleburne County @ Cherokee

Alexandria @ Hayden

Anniston @ Mortimer Jordan

Piedmont @ Ashville

B.B. Comer @ Prattville Christian

Central of Clay County @ Shelby Co.

Donoho @ Talladega Co. Central

Douglas @ Etowah

Fayetteville @ R.C. Hatch

Walter Wellborn @ Glencoe

Childersburg @ Handley

White Plains @ Hokes Bluff

Munford @ Leeds

Gadsden City @ Sparkman

Jacksonville Christian @ Woodville

Crossville @ Jacksonville

Saint Clair County @ Lincoln

Moody @ Springville

Munford @ Leeds

Westbrook Christian @ Ohatchee

Oneonta @ DAR, Kate D. Smith

Valley @ Oxford

Pleasant Valley @ Walter Wellborn

Winterboro @ Ragland

Ranburne @ Lanett

Woodland @ Randolph County

Saks @ Cherokee County

Arab @ Southside, Gad.

Springville @ Saint Clair County

Sylacauga @ Beauregard

Talladega @ Marbury

Victory Christian @ Talladega Central

Dadeville @ Childersburg

Wadley @ Appalachian

Chilton County @ Pell City

Weaver @ Pleasant Valley

Ragland @ Wadley

Randolph County @ Ranburne

Sardia @ Saks

Southside, Gad. @ Chelsea

Marbury @ Sylacauga

Tallassee @ Talladega

Holy Spirit Catholic @ Vincent

Shades Mountain @ Winterboro

Midfi eld @ Woodland

WEEK 5 GAMES 9/19

ASD @ Mississippi School f. Deaf **

Alexandria @ Springville

Anniston @ Lincoln

Ashville @ Ohatchee

B.B. Comer @ The Montgomery Academy

Tallassee @ Central of Clay County

Crossville @ Cleburne County

Winterboro @ Donoho

Etowah @ Fairview

Fayetteville @ Vincent

Piedmont @ Glencoe

Munford @ Handley

Sardis @ Hokes Bluff

Leeds @ Elmore County

Bob Jones @ Gadsden City

Cedar Bluff @ Jacksonville Christian

Cherokee County @ Jacksonville

Moody @ Hayden

Oneonta @ Locust Fork

Opelika @ Oxford

Benjamin Russell @ Pell City

Westbrook Christian @ Pleasant Valley

Ragland @ Appalachian

LaFayette @ Ranburne

Coosa Central @ Randolph County

Saks @ White Plains

Southside, Gad. @ A.P. Brewer

Saint Clair Co. @ Mortimer Jordan

Beauregard @ Talladega

Talladega Co. Central @ Wadley

Weaver @ Walter Wellborn

Lanett @ Woodland




Pleasant Valley @ Walter Wellborn

Winterboro @ Ragland

Ranburne @ Lanett

Woodland @ Randolph County

Saks @ Cherokee County

Arab @ Southside, Gad.

Springville @ Saint Clair County

Sylacauga @ Beauregard

Talladega @ Marbury

Victory Christian @ Talladega Central

Dadeville @ Childersburg

Wadley @ Appalachian

Chilton County @ Pell City

Weaver @ Pleasant Valley

Ragland @ Wadley

Randolph County @ Ranburne

Sardia @ Saks

Southside, Gad. @ Chelsea

Marbury @ Sylacauga

Tallassee @ Talladega

Holy Spirit Catholic @ Vincent

Shades Mountain @ Winterboro

Midfi eld @ Woodland

Ragland @ Appalachian

LaFayette @ Ranburne

Coosa Central @ Randolph County

Saks @ White Plains

Southside, Gad. @ A.P. Brewer

Saint Clair Co. @ Mortimer Jordan

Beauregard @ Talladega

Talladega Co. Central @ Wadley

Weaver @ Walter Wellborn

Lanett @ Woodland

WEEK 7 GAMES 10/3

WEEK 6 GAMES 9/26

ASD @ Tennessee SD **

Mortimer Jordan @ Alexandria

Springville @ Anniston

Glencoe @ Ashville

B.B. Comer @ Fayetteville

Central of Clay County @ Marbury

Cleburne County @ Jacksonville

Donoho @ Victory Christian

Guntersville @ Etowah

Handley @ Leeds

Hokes Bluff @ Cherokee County

Gadsden City @ Huntsville*

Jacksonville Christian @ Gaylesville

Lincoln @ Hayden

Saint Clair County @ Moody

Dadeville @ Munford

Ohatchee @ Weaver

Priceville @ Oneonta

Oxford @ Benjamin Russell

Pleasant Valley @ Piedmont

Ragland @ Talladega Co. Central

Ranburne @ Reeltown

Jacksonville Christian @ ASD

Ashville @ Montevallo

Vincent @ B.B. Comer

Cleburne County @ Haralson Co.

Fayetteville @ Donoho

Glencoe @ Hokes Bluff

Handley @ Lanett

Leeds @ Piedmont*

Hewitt-Trussville @ Gadsden City

Jacksonville @ S.R. Butler

Munford @ Lincoln

Moody @ Walter Wellborn

Cherokee County @ Ohatchee

Susan Moore @ Oneonta

Vestavia Hills @ Oxford

Huffman @ Pell City

Pleasant Valley @ White Plains

Ragland @ Cedar Bluff

Randolph County @ Lanett

Crossville @ Saks

Southside, Gad. @ Albertville

Talladega @ Sylacauga

Vincent @ Thorsby

White Plains @ Sardis

Walter Wellborn @ Westbrook Chris.

Appalachian @ Winterboro

Woodland @ LaFayette

Childersburg @ Holtville

Wadley @ Shades Mountain

Beulah @ Ranburne

Randolph County @ Westbrook Christian

Saks @ Weaver

Saint Clair County @ Southside, Gad.

Springville @ Talladega

Sylacauga @ Childersburg

Talladega Co. Central @ Spring Garden

Winterboro @ Thorsby

Woodland @ Loachapoka

LaFayette @ Wadley

WEEK 8 GAMES 10/10

Louisiana S D @ ASD**

Alexandria @ Saint Clair County

Anniston @ Moody

Ashville @ Pleasant Valley

Fultondale @ B.B. Comer

Beauregard @ Central of Clay Co.

Sardis @ Cleburne County

Wadley @ Donoho

Etowah @ S.R. Butler

Thorsby @ Fayetteville

Glencoe @ Ohatchee

Elmore County @ Handley

Saks @ Hokes Bluff

Leeds @ Dadeville

James Clemens @ Gadsden City

Jacksonville Christian @ Spring Garden

Jacksonville @ White Plains

Lincoln @ Mortimer Jordan

Munford @ Childersburg

Oneonta @ J.B. Pennington

Pell City @ Oxford

Piedmont @ Walter Wellborn

Shades Mountain @ Ragland

Horseshoe Bend @ Ranburne

LaFayette @ Randolph County

Lee @ Southside, Gad.

Hayden @ Springville

Sylacauga @ Shelby County

Talladega Co. Central @ Appalachian

Francis Marion @ Vincent

Westbrook Christian @ Weaver

Victory Christian @ Winterboro

Reeltown @ Woodland

Wadley @ Donoho

Cherokee County @ Crossville



WEEK 10 GAMES 10/24

WEEK 9 GAMES 10/17

White Plains @ Cherokee County

Anniston @ Alexandria

Westbrook Christian @ Ashville

Coosa Central @ B.B. Comer

Talladega @ Central of Clay County

Cleburne County @ Hokes Bluff

Appalachian @ Donoho

Etowah @ Madison County

Pickens County @ Fayetteville

Pleasant Valley @ Glencoe

Handley @ Dadeville

Leeds @ Holtville

Gadsden City @ Buckhorn

Waterloo @ Jacksonville Christian

Jacksonville @ Saks

Lincoln @ Moody

Walter Wellborn @ Ohatchee

Oneonta @ Westminster Christian

Oxford @ Chelsea

Pell City @ Valley

Weaver @ Piedmont

Ragland @ Victory Christian

Cherokee County @ Sardis

Florida SDB @ ASD**

Moody @ Alexandria

Saint Clair County @ Anniston

Walter Wellborn @ Ashville

B.B Comer @ Midfi eld

Central of Clay Co. @ Sylacauga

Saks @ Cleburne County

Donoho @ Ragland

Etowah @ Boaz

Fayetteville @ Francis Marion

Weaver @ Glencoe

Abbeville @ Handley

Hokes Bluff @ Jacksonville

Childersburg @ Leeds

Hazel Green @ Gadsden City

Valley Head @ Jacksonville Christian

Springville @ Lincoln*

Holtville @ Munford*

Ohatchee @ Pleasant Valley

North Jackson @ Oneonta

Chelsea @ Pell City

Ranburne @ Woodland

Horseshoe Bend @ Randolph County

Fort Payne @ Southside, Gad.

Mortimer Jordan @ Springville

Hayden @ Saint Clair County

Sylacauga @ Tallassee

Talladega Co. Central @ Shades Mountain

Vincent @ R.C. Hatch

Wadley @ Winterboro

Elmore County @ Childersburg

Piedmont @ Westbrook Christian

Randolph County @ Reeltown

Southside, Gad. @ Scottsboro

Central of Clay County @ Sylacauga

Shelby County @ Talladega

Winterboro @ Talladega Co. Central

Vincent @ Pickens County

Crossville @ White Plains

Woodland @ Horseshoe Bend

Victory Christian @ Wadley


WEEK 11 GAMES 10/31

Alexandria @ Cherokee County

Anniston @ Fort Payne

Ashville @ Pisgah – Thur. 10-30-14

B.B. Comer @ Sylacauga*

Central of Clay County @ Handley

Cleburne County @ Glencoe*

Donoho @ Coosa Christian

Etowah @ Saint Clair County

Winterboro @ Fayetteville

Hokes Bluff @ Locust Fork*

Verbena @ Jacksonville Christian

Lincoln @ Childersburg*

Moody @ Arab

Munford @ Talladega

Ohatchee @ Ragland*

Piedmont @ Oneonta

Decatur @ Oxford

Pell City @ Oak Mountain

Pleasant Valley @ Gaston

Westbrook Christian @ Ranburne

Randolph County @ Beulah

LaFayette @ Saks

Springville @ John Carroll Catholic

Talladega Co. Central @ Vincent*

Weaver @ White Plains

Woodland @ Wadley



Ranburne @ Woodland

Horseshoe Bend @ Randolph County

Fort Payne @ Southside, Gad.

Mortimer Jordan @ Springville

Hayden @ Saint Clair County

Sylacauga @ Tallassee

Talladega Co. Central @ Shades Mountain

Vincent @ R.C. Hatch

Wadley @ Winterboro

Elmore County @ Childersburg

Piedmont @ Westbrook Christian

Randolph County @ Reeltown

Southside, Gad. @ Scottsboro

Central of Clay County @ Sylacauga

Shelby County @ Talladega

Winterboro @ Talladega Co. Central

Vincent @ Pickens County

Crossville @ White Plains

Woodland @ Horseshoe Bend

Victory Christian @ Wadley

Pleasant Valley @ Gaston

Westbrook Christian @ Ranburne

Randolph County @ Beulah

LaFayette @ Saks

Springville @ John Carroll Catholic

Talladega Co. Central @ Vincent*

Weaver @ White Plains

Woodland @ Wadley

FNN Football 2014.indd 17 8/24/14 9:10 AM

FEATURE STORY

By Brant Locklier

REALIGNMENT

Every two years the Alabama High School Athletic Association evaluates the size of schools and goes through the process of dividing the schools into six classifi cations. This year they put in a new twist by adding a 7th class in which the state’s 32 largest schools became members.

What does it all mean for high school football in our part of Alabama?

Let us try and draw it up for you.



In Class 6A, the 32 smallest 6A schools from a year ago now became the 32 larger schools in 6A. This means that 26 teams moved up from last year’s Class 5A to complete at the new 6A level.

In Class 5A, the remaining teams that did not move up were joined by 26 of the larger 4A teams. In Class 4A, the remaining teams were joined by 20 of the larger 3A teams from a year ago. In Class 3A, the remaining teams were joined by 14 larger 2A schools from a year ago. In Class 2A, the remaining teams were joined by 7 larger 1A teams from a year ago. In Class 1A, nothing changed a whole lot in numbers other than the top 7 teams being promoted to Class 2A.

There are the usual issues of schools going up and down in class due to changes in enrollment,

but perhaps the most unusual twist of all is area teams like Oxford, Pell City, Leeds and Munford being placed in the southern half of the state. One of these days a fi rst round playoff game could feature a trip to Gulf Shores. Oxford is the furthest northern team in the southern half of the playoff bracket of any team in the state, in any class.

It is always interesting to see the how the new regions line up and who your team will be play-ing the next two years. These changes are the most signifi cant we have seen since the move from 4 classes to 6 classes many years back by the AHSAA.

Let’s take a look at how the changes will shape this area of the state. We will start with the big boys and work our way to the smallest class in our area:

The AHSAA’s decision to create a new 7A classification had a domino effect on the other six classes across Alabama. It re-sulted in the remaining 6 classes being divided into an equal

number of teams according to size as always. However, the size of each classification dropped from its usual 64 or so teams to 58 or so teams.

Class 7A Region 4

Most of the bigger schools in the new Class 7A have historically had strong winning programs, but now you put 6 or 7 of those teams into one of the typical four 8 team regions, then somebody has to lose those games. It will make coaching much more di� cult and it will be interesting to see what 7A programs drop down and begin losing more than in the past.

Gadsden City (5-6) is now in Class 7A Region 4. Bob Jones (11-2), Huntsville (6-5), Buckhorn (6-5), Hazel Green (5-5), James Clemens (2-8) and Grissom (0-10) are in the 7 team region. One can make a case it is slightly easier for the Titans as they lose Albertville, Oxford, Clay-Chalkville and Pell City from their 2013 region and pick up Buckhorn, Hazel Green and Bob Jones. � e Titans will be traveling a lot more towards Huntsville with their new region. � ey have made the playo� s every year of their existence and 2014 looks to be no di� erent.



FEATURE STORY

Only Pell City remains on the region schedule in 2014 for the Oxford Yellow Jackets. Oxford (9-3) and Pell City (6-4) are joined by Opelika (9-3) a peren-nial 6A power for many years in Region 3. 5A power Benjamin Russell (10-2) is joined by three other 5A teams from a year ago: Chelsea (4-6), Chilton County (5-6) and Valley (6-5).

Chilton County won 10 games in 2012 and Valley won 9 games in 2011 and Chelsea 8 games

in 2009, so there are no down-trodden 5A teams moving into this 6A region. It should be very competitive. Benjamin Rus-sell is coached by Danny Horn who led Clay County to six state championships and is in his � � h year of rebuilding the Wildcats. His teams are 21-4 the last two seasons. Opelika lost to Hoover in the 6A state championship game in 2012 and has a great tradition and history. Oxford has Benjamin Russell and Opelika on the road this season

and these three teams appear to be the pick of the litter in 6A Region 3.

It is good to see the Oxford –Pell City rivalry game be pre-served in the Region. � ese two teams have had some classic battles the last two years and it has been a “must-see “game. � e Yellow Jackets will still play rival Gadsden City, but it will be a non-region game that you can watch on FNN on 8/29.

Class 6A Region 7

Southside of Gadsden (13-1) coming o� a ban-ner season in 5A moves up to 6A in 2014. � ey are joined by Scottsboro (7-4), Fort Payne (6-5), Brewer (4-6), Arab (3-7), Albertville (4-6) and Lee-Huntsville (3-7). Fort Payne has had some strong teams in recent years, but is moving up from Class 5A. Albertville played in a strong 6A region a year ago and should bene� t from not having to play some of those now 7A teams in 2014.

