kickoff 2012

KicKoffThe Anniston Star

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Calhoun County high sChool football preview

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star CALHOUN COUNTY FOOTBALL

Anyone remember last year’s chat-ter about heat on Oxford coach John Grass? Me neither.

It seems long ago, now that the fifth-year Oxford coach blew through the Yellow Jackets’ early-round ceiling and produced their deepest run ever as a 6A program.

Oh, and he did it without his most touted recruit. Linebacker Kwon Alex-ander, now at LSU, was lost to injury for the second half of the regular season and throughout Oxford’s run to the state semifinals.

Coming into this year, Grass has two SEC commitments in defensive line-men Trent Simpson and Ulric Jones, both to Mississippi State, and junior

Racean Thomas, considered one of the nation’s best running backs in his class.

But Oxford lost a lot from a year ago. Almost as distant a memory as Grass-hot-seat talk is national signing day, when eight former players put ink to paper in the school’s gym.

Grass will have a new quarterback plus an almost all new offensive line and receiving corps. He won’t have Alexander and Trae Elston, among others, on defense.

Oh, and Oxford remains a 6A pro-gram playing with nearly 5A numbers, a program more likely to rebuild than reload in an unforgiving 6A. If the Yel-low Jackets match last year’s run, then nominate Grass for coach of the year.

Departed stars paint Oxford’s fortunes leaner, Piedmont’s veteran defense looks meaner, Wellborn’s path looks clean-er, the new 4A region has no ‘tween-ers,’ and Larry Ginn’s influence along U.S. 431 becomes a triple-teamer.

It’s all part of the 2012 edition Med-ley’s Meanderings, AKA my top five observations/storylines headed into the coming prep football season.

We’re two weeks out from kickoff eight days away from Clay Central’s

rollout in the Champion’s Challenge. Can’t tee it up quickly enough!

JoeMedley

Top things to keep your eyes on this season

MedLeY OF 5Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Oxford head coach John Grass during a Yellow Jacket practice. Grasss lost a lot of talent, but he’s got a trio of SEC-caliber stars returning.

ReBUiLdiNg OxFORd

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 CALHOUN COUNTY FOOTBALL

One gets a feeling about Piedmont, which enters this season ranked No. 3 in Class 3A. It’s that 2009 feeling.

The Bulldogs won a 3A title that year and will field arguably a more talented defense this year, maybe the best since Steve Smith became their head coach before the 2006 season.

They also raised eye-brows in July by reaching the finals of a 7-on-7 camp at Jacksonville State Univer-sity, and they did it without starting quarterback Cade

Bradley and other key per-formers.

Piedmont has grown into a remarkable 3A program. Not only has the football team reached at least the third round of the playoffs five years in a row, but the rest of the athletics depart-ment wins big.

Oh, did I mention that Smith has been the athletics director, as well, since 2006?

These are good times in Calhoun County’s northern reaches. Barring injuries, it should be a fun fall there.

PiedmONT Primed

Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

Piedmont was without Cade Bradley in a 7-on-7 passing camp this summer, but the Bulldog quarterback will be at the helm this fall to attempt to lead Piedmont on another deep playoff run.

Perhaps no program should benefit more from this year’s realignment than Wellborn.

The Panthers were not only freed from a region where they were clearly the best of the rest behind Leeds, Handley and Clay Coun-ty, but they dropped from 3A to 2A.

Wellborn was shipped into a strong 2A region with second-ranked Fultondale, No. 8 Vincent and playoff regular Woodland, which is receiving votes, but the drop down in classification comes after alum Jeff Smith has spent three-plus years rebuilding Well-born’s program from hard times.

The preseason Alabama Sports Writers Association poll has Wellborn among others receiving votes in 2A. The Panthers should be looking down at “others” by season’s end.

weLLBOrN’s CHANCe

Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Kevin Mixon and the Wellborn Pan-thers should benefit from this season’s easier schedule.

There’s a lot of pedigree in the newly aligned 4A region of inter-est in these parts.

In 4A, Region 5, one need only say names like Alexandria, Annis-ton, Cherokee County and Cle-burne County. At the very least, they’re perennial playoff teams.

Hokes Bluff was a champion-ship program in 3A not so long ago.

Munford is on the rise under Will Wagnon, the offensive coor-dinator who groomed then-Mr. Football Coty Blanchard with Cherokee County’s 2009 state-title team.

Jacksonville is a sleeping giant — a program with more athletes than results to show for it but with an intriguing new coach in Clint Smith.

Expect a brutally competitive region race and, at the very least, a good first round of the playoffs for the four qualifiers.

Oh, and watch out for Chero-kee County. The Warriors have taken their lumps, going 5-6 two years in a row since losing 21 of 22 starters from that 2009 team, but they finally have a senior-heavy team again. They also have other elements coming into place under Tripp Curry, a proven coach.

BrUTAL regiON

Larry Ginn left us too soon, but he leaves lots of influence in Calhoun County. In fact, someone should name Calhoun County’s portion of U.S. 431 Larry Ginn Memorial Highway.

His disciples are head football coaches at three of four schools near-est either side of that stretch of high-way, along which Ginn is buried.

There’s Frank Tucker, the long-time assistant who took over at Alexandria when Ginn retired suddenly in 2007 and died of melanoma in 2009.

There’s Daryl Hamby, who is trying to goose a Weaver program that bleeds athletes to reach its potential.

This season, there’s also Jonathan Miller, who was promoted at Saks when Smith went to Jacksonville.

Miller played wingback and linebacker for Ginn’s 1995 state-title team at Alex-andria.

Just like Ginn and Hamby, Miller will be the head coach in football and boys’ basketball.

While we’re branching out, son Will Ginn is an assistant in football and basketball at Alexandria after a brief stay at Ohatchee, the county’s other school in the 431 area.

Nephew Wes Ginn, formerly at Weaver, will be the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach at Saks.

Larry Ginn won and did it in a way everyone respects. That his influence will be felt under Friday night lights all up and down 431 says it all.

giNN’s iNFLUeNCe


Weaver coach Daryl Hamby learned the ropes under the late Larry Ginn. Hamby hopes to recreate the success Ginn enjoyed at Alexandria.


Class 6a Team (1st) .................................... ’11 record ....... Pts1. Hoover (31) ......................................13-2 ............3722. Clay-Chalkville# ...............................1-9 .............2473. Auburn ..............................................8-2 .............1894. McGill-Toolen ..................................11-2 ............1815. Spain Park .........................................5-6 .............1556. Daphne ............................................10-2 ............1027. Oxford ..............................................12-2 ..............828. Carver-Montgomery ........................7-4 ................809t. Vestavia Hills ...................................7-5 ...............779t. Northridge ......................................10-2 ..............77

OThers reCeiving vOTesPrattville (12-2) 47, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (12-1) 41, Gadsden City (6-5) 33, Hueytown-*(13-1) 24, Moun-tain Brook (12-1) 21, Austin (7-4) 15, Fairhope (10-3) 8, BobJones (10-2) 7, Davidson (7-4) 4, Central-Phe-nix City (11-3) 2, Huntsville (8-4) 2, Florence (7-3) 1. *-Class 5A in 2011; #-Forfeited ninegames in 2011 due to an ineligible player.

Class 5a1. Hartselle (19) ....................................15-0 .............3162. Muscle Shoals (5) ............................11-2 ............2623. Pinson Valley (3) ...............................9-3 .............2454. St. Paul’s (2) ......................................11-2 ............2175. Homewood-* (1) ...............................5-5 .............1946. Jackson-** .........................................15-0 ............1887. Vigor (1) ...........................................12-3 ..............708. Eufaula ..............................................10-2 ..............609. Briarwood Chr. .................................12-2 ...............4610. Center Point ...................................11-2 ..............44

OThers reCeiving vOTesCullman (8-4)34, Spanish Fort (9-4) 24, Fort Payne (10-2) 24, Demopolis (6-5) 16, Etowah (10-2) 9, Valley (9-3) 7, Athens (4-7) 6, Walker (6-5) 3, Greenville (11-1) 1, Russellville (5-6) 1. *-Class 6A in 2011; **-Class 4A in 2011

Class 4a1. Oneonta (20) ....................................12-3 ............3272. Handley-** (5) ..................................15-0 .............2503. Dadeville (2) ....................................12-1 ............2344. UMS-Wright (1) ................................9-5 .............1845. N. Jackson (1) ...................................11-1 ............1746. Thomasville (2) ................................10-2 ............1737. Bibb Co. ............................................12-1 ..............848. Central-Clay Co.-*** .........................n/a ...............749. Anniston ...........................................9-5 ...............7310. Beauregard ....................................10-2 ..............42 Others receiving votesAndalusia (10-1) 33, Sardis-** (9-2) 24, Brooks (8-3) 20, Rogers-** (11-3) 16, Fairview (7-4) 10, Madison Co.-* (4-6) 10, Charles Henderson-* (6-6) 9, Calera (4-6) 8, Tallassee-* (4-7) 6, Guntersville (8-3) 5, J.O. Johnson-&* (0-10) 5,Hillcrest-Evergreen (5-5) 4, St. James (8-3) 2. *-Class 5A in 2011; **-Class 3A in 2011; ***-New school; &-Forfeitedfive games in 2011 due to ineli-gible player.