Only three of these teams posted winning re-cords a year ago, so the door is open for South-side to have a good year and make another run in the state playo� s. Fort Payne has had some big seasons in the last 5 years but dropped o� a little last year. Albertville had a brutal schedule a year ago and played well and they could very well challenge for this region title. � e Aggies had to play Clay-Chalkville, Gadsden City, Ox-ford, Huntsville and Pell City last year and now, none of those teams are in their region.

Class 5A Region 3

� ree strong 4A teams move up to combine with three 5A teams from 2013 to from a rugged Region 3 for the 2014 season. Central Clay County (10-3), Beauregard (9-3) and Tallassee (8-3) are those 4A teams from last year. � ey will join with Sylacauga (8-4), Talladega (3-7), Marbury (1-9) and Shelby County (1-9) to make up the remainder of the region.

Central Clay County is 20-5 in two seasons as the combined schools of the former Lineville and Clay County dynasties. Beauregard has averaged 9 wins a season for the last 5 years and Tallassee has a 17-6 record the last two years.

Sylacauga � gures to be in the hunt coming o� a couple of back-to-back playo� seasons and Tal-ladega was competitive last year as their program continues its rebuilding process. � is is a very top-heavy region and it will be tough to crack the top 4 in Region 3. � is region will be in the southern half of the bracket when it comes playo� time.

Class 6A Region 3



Only one team had a winning record last year in the new Class 5A, Region 6 as it combines four 4A teams from a year ago with four 5A teams. 5A Moody (6-5) was that lone team with a winning record in 2013. Mortimer Jordan (4-7), St Clair Co (5-6), Springville

(3-7), Hayden (1-9), Anniston (5-5), Alexandria (3-7) and Lin-coln (4-7) make up the rest of the region.Anniston, Alexandria and Lincoln move up from one of the tough-est 4A regions in the state in 2013

and all three are usually in the playo� s and will certainly bene� t from the move to 5A in 2014. All these teams have been around .500 or better the last few years, so it may be one of the most balanced regions in the state with anybody able to rise up any given year.

Class 5A Region 7

Etowah (7-4) and Boaz (2-8) are the lone returnees from 2013 in Region 7. � ey are joined by 4A powerhouses Gunters-ville (10-2) and Madison County (8-3). Fairview (5-6) is almost always in the 4A playo� s and they will move up from 4A. Randolph (4-6), Douglas (1-9) and Butler (0-10) are the rest of the region teams.

� e Blue Devils from Etowah are looking for their � � h straight winning season and the new region should be favorable for them to continue their winning ways.

� is region is loaded with six strong teams. All were 4A last year except Leeds (13-2) and they were the Class 3A state runner-up a year ago. Dadeville (11-2) has won over 10 games each of the last � ve years and are always tough. Mun-ford exploded to a 12-2 record in 2013 and looked strong in their spring game. Childersburg (9-3) is putting together some

good seasons currently and Handley (5-6) is just three years removed from a 15-0 state championship. Elmore County (5-5) is always a playo� contender. � is leaves Holtville (2-8) with the task of turning their program around in this very tough region.� is region will not be for the faint-of-heart and will play in the southern half of the state playo� bracket.

Class 4A Region 3

Class 5A Region 6



FEATURE STORY

Saks (13-1) headlines this region as they move up from a run at last year’s Class 3A state title. White Plains (5-5) continues its enroll-ment growth as they join the 4A ranks in 2014. Cleburne County (8-5) will be a strong contender as will the Jacksonville (8-4) Golden Eagles to win this region.Cherokee County (3-7), Cross-ville (2-8), Hokes Blu� (1-9) and Sardis (6-4) will be trying to earn a playo� spot in a top-heavy 8 team

region. Sardis has made the play-o� s three consecutive years.Jacksonville made it to the playo� s last year for the � rst time in three years. Cleburne County made it to the third round of 4A playo� s a year ago and always seem to be in high scoring games. White Plains has had back-to-back 5-5 seasons. Cherokee County has struggled since their 15-0 state champion-ship in 2009.

� is eight team region consists of all teams in the FNN viewing area. Powerhouse Piedmont leads the region as it brings an 11-2 record into the season from a year ago. � e Bulldogs have averaged 12 wins a season for the last � ve years. Glencoe was 8-4 in 2013 and are always capable of a 10 win

season. � e Walter Wellborn Pan-thers (8-4) move up from Class 2A a year ago and are searching for their � � h straight winning season.

Ohatchee (1-9) and Pleasant Valley (3-7) move up from 2A. Weaver (4-7), Westbrook Chris-

tian (5-5) and Ashville (1-9) � nish out the rest of the region teams. All of these teams are hoping for a breakout season in the new region, which places three teams, Pied-mont (#2), Walter Wellborn (#5) and Glencoe (#8) in the ASWA preseason poll.

Class 4A Region 6

Class 3A Region 6

� e defending state 4A champion Oneonta Red-skins (14-1) will be the team to beat in Class 4A Region 7. � ey have won 40 games the last three sea-sons and have been to the state � nals two consecutive years. Good Hope (7-4), J.B. Pennington (3-8) and West-minster Christian (5-5)

move up from the 3A ranks to challenge the Redskins.

North Jackson (2-8) usu-ally is in the hunt for a state title, but they dropped o� the table last year with a disastrous season and should bounce back in 2014. Priceville (4-6), DAR (6-5) and Locust Fork (6-4) all stayed 4A in 2014.

Class 3A Region 8B.B. Comer (5-6) � nds itself in the same region with defending state 3A champion Madison Academy (15-0).� e Mustangs from Huntsville have averaged 12 wins a season for the last 5 years. Fultondale (10-2) moves up from 2A to see what they can do, but the Mustang dominance appears to be very hard to stop.

Beulah (3-7), Central Coosa (3-7), Mid� eld (7-5) and Prattville Christian (3-7) are others that will be looking for a playo� spot.

Class 4A Region 7



Class 2A Region 4

1A state champions Pickens County moves up to 2A in 2014. � e Hornets were 15-0 a year ago and have won 55 games in the last 5 seasons. Fayetteville (6-4), Vincent (6-4) and Francis Marion (4-6) are all in the Region 4. Holy Spirit (1-9), � orsby (1-9) and R C Hatch (0-10) only won two games between the three teams in 2013.

Fayetteville had its � rst winning season in the last � ve years last season, while Vincent won 9 games in 2011 and usually � nds its way into the playo� s. It does appear that Pickens Coun-ty could really dominate this region with Holy Spirit, � orsby and R C Hatch having strug-gling programs.

Class 2A Region 5

Lanett (11-1) and Ranburne (10-2) ap-pear to be the leading contenders for the Region 5 title in 2014. Reeltown (7-4) has one of the great programs in the state although they dropped o� a bit in 2013. Woodland is always in the hunt and was 6-5 in 2013. � ey have won 39 games in the last � ve years.

Randolph County (4-6) has been hover-ing around 5 wins a season each year and look to get over the hump this year. Horseshoe Bend (2-8) and LaFayette (2-8) are also in Region 5. Reeltown has won 54 games in the last � ve years.



FEATURE STORY

Ragland (10-2) has quietly been building a great program as they have won 41 games in the last four years. � ey tied for the 1A, Region 6 title a year ago and move to Region 5 this year. Appalachian (5-4) and Shades Mountain Chris-tian (3-6) come with Ragland to Region 5.

� e Donoho Falcons (7-3) have had four straight win-ning seasons and are coming o� a great performance in the spring. Talladega County Cen-tral (5-6), Shades Mountain Christian (2-7), Wadley (4-7), Victory Christian (1-9) and Winterboro (0-10) are the rest of the teams in the region.

Class 1A Region 7Only two teams with winning records from a year ago will be in this region. Valley Head (9-2) and Gaylesville (6-5) � nished above.500 in 2013. Cedar Blu� (4-5), Coosa Christian (3-7), Jacksonville Chris-tian (3-7), Spring Garden (3-7) and Woodville (0-10) all will have chanc-es to post winning seasons and make the playo� s.

Class 1A Region 5

As a result of this massive shake up, the real winners appear to be the 32 small-est 6A schools from a year ago. No longer do they have to fight the huge 6A schools on the football field. There was such a disparity. It was hard to physically compete with those large teams on a consistent basis because of depth. They could throw so many bodies at you. The smaller 6A schools just did not have the numbers to do that year in and year out. Each of the other classes other than 7A saw their total numbers drop by 5-7 mem-bers which gives everyone a slightly better chance to compete for 32 playoff spots.

How will all this affect the playoffs and state cham-pionships? Beginning this

December, the annual AHSAA state football championships will be known as the Super 7.

The inaugural Super 7 Cham-pionships will be held at Jordan-Hare Stadium the first week of December, with Class 7A playing Wednesday, Dec. 3. Classes 1A, 3A and 5A will have their title games on Dec. 4, and Classes 2A, 4A and 6A will play for their championships on Dec. 5.

Under the new classification format, the 32-school Class 7A will have 16 teams reach the postseason, while the other six classifications will still have 32 teams earn play-off berths.

The playoffs for all classes will begin the same week following a 10-game regular season that spans 11 weeks that begins Aug. 21st-22nd.

However, following the third round of the playoffs, the two remaining 7A teams will receive an off week while the other six classes play their semifinal matchups, meaning the Class 7A state champion will only have to win four postseason games as op-posed to five. ◆



Stadium: Kiwanis FieldColors: Cardinal & WhiteCoach: Paul KulickRegion:

Stadium: Lou Scales StadiumColors: Orange & BlackCoach: Frank TuckerRegion: 5A-R6

Stadium: Lott/Mosby Memorial StadiumColors: Cardinal, White, Black & GrayCoach: Eddie BullockRegion: 5A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 vs. Waterloo (1A) 8/29

9/5

9/13 vs. Indiana School Deaf IN

9/19

9/26 vs. Jacksonville Christi (1A) 10/3

10/11 vs. Louisiana School Deaf LA 10/18 vs. Florida School Deaf FL 10/25 @ North Carolina Deaf NC

10/31 @ Victory Christian (1A)

8/22 @ Jacksonville (4A)

8/29 OPEN

9/5 @ Hayden (5A) *

9/12 vs. Lincoln (5A) *

9/19 @ Springville (5A) *

9/26 OPEN

10/3 vs. Mortimer Jordan (5A) * 10/10 @ St. Clair County (5A) *

10/17 vs. Moody (5A) * 10/24 vs. Anniston (5A) * 10/31 @ Cherokee County (4A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Handley (4A) 9/5 @ Mortimer Jordan (5A) *

9/12 vs. Hayden (5A) *

9/19 @ Lincoln (5A) *

9/26 OPEN

10/3 vs. Springville (5A) * 10/10 @ Moody (5A) *

10/17 vs. St. Clair County (5A) * 10/24 @ Alexandria (5A) *

10/31 @ Fort Payne (6A)

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Coach Paul Kulick would just as soon forget the past two seasons, during which the Silent Warriors only tasted victory twice while suff ering fi fteen losses. ASD will once again play other state deaf schools this season with three local teams sprinkled across the schedule. They open with 1A Waterloo on 8/22, face JCA on 9/26 and fi nish off the year against Victory Christian on Hal-loween night. Props to Coach Kulick and his team for conducting the Talladega County High School Media Day presser with sign language and using an interpreter for us. Nice move to show us all what it’s like to be on the other side of deafness.

Last year, the Valley Cubs struggled to a 6th place fi nish in 4A-Region 5, not making the playoff s after winning the region the year before. The Cubs are 216-74 over the past 25 seasons, a 74.5% winning percentage, ranking Alexandria 10th overall in the AHSAA. The 2013 3-7 mark and the poor showing in the Spring Jamboree have some folks restless. The AWSA is sold, ranking the Cubs #8 in the 4A preseason Top 10, which left us scratching our heads a little. Alexandria needs confi dence early with a win against Jacksonville in the opener and on 9/12 in a key 5A-Region 6 match-up at home against Lincoln. Expect a return to the playoff s and possibly the Region 6 crown.

For Anniston, 2013 ended with a loud thud, with lop-sided losses at Munford then to Carver-Montgomery. The Bulldogs fi nished 5-5, not making post-season play, which is unusual. Anniston catches the realignment train to 5A-Region 6 this season. Eddie Bullock enters his fi fth year at the head whistle. After three playoff appearances and two region crowns, last year’s results fell short of expectations. The Bulldogs should be playoff contenders, probably determined in a late three-game region stretch In October against Moody, St Clair County and Alexandria. That should give Bullock time to get his Bulldogs ready for a run at the region title.

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Stadium: Ken Logan StadiumColors: Green & WhiteCoach: Steve MartinRegion: 3A-R6

Stadium: Legion StadiumColors: Black & GoldCoach: A.D. JacksRegion: 3A-R3

Colors: Scarlet, Navy & WhiteCoach: Kris HerronRegion: 5A-R3

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. White Plains (4A) 9/5 vs. Piedmont (3A)* 9/12 @ Weaver (3A)*

9/19 @ Ohatchee (3A)*

9/26 @ Montevallo (4A)

10/3 vs. Glencoe (3A)* 10/10 @ Pleasant Valley (3A)*

10/17 vs. Walter Wellborn (3A)* 10/24 vs. Westbrook Christian (3A)* 10/31 @ Pisgah (3A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Childersburg (4A) 9/5 @ Prattville Christian (3A)*

9/12 vs. Beulah (3A)*

9/19 @ Montgomery Academy (3A)*

9/26 vs. Vincent (2A) 10/3 @ Fayetteville (2A)

10/10 vs. Fultondale (3A)* 10/17 @ Midfi eld (3A)*

10/24 vs. Central Coosa (3A)* 10/30 @ Sylacauga (5A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Benjamin Russell (6A) 9/5 @ Shelby County (5A) *

9/12 @ Leeds (4A)

9/19 vs. Tallassee (5A) * 9/26 OPEN

10/3 @ Marbury (5A) *

10/10 vs. Beauregard (5A) * 10/17 @ Sylacauga (5A) *

10/24 vs. Talladega (5A) * 10/31 @ Handley (4A)

After fi nishing 2013 1-9, Coach Steve Martin must have felt like he walked in front of a train when the AHSAA handed down the realignment plan for the 14-15 sea-sons. Remaining in 3A but moving to Region 6 leaves lit-tle to look forward to for the Bulldogs. They better open strong against White Plains, because this may be the only winnable game on their schedule. Facing the likes of Piedmont, Walter Wellborn, Weaver, Westbrook Christian, Pleasant Valley and Glencoe will make this another tough year atop the hill at Ken Logan Stadium. 3A-Region 6 might be the toughest in the state and opportunities to win will come far and few apart for the Bulldogs.

Realignment for 2014 moves the Tigers from 3A-Region 4 to 3A-Region 3 where Coach A. D. Jacks will have to face the likes of Fultondale, Midfi eld and Montgomery Acad-emy if BBCHS expects to contend for a region crown. The Tigers opened strong in 2013 winning 4 of their fi rst 5 games, but the wheels came off in the second half of the season against stronger opponents like Leeds, Midfi eld and cross-town foe Sylacauga resulting in a 1-4 fi nish. B B Comer looks like a solid choice for a playoff spot that will likely have the Tigers traveling in Week 1. They’ll have to knock off one of the big three in the region during the regular season to alter that prediction.