Class 3a1. Leeds-# (11) ................................. 0-13 ........... 2972. Deshler-* (13) .............................. 11-2 ........... 2933. Piedmont (1) ................................ 12-1 ........... 242 4. Madison Acad. (6) ....................... 12-3 ........... 2335. Bayside Acad. ............................... 11-1 ........... 1296. Abbeville ....................................... 9-2 ............ 1217. Midfield-* ...................................... 6-5 ............ 1128. Lauderdale Co. ............................ 11-2 ........... 1059. T.R. Miller ...................................... 9-3 .............. 7810. Hamilton ..................................... 8-3 .............. 37

OThers reCeiving vOTesFayette Co.-*(9-4) 25, Gordo (9-3) 25, Hanceville (10-1) 23, American Chr.-** (12-2) 16, Elkmont (7-5) 8, Straughn-* (6-5) 7, Trinity (6-5) 5, Excel (3-7) 3, GreeneCo.-* (7-4) 3, Geraldine (5-6) 2, Monte-vallo (4-6) 2, Opp (6-5) 1.*-Class 4A in 2011; **-Class 2A in 2011; #-Forfeited 10 wins after the 2011 season due to ineligible player.

Class 2a1. Elba (22) ........................................ 15-0 ........... 339 2. Fultondale (4) .............................. 10-3 ........... 2723. Tanner (1) .................................... 14-1 ........... 2524. Sweet Water-** (2) ....................... 10-4 ........... 196 5. Washington Co.-* (2) .................... 9-3 ............ 1886. Reeltown ....................................... 8-4 ............ 1237. Fyffe .............................................. 11-1 ........... 1058. Vincent .......................................... 9-3 .............. 56 9. Sheffield-* ..................................... 9-3 .............. 55 10. G.W. Long ................................... 9-2 .............. 48

OThers reCeiving vOTesOakman (8-4)39, N. Sand Mountain (9-2) 32, Flo-maton (11-2) 18, Woodland (8-5) 13, Walter Well-born-* (9-3) 9, LaFayette (7-4) 6, Sand Rock (6-5) 6, Leroy (8-5) 4, Montgomery Acad.-* (3-7) 3, South-ern Choctaw (8-3) 2, Luverne-* (7-4) 1.*-Class 3A in 2011; **-Class 1A in 2011.

Class 1a1. Marion Co. (19) ............................ 14-1 ........... 2972. Linden (6) .................................... 13-2 ........... 2853. Maplesville (2) ............................. 12-1 ........... 2194. Ragland (1) ................................... 13-1 ........... 2135. Brantley (1) .................................. 10-2 ........... 192 6. Pickens Co. ................................... 11-2 ........... 179 7. R.A. Hubbard (2) .......................... 7-4 ............ 1218. Cedar Bluff .................................... 6-6 ............ 106 9. Lynn ............................................... 9-3 .............. 3810. Berry ........................................... 10-2 ............. 28

OThers reCeiving vOTesAddison (9-2) 27, Collinsville (11-2) 17, Geneva Co. (6-6) 15, St. Jude (9-2) 7, Pleasant Home (8-4) 6, Winterboro (10-2) 6, Parrish (4-6) 5, Hackleburg (7-4)3, McKenzie (6-4) 3.

ASWA preSeASon poll

TABle oF ConTenTSALEXANDRIA VALLEY CUBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE 5

ANNISTON BULLDOGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

JACKSONVILLE GOLDEN EAGLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

DONOHO FALCONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN THUNDER . . . . . . . . . . . 10

OHATCHEE INDIANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

OXFORD YELLOW JACKETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

PIEDMONT BULLDOGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

PLEASANT VALLEY RAIDERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

SAKS WILDCATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

WELLBORN PANTHERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

WEAVER BEARCATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

WHITE PLAINS WILDCATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2012 COMPOSITE SCHEDULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-13

2012 AHSAA PLAYOFF FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2012 REGION ALIGNMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23


The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 alexandria valley cubs

5

by nicK birdsOnG [email protected]

ALEXANDRIA

Frank Tucker summed up Jus-tice Owens pretty well.

“Justice plays one way and acts another way,” said Tucker, who’s entering his sixth season as head football coach at Alex-

andria. His statement was a compliment of

the highest caliber. Owens isn’t a rah-rah type of leader.

So, you won’t catch him beating his chest, shouting and yelling in excite-ment. Even when they break it down to end practices, Owens isn’t very vocal in his excitement. He gets together with the guys in a show of unity but he still keeps his cool demeanor.