The Volunteers enter 2014 with some high expectations. After a trip deep into the 4A playoff s last year, Central-Clay County has All-State senior running back Jaylon Lyles returning along with senior DB Chris Briskey, anoth-er All-State talent. Throw in senior LB Payton Reynolds and this stingy defense that only allowed a team record 142 points last year will be STOUT once again. Realign-ment sends the Volunteers up to 5A, where they will compete in a relatively soft Region 3. Beauregard, Tallas-see and possibly Sylacauga could present a challenge to the Volunteers in the region, but we just don’t see it. This could be a Super 7 team come December.

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Stadium: Richard Conkle StadiumColors: Blue & WhiteCoach: Chris ElmoreRegion: 6A-R3

Stadium: Warriors StadiumColors: Black & GoldCoach: Thomas CurryRegion: 4A-R6

Colors: John Cox StadiumColors: Royal Blue, Black & WhiteCoach: Adam FossettRegion: 4A-R3

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Briarwood (6A) 9/5 vs. Southside Gadsden (6A) 9/12 @ Valley (6A) *

9/19 vs. Chilton County (6A) * 9/26 @ Helena (5A)

10/3 @ Opelika (6A) *

10/10 vs. Benjamin Russell (6A) * 10/17 @ Pell City (6A) *

10/24 vs. Oxford (6A) * 10/30 @ Thompson (7A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Piedmont (3A)

9/5 vs. Cleburne County (4A) * 9/12 vs. Saks (4A) *

9/19 @ Jacksonville (4A) *

9/26 @ Ohatchee (3A)

10/3 vs. Hokes Blu� (4A) * 10/10 @ Crossville (4A) *

10/17 @ Sardis (4A) *

10/24 vs. White Plains (4A) * 10/31 vs. Alexandria (5A)

8/21 @ Reeltown (2A)

8/29 @ B.B. Comer (3A)

9/5 @ Handley (4A) *

9/12 vs. Dadeville (4A) *

9/19 OPEN

9/26 vs. Sylacauga (5A) 10/3 @ Holtville (4A) *

10/10 vs. Munford (4A) * 10/17 @ Leeds (4A) *

10/24 vs. Elmore County (4A) * 10/31 OPEN

Chris Elmore’s stingers fi nished 2013 4-6 competing in the tough 6A-Region 4 with their only region win com-ing against Pelham. The Hornets move to Region 3 for 2014 with the likely region contenders being Benjamin Russell, Oxford and Opelika. It’s a tough schedule to build up a program on, but at the 6A level, noth-ing comes easy. Chelsea opens on the 29th hosting Briarwood, then the Hornets host Southside-Gadsden on 9/5 before entering region play on the road at Valley. While this region may hold more long-term potential for Chelsea, they won’t realize it this year and will once again fi nish near the bottom of the standings.

Staying in 4A after realignment, Cherokee County will move from Region 5 over to Region 6 where they’ll face familiar foes in Hokes Bluff , Jacksonville and Cleburne County while adding Saks, White Plains, Sardis and Cross-ville. After missing the playoff s the past two season, the Warriors face a region schedule that’s brutal early with home games against Cleburne County and Saks then a road trip to Jacksonville. If they can fi nd a way to win one of those three, they’ll have something to play for in the second half of the year, where the schedule gets much more manageable, possibly setting them up for a shot at the region’s 4th playoff spot.

The Tigers had a fantastic 2013. Under Adam Fossett, they’ve made the playoff s the past two seasons. Childer-sburg stays put in 4A-Region 3 but the competition stiff -ens with the addition of Munford and Leeds. It’s a tough schedule with three road trips starting at Reeltown on 8/21 before facing Comer on 8/29 and then traveling to Handley for the region opener on 9/5. The home opener is no “gimme” either when #3 Dadeville visits John Cox Stadium on 9/12 in a huge region matchup. We believe the Tigers can fi nish 4th in the region and grab a playoff spot for a third year in a row, but any slip up could leave them on the outside looking in come November.

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www.fnnnetwork.com FNN Fall 2014 | 29www.fnnnetwork.com FNN Fall 2014 | 29


Stadium: L.E. Bell FieldColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Michael ShorttRegion: 4A-R6

Stadium: Lantz FieldColors: Maroon & GrayCoach: Shanon FelderRegion: 1A-R5

Stadium: Jim Glover FieldColors: Royal Blue & WhiteCoach: Drew NolesRegion: 5A-R7

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Munford (4A)

9/5 @ Cherokee County (4A) *

9/12 vs. White Plains (4A) *

9/19 vs. Crossville (4A) * 9/26 @ Haralson County GA

10/3 @ Jacksonville (4A) *

10/10 vs. Sardis (4A) * 10/17 vs. Saks (4A) * 10/24 @ Hokes Bluff (4A) *

10/31 @ Glencoe (3A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Shoals Christian (1A)

9/5 @ Talladega County Cen (1A)*

9/12 vs. Shades Mountain Chri (1A)*

9/19 vs. Winterboro (1A) * 9/26 vs. Fayetteville (2A) 10/3 @ Victory Christian (1A) *

10/10 vs. Wadley (1A) * 10/17 @ Ragland (1A) *

10/24 vs. Appalachian (1A) * 10/31 @ Coosa Christian (1A)

8/22 @ Northridge (6A)

8/29 vs. Cullman (6A) 9/5 vs. Douglas (5A) * 9/12 @ Randolph (5A) *

9/19 @ Fairview (5A) *

9/26 OPEN

10/3 vs. Guntersville (5A) * 10/10 @ Butler (5A) *

10/17 @ Boaz (5A) *

10/24 vs. Madison County (5A) * 10/31 @ St. Clair County (5A)

After a strong 5-1 start in 2013, the Tigers dropped 3 of the last 4 games to fi nish the season a somewhat disap-pointing 6-4. They made up for it in the playoff s making it all the way to the 4A Quarter Finals before falling to eventual state champs Oneonta. This season, Cleburne County remains in 4A moving over to Region 6 where we see them as one of the favorites. Key in that region title quest will be a 10/17 home game against a very talented Saks team in a match-up that could be for all the marbles. We certainly see the Tigers fi nishing in the top two in 4A-Region 6, earning them the right to host a fi rst round playoff game at L. E. Bell Field.

After a 7-3 regular season and a trip to the playoff s in 2013, The Falcons remain in 1A following realignment but shift from Region 7 over to Region 5 this year. They’ll face some tough foes in Ragland, Wadley and possibly Talladega County Central. Donoho returns All-State Senior LB Samuel Garner along with Senior RB Justin Foster for Shannon Felder’s 11th season as head coach. The Falcons should make the playoff s again this year, and if they can fi nd wins early October against Wadley at home and at Ragland, they might end up Region 5 Champions. You can see the Falcons on 9/5 at Talladega County Central in the FNN Game of the Week.

Entering his second season as Head Coach of the Blue Devils, Drew Noles will be looking to build on a solid 2013 where Etowah fi nished 7-4. There’s championship heritage in Etowah football with 12 Region Titles since 1988 and the 1999 State Blue Trophy in the case. Over the past 25 seasons, Etowah has gone 198-90, result-ing in a 68.8% winning percentage, ranking EHS 7th in Class 5A and 34th overall in the AHSAA. The Blue Devils remain in 5A-Region 7 for 2014 and will likely challenge Guntersville for the area title. They start the season ranked #8 in the 5A Top 10 by the ASWA. Another play-off appearance appears in the cards and Etowah should be hosting in round one.

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Stadium: FarmLinks FieldColors: Black & GoldCoach: John LimbaughRegion: 2A-R4

Stadium: Titan StadiumColors: Black, Cardinal & SilverCoach: Matt ScottRegion: 7A-R4

Stadium: Yellow Jacket StadiumColors: Black & GoldCoach: Lee OzmintRegion: 3A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Central Coosa (3A)

9/5 @ R.C. Hatch (2A) *

9/12 vs. Holy Spirit (2A) *

9/19 @ Vincent (2A) *

9/26 @ Donoho (1A)

10/3 vs. B.B. Comer (3A) 10/10 vs. Thorsby (2A) * 10/17 @ Francis Marion (2A) *

10/24 vs. Pickens County (2A) * 10/31 vs. Winterboro (1A)

8/22 @ Auburn (7A)

8/29 vs. Oxford (6A) 9/5 @ Sparkman (7A) *

9/12 @ Grissom (7A) *

9/19 vs. Bob Jones (7A) * 9/26 vs. Hewitt-Trussville (7A) 10/2 @ Huntsville (7A) *

10/10 vs. James Clemens (7A) * 10/17 vs. Hazel Green (7A) * 10/24 @ Buckhorn (7A) *

10/31 OPEN

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Plainview (3A)

9/5 vs. Walter Wellborn (3A) * 9/12 @ Westbrook Christian (3A) *

9/19 vs. Piedmont (3A) * 9/26 @ Hokes Bluff (4A)

10/3 @ Ashville (3A) *

10/10 @ Ohatchee (3A) *

10/17 vs. Weaver (3A) * 10/24 vs. Pleasant Valley (3A) * 10/31 vs. Cleburne County (4A)

John Limbaugh will have his hands full this season as the Wolves climb to 2A and will compete in a very tough Region 4, where they’ll in all likelihood join Vincent in the role of playing for 2nd place to perennial powerhouse Pickens County. That said, the schedule is manageable and Fayetteville should contend for a playoff spot, albeit a traveling one. The Wolves open on the road at 3A Coosa Central on the 29th before beginning region play on 9/5 at R. C. Hatch. They have to wait until 10/24 to get their crack at Pickens County, but they’ll get them at home before wrapping up with rival Winterboro at FarmLinks Field on Halloween night.

Last year the Titans went 5-6, setting a team record for most losses in a season. Second year head coach Matt Scott looks to improve on that mark, but enrollment numbers have pushed his Titans into the ultra-com-petitive 7A classifi cation. The good news is they’re in Region 4, where no team other than Bob Jones had more than six wins in 2013. This gives the Titans hope with a legitimate shot at a playoff spot. They’ll be tested early with a road trip to 6A runner-up Auburn, then the rivalry game at Titans Stadium against Oxford, which you’ll see on FNN. The game with the most playoff implications for Gadsden City comes on 9/19 when Bob Jones visits.

The Yellow Jackets opened 2013 3-3, and nobody took Coach Lee Ozmint’s team too seriously. That was a big mistake. Glencoe closed the season out winning four in a row, then won at Hanceville in the playoff s before falling to Colbert County 45-44 in OT. For 2014, Glencoe remains in 3A but moves to the ultra-tough Region 6 that has placed three teams, including Glencoe in the ASWA Top 10 preseason poll. The Yellow Jackets return All-State players Junior DB Pace Ozmint, Senior LB Mason Brown, Senior Dylan Stone and Senior RB Thomas Oz-mint. You can see Glencoe on FNN twice in 2014, host-ing Piedmont on 9/19 and at Cleburne County on 10/30.

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Stadium: Wright FieldColors: Cardinal & WhiteCoach: Mike Battles Sr.Region: 4A-R3

Stadium: Eagle StadiumColors: Green & WhiteCoach: Michael RobertsonRegion: 4A-R6

Stadium: Golden Eagle StadiumColors: Blue & GoldCoach: Clint SmithRegion: 4A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Anniston (5A)

9/5 vs. Childersburg (4A) * 9/12 @ Holtville (4A) *

9/19 vs. Munford (4A) * 9/26 @ Lanett (2A)

10/3 @ Leeds (4A) *

10/10 vs. Elmore County (4A) * 10/17 vs. Abbeville (3A) 10/24 @ Dadeville (4A) *

10/31 vs. Central Clay County (5A)

8/22 OPEN

8/28 @ Southside Gadsden (6A)

9/5 vs. White Plains (4A) * 9/12 @ Crossville (4A) *

9/19 vs. Sardis (4A) * 9/26 vs. Glencoe (3A) 10/3 @ Cherokee County (4A) *

10/10 vs. Saks (4A) * 10/17 @ Jacksonville (4A) *

10/24 vs. Cleburne County (4A) * 10/30 @ Locust Fork (4A)

8/22 vs. Alexandria (5A) 8/29 @ Weaver (3A)

9/5 vs. Crossville (4A) * 9/12 @ Sardis (4A) *

9/19 vs. Cherokee County (4A) * 9/26 @ Butler (5A)

10/3 vs. Cleburne County (4A) * 10/10 @ White Plains (4A) *

10/17 vs. Hokes Blu� (4A) * 10/24 @ Saks (4A) *

10/31 OPEN

Mike Battles, Sr. will have to use all his twenty-nine years of experience to navigate one of the toughest regions in Alabama in any classifi cation in 2014. Handley stays in 4A-Region 3, but fi nds itself up against four teams that won nine or more games in 2013. Playoff spots are going to be hard to come by in this crowd and the Tigers will likely have to win at least one of their road games at Leeds or Dadeville to earn a spot. Battles will have to sure up a defense that allowed a school record 31 points a game last year to improve upon their 5-6 season mark. Battles knows how to win. Here’s a word of caution to the others in 4A-Region 3. Don’t sleep on Handley.

The Eagles move over to 4A-Region 6 for the 2014-15 seasons, where they’ll fi nd the going tough against teams from Jacksonville, Saks and Cleburne County. If you’re only going to win one game in a season, it might be best to be the last one, and that’s what Hokes Bluff did last year, topping Westbrook Christian 21-7. If the Eagles have im-proved, the “4” slot in the region is up for grabs. Find a way to beat one of the “Big 3” and it’s almost a lock. That gives Coach Michael Robertson, entering his nineteenth year at Hokes Bluff , something to work with leading up to the three-game stretch in October where the Eagles play Saks at home, travel to Jacksonville then host Cleburne County.

Coach Clint Smith has the Golden Eagles fl ying high following a 2nd place fi nish in 4A-Region 5 in 2013. JHS moves to Region 6 this season where they will likely content for a playoff spot. The Golden Eagles will face stiff challenges from Cleburne County and Saks for the top two in the region, but they get Cleburne County at home on 9/19 and that’s probably a “must win” if they want to earn a host spot come playoff s time. We see them as a solid third place pick, but the game on the road at Sardis on 9/12 is a “biggie” early in region play. Coach Smith will be counting on returning All-State Senior LB Savon Parker to stiff en up a defense that allowed 27.8 PPG last season.

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Stadium: Keith Howard Memorial StadiumColors: Black & Old GoldCoach: Brad WallaceRegion: 5A-R6

Stadium: Homer Smiles FieldColors: Green & WhiteCoach: Keith EtheridgeRegion: 4A-R3

Stadium: Tommy Miller FieldColors: Red, Black & WhiteCoach: Tommy MillerRegion: 1A-R7

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Pell City (6A) 9/5 vs. St. Clair County (5A) * 9/12 @ Alexandria (5A) *

9/19 vs. Anniston (5A) * 9/26 vs. Munford (4A) 10/3 @ Hayden (5A) *

10/10 @ Mortimer Jordan (5A) *

10/17 vs. Springville (5A) * 10/24 @ Moody (5A) *

10/31 OPEN

8/22 @ Shades Mountain Chri (1A)

8/29 OPEN

9/5 @ Woodville (1A) *

9/12 vs. Coosa Christian (1A) *

9/19 vs. Cedar Blu� (1A) * 9/26 @ Alabama School Deaf

10/3 @ Gaylesville (1A) *

10/10 @ Spring Garden (1A) *

10/17 vs. Valley Head (1A) * 10/24 vs. Waterloo (1A) 10/31 vs. Verbena (1A)

8/22 vs. Madison Academy (3A) 8/29 @ Trinity (4A)

9/5 vs. Munford (4A) * 9/12 vs. Central Clay County (5A)

9/19 @ Elmore County (4A) *

9/26 @ Piedmont (3A)

10/3 vs. Handley (4A) * 10/10 @ Dadeville (4A) *

10/17 vs. Chil dersburg (4A) * 10/24 @ Holtville (4A) *

10/31 OPEN

This year, Brad Wallace’s Golden Bears have to “turn the corner”. Much easier without a coaching change to go through. Despite their 4-7 record, Lincoln was “in” almost every game last year. A move up to 5A-Region 6 against the likes of Alexandria, Anniston, Springville, Moody and St Clair County will make for some nice “gate” games, but at the end of the night, it’s simple. Can Lincoln close the deal? If “yes”, they’ll make the playoff s. If “no” well you know the rest. They have play-ers in All-State junior Zay Caldwell and Auburn commit senior Jauntavius Johnson. The schedule is brutal early opening against 6A Pell City at home on 8/29 then hosting St Clair County in the region opener.

The Green Wave move up to 4A in 2014 and will play in the ultra-tough Region 3. The 3A state runner-up from 2013, fi nished with a 12-3 mark and appear poised to challenge again this season, even at the higher classifi -cation. Coach Keith Etheredge returns several talented players on both sides of the ball. All-State junior OL Mike Rankins, senior LB Tyler Wright, senior DB Jacoby Lockhart, sophomore DL Isaiah Sharp-Perry, junior punter Morgan Coston and junior RB Tre’ Nation will all suit up, making Leeds not only a region title favorite, but heavily consid-ered to represent the south at the Super 7 in December. Leeds is ranked #1 in the ASWA 4A preseason poll.

The Thunder will remain in 1A-Region 7 this year hop-ing to rebound from a disappointing 3-7 in 2013. Home openers against Coosa Christian on 9/12 and Cedar Bluff on 9/19 are “must wins” if JCA hopes to compete for a playoff spot. Valley Head comes to Tommy Miller Field on 10/17, giving the Thunder the opportunity to redeem themselves for last year’s 42-12 thrashing. An upset win could put the Thunder in contention for a top region spot. All-State Senior QB Daylon Brackett will need another big season to keep the Thunder around for post season play in November.

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Stadium: Roy C. Owens FieldColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Scott MartinRegion: 3A-R6

Stadium: Munford StadiumColors: Red, White & GrayCoach: Will WagnonRegion: 4A-R3

Stadium: Bill Morris StadiumColors: Navy Blue & Vegas GoldCoach: Jay BrownRegion: 5A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 @ Southeastern (2A)

8/29 OPEN

9/5 vs. Westbrook Christian (3A)* 9/12 @ Piedmont (3A) *

9/19 vs. Ashville (3A) * 9/26 vs. Cherokee County (4A) 10/3 @ Weaver (3A) *

10/10 vs. Glencoe (3A) * 10/17 @ Pleasant Valley (3A) *

10/24 vs. Walter Wellborn (3A) * 10/31 @ Ragland (1A)

8/21 vs. Hamilton (4A) 8/29 OPEN

9/5 @ Springville (5A) *

9/12 vs. Mortimer Jordan (5A) *

9/19 @ Hayden (5A) *

9/26 @ Walter Wellborn (3A)

10/3 vs. St. Clair County (5A) * 10/10 vs. Anniston (5A) * 10/17 @ Alexandria (5A) *

10/24 vs. Lincoln (5A) * 10/31 @ Arab (6A)

8/22 vs. Central clay County 5A (5A) 8/29 vs. Cleburne County (4A) 9/5 @ Leeds (4A) *

9/12 vs. Elmore County (4A) *

9/19 @ Handley (4A) *

9/26 @ Lincoln (5A)

10/3 vs. Dadeville (4A) * 10/10 @ Childersburg (4A) *

10/17 vs. Holtville (4A) * 10/24 OPEN

10/31 @ Talladega (5A)

New Coach Scott Martin has brought some early excite-ment to town as the Indians were impressive in the Spring Jamboree, but that was against Pleasant Valley and White Plains. Things get more diffi cult when you look at 3A Region 6. Piedmont, Walter Wellborn and Glencoe look like the top three with Ohatchee playing for 4th against all the others. Martin gets help from returning All-State senior off ensive lineman Hunter Barclay. After fi nishing 1-9 last season, 8-32 since 2010, Ohatchee is just looking for anything good to happen to springboard the rebuilding process. The Indians will improve, but there’s not a game on the schedule that’s a lock for a “W”.

The Lions roared loudly last fall, making it all the way to the 4A semi-fi nals. This year, 2013 FNN Coach of the Year Will Wagnon faces the incredibly tough 4A-Region 3 where the Lions will battle the likes of preseason 4A #1 Leeds and #3 Dadeville for the region crown. Munford looked good in the spring game against Bibb County and it appears the Lions will once again be able to score points. The schedule is demanding early hosting Central-Clay County, then Cle-burne County followed by the region opener on the road at Leeds. Dadeville at home on 10/3 sets up an upset oppor-tunity. Munford is not likely to win the region title, but they certainly a contender for a playoff spot.

The Blue Devils fi nished a respectable 6-5 last year, earning a spot in the 5A playoff s before being kicked to the curb in the fi rst round by Cullman 20-14. Coach Jay Brown returns for his 4th season and he’ll have help on the off ensive side of the ball from returning fi rst-team All-State senior WR Terrell Martin. Moody set a school record in 2013 with 378 points scored. They’ll need every one of those points again when they hit the four week region stretch in October with home games against rival St Clair County, Anniston and Lincoln, then the road trip to Alexandria on 10/17. The Blue Devils will need to go at least 2-2 during this stretch to make the playoff s again this season.

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New Coach Scott Martin has brought some early excite-



Stadium: Pete Rich-Alumni StadiumColors: Black & GoldCoach: Brooks DampeerRegion: 6A-R3

Stadium: Lamar FieldColors: Black & Old GoldCoach: Ryan HerringRegion: 6A-R3

Stadium: Gilbreath StadiumColors: Red, White & BlueCoach: Don JacobsRegion: 4A-R7

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 vs. Walker (6A) 8/29 @ Lincoln (5A)

9/5 vs. Chilton County (6A) * 9/12 @ Opelika (6A) *

9/19 vs. Benjamin Russell (6A) * 9/26 vs. Hu� man (6A) 10/3 OPEN

10/10 @ Oxford (6A) *

10/17 vs. Chelsea (6A) * 10/24 @ Valley (6A) *

10/31 @ Oak Mountain (7A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Pinson Valley (6A)

9/5 @ D.A.R. (4A) *

9/12 vs. Good Hope (4A) *

9/19 @ Locust Fork (4A) *

9/26 vs. Susan Moore (3A)

10/3 vs. Priceville (4A) *

10/10 @ J.B. Pennington (4A) *

10/17 vs. North Jackson (4A) * 10/24 @ Westminster Christia (4A)*

10/31 vs. Piedmont (3A)


8/29 @ Gadsden City (7A)

9/5 vs. Valley (6A) * 9/12 @ Chilton County (6A) *

9/19 vs. Opelika (6A) * 9/26 vs. Vestavia Hills (7A) 10/3 @ Benjamin Russell (6A) *

10/10 vs. Pell City (6A) * 10/17 OPEN

10/24 @ Chelsea (6A) *

10/31 vs. Decatur (6A)

The Panthers also move south to 6A-Region 3 this fall. After a 6-4 2013, Pell City behind second-season head Coach Brooks Dampeer appears to us as a mid-tier team in the region. They’ll probably contend with Opelika, Chelsea and Valley for the bottom two playoff spots in the region. The late season schedule sets up nicely for the Panthers, at Oxford on 10/10, then hosting Chelsea and Valley the following two Fridays. If Pell City improves throughout September, and can put Oxford on “Upset Alert”, the Pan-thers just might fi nd themselves hosting a playoff game in November. However, with a tough September stretch, it could just as easily go the other direction.

Ryan Herring enters his second season with the Jackets with a region move that should make the path to the play-off s are little more manageable than in recent memory. Oxford is now in Region 3, moving to the south side of the bracket. The area title will in all likelihood come down to a 10/3 showdown at Benjamin Russell. Herring has off en-sive fi repower with D1 prospect QB Ty Webber and senior All State WR Tredarian Gamble. Oxford opens on the road at Southside-Gadsden, then at Gadsden City where we’ll see them on FNN on 8/29. Region play begins 9/5 with Valley at Lamar Field. The Yellow Jackets should make the playoff s and enjoy another 8+ win season.

The defending 4A state champions are one of the teams going into 2014 that could provide a repeat performance. The Redskins have been “lights out” good the past several seasons, averaging over ten wins yearly since 2010. The ASWA has them at #5 in the preseason poll. The Redskins move from Region 6 to Region 7 this year, where they’re easily the favorite to win the area, which will probably be determined early in the home opener on 9/12 against Good Hope. With returning All-State senior LB Thomas Boyd to anchor a stingy defense, look for the Redskins to be around late in November contending for the north side of a trip back to the Super 7.

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Stadium: Joan Ford StadiumColors: Purple & Old GoldCoach: Jonathan NixRegion: 1A-R5

Stadium: Raider StadiumColors: Red, White & BlueCoach: Jeff DavisRegion: 3A-R6

Stadium: Field of ChampionsColors: Blue & GoldCoach: Steve SmithRegion: 3A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Gaston (2A) 9/5 @ Wadley (1A) *

9/12 vs. Winterboro (1A) *

9/19 @ Appalachian (1A) *

9/26 @ Cedar Bluff (1A)

10/3 @ Talladega County Cen (1A) *

10/10 vs. Shades Mountain Chri (1A)* 10/17 vs. Donoho (1A) * 10/24 @ Victory Christian (1A) *

10/30 vs. Ohatchee (3A)

8/23 OPEN

8/29 vs. Cherokee County (4A) 9/5 @ Ashville (3A) *

9/12 vs. Ohatchee (3A) *

9/19 @ Glencoe (3A) *

9/25 vs. Leeds (4A) 10/3 vs. Pleasant Valley (3A) * 10/10 @ Walter Wellborn (3A) *

10/17 @ Westbrook Christian (3A) *

10/24 vs. Weaver (3A) * 10/31 @ Oneonta (4A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Ranburne (2A) 9/5 vs. Weaver (3A) * 9/12 @ Walter Wellborn (3A) *

9/19 vs. Westbrook Christian (3A)* 9/26 @ White Plains (4A)

10/3 @ Piedmont (3A) *

10/10 vs. Ashville (3A) * 10/17 vs. Ohatchee (3A) *

10/24 @ Glencoe (3A) *

10/31 @ Gaston (2A)

Third year head coach Jonathan Nix has elevated the Purple Devils to one of the elite teams in 1A football in Alabama. Their 85.4% winning percentage since 2010 ranks 2nd in 1A in the state. The 11-2 mark from 2013 resulted in a trip to the 1A quarterfi nals, where they lost to Pickens County. Ragland enters this season with a move in Regions from 6 to 5. A home game against a talented Donoho team and a road trip to Howell’s Cove at Talladega County Central (potentially one of those “trap games”), appear to us to be the biggest hurdles in the Purple Devils quest for another Region crown. Ragland should be hosting when the playoff s begin.

The Raiders move up to 3A-Region 6 this fall, where they’ll fi nd the going very tough. At 3-7 last year, in order to show improvement, PVHS behind ten-year veteran coach Jeff Davis needs to take advantage of every opportunity to win. Honestly, there aren’t a lot of those on this tough schedule. Earning a playoff spot in this crowd is not likely. The Raiders do have a chance to get out early with home games against Weaver and Ranburne before going to Wellborn on 9/12. Ashville and Ohatchee at home in mid-October are both “winnable” matchups. If Pleasant Valley can fi nd its way to a 4 or 5 wins this season that would be a major accomplishment and a step in the right direction.

An ASWA pick at #2 in 3A preseason, Steve Smith’s Bull-dogs have one of the toughest regular season schedules in Alabama. Their fi rst real test comes 9/19 at Glencoe, where you can see them on FNN. Then they host 4A #1 Leeds on 9/25, go to 3A #5 Walter Wellborn on 10/10, (an-other FNN telecast) then fi nish up on Halloween night at 4A #5 Oneonta. The Bulldogs move to 3A-Region 6, and despite some very tough opposition, have to be the area favorite. The defensive talent is deep with returning All-State junior Darnell Jackson, sophomore LB Taylor Hayes and junior LB Neonta Alexander. Pencil in Piedmont to contend for the north side of the 3A Super 7 bracket.

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Stadium: Jack Stewart FieldColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Jonathan MillerRegion: 4A-R6

Stadium: Hulond Humphries StadiumColors: Navy, White & Old GoldCoach: Pat PrestridgeRegion: 2A-R5

Stadium: Ranburne StadiumColors: Purple & GrayCoach: Chad YoungRegion: 2A-R5

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Walter Wellborn (3A) 9/5 vs. Sardis (4A) * 9/12 @ Cherokee County (4A) *

9/19 @ White Plains (4A) *

9/26 @ Weaver (3A)

10/3 vs. Crossville (4A) * 10/10 @ Hokes Bluff (4A) *

10/17 @ Cleburne County (4A) *

10/24 vs. Jacksonville (4A) * 10/31 vs. LaFayette (2A)

8/22 @ Bremen GA

8/29 @ Pleasant Valley (3A)

9/5 vs. Randolph County (2A) * 9/12 @ Lanett (2A) *

9/19 vs. LaFayette (2A) * 9/26 vs. Beulah (3A) 10/3 @ Reeltown (2A) *

10/10 vs. Horseshoe Bend (2A) * 10/17 OPEN

10/24 @ Woodland (2A) *

10/31 vs. Westbrook Christian (3A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Mt. Zion GA 9/5 @ Ranburne (2A) *

9/12 vs. Woodland (2A) *

9/19 vs. Central Clay County (5A) 9/26 @ Westbrook Christian (3A)

10/3 @ Lanett (2A) *

10/10 vs. LaFayette (2A) * 10/17 @ Reeltown (2A) *

10/24 vs. Horseshoe Bend (2A) * 10/31 @ Beulah (3A)

“Almost Perfect” would be the appropriate label for the Wildcats’ 2013 season. The 13-1 mark set a school record for most wins in a season while their 42.5 PPG average set another school scoring record. Saks enters 2014 with the respect of the ASWA, with a #6 ranking in the 4A preseason poll. The Wildcats take their 12 game regular season win-ning streak up to 4A-Region 6 this fall where they are a fa-vorite for the area title. Two games could stand in the way of another “perfect” regular season. At Cleburne County on 10/17 then at home against Jacksonville on 10/24. Post “W”s in these and that regular season win streak doubles to “24” with Saks hosting to start the playoff s.

The Tigers remain in 2A-Region 5 this season, and even though their 6-4 mark left them on the outside of the playoff s, Randolph County showed solid improvement during Coach Pat Prestridge’s fi rst season back in Wedow-ee. We believe the Tigers can contend for a playoff spot. Key to making that happen will be winning one of the two games in September against either Ranburne (there) or Woodland (at home), both emotional contests due to proximity. Do that, then Randolph County needs a split in road trips to Lanett and Reeltown in October. A stumble at home against LaFayette or Horseshoe Bend in October could ruin the Tigers’ chances at post-season play.

The Bulldogs under Chad Young had a magical season in 2013, going 10-2. Ranburne stays in 2A this fall, moving from Region 6 over to Region 5. Lanett will be the biggest challenge facing the Bulldogs for another region title with honorable mention to Reeltown and Woodland. The game at 3A Pleasant Valley on 8/29 should be a good one as the Raiders look to avenge the 33-32 loss. We see the Bulldogs fi nishing in the top two and hosting in week one of the playoff s with this footnote. October will be key in determining Ranburne’s region fate with key road trips to Reeltown on 10/3 and to rival Woodland on 10/24. Prob-ably not a 10 win season, but certainly “respectable”.