His bark may not be loud. But don’t it get twisted. The senior Valley Cub’s bite out on the field is quite vicious. Last sea-son, the 5-foot-10, 165-pounder rushed for 573 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 87 carries while adding 18 catches for 267 yards. This year, the first-team selection to The Star’s Class 4A-6A All-Calhoun County team will be a featured asset as Alexandria strives to reach the AHSAA state playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, the longest streak among Calhoun County teams.

“I’m laid back,” Owens said. “I ain’t trying to be a coach. I can be quiet and show them different techniques and stuff. I don’t have to sit there and scream at them.”

The Valley Cubs will rely heavily on the exploits of the versatile Owens, who could see time at running back, wide receiver, defensive back, punt and kick returner. They’ll be led by a class of 13 seniors, which includes the likes of all-county performers lineman Taylor Watts and linebacker Chance Smitherman.

On offense, they’ll be led by a first-year starter in senior quarterback Tanner Wells. The 6-3, 185-pounder has proto-typical size for the position and looked

good delivering the ball in and out of the pocket.

His presence likely won’t change the identity of Alexandria, a traditional power that’s built its reputation on its brand of smashmouth football. For example, in a wild 55-41 win against Fairview in the first round of the playoffs, the Valley Cubs didn’t attempt a single pass. But throwing it could provide them with another option and help keep defenses from stacking the box and dar-ing them to throw.

“(Wells brings) A passing game,” Owens said. “It’s something we haven’t had in the last couple years. That little fade, we don’t have to do that anymore. We can do some posts. Some post flags. We’ve got a lot of routes that we can do. We’re just changing up our offense a little bit to fit him.”

Owens didn’t have to raise his voice to exhibit his enthusiasm about the addi-tion of Wells to the Valley Cubs lineup.

After a pair of practices, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, last Wednesday. He went back out on the field and practiced route-running and catching with just him and someone to throw him the ball.

That’s saying plenty. “With his actions he’s real quiet and

very unassuming,” Tucker said of Owens. “But when he gets out on the field, he becomes a different person. I like his personality. He plays hard. He’s not a very boastful kid. He’s just a humble kind of guy who just gets the job done.”

The Valley Cubs assignment in 2012 will come on the road against Class 5A Etowah in a Thursday night game on Aug. 30 before they invite Cherokee County to Lou Scales Stadium for their home and region opener.

“It fees good to come out here as a starter and know that everybody’s watching you,” Wells said. “We just gotta come out and win some games.”

Nick Birdsong covers prep sports for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3575. Follow him on Twitter

• OPeninG uP: While Alexandria will definitely look to use Wells and his big arm in the passing game, don’t be surprised if the big quarterback gets outside the pocket and makes some things happen with his legs. An honor-able mention to The Star’s Class 4A-6A All-Calhoun County baseball team, he looked good rolling out in preseason practices.

“He really has improved a whole lot this summer,” Tucker said. “He’s going to be able to throw and run, I hope. That will make us better by having a dual-threat back there at quarterback.

be aGGressive, b-e aGGres-sive: Just like the old cheer says. Both players and coach alike stressed the

necessity for the Valley Cubs to initiate the physicality along the line of scrim-mage this season.

“We’ve just got to come out a little harder this year,” Owens said. “We came out harder this summer than we did the past two summers. So, maybe that will help us.”

Wells said the Valley Cubs won’t have the size across the board they typically do. So, it’s going to be para-mount they take it to their opponents.

“Just like any football team, we need to learn a lot more so we can be aggressive, then after we learn we have to be aggressive.”

— Nick Birdsong

silent but danGerOus

Standout Alexandria tailback opts to let his moves, speed do all his talking on the field


Alexandria’s Justice Owens looks for running room during practice. Owens will be the Valley Cubs’ featured running back after averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

Quick hitS

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star Anniston bulldogs

bY niCK biRdsong [email protected]

While it could be the understatement of the year, it’s going to be difficult for Annis-ton to replace Troy-maine Pope.

After rushing for more than 4,400 yards and 60 touchdowns in the past two seasons — 2,539 yards and scoring 31 touchdowns last year — the Class 4A All-State tailback has taken his talents to Jacksonville State.

But if anybody could, it’d be Jarline “Scoop” Lee.

Lee, who had a breakout season as a junior at Alexandria last season with 1,945 yards and 27 touchdowns on 304 carries, transferred to Anniston in June in one of the biggest moves of the offseason in all of Northeast Alabama.

“It was just something I wanted to do,” Lee said, flatly.

Anniston coach Eddie Bullock, enter-ing his third season at the Bulldogs’ helm, declined to go into detail about exactly why Lee made the move but referred to it as “philosophical differences” between Lee and the Valley Cubs’ coaching staff. That’s what he thought after talking with Alexandria coach Frank Tucker. That’s the first person Bullock called when he learned Lee might be looking to enroll.

“He and I are friends,” Bullock said in regards to Tucker. “ ... I called coach Tucker because I know if that was my best running back, I’d want to know what was going on straight from the source. I talked to coach Tucker man-to-man, 1-on-1.”

Bullock added: “The kid hadn’t done anything to me. So, I wasn’t going to tell him he couldn’t come to school at Annis-ton.”

Bullock’s not a newcomer when it comes to dealing with big-name, big-game transfers. Also Anniston’s head

girls basketball coach, he dealt with a similar case last winter when he handled the transfer of hoops star Quanetria Bolton, who came in from Wellborn this past season; she sat out the first five games of the Lady ‘Dawgs season while awaiting approval from the AHSAA.

In that case, Bullock said he called the AHSAA to make sure there were no problems. He visited Bolton’s old resi-dence and new residence to make sure a bonafide move had been made. Knowing the penalty, Bullock said he’ll take the same precautions with Lee’s transfer.

“I’m going to do it by the book,” Bull-ock said. “I’m going to make sure that everything is in line and in compliance with the state, and he won’t be on the field (in a game) until it is.”

Whenever the 5-foot-7, 165-pounder does step onto the field, opposing defenses are going to have problems.

Anniston plans to use Lee in various capacities from slot receiver to tailback and Bullock, who’s taking over the offen-sive coordinating duties as well, said Lee could also be used as a wideout.

On one play during practice, he soared above a pair of defenders in the middle of the field to snag a pass from quarterback Spencer Howard. When he landed, he quickly made a move to elude a couple more defenders and took it the distance untouched.

Much like his predecessor Pope, who said he’d rush for 2,500 yards as a senior when his junior year was cut short due to injury then went out and did it, Lee wasn’t bashful about his goals for his individual goals for his senior season.

“I want to get at least get 2,500 (yards) he said. “And I’m going to try to get about 35 touchdowns.”

And oh yeah, Anniston travels to Alex-andria Sept. 21st.

Nick Birdsong covers prep sports for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3575. Follow him on Twitter @birds_word.

A gift foR A PoPe

Ex-Alexandria standout Lee transfers to Bulldogs, will attempt to fill 2,500-yard void by two-year star


After rushing for nearly 2,000 yards last season at Alexandria, Jarline Lee has transferred to Anniston, where he’ll fill the void left by Troymaine Pope.

• leAdeR of men: Coach Eddie Bullock brought Spencer Howard along slowly last year. Replacing a four-year starter in former standout Josiah Atkins, the then 5-8, 165-pound junior had played only sparingly as a sopho-more. He made the transition from rook-ie to veteran in leading the Bulldogs to a 9-5 record and an appearance in the state semifinals. Now, he’s more than prepared to lead his team even further.

“I feel more confident this year because I’ve got one year under my belt,” he said. “So, I know what I’m looking for and all that.”

He’ll also have the benefit of a young but talented wide receiver corps that looks poised to spread its wings and fly.

“They’re coming along real good, learning the routes, learning how to

read defenses too at that,” he said. “They’re catching the ball and they know spacing stuff.”

• one moRe hAt: As if being ath-letics director, head football and girls basketball coach at a Class 4A school wasn’t enough for Bullock, he’ll now add another title to his list — offensive coordinator.

Bullock was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator prior to taking over the head coaching reins. Lynn Moore was the Bulldogs offensive coordinator this past year but did not return to the staff.

Bullock looked to obtain another coach to handle the offense. But when he bolted for another school Bullock opted to handle things on that side of the ball as well to quell confusion.

— Nick Birdsong

Quick hits

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 Jacksonville golden eagles

7

By al [email protected]

JACKSONVILLE

clint Smith brought a vision to his last head coaching job and parlayed it into a successful run at Saks. He’s hoping for the same kind of success in his new job at

Jacksonville.If the plan is right, it figures the rest

should follow.After guiding a once-proud then

downtrodden Saks program to the play-offs four of the last five years of his seven-year tenure, Smith moved 10 miles up the road to help get the Golden Eagles back on track.

And he’s going into it with the same approach, one that not only encompass-es the school’s football program but its entire athletics operation.

“We’ve got a vision; we know what we want to do,” Smith said. “... The biggest thing going into a school is building a solid foundation and determining what we want that foundation to be.

“What I tried to really stress to the guys is we want everything we do to be done in a first-class way.”

It’s an approach that helped Smith win the job over more than 90 applicants from as far away as Mexico and Canada, and one that appears to be catching on at Jacksonville.