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Stadium: St. Clair StadiumColors: Maroon & WhiteCoach: Lance SmithRegion: 5A-R6

Stadium: Tiger StadiumColors: Purple, White & GoldCoach: Steve DavisRegion: 5A-R6

Stadium: Barney Hood StadiumColors: Black & CardinalCoach: Ron DaughertyRegion: 6A-R7

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. John Carroll (6A) 9/5 @ Lincoln (5A) *

9/12 vs. Springville (5A) *

9/19 @ Mortimer Jordan (5A) *


10/3 @ Moody (5A) *

10/10 vs. Alexandria (5A) * 10/17 @ Anniston (5A) *

10/24 vs. Hayden (5A) * 10/31 vs. Etowah (5A)

8/21 vs. Oxford (6A) 8/29 vs. Hokes Blu� (4A) 9/5 @ Chelsea (6A)

9/12 vs. Arab (6A) *

9/19 @ Brewer (6A) *

9/26 vs. St. Clair County (5A) 10/3 @ Albertville (6A) *

10/10 vs. Lee Huntsville (6A) * 10/17 @ Scottsboro (6A) *

10/24 vs. Fort Payne (6A) * 10/31 OPEN

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Sylacauga (5A)

9/5 vs. Moody (5A) *

9/12 @ St. Clair County (5A) *

9/19 vs. Alexandria (5A) * 9/26 @ Talladega (5A)

10/3 @ Anniston (5A) *

10/10 vs. Hayden (5A) * 10/17 @ Lincoln (5A) *

10/24 vs. Mortimer Jordan (5A) * 10/31 @ John Carroll (6A)

After a 5-5 2013 and a fi rst round playoff loss, the Fighting Saints fi nd themselves moving up to 5A this fall where they’ll play in Region 6. There appears to be plenty of bal-ance in this region, with no team that sticks out as a clear favorite as the season begins. That usually ends up with some crazy Friday nights along the way. The Saints enter the season with a new head coach, Lance Smith, who has been with the program as the Defensive Coordina-tor. A key game comes on 10/10 when Alexandria comes to Odenville. We believe the Fighting Saints should end up in one of the four playoff spots, but beware…in this region, anything’s possible.

After going 3-7 in 2013, the Tigers return to 5A-Region 6 this season. Since 2010, the program has fallen on some tough seasons, posting an overall mark of 13-27. Steve Davis takes over the helm this year, replacing Keith Maple who spent 13 years with the program. The schedule is tough, opening against Sylacauga at home, then host-ing rival Moody the following week to begin region play. There will have to be some unexpected wins earned if Springville hopes to be in playoff contention. This is a region with balance, where upsets will come and if the Tigers fi nd themselves on the winning side of one or two of them, they may be around come November.

The Panthers are coming off a special season where they posted a school record 13-1, playing all the way to the 5A semi-fi nals. Their off ensive fi repower-427 points scored set a school record. The on-fi eld success led to Coach Ron Daugherty getting the head job on a permanent basis. Southside moves up to 6A this year, where they’ll com-pete in Region 7 as the favorite to win the area and host going into the playoff s. The biggest challenge to another region crown could come down to the 10/17 road trip to Scottsboro. The Panthers return several talented players in All-State OL Tyler Carr (an Auburn commit), junior LB Hunter Armstrong and junior kicker Carter West. SO

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Stadium: Alumni FieldColors: Royal Blue & GoldCoach: Chris MahandRegion: 1A-R5

Stadium: Mary Dumas StadiumColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Robert Herring Jr.Region: 5A-R3

Stadium: Legion StadiumColors: Cardinal, Black & WhiteCoach: Matt Griffi thRegion: 5A-R3

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 vs. Talladega (5A) 8/29 OPEN

9/5 vs. Donoho (1A) * 9/12 vs. Victory Christian (1A) *

9/19 @ Wadley (1A) *

9/26 @ Spring Garden (1A)

10/3 vs. Ragland (1A) * 10/10 @ Appalachian (1A) *

10/17 vs. Winterboro (1A) * 10/24 @ Shades Mountain Chri (1A)*

10/31 @ Vincent (2A)

8/22 vs. Chilton County (6A) 8/29 @ Springville (5A)

9/5 vs. Marbury (5A) * 9/12 @ Beauregard (5A) *

9/19 OPEN

9/26 @ Childersburg (4A)

10/3 vs. Talladega (5A) * 10/10 @ Shelby County (5A) *

10/17 vs. Central Clay County (5A) * 10/24 @ Tallassee (5A) *

10/30 vs. B.B. Comer (3A)

8/22 @ Talladega County Cen (1A)

8/29 OPEN

9/5 vs. Tallassee (5A) * 9/12 @ Marbury (5A) *

9/19 vs. Beauregard (5A) * 9/26 vs. Springville (5A) 10/3 @ Sylacauga (5A) *

10/10 OPEN

10/17 vs. Shelby County (5A) * 10/24 @ Central Clay County (5A) *

10/31 vs. Munford (4A)

The Tigers are looking to recapture the magic with return-ing head coach Chris Mahand. TCC had great success in the 06-08 seasons under Mahand, including a trip to the 1A state title game in 2007. This year, TCC moves from 1A Region 4 to 1A-Region 5. They’ll have to contend with Ragland and Donoho for the top spot, but a playoff berth appears achievable again this season. TCC gets the cross-town 5A Tigers at Alumni Field in the opener and it could get interesting. You’ll see Talladega County Central on FNN 9/5 when they host Donoho. Another big home game comes on 10/3 when Ragland comes to Howell’s Cove, and it could be a night to settle a region title.

Robert Herring, Jr. enters his second season as the head coach of the Tigers. This is a team, despite their 3-7 mark last season that did improve. Depth was an issue and competing in the ultra-trough 5A-Region 4 was just too much. This year, Talladega moves south to 5A-Region 3. Others in the region probably have the playoff spots locked, but an upset or two, like Tallassee at Mary Du-mas on 9/5 or even Beauregard at home on 9/19 could put the Tigers in contention. Getting off early with a win against Talladega County Central is crucial. If Talladega falls to the 1A Tigers in the opener, it could quickly turn into yet another long disappointing season.

Realignment was kind to the Aggies as they move from the north, 5A-Region 4 to the south, 5A-Region 3 where they will be one of the region’s top teams and should fi nd a path into the playoff s with relative ease. If they want a crack at the region crown, they’ll have to knock off Central-Clay County at Legion Stadium on 10/17, and fi nd a win against Beauregard on the road in September. Matt Griffi th returns for his 10th season in Sylacauga, where he’s lead the Aggies to fi ve playoff appearances. It’s been fi fteen years since Sylacauga won a region title, but they have a legitimate shot this season if they can fi nd a way to beat the Volunteers and the Hornets.

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Stadium: The HillColors: Black & WhiteCoach: Jeff SmithRegion: 3A-R6

Stadium: Curtis Lynch StadiumColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Ken FordhamRegion: 1A-R5

Stadium: Harold Garrett StadiumColors: Black & Old GoldCoach: Jason HillRegion: 2A-R4

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Saks (4A)

9/5 @ Glencoe (3A) *

9/12 vs. Pleasant Valley (3A) *

9/19 vs. Weaver (3A) * 9/26 vs. Moody (5A) 10/3 @ Westbrook Christian (3A) *

10/10 vs. Piedmont (3A) * 10/17 @ Ashville (3A) *

10/24 @ Ohatchee (3A) *

10/31 OPEN

8/22 vs. West Blocton (4A) 8/29 @ Corner (5A)

9/5 vs. Holy Spirit (2A) * 9/12 OPEN

9/19 vs. Fayetteville (2A) * 9/26 @ B.B. Comer (3A)

10/3 @ Thorsby (2A) *

10/10 vs. Francis Marion (2A) * 10/17 @ Pickens County (2A) *

10/24 @ R.C. Hatch (2A) *

10/31 vs. Talladega County Cen (1A)

8/22 OPEN

8/28 @ Horseshoe Bend (2A)

9/5 vs. Ragland (1A) * 9/12 @ Appalachian (1A) *

9/19 vs. Talladega County Cen (1A)* 9/26 vs. LaFayette (2A) 10/3 @ Shades Mountain Chri (1A)*

10/10 @ Donoho (1A) *

10/17 vs. Victory Christian (1A) * 10/24 @ Winterboro (1A) *

10/31 vs. Woodland (2A)

Jeff Smith has done an amazing job turning around the Wellborn football program. Friday nights on “The Hill” are once again fi lled with energy and excitement. Fol-lowing realignment, the Panthers move back up to 3A and will play in ultra-tough Region 6 where they’ll have to battle with Piedmont and Glencoe for the region title. There’s plenty of respect for 3A-Region 6 by the ASWA, ranking all three of these teams in the preseason Top 10. Wellborn slots in at #5. The schedule opens tough at 4A Saks before the region opener at Glencoe. One of the biggest games of the year comes on 10/10 when Piedmont visits “The Hill” and FNN will be there.

There’s a winning tradition at Wadley and second season Coach Ken Fordham is hoping to get the Bulldogs back where they’ve been before. Over the past 25 seasons, Wadley has a combined record of 169-112. Their 60.1% winning percentage ranks them 7th in 1A in Alabama. Wadley went 6-4 last year, earning a playoff spot. The Bull-dogs move to 1A-Region 5 this fall and should be in the mix for the post season. A key game early features region favorite Ragland at Curtis Lynch Stadium on 9/5. Other signifi cant region match-ups are Talladega County Central at home on 9/19 and a road trip to Donoho on 10/10. The Bulldogs return All-State junior Kamaury Avery.

Last year the Yellow Jackets went 3-4 in region play and failed to qualify for post season action. A move to 2A-Region 4 this season won’t help their chances. Coach Jason Hill begins his second year at the head whistle in Vincent. He’ll get help on the fi eld from returning All-State senior Jace Green. Vincent can make a run at the playoff s in this region, but there’s no margin for slip-ups. They’ll have to win the ones they should and the schedule is kind early. Fayetteville at home at Harold Garrett Stadium on 9/19 is a key region game. A win and the Jackets could fi nish as high as 2nd providing an opportunity to host the fi rst Friday in November.

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Stadium: Robertson FieldColors: Royal Blue & WhiteCoach: Larry StrainRegion: 4A-R6

Stadium: Jack Osborn StadiumColors: Red & WhiteCoach: Tony OsborneRegion: 3A-R6

Stadium: Bill Bryan StadiumColors: Red, Black & GrayCoach: Daryl HambyRegion: 3A-R6

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Ashville (3A)

9/5 @ Hokes Bluff (4A) *

9/12 @ Cleburne County (4A) *

9/19 vs. Saks (4A) * 9/26 vs. Pleasant Valley (3A) 10/3 @ Sardis (4A) *

10/10 vs. Jacksonville (4A) * 10/17 vs. Crossville (4A) * 10/24 @ Cherokee County (4A) *

10/31 vs. Weaver (3A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Jacksonville (4A) 9/5 @ Pleasant Valley (3A) *

9/12 vs. Ashville (3A) *

9/19 @ Walter Wellborn (3A) *

9/26 vs. Saks (4A) 10/3 vs. Ohatchee (3A) * 10/10 vs. Westbrook Christian (3A)* 10/17 @ Glencoe (3A) *

10/24 @ Piedmont (3A) *

10/31 @ White Plains (4A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Locust Fork (4A) 9/5 @ Ohatchee (3A) *

9/12 vs. Glencoe (3A) *

9/19 @ Pleasant Valley (3A) *

9/26 vs. Randolph County (2A) 10/3 vs. Walter Wellborn (3A) * 10/10 @ Weaver (3A) *

10/17 vs. Piedmont (3A) * 10/24 @ Ashville (3A) *

10/31 @ Ranburne (2A)

The Wildcats faithful got their wish when Larry Strain agreed to exit Woodland and take over a football pro-gram that just can’t seem to get over the hump. White Plains moves up to 4A and will play in Region 6 this fall. The Wildcats have been subject to the injury bug in the off season and Strain fi nds himself in a situation of having to play a lot of underclassmen sooner than he’d prob-ably like to. The Wildcats open at Ashville, then travel to Hokes Bluff looking to post “W”s. They better, because after that, they’ll be hard to come by before late Octo-ber when Crossville visits Robertson Field. White Plains desperately needs a signature win to build on. Unfortu-nately, it’s not likely in 2014.

It’s not often you get to speak of a head coach enter-ing his 20th season at any level. It’s our privilege to recognize Tony Osborne for accomplishing that feat in 2014. His Warriors move up to 3A this fall and unfor-tunately, fi nd themselves in Region 6. They do get the “Big 3”, Piedmont, Wellborn and Glencoe at home at Jack Osborne Stadium. We see Westbrook Christian as the favorite for the 4th playoff spot in this region, but we think they’ll have to go 3-0 in road games at Ohatchee, Pleasant Valley and Weaver to make us right. It’s just a tough schedule in what might be the toughest region in the state. There’s just no room for slipups.

While Weaver remains in 3A following realignment, place-ment in Region 6 did Coach Daryl Hamby’s kids no favor. Finding a playoff spot in this crowd of talented teams will be a feat. Weaver has athletes and has the ability to stun an opponent on any given Friday. They’ll need to do that more than once in 2014 if they hope to play into Novem-ber. The schedule isn’t kind as the Bearcats fi nd them-selves on the road to face the “Big 3” in Piedmont (10/24), Walter Wellborn (9/19) and Glencoe (10/17). Loses in all three of these means Weaver would likely have to sweep the remainder of their region games to earn the 4th play-off spot in Region 6. Doable, but tough.

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Stadium: Sewell FieldColors: Orange & NavyCoach: Randy BoydRegion: 2A-R5

Stadium: Bulldog StadiumColors: Blue & WhiteCoach: Alan BeckettRegion: 1A-R5

2014 SCHEDULE

2014 SCHEDULE

8/22 OPEN

8/29 vs. Coosa Christian (1A) 9/5 vs. Shades Mountain Chri (1A)* 9/12 @ Ragland (1A) *

9/19 @ Donoho (1A) *

9/26 @ Thorsby (2A)

10/3 vs. Appalachian (1A) * 10/10 vs. Victory Christian (1A) * 10/17 @ Talladega County Cen (1A) *

10/24 vs. Wadley (1A) * 10/31 @ Fayetteville (2A)

8/22 OPEN

8/29 @ Beulah (3A)

9/5 vs. Mid� eld (3A) 9/12 @ Randolph County (2A) *

9/19 vs. Lanett (2A) * 9/26 @ Loachapoka (1A)

10/3 @ LaFayette (2A) *

10/10 vs. Reeltown (2A) * 10/17 @ Horseshoe Bend (2A) *

10/24 vs. Ranburne (2A) * 10/31 @ Wadley (1A)

Gone is Larry Strain, leaving the Bobcats in the capable hands of Randy Boyd, an assistant in the program the past fi ve seasons. Woodland remains in 2A following realignment, moving from Region 6 over to Region 5. The Bobcats are defi nitely in the mix for another playoff spot this season and could possibly contend for the area crown if they can fi nd a way to get past Lanett at home on 9/19. Key region contests include the opener at Randolph County on 9/12 and a home game at Sewell Field against Ranburne on 10/24, which should decide the “runner-up” for 2A-R5, earning the winner the right to host the fi rst Friday in November.

Since their 9-1 2011 season, resulting in the 1A-Region 3 title, it’s been all downhill for the Bulldogs from Alpine. Coach Allen Beckett returns for his second season think-ing things have to get better following a 0-10 mark his fi rst season. Winterboro remains in 1A but moves from Region 4 over to Region 5 where they’ll continue to fi nd the going tough on a schedule where opportunities to pick up wins don’t seem to occur that often. We see three opportunities, all coming at home at Bulldog Stadium. No group of kids deserves to go winless, but sometimes football can be a cruel game. Let’s hope Coach Beckett and his team fi nds a way to celebrate winning at least a time or two this season.

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ometimes things can change just that fast. New Jacksonville State University Head Coach John Grass can attest to that very fact in his coaching career. In a span of a little over a year he has moved from being the Coach at Oxford High School to the Head Coach at Jacksonville State University.

John Grass

In the Blink of an Eyeometimes things can change just that fast. New Jacksonville State University Head Coach John Grass can attest to that very fact in his coaching career. In a span of a little over a year he has moved from being the Coach at Oxford High School to the Head Coach at Jacksonville State University.

SBy Brant Locklier

FEATURE STORY



“I have always wanted to be able to help young men mature and get the

same opportunity here at JSU that I enjoyed.”

–John Grass Head Football Coach Jacksonville State University



John Grass’ career has had a meteoric rise. In the last 19 months, he has gone from being the Head Football Coach at 6A Oxford High School to Offen-sive Coordinator at Jacksonville State to the Head Coach of the Gamecocks. You might say it all hap-pened in “The Blink Of An Eye”.

Coach Grass began his coaching career at the age of 27 at his alma mater, Ashville High School in 1995. He spent fi ve years serving in many capacities, in-cluding Athletic Director, Head Football Coach and Head Girls’ Basketball Coach.

He moved on to Hoover High School in 2000 and served as Assistant Head Football Coach and Offen-sive Coordinator. The Bucs went 28-2 and won a state championship during his time there.

In 2002, Grass took the Head Football Coaching job at Albertville. He led the Aggies to a 9-4 season and took them to their fi rst quarter fi nal playoff ap-pearance in school history.

After a year at Albertville, it was on to Moody High School where he led the Blue Devils to three straight playoff appearances. Moody made it to their fi rst quarter fi nal game in 2004 behind Grass, posting a 9-4 record.

The success at Moody earned Grass the head foot-ball coaching spot at 6A Spain Park, where he would remain for two season. He took the Jaguars to the 6A State Championship game in 2007 against Pratt-ville. That year Grass was named the 6A State Coach of the Year.

In 2008, Grass moved to Calhoun County and took over at Oxford. While with the Jackets, he put to-gether a 41-17 mark against arguably one of the toughest schedules in the state. Four of his fi ve teams made the playoffs. His teams there posted 8-3, 8-3, 7-5, 12-2 and 6-4 marks. The 2011 team was the fi rst Oxford team to make the 6A semi-fi nals with a narrow loss at Hoover.

His 2011 team set an all time Oxford record for points in a season with 529 (37.8 points per game)

and over his fi ve year span as head coach, the Jackets averaged over 30 points a game on offense.

In 2013, his good friend and roommate at JSU, Bill Clark became the head football coach at Jackson-ville State and Grass got the call. He exited Oxford to become the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Gamecocks.

Last season, the Gamecock offense under Grass’ di-rection broke 49 school records, 13 OVC records and 3 NCAA records. Not bad, for a fi rst year in the college ranks.

Grass is married to the former Jada Arnold of Rag-land and they have three kids Judson, Jules and Jace Cannon.

FNN had the opportunity to sit down with a very busy Coach Grass over the summer to talk about his career in a Q&A visit in his offi ce at Jacksonville State Uni-versity.

FNN: Coach, How do you feel about getting to be the Head Coach here at Jacksonville State University?

JG: It was really a blessing from God to get this op-portunity. I just have to thank God for it. I have al-ways wanted to be able to help young men mature and get the same opportunity here at JSU that I enjoyed. In high school, we would take the young men and try and develop them and get them ready for college. Now, we get the chance to develop them into men over four years in college. In some ways the kids need the coach-ing more in college as most of them are on their own for the fi rst time here on campus.

FNN: How good is it to be here at your alma mater?

JG: I am so blessed to have been the head coach at my high school alma mater (Ashville) and now at my col-lege alma mater (JSU). Not many coaches can say that.

FNN: How was your fi rst year as offensive coordinator?

JG: It was enjoyable and a learning experience. We broke a lot of records and had a great year. We had a lot of really good kids to work with and they had a lot

FEATURE STORY



of success.

FNN: What are some of the dif-ferences between High School and College?

JG: It is really not that much dif-ferent. It is still football and you are running around trying to keep up with your kids and make sure they are doing the right things and de-veloping themselves as men.

FNN: How about the recruiting process? You did not have to deal with that at the high school level.

JG: I actually love the recruiting. It is great to be able to meet young men and sell them on our program. In high school, you had to work with whatever you got. In col-lege, you can go out and try to fi nd what you need. We have a great

atmosphere and a good product to market. We have great fans that fi ll the stadium, a great educational in-stitution and it is just an exciting place to come to school.

FNN: What was the process that took place when Coach Clark left to go to UAB?

JG: It all happened so fast. We fi rst thought we were headed to UAB with Coach Clark and did not know if the JSU opportunity would present itself. Then all of sudden we got the opportunity and we had to change our plans. It all happened in just a few hours, but we were glad to stay here at JSU.

FNN: What are your thoughts about Michigan State? That’s a pretty tough fi rst game as a college head coach?

JG: Michigan State is a top 5 pro-gram in the country. They have built themselves into this type of program over the last fi ve years and are probably at the strongest point in their history. They have so many weapons available.

Our kids are excited about getting to play a team like Michigan State. It is a chance to go and play in a big time venue against a big time team and we will see what we can do. We are looking forward to it

Grass has been successful every-where he has been and it will be fun to follow the Gamecocks over the next few years and see where they go. Last season was a remarkable run for JSU and this season prom-ises more with the Gamecocks a preseason pick to win the OVC.◆



FEATURE STORY

Miller’s Magical Year

Don’t let Jonathan Miller’s quiet demeanor fool you. When in coaching mode, those wheels are always turning. Miller, in only his second season as the head football coach at Saks High School in Anniston led his talented

team to a dominating undefeated regular season and a deep run in the 2013 AH-SAA Playoffs that ended in a “what could have been” loss to eventual 3A State Champion Madison Academy in the semi-finals.



For many coaches, the football accomplishments would have been enough, but not Miller. He quickly switched gears into his role as head basketball coach and methodically took a team that looked a little rough at the beginning of the season and molded them into a bunch that played well enough to take the Wildcats to Birmingham and a berth in the AHSAA Final 48. Saks would go on to lose in the semi-fi nals.

But now, to just look back on such an accomplish-ment for one coach in a single season to take a school’s football and basketball team to the state semi-fi nals. It’s astonishing and certainly something that doesn’t happen that often.

So we thought we’d take a look back on it all with Miller as he prepares for year three in football with yet another talented Saks team. The Wildcats move up to 4A and enter the season ranked #6 by the ASWA and appear to be the favorite for the Region 6 title. It’s not unthinkable the Wildcats could go 10-0 again.

While Jonathan Miller has moved on to this season, we think last year is worth a one more look back. En-joy the trip in Part 1 of “Miller’s Magical Year”.

FNN: Let’s start with how Jonathon Miller ended up at Saks.

JM: I did my student teaching here during my last se-mester at JSU. It just so happened that mid-year a his-tory teaching spot opened up. I was fortunate in that Mr. Skinner just moved me right into that spot in Janu-ary and I’ve been here ever since.

FNN: Where’s “Home”

JM: Alexandria. I graduated from there in 1996.

FNN: When did you become the Basketball Coach. It’s been a while.

JM: I honestly don’t remember. I believe it was the 06-07 season.

FNN: And this will be your third year as Head Football Coach?

JM: Third year as football coach, and my ninth as bas-ketball coach.

FNN: Not many people do both. How do you feel about that?

JM: To be honest with you, that’s really all I’ve ever known. At Alexandria, my group of friends played all three sports. We would just go from football to basket-ball to baseball. We were constantly playing basketball regardless of what time of the year it was. It’s not too much different from being the defensive coordinator for the football team and the head basketball coach. It’s the same amount of time. Technically I’ve been heavily in-volved with football for a number of years and coached basketball, too. It hasn’t been that big of a change. I still feel the same way at the end of basketball season as I did fi ve years ago. You’re always tired, but it’s that way every year, regardless if I were the head football coach or not.

FNN: When Clint decided to leave for Jacksonville, were you thrust into the role or did you ask for the job. How did that all come about?

JM: It was something I had interest in. I’m more me-thodical in my approach. I like to think things through. I didn’t throw my name in the hat in the beginning, but it was something I was defi nitely thinking about. I made the decision during the process of Mr. Whaley looking for a head football coach to put my name in and here we are three years later.

FNN: Let’s look back at last year. Many coaches never get to experience what your team accomplished in either football or basketball. You got to ride the train in both and had just a magical year. Which one surprised you more…the football or basketball?

JM: I would probably say football because it’s just so hard to make it to the semi-fi nals or the championship game. 3A last year was really, really tough. I don’t want to say it surprised me, because I thought before the sea-son we’d be pretty good. But there were just so many good teams in 3A, I knew the road would be tough. So maybe I would say that it was a little tougher to get there in football because of the quality of opponents we had to play. In Basketball, we felt like we had a pretty good team even though we didn’t start out too well. We thought we’d come together at the end of the season and jell, and if we were playing good at the end of the season, I thought we’d have a shot at the Final 4.

FNN: Your football team last year was unbelievable,



especially offensively. Coach, you beat people up last season. There were a couple of games that were in doubt going in the 3rd Quarter, but generally you won by over 20+ points per game.

JM: We did. We had a really good team. Our senior class wasn’t a really big class, but there were some really talented players. We stick out on the offensive side, be-cause we did score a lot of points and set the school re-cord for points. But last year was the best defense I’ve ever coached here at Saks. We ended giving up some points late in a couple games. We were really good on both sides. We had a couple of weeks that tested us. Glencoe gave us some trouble and we had a tough game with Piedmont. We felt like before the season we were going to be pretty good. We didn’t know how good. We didn’t know what our record would be, but we felt like we at least had a chance to win every game on our schedule.

FNN: How do you gauge how good you really are and what your expectations should be going into a season?

JM: That’s a tough thing. I think the number one thing that could cause an issue during the season would be in-juries. With last year’s team I felt like we had a little bit of depth. In high school, you don’t ever have a lot of depth period, regardless of where you are at. Last year, we had some depth so if we had an injury here or there, we could plug somebody in and still be effi cient. This year’s team is just not as deep. I still think our front line

guys are pretty good. I think we can have a good season if we stay away from injuries and keep working hard and have a good preseason. I think injuries play a big role in how your season comes out. For us, we’ve got high expectations this year. We’ll know pretty soon just how good we’ll be.

FNN: What did you learn in the spring game?

JM: We are breaking in a new quarterback. Any time you have a new starter, you never know how they’re go-ing to play under the lights. We moved Devon Harris to QB and he’s done a good job in the spring. He had a really good season last year. He caught a lot of passes for us and had 600-700 rushing yards. He’s very similar to Tre (Smith) in that he can throw the football a little bit. He can run it and he can catch it. You never know what you’re going to get in a spring game, but I thought we played fairly well overall. As any year, you’re only as good as you are up front. Your offensive and defensive line are going to be key to any season. We like our offensive line. We hope they continue to grow and get better.

FNN: You’ve got some pretty good linemen returning don’t you?

JM: We’ve got two senior lineman. Austin Kilgore is our center. Made all-state last year. He’s a good kid and works hard. He’s strong and he’s a leader for us. Our other offensive lineman that’s a senior is Monte Young. He plays linebacker for us on defense also. He’s been our leading tackler the last two seasons and he’s a good

FEATURE STORY



player. They have both been good players their entire career. We hope they fi nish that way.

FNN: Let’s visit the run to the play-offs last season. Did you ever get concerned that you were winning too easy? Is there such a thing in football?

JM: I think there is such a thing. It’s good when you face adversity during the season because you hope you learn from it. I think the Glen-coe game helped us out in that re-gard. They came in here on a mis-sion. We were 5-0 at the time. We had just played an emotional game the week before against Alexandria and we were a little fl at. They were a good football team and they gave us a run for our money. We had to win it in the fourth quarter and I

think that was good for us. In the playoffs we had some times where we had to come from behind. We turned the ball over a lot more in the playoffs than we did in the regular season. We were able to fi ght that adversity. We got down in the play-offs and were able to come back and win games and I think the Glencoe game might have had something to do with it. I think it’s good to get tested, as long as you win.

FNN: Talk about the Piedmont game. It might have been the big-gest regular season game in this part of the state in quite some time.

JM: It was two good football teams playing. There was a lot of hype go-ing into the game. I’ve never been more proud of a group of kids in the way they handled the preparations

that week. And then on Friday, you don’t know what you’re going to get from kids on Friday. They’re either going to be too hyper or sometimes fl at. We were just kind of business-like. I think our kids were very confi dent. Not that they didn’t re-spect Piedmont because they’ve got a lot of respect for Piedmont. They knew it would be a tough game for us. We kept that approach through-out the day and through warm-ups. We played one of the better games any Saks team has played that I’ve been associated with just from an execution of all three phases of the game. I thought we really handled the week well and played really good that night.

FNN: You were pretty much in control most of the game.



JM: We had a good start. The fi rst couple of offen-sive possessions we moved it a little but had to punt to them. We were just kind of getting the feel of the game. Our kids just made plays. I thought our defense was key because they had a hard time running the football on us. Any time you can make somebody one dimensional then you’re in pretty good shape. I thought we stopped their running game which was huge. Our defensive line played great. We were able to focus a little bit more on their wide receivers once we were able to stop the run. They had a lot of good skill players.

FNN: Talk about the atmosphere here at the school that day and in the stadium that night.

JM: It was phenomenal. I’ve been here fourteen years. The atmosphere was the best we’ve ever played in here at Jack Stewart Field. We’ve got a big home side and it was almost full. The stadium was packed. The kids really feed off that. There was a lot of excitement during the day with the general student body and the pep rally. It’s good for the community to have the excitement. They really came out and supported us that night. It was really important for our kids to see that and they fed off that energy. It was just really a neat deal for us.

FNN: You get past Piedmont, which had been a road-block in previous years. Now you can start thinking about other things. Tell us about the buildup into the playoffs.

JM: We beat Cleveland the next week and then we started looking at the playoff brackets naturally. We had a pretty good idea that we would be traveling in weeks two and three. So mentally we couldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves, but at the same time you’ve got to start pre-paring the kids for a three hour trip across the state. And a great possibility that you’re going to have to do it two weeks in a row, which we did. You worry about things like that. Traveling across the state three hours and play-ing a good football game that night. There’s so much logistics you’ve got to take care of. You’ve got to worry about the kids’ legs and all that kind of stuff. I was most proud of them for just doing that two weeks in a row. Making that trip to northwest Alabama and beating two good football teams. Those were four quarter games. We turned the ball over way too many times both games.

We were able to fi ght back and come out with wins. I thought those two games were a test of our character and it was really a neat thing to see.

FNN: What is it about making long bus trips that drives coaches crazy? Every coach seems to look at it like it’s the kiss of death. What’s so bad about it?