Players were coming back out for the varsity who hadn’t played football in a while, nearly doubling the size of the varsity roster. There’s an additional 50 players in the junior high program. Dur-ing the first full week of practice the team had perfect attendance every day.

“I think that’s the biggest indicator things are changing at Jacksonville,” safe-ty Jared Tippets said. “There’s definitely a difference and it’s opened everyone’s eyes. This coaching staff has found a way to get the players and fans excited for

football season.”The Golden Eagles hadn’t been excit-

ing for a while. They were 18-43 in former coach Roland Houston’s tenure and went 2-8 last year amid a rash of injuries. They have made the playoffs only three times since 1998, the last in 2009.

When Smith took over the Saks program, the Wildcats had missed the playoffs four straight years. In 2007, his team won its first region title since 1996 — when it played for the 5A state title — and reached the second round of the playoffs. Last year, they went 7-4 and lost in the second round of the playoffs 14-13 when a two-point conversion attempt failed with 39 seconds to play.

“I don’t know if it’s tougher or easier,” Smith said comparing the two moves. “There are a lot of similarities seven years ago when I took over the Saks job.”

To help make the transition smoother, Smith was able to bring along four of his Saks assistants — longtime offensive coordinator Jamison Edwards, defensive coordinator Marcus Albright, special teams coach Cordell Hunt and offensive line/linebackers coach C.J. Boyd.

“That’s a big plus,” Smith said. “They already know how we do things and what we do, so we’re able to jump in with both feet and really not miss.”

Another thing Smith brought with him is the spread offense he implemented last year at Saks. It’s a bold departure from the triple option of the previous regime.

“I think our personnel fits what we do,” he said.

An exciting offense sells tickets, but the emphasis will be on defense and spe-cial teams.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played in a long time, in a couple years, that we’re looking forward to helping us,” Smith said. “The numbers are good. We’re trying to get people plugged in where we need them.”

Al Muskewitz is a sports writer for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3577.

tiMe for a rePeatSmith hopes his successful formula he used

at Saks can carry over with the Golden Eagles


First-year Jacksonville coach Clint Smith watches his team do drills. Smith will try to lead Jacksonville to the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

• end of tHe line: Golden Eagles senior safety Jared Tippets represents the end of a legacy in JHS sports. He’s the last in a long line of Tippets boys to play sports at the school. His oldest brother was a junior in high school the year Jared was born and graduated in 1996.

“I’m going to graduate in 2013 – that’s a stretch,” he said.

He says there is a little bit of pres-sure being the final torchbearer in a family where seven siblings have gone before him.

“I hope I can (uphold the legacy),” he said. “I hope this is a team that turns things around at Jacksonville. With the

coaching staff, players and attitude we have, the future is definitely bright at Jacksonville.”

• By tHe way: Keep Week 10 open. That’s when the Golden Eagles and Saks clash in Jacksonville. The game, the start of a two-year deal, was scheduled several months before Smith changed jobs.

“I think the players from both sides will be very excited,” Tippets said. “I’m sure they’ll want to beat their old coach and we’ll want to beat his old program.”

“And when it’s over,” Smith said, “we’ll shake hands and still be friends and do the things we’ve always done.”

— Al Muskewitz

Quick hitS

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star donoho falcons


shannon Felder is looking for a few good men to lead the Donoho football team back to the playoffs.

The Falcons were loaded with veteran leaders last

year when they went 11-2 and made it all the way to the third round of the 1A playoffs. But those players are gone now, leaving the leadership role to play-ers who heretofore haven’t had to carry those roles.

“We certainly lost a lot of leader-ship,” Felder said. “We had several guys who have been on some good teams and some weak teams and those guys learned a lot. Not having those guys around this year is going to be a little tough for us because we really don’t

have guys who have had to be leaders in the past.

“This is kind of a new thing for several of the guys we’re asking to be leaders this year. We certainly know they have the ability to do it — they made some steps in that direction when we were (at camp) in Pisgah — but we need all of them to get on a fast track.”

He’s hoping those leaders emerge from the team’s four seniors — quarter-back Marshall Ghee, two-way linemen Jared Jones and Paul Chung, and versa-tile George McMillan.

Felder has asked players to assume roles not necessarily consistent with their personalities before — at Donoho and elsewhere — and it’s been rare in his experience they have shied away from it.

“For the most part, when you ask a guy to be a leader they understand the pressure that comes with that and they

understand the first thing is leading by example,” he said. “I’ve never had a player who I’ve asked to be a leader who didn’t want to be a leader or didn’t want to do what was best for the team.