JM: It just throws your schedule off and wrecks your routine. Any time you’re dealing with 15, 16, 17 year old kids and you get them out of a routine, that’s real scary. Getting out of your routine is not something that coaches like to do. Your pre-game meal is a little differ-ent. Your walk through is a little different. You don’t want to leave too early or too late. There’s a lot of things to consider when you’re making those long trips like that.

FNN: Now you’re down to the semifi nals and you get Madison Academy here. Talk about the game.

JM: Madison Academy steamrolled through the sea-son then got into the playoffs and had to face teams that had different offenses and stuff that they hadn’t seen dur-ing the regular season. Piedmont almost upset them. To me, looking back on our game, for us it was a game of missed opportunities. I thought we controlled the game through three quarters but we were up only 14-10. We had chances to score to add to our lead and just couldn’t get it done. We drove the ball all night the fi rst three quarters and for whatever reason, we get to the red zone and we stall out. The possession before halftime we just ran out of time and ended up missing a fi eld goal. If we had had thirty more seconds we probably would have been up 21-10 going into halftime. Now I think that was the turning point of the game not being able to stretch our lead out. They were able to sit back and hand it to Miller all night because they were only one score down. If we could have put a little more pressure on their offense to throw the ball a little bit more we would have been in good shape. We had opportunities and we just didn’t come through for whatever reason.

FNN: So you think it was a game you could have or should have won?

JM: Any time you’re playing a quality opponent like that I think it’s a game we could have won. If we played them ten times, I don’t think they would beat us ten times.

FEATURE STORY



Again, I just go back to the opportu-nities we had to fi nish drives and we didn’t and that came back and cost us. They got up on us 17-14 at the start of the fourth. We return the kickoff down to their fi ve. There’s an inadvertent whistle on maybe 4th down. We played the down over and still didn’t get in. On that fi rst play when its 4th and 1, we fumble the ball into the end zone and end up with it and they call an inadver-tent whistle. So we go back and play the down over and we called a play that we felt like would work and we just made a misread on it. It’s just one of those things that happen. I was proud of our kids for how hard they fought all year into the playoffs. It was a long season and it’ll be a sea-son they’ll get to remember the rest

of the lives.

FNN: You walk into the stadium that night, a trip to the state cham-pionship on the line. A packed house. You’re standing there on the sidelines knowing you’re the guy. Is it business….is it butterfl ies? Do you look around and say “wow…I’m here”?

JM: It’s both. I think if you’re a coach and in the fourth round of the playoffs and look around and see the atmosphere and you don’t have a few butterfl ies then you probably need to do something else. It was an exciting time for our coaches, kids and community. But at the same time, as a coach, you’ve got to be the same way you were the previous thirteen weeks. You can’t go change

week 14. If you’re somebody differ-ent, the kids can sense that and then they’re going to get a little uneasy. You’ve got to be who you are consis-tently throughout the season.

FNN: When it was all over, was there a sense of satisfaction or what could have been?

JM: I think immediately after



and the weeks after when it’s fresh on your mind, you’re more of what could have been. As time goes by, you can look back on it and notice the accomplishment and how good a season it was. But when it’s fresh on your mind, you always thinking about what could have been. What if we had done something a little dif-ferent? What if we had scored on that 4th and 1 or extended the lead when we had the opportunity be-fore the half. You’re always thinking about those things as a coach.

FNN: A perfect season and then a deep run into the playoffs is not something that most schools this size get to experience year in and year out because of the kids coming through. Some years you have more

talent than others. How do you put that into perspective as a coach and the person that’s charged with keep-ing the program relative, fans com-ing every Friday night and the par-ents happy? We all know you can’t do that every year even though you try.

JM: As coaches, we have an idea before the season starts what kind of team we’re going to have. Some years the best you can do is 5-5. Some years maybe it’s 10-0. You want to try to make it as close to that number as possible or maybe exceed expectations. Sometimes expecta-tions for a coach and your fans or community can be different, but as long as you can lay your head down at night knowing you are doing ev-

erything you can do to keep your program relevant, working your kids hard, staying on them about the classroom and making the right decisions off the fi eld, you should rest easy.

With the football season over, Miller had to quickly move on to basketball. Little did he know, but there was plenty more to come in “Miller’s Magical Year”. To re-live that part of our journey, you’ll have to wait for Part 2, which will appear in the FNN High School Basketball Magazine later this season. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if Jonathan Miller and the Saks Wildcats fi nd more “mag-ic” to extend the football season deep into the playoffs. ◆

FEATURE STORY



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FEATURE STORY

It’s an age old question. How do you take a losing public school football program and turn it into a consistent winner quickly?

We went looking for the answer.

FEATURE STORYFEATURE STORY

TurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsTurnaroundsWhat Does It Take To Build A Winner?



If you want a blueprint on how to do it right, you would be smart to start with Piedmont’s Steve Smith. Smith arrived at Piedmont in 2006 at the age of 35. The eleven years prior to his arrival, the Bulldog pro-gram had just one winning season and one playoff appearance. Once Smith started blowing the head coach’s whistle, things changed QUICKLY. Four of his fi rst fi ve teams won at least ten games a season and Piedmont won the school’s fi rst State Champi-onship in 2009. Smith’s record entering his 9th season at Piedmont is 86-16 overall and an amazing 52-6 in region play.

FNN – Tell us what you think were one or two things you did right when you arrived that made a difference.

SS – It was a perfect fi re storm just to be honest with you. The fi rst two years I was here, reclassifi cation placed us in 2A for a two-year period. We avoided the region that had Clay County, Lineville and Woodland that was considered the premiere region in 2A. We ended up the southern-most team in the region that included all the Sand Mountain teams. We had win-nable games on the schedule and that was a big deal. Piedmont had a winning tradition in the past. They had been good during Coach Hobbitzell’s time and also some seasons way back 40-50 years ago. Being in the situation we were in, the number one thing we had to do was win some games to build the interest back and get the support back that we have now. We also made the conscious effort to change the structure on how we were playing. A lot of people around here at that time were playing 7th, 8th and 9th grade junior high ball and just playing varsity with 10, 11 and 12. We went to a little bit of a set up I was familiar with at Cedar Bluff which was converting our junior high to 7th and 8th grade, playing a varsity “B-Team” game on Mon-day night after the junior high games, then the var-sity games on Friday night. That automatically jacked numbers up. A lot of 7th graders started coming out to play that maybe otherwise might would not have

played had it been 7, 8 & 9. A lot of folks thought we would lose 9th graders because we made them come up and practice with varsity. We could kind of control what we did with them at practice and then they got to play a full eight game schedule with them on Monday nights. I think the best thing for kids in football is get-ting to play football. Getting to play in a game and not just practice is a big deal. We had supportive admin-istration at the Central Offi ce. Our Superintendent wanted to be competitive. We had principals at both the high school and middle school that worked with us in getting all our kids into a strength and condition-ing program. Working that out so we could get those younger kids in and start getting them into the routine what we try to do with them when they get to high school. Those things and some involvement between the high school and elementary to middle schools to try and generate some bonds and support. Doing things with the younger kids like elementary camps and el-ementary honor roll night at the ballgames. Just any-thing to try and pull the community together around Friday nights. This town is very supportive of anything that we try to do athletically, especially football. Once we started winning a few games, everybody was real ex-cited about it.

FNN – You talked some about the way you managed the system. Most coaches would probably tell you that you have to “grow them up”. How big of a part of what you do year in and year out is that at Piedmont?

SS – It’s a huge part. That fi rst year, I wasn’t one of those people that thought you come in and abandon the varsity kids that we already there and say hey, we’re going to build for the future. Those kids that were there, they deserved my best effort and our coaches’ best effort to try and help them be as successful as pos-sible our fi rst year. But it is a balancing act to make sure that you implement what you want to get done at the middle school. We’ve been fortunate to have some tremendous coaches even in the youth leagues and a

As we prepare to kick off another high school season, we thought we’d try to find the “genie in a bottle” for creating successful turnarounds with two coaches that have done it. Steve Smith of Piedmont and Keith Etheredge of Leeds.



lot of those guys want to do all they can to set the kids up for the middle school and then the middle school to high school. We’ve had such an unselfi sh bunch of coaches that have done a great job getting our kids prepared for the next level. Once we get them to the high school, some of our varsity coaches coach them on Monday nights in the B-Team games and they spend a lot of time with them there. Graduation comes and the next year, a lot of people will be surprised that a kid comes out of nowhere to contribute, but he’s really not coming out of nowhere because we know about him because we’ve been seeing him. He’s been biding his time and working hard to get his opportunity to play. Our saying is “Next Man Up” after someone graduates or goes down with an injury. A lot of these kids have really bought into that. I like it because they’re com-petitive not wanting to necessary wait their turn, they want to push for playing time as soon as possible, but they understand it’s part of the process of earning your time on the fi eld.

FNN – Piedmont is blessed with showplace facilities. How much of all that is a part of what the excitement and expectations are now for the program?

SS – The high school game now is a lot different than it was just a few years ago. Our town is much like most towns that are in the rural areas of this state. A lot of jobs have gone away and people have had to move to fi nd work. We were very fortunate with a lot of things coming together at the same time. We have a proactive City and School Administration. A lot of people are on

board to try to build this town back through the school system. It wasn’t twenty-fi ve years ago there was more jobs in Piedmont than there was people. When all four of the big mills were operating at full capacity, people would actually travel to work in Piedmont. With a lot of them closing up, and probably only about a quarter of the jobs now that we had then, a lot of people had to move away. That had a lot with Piedmont dropping from 4A down to 3A, even 2A for a couple of years. A lot of kids were having to move. So our city and school system got together, realizing it was going to be dif-fi cult to recruit a lot of major industries to Piedmont. Let’s go out on a limb and try and build our town back through our school system. Of course, the visual when you ride by and see the athletic facilities that we have obviously speak for themselves. But everybody seems to forget the fi rst phase of that was the MacBook com-puters and things that have made us one of the most respected academic systems in Alabama. That coupled with great athletic facilities and having success across all sports. I’m a big three sports guy. I want our kids to play three sports.

FNN – If you’re a coach out there looking for a high school job and you’re searching for a situation that you believe you can put your mark on and turn it around, what’s one or two things when you come in to inter-view that tells you, “Yeah this will work”?

SS – I think it’s very important that a place has some type of tradition. It’s hard to be John Wayne at a place that’s never had any tradition. I think if a place has

FEATURE STORY

“I think the best thing for kids in football is getting to play football.”



been good before, it can be good again. I think you’ve got to have tremendous administrative sup-port. You’ve got to have people in your system that are very pro ath-letic and behind you in what you want to try and do. Couple that with a mayor and city council be-ing behind the idea of making the school a bright light in the commu-nity. You’ve got to have the fan support. I don’t know of a more devoted fan base than what we have at Piedmont. They support us at home or on the road. They make it a fun experience every Friday night. Most importantly, you’ve got to have the kids that are will-ing to work and buy in. I can’t say enough good things about our kids. And please let me also men-

tion the group of devoted assis-tant coaches that I have helping me all the way down through the junior high level. Just a tre-mendous group of guys that do a wonderful job of everybody understanding their role and playing their part to help us be successful. It’s defi nitely a team effort, no doubt about it. I’m the one that everybody looks at a lot of times, but it takes all those other people willing to be on board and do their part. I’ve also worked for three great princi-pals, too that have been very sup-portive of athletics.

FNN – Coach you mentioned the kids. They are the ones that have to go out there and compete on

the fi eld. Ev-eryone says that if a coach stays anywhere long enough, talent comes in cycles and sooner or later, you’re go-ing to get hit with a team that doesn’t have the talent that other

teams may have had. Do you buy into that, or do you have the phi-losophy that we’re going to put the kids on the fi eld necessary to get the job done through our process?

SS – I defi nitely think talent does come in cycles. We’ve had some teams at Piedmont that haven’t been quite as talented as others. But what you fi nd is, what those kids lack in God-given athletic tal-ent they make up with a tremen-dous work ethic and a refusal to be beat. That’s something inside. That comes from the hard work and the effort that you put in and the willingness to not ever give up or quit. Our kids grow up in a



competitive nature and I think they take a lot of pride in what we do. We’ve had some teams since the state championship that have far exceeded their expectation of what you would have thought of them when they were coming up through junior high. It’s just a desire to not be beat. Our kids will seldom win the eye test verses the other sidelines. But they play extremely hard and really well together. They respond to our coaching and they are the true essence of being a team. They play for the name on the front, not on the back.

As successful as Smith has been at Piedmont, when it comes to turnarounds, you’ll fi nd his equal up I-20 at Leeds High School.

Keith Etheredge has two state championship tro-phies and four region crowns. His winning percent-age (71.1%) ranks among the highest in the state. As head coach of the Green Wave, Etheredge’s teams have made the playoffs every year…and it is success that was earned. Leeds was an abysmal 19-34 in the fi ve years prior to Etheredge taking over.

We caught up with him in search of how it’s all been done.

FNN – Tell us about your coaching path. How did

you get back home to Leeds

KE – I was a 1992 graduate here, then went off to JSU. I took a job at Erwin High School as the assistant basketball coach and junior high football coach there. After one year, I became the head basketball coach and we won 9 games my fi rst year, 18 my second year and 23 games my third year. I had the opportunity to come back to Leeds. I came back and spent two years as an assistant then I got the head job in 2006. I think the combined record three years prior to me getting the head job was 7-23, so we knew we had our work cut out for us. We just rolled up our sleeves and went at it. We had a great group of kids and they really wanted to win. They were tired of losing. They really bought into what we were doing.

In the history of the school, Leeds had only been to the quarter-fi nals once. Over the last eight years, we’ve made it to the quarter-fi nals every year.

FNN – Since taking over the program, you’ve won two state titles and four region titles.

KE – I think we’re 90-21 overall over the last eight years.

FNN – The 57 wins in the fi rst fi ve seasons is actually the third most all time in the state for a coach behind

FEATURE STORY

“Part of our success is that we have that physical style. A third and

three is not a whole lot different than a third and six or

seven to us. We’re a running team.”



Rush Propst’s 62 at Hoover and Don Sharpe’s 61 at Andalusia.

KE – Boy, I didn’t know that. I’ve been blessed with great coaches on my staff that have been here the whole eight years.

FNN – Let’s look at doing a turn-around. Obviously its kids on the fi eld executing week in and week out that build dynasties. What would you say to someone about to go into a coaching situation where there hasn’t been a lot of success that you know are keys necessary to create a culture change?

KE – You have to demand perfec-tion. Kids are going to do what you expect of them. I truly believe that. If you let things slide, kids are going to pick up on that. If you hold them accountable, and they hold their teammates accountable,

it becomes easy for kids to buy into what you’re doing. When I got here, they were beat down and tired of losing. We had a long discus-sion. I told them, “You can accept mediocrity and failure, but you’re going to get back whatever you put into it.”

I asked them to give me everything they had for one year and just see how it turns out. I told my coach-ing staff the same thing. We got to work and the kids were phenom-enal. I think if you walk into a place and you have a mentality that you’re going to expect the best out of every kid and if kids don’t want to buy in….of course you want all the kids out there that want to be a part of it….I’ve never kicked a kid off a team. There’s always been situations where a kid has removed himself. I’ve never told a kid they

needed to turn in their stuff. I truly believe if a kid wants it bad enough and he’s willing to do what it takes to get it, you give that kid the op-portunity. We had a couple my fi rst year that were not willing to do what it took, but I believe in eight years, I may have lost maybe three or four kids total. I think that’s a pretty good number off that many years.

FNN – Talk about the climate in the community from what it was when you started to where you are today. Tell us some of the things you’ve done as a coach and the face of the program to get the commu-nity to buy in.

KE – I think the community as-pect of it is huge. You’ve got to get the parents to buy in also. It’s not just the kids. The community and



the parents have to develop that ex-citement also, and that in turn gets the kids excited.

We’ve done a lot of things here at Leeds. We go out in the summer, me and the team and cut grass for the elderly. Everybody brings their lawn mowers and weed eaters and load up in trucks and we go. I’ll talk to some of the churches and get the names of some people that need help. We’ll go there and cut grass and weed eat and clean yards. If you have 45-50 guys show up at a yard, it doesn’t take more that 30-40 minutes to get it done. We’re usually able to hit 5-6 yards in a day. I think that kind of stuff promotes community involvement and helps team build. Our kids get more out

of it than the people we’re helping. I tell our kids all the time that it’s great to get stuff done in your life and for yourself, but there’s nothing better than accomplishing some-thing that helps someone else.

We also do a little thing where kids are accountable to each other. If a kid doesn’t make his grades, we put him with another kid that’s on a higher academic standard and they push them and teach them how to study. Sometimes it’s better for a kid to hear it from another team-mate.

FNN – Share with us maybe a few of the things you saw prior to taking over that made you say to yourself, “We’ve got to do this differently.”

KE – I think you have to adapt to what type of kids you have. We had some hard-nosed kids when I fi rst got here. When I was an as-sistant, we ran a fi nesse offense be-cause that’s what the head coach wanted to do. I always think the most physical team about 90-95% of the time will win the football game. We had to get more physi-cal. When I fi rst got here, I bet there wasn’t fi ve or six kids bench-ing over 220 pounds. We had to get stronger in the weight room. Now we have close to eight benching over 300 and I have two kids lifting over 400+. How many times do you line up on Friday night when it’s third down and one, or third and two, or third down and three? You’ve got to be able to convert in

FEATURE STORY



those situations. If you can’t, you have to give the ball back to the other team. Part of our success is that we have that physical style. A third and three is not a whole lot different than a third and six or seven to us. We’re a running team. As a defense, if you have to stop the run, no matter what the situ-ation is, it opens play action passes up and things like that. We’ve had good athletes here. It’s just physi-cally we were not able to match up with people. We had to get more physical.

FNN – Every turnaround has a signature moment when the kids, school and community says, “We’re not losers anymore.” Can you tell us when that happened for your

situation?

KE - My fi rst year, we had won our fi rst game beating Ashville. We had Hokes Bluff up next and they were ranked like 6th or 7th in the state. They had a big win the week before. We were 3-7 the year before. We made some huge plays down the stretch and then we turned the ball over up by like 3 or 4 points late in the 4th quarter with about three minutes or so left. They got the ball down there on our twelve yard line. Everybody’s sitting there thinking, “OK, we’re going to fi nd a way to lose this.”

We got an interception in the back of the end zone and ran it out to about the 15 yard line. We were

able to put together a couple of fi rst downs and actually win that game. I think that was huge in our turn-around.

There was also another game against Walter Wellborn to earn the three spot to get into the playoffs. If we lost, we were going to be put out of the playoffs. They’re always hard-nosed and always a good team. We squeaked one out. We were down by 3-4 points with 2:30 left. They punted to us and we had it on our 25 yard line. We hit a couple of good pass plays and a good run and then a little slip route that we scored on. We ended up holding on and won the game and that was another huge win for us.



There was a bunch of breaks that year that we got. Sometimes you have to get lucky. It’s not always about skill. I feel like our kids de-served it because they worked for it. It got us into the playoffs for the fi rst time in the long time. We had a chance to make a run. We won our fi rst round game, then our second round and got to the third round. That changed the mental-ity. Our goal was take it a game at a time. We ended up getting beat by Susan Moore that year in the third round. Our kids, to get that kind of

turnaround in one year and make it to the quarter-fi nals spoke volumes of them and the coaches we had on staff. It was a great outcome. A lot of people didn’t expect it.

FNN – How do you instill it in a team that when nobody else be-lieves, your bunch still believes they can get it done.

KE – We go into every season and we look down our schedule. We want to go 15-0 and win a state championship. I tell the kids we

have to take it one game at a time. If we don’t go 15-0 and lose a game, it’s going to hurt. You have to for-get about it and try for 14-1. Our thing is at the start of every season, be perfect. Be perfect, 15-0. That’s our goal every year.

The year we played Cordova in the state championship, they had a bunch of good players, and we had a good team, too. We thought we would win. Just like last year, when we went in to play Madison Academy, we thought we had a

good chance to win the game. You have to believe. If you’re a coach and you’re an adult and you don’t care about kids and you’re working with kids, you may be able to fool other adults, but you’re not fooling 16-17 year old kids. They know if you care about them or if you don’t. They can pick up if you’re confi dent or not. Kids pick up on that. I promise you, every time we step on the fi eld, I feel like we’re supposed to win. If we don’t, it’s something I’ve done. I never blame

it on the kids. It was something I didn’t prepare them for. Even if we’re playing against a better team, as their coach, I should be able to help my kids fi nd ways to win the game.

FNN – Let’s look at the season ahead. You’re preseason #1 after moving up to 4A.

KE – I don’t know how we got ranked #1 after moving up. It’s a testament to our program. I tell the kids all the time that it’s just a com-

pliment to what the guys that have done that were here before you. It has nothing to do with what you’ve done because a lot of them didn’t even play last year. I don’t like the bull’s eye on the back the fi rst of the year. I’m appreciative. It is very humbling. It’s good to know that there are people around the state that think that highly of our pro-gram.

FNN - Coming up short last year has to be a really strong motivating factor.

FEATURE STORY

“You have to demand perfection. Kids are

going to do what you expect of them.”



KE - It is. I tell the kids to read the news articles and enjoy them, but don’t believe the hype. You’ve got to go out there and prove it every Friday night. I’ve said to them a thousand times that it’s not the rankings at the beginning of the season that matters, it’s the ones at the end of the season that count. Hopefully the kids are still looking back at last year and understand anything can happen. We started the season 3-2, then we made a nine game run to the state championship game.

This year, we have every team we lost to last season back on the schedule. We are also playing Central-Clay County. We don’t have any off weeks. Our schedule is loaded, but it’s exciting. Every week you get to come out and push yourself by playing the best teams week in and week out. I think seven of the ten teams we’re playing are ranked right now.

There’s nothing better than winning a game where you’ve been pushed to the limit and you and that other team are scrapping and fi ghting and it comes down to the last play and you win. Even if you come up on the short end, you at least know you played a quality op-ponent and you have nothing to hang your head about. I just want the kids to compete. I tell them, if you want to prove to everybody you’re one of the best, you have to play the best teams.

I love the game of football. I get excited about it. I tell the kids all the time that one of the reasons I coach is I can’t play anymore. It’s the closest thing I can do to get that feeling that players have day in and day out. I’d give my left pinky fi nger just to be able to come out

here and suit up for practice just one more time. I feel like that type of enthusiasm and excitement from me and our coaches bleeds over to the kids.

I tell the kids all the time that I’ve been sitting right where you’re sitting. You have the opportunity to make memories that will last you a lifetime. You have the chance to develop relationships that you’ll carry with you the rest of your life.

Did we learn the secrets of a turnaround? Not really, but we didn’t expect to. There is no secret. It’s just not that simple. What we did learn is that a turnaround starts with discipline and accountability, a lot of hard work, the skill to motivate and a genuine “caring” for the young men that suit up for the program.

Both Steve Smith and Keith Etheredge have mastered it and as a result, have programs that will likely once again, contend for the opportunity to win another state championship. ◆

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FEATURE STORY

Oh, if a stadium could only talk and tell us what they remember. Legion Stadium

has sat there day after day since 1947 on Highway 21, right in the middle of downtown Sylacauga. The memories it must have...

SYLACAUGA’S GRAND OLD LADYLegion Stadium Celebrates 68th Anniversary

Cars and trucks pass by it daily within a few feet of the grand old stadium’s main entrance on its west side. The shadow of the Legion Stadium gradually disap-pears each morning as the sun creeps up over the top of the stands from the east. Across the street is Sylacauga High School. A baseball fi eld and a practice football fi eld separate the complex from the aging neighbor-hood on the west side. A lone house surrounded by a fence almost sits in the end zone on the north end

By Brant Locklier



FEATURE STORY

of the stadium. An old Coca Cola plant sits nearby being used as an offi ce these days. Two blocks down, Odie’s Deli and the Marble City Grill beckon hungry patrons among all the downtown shops.

It has had the pleasure of being a “home fi eld” to two great schools in Sylacauga. There is the larger city school 5A Sylacauga High, and the smaller county school, 3A B.B. Comer located about 3 blocks west of Legion Stadium. These two rivals share the stadium and have been meeting each other for an an-nual football clash for 84 straight years since 1927. It has to be one of the longest continuous rivalries in the state. 67 or their 89 total meetings have taken place on the turf at Legion Stadium.

The B.B. Comer Tigers have their facility on the north side of Legion Stadium and on the south side sits the Sylacauga Aggies facility appro-priately named Tom Calvin Field House.

The citizens of Sylacauga all share in the memories of Legion Stadium as we walked the streets and visited with people. They had a son that played football there, a daughter that played in the band, a daughter or granddaughter that was a cheer-leader or they still vividly remem-ber a game they saw there. The one sure thing is that if you mention Legion Stadium it brings a smile to their face. They all say that, “I just love that stadium, it means so much to us.”

The stadium idea began in Feb-

ruary of 1946 when the Federal Works Agency announced Syl-acauga would get $2,025 to build a new stadium. Senator Lister Hill made the announcement according to the Sylacauga History Fact pre-sented by Bettye Lessley.

Local papers announced that the stadium would be two stories with four exit/entrance ramps. It was to be called Donald Comer Stadium and the new section would seat 4,000 people. The current stands were moved to the west side and across from the new structure and the total capacity would be 6,000 people.

Work began in early 1947 and there would be showers, restrooms and classrooms underneath the massive structure. The fi nal cost of the stadium was estimated to be around $90,000.

The Sylacauga News reported on March 6, 1947,”The Stadium will be used for all types of community activities, but principally football games in which the teams from the Sylacauga High School and the B.B. Comer Memorial School participate. It is felt that adequate seating arrangements will greatly enhance the attendance at these games and that the stadium will be a tremendous asset to the entire community.”

It was reported in July of 1947 that Donald Comer wanted the name changed to Legion Stadium to honor the heroic war dead. May-or Miles Motes did so as he said,” This is a noble, unselfi sh man, and

the change in name has been car-ried out according to his wishes.”

On September 12, 1947 Sylacauga and Pell City battled to a 6-6 tie in the fi rst game ever played there. Records off of AHSFHS.org indi-cate that B.B. Comer beat Alexan-dria 59-0 on October 10th, 1947 in their fi rst game in Legion Sta-dium. On Friday, November 14th what has become known as the Marble City Classic had its fi rst game in its new stadium and Syl-acauga won 25-0.Since that time the grand old stadium has hosted concerts, track meets, civic events, church functions and just about everything imaginable.

The Marble City Classic has been played 67 times at Legion Field. The stadium was offi cially dedi-cated on November 12, 1948 when B.B. Comer took Sylacauga 13-7. The series has swung Sylacauga’s way over the years as it was the big-ger school. This year they have 522 students to B.B. Comer’s 246 stu-dents. This advantage has enabled the Aggies to win the last 13 games and 17 of the last 18 games over the Tigers. The Aggies have the overall edge in games 58-26-5. De-spite the schools differences there is not much better than the festivities of the annual Marble City Classic clash. One can just feel the history of all the players and great coaches that have roamed the sidelines over the years. The last B.B. Comer win was 12-0 in 2000.

Legion Field has seen the B.B. Comer Tigers battle through the years and its most pleasant memo-



ries probably come from the late 80;s and mid 90’s as their legend-ary coach Bobby Overton had some of his greatest teams. Over-ton coached the Tigers from 1967 through 2001, parts of fi ve decades. The Tigers won region titles in 90, 91 and 95 and had two unbeaten regular seasons in 1990 and 1995. Overton was the Talladega County Coach of the Year 15 times, won 7 Area titles and was 15-12 in 14 playoff years.

Overton’s best team may have been in 1995 when his Tigers went 14-1 and marched all the way to the state championship game. Legion Stadium hosted a packed crowd as the Tigers defeated Frances Marion 42-14 and South Lamar 28-12 in fi rst and second round games. Af-ter defeating UMS 38-33 in Mo-bile the next week, the Tigers came back home and hosted Dadeville. It would be the most important B.B. Comer game that was ever played in Legion Stadium and the Tigers treated a packed house to a 14-13 thrilling victory. They would lose the next week in a steady downpour at Cordova 6-0 in the state cham-pionship game. It’s a game many say shouldn’t have been played due to weather conditions and many believe had a great impact on the AHSAA going to a single site for state championships.

There was a thrilling 47-45 fi rst round playoff win over Tallassee in 1988 by a Tiger team that would fi nish 11-2. In 1990 the Tigers opened the playoffs with back-to-back home wins over Livingston

33-14 and Handley 12-9, before losing at T.T. Miller in the next round 35-22.

The old stadium probably has a soft spot in its heart for its Tigers, who play the underdog role most of the time in football with its big-ger brother Aggies.

Legion Stadium’s proudest mo-ment with the Aggies came way back in 1969 when it played host to its fi rst two playoff games. Back then the playoffs consisted of just 4 teams. Coach Tom Calvin’s Sylacu-aga opened the playoffs which was their fi rst playoff game in history due to the fact that the AHSAA was just beginning to have play-offs. A 9-1 Russellville team came to Legion Stadium to face the 9-1 Aggies. It was all Sylacauga as the Aggies rolled 42-12 and they were dancing in the aisles that night.

The dancing got even more intense the following week as Sylacauga hoisted the State Championship Trophy after defeating Roberts-dale 36-14. Randy Billingsley had 3 touchdowns and Ken McClain had 2 touchdowns for the Aggies. Coach Calvin was on the sidelines from 1956 to 1976 with a record of 134-69-11.

A year later in 1970 the playoffs changed to an 8 team playoff and the 7-1-1 Aggies returned to defend their title. They played Game One in Legion Stadium and defeated Citronelle 40-12. The next week the Aggies smothered Walter Well-born 14-7 at Legion Stadium mak-

ing it four straight playoff wins at the grand stadium. Unfortunately, the next week the Aggies lost 16-13 at Valley. The stadium would never host another State Championship game as the game is now played at a neutral site.

Coach Don Flippo’s Aggie teams made some playoff runs in 87 and 89 with home wins against Stan-hope Elmore 28-13 , Choctaw Co 24-6 , Chilton Co again 38-15 and Stanhope Elmore again 6-0. Flippo coached from 1986 to 1993 with a record of 63-48.

In 1997 the Aggies under the direc-tion of John Blackmon took care of Citronelle 41-13 in the opening round and then lost to Blount 35-7 at home in the semi-fi nals. Sand-wiched in between were two road playoff victories. In 1998 Legion Stadium hosted Carroll of Ozark and the Aggies won 30-6. Black-mon would coach from 1994 to 2003 with a record of 63-48.

Another great year was in 1954 when the Aggies went 10-0 with a state championship team that aver-aged 27 points a game and gave up just 8 points a game under Coach Bill Harris. In 1957, the Aggies put together another unbeaten season with an 8-0-1 record.

The one thing we did fi nd out was that grand old Legion Stadium does not need to talk, it has the citizens of Sylacauga to share its memories and special moments while it just sits there and enjoys the view, wait-ing for the next big game. ◆



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