“I’ve had guys say this is not my cup of tea, but if this is going to be the best thing for the team than I’m going to do whatever I have to, and I think that’s what we’ve got with these guys, a bunch of guys who want to do what’s best for the team.”

Ghee said he was one of the looser personalities on the team last year, when he played some quarterback behind Teddre Williams, but now there’s little time for joking around. He understands the seriousness of his role this year and appears ready to embrace it.

leadershiP Potential

Lack of veterans has Falcons needing players to step up


Donoho coach Shannon Felder will be counting on players like quarterback Marshall Ghee (5) this fall to fill leadership roles vacated by graduation.

• The Falcons’ goal is to make the playoffs, and if they do the schedule could work in their favor.

After trying in vain to schedule a game for Week 10, coach Shannon Felder decided just to leave it blank.

That means, if the Falcons do make the playoffs, they’ll have a week off to prepare.

• The Falcons may be looking for some new leaders in the locker room, but look for them to stick with what works for them on the field.

The Falcons will spread the field on offense, breaking out in wing-Ts, double wings and trips. Defensively, they’ll stick with a multiple look.

— Al Muskewitz

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“They say all the time the older kids have to (show leadership),” Ghee said. “After having a big team last year, a much deeper team last year, they’re always talking about how the leadership has to be a lot greater on this team. We don’t have the size and talent as last year’s team, but with our hard work and if we can all stick together and show good leadership, we can have a run at some-thing.”

Jones, who will be playing his first year of football, said he, too, is ready to accept his role out front. He transferred from Westbrook Christian before his sophomore year, but didn’t have the desire to play football and last year went through spring and summer drills before undergoing season-ending knee sur-gery.

“If the team can come together under a leader we’re going to win more games,” he said.

And that ultimately could lead to a playoff berth, which Ghee said is a “very realistic” goal.

Felder figures it would take four region wins to make it to the postseason,

but getting off to a fast start is the key.“For us to have what I would refer to

as a successful season, we need to make the playoffs,” he said. “In order for us to make the playoffs, it’s imperative we get off to a good start. That’s a must. If we have any chance to make the playoffs we have to come out the gate playing.

“I have no idea what our record needs to be; what we’re saying is it’s imperative for us to get off to a good start. If we can come out of the gate and win a couple games and then towards the latter part of the season hopefully we’ll be playing better football. I think to make the play-offs it’s going to take four wins. Makes no difference where. We feel if we can get four games then we can get in.”

And if they do qualify, they catch a bit of a break. They have no game in Week 10, so effectively the Falcons will have an open week before the pressure cooker that’s the playoffs.

And they promise they won’t be con-tent just getting there.

“I personally think we’ll have a run in the playoffs for a little while,” Ghee said. “I’m not going to stop when we get to the playoffs personally. I don’t think we plan to.”


donohoContinued from Page 8

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star jacksonville christian thunder

By riP donovanStar Sports Correspondent

JACKSONVILLE

a lack of numbers has been an issue for Jacksonville Chris-tian football since the Thunder joined the Alabama High

School Athletic Association prior to the start of the 2002 season. This year head coach Tommy Miller is building a team from 18 players, including two seventh-graders and two from the eighth grade.

“I’ve been here 25 years and we’ve had to play uphill the whole time. We’re just a very, very small school. Actual num-ber wise, we are the smallest school in the whole state that plays in the AHSAA. It’s always going to be an uphill battle when you’re like that,” Miller said after a recent practice.

The remaining 14 players include three seniors, one of whom did not play last year, four juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen.

“We’re so thin and so young,” Miller noted. “We’ve probably got 12 or 13 guys that ought to be varsity. The rest of them would be JV only.”

But there is no junior varsity so the youngest players, too small to risk in a game against other teams’ seniors and juniors, watch and learn.

After a 4-6 campaign last year, the Thunder returns six players with significant playing experi-ence.

Sophomore Daylon Brackett moves into the role of quarter-back. Brackett, a starter at wide

receiver and cornerback as a freshman, got a bit of playing time at quarterback in Week 9 last year then played the position for the final three quarters of a 20-19 comeback win over Meek in Week 10.

“I think it’s a big challenge because there’s so much to play-ing quarterback,” Miller said of the change. “I know there’s a lot of armchair football quarter-backs, but quarterbacking is a tough position, and when you’ve got a guy that‘s stepping in for the first time, it’s a big challenge.

“I think Daylon’s ahead of the game by playing some at the end of the season there last year.”

The Thunders’ other expe-rienced players include seniors Seth Posey and Brandon Sud-duth and juniors Cody Blohm, Dakota Crook and Tyler Morales. Sudduth is the team’s fastest player with Brackett just a step behind.

The new regional alignment has not favored Jacksonville Christian. The Thunder will play in Region 7, a nine-team region, and drew the schedule with eight consecutive region games to start the season.

Miller said in the previous alignment he felt there were four teams JCA could not necessarily defeat but play competitively.

“The region we’re in now is probably more balanced toward the top. You’ve got Cedar Bluff and Collinsville sitting up there at the top but then there’s Gay-lesville and Valley Head and Spring Garden, Donoho. There are several good teams in this region so I think this region’s going to be tougher on us,” he said.

uPhill all the way

Jacksonville Christian still playing numbers game, but will also battle youth and inexperience


JCA coach Tommy Miller talks to his players during a recent practice. The Thunder have only 18 players out for football this season, 14 in the top four grades.

• halF lines and PhantoM deFenses: JCA has only six linemen. To scrimmage, the starting left guard and left tackle play offense and the starting right guard and right tackle play across from them on defense. Then the right side of the line moves to offense to face the left side on defense. JCA practices its 11 offensive players as a unit by driving downfield against thin air.

“We’ve always gone half line but we’ve had enough to line up in dummy scrimmages 11-on-11 even up through last year,” said veteran coach Tommy

Miller. “This is the first year in a while that we haven’t had 22 that we could line up.”

• doMino eFFect: At JCA, the No. 1 at one position is often the No. 2 at a second position and the No. 3 at a third. In a recent practice, senior Seth Posey began at right guard, moved to right tackle and finally worked at center.

“If we have somebody that say gets the breath knocked out of them or is flagged for equipment or something, that can move three or four people at one time,” Miller said.

— Rip Donovan

QuiCk hits

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 ohatchee indians

11

BY nicK BiRdsonG [email protected]

OHATCHEE

the price is steep if you miss one of Ohatchee coach Nathan Wehunt’s practices. It’s suicides.

“That’s where you sprint 10 yards, do 10 up-downs,

sprint 10 more yards and do 10 more up-downs, something to that effect,” he said.

And that’s in addition to at least 50 up-downs.

It sounds tough. But it’s the type of discipline the first-year coach said is necessary to turn around a program that went a combined 5-15 in the past two seasons.

Wehunt, a former Cherokee County assistant, took over the Indians’ helm in late April following the departure of former coach Jason Howard, who left his alma mater to return to Spring Garden.

Despite a few defections, Wehunt said the Indians’ numbers have increased with 55 players on their varsity roster heading into their season-opener.

In less than four months on the job, the Indians have bought into their new chief’s methods. Though he’s a first-year coach, his pedigree spoke for itself before he said a word. Working under Tripp Curry, Wehunt was a part of a Warriors team which finished a perfect 15-0 on its way to winning a Class 4A state championship. That’s part of why his words resonate so much with those who’ll be representing a school whose only state title came in 1977.

“He knows what it takes to win,” senior quarterback Riley Allen said. “He won a state title at Cherokee County and we’re trying to the same thing here.”

After being named a first-team selec-tion to The Star’s Class 1A-2A All-Cal-houn County team last season, the 5-foot-7, 175-pound Allen will once again be the featured attraction for Indians.

Wehunt, a defensive assistant while at Cherokee County, said months ago he’d implement the same 3-4 defensive

scheme the Warriors ran but wanted to evaluate his talent on the offensive side of the ball before committing to any system. After a summer of workouts and 7-on-7 passing camps, he decided to go for what he knows there as well.

“We’re doing the same thing here that we did there,” Wehunt said. “The terminology’s exactly the same. You see them. You see us.”

Typically, Wehunt said it’s easier to mold players into a defense than an offense. However, he felt comfort-able with Allen’s arm strength, and the mobile signal-caller is more comfortable operating out of the shotgun than from underneath the center.

“We’re still going to run the ball,” Wehunt said. “We’re going to be 70 per-cent run. But we’re just doing everything out of the gun.”

Riley’s brother, sophomore Tristan, led Ohatchee in rushing last season. The 5-8, 160-pounder had 563 yards and eight touchdowns on his way to being a named a first-team all-county choice.

Senior Dillon Parker could be a top target for Allen in the passing game.

The 5-11, 170-pounder came back out for the team after not playing foot-ball since the eighth-grade, choosing to focus on baseball and basketball. He was lured back onto the field after hearing pitches from coaches and players who persuaded him it could make him a bet-ter athlete.

“It did,” he said. “I love it. I couldn’t ask for any better. I missed it.”

The Indians will face a rough-and-tumble slate, matching up against the likes of No. 2 Fultondale and No. 8 Vin-cent along with Wellborn and Woodland, both of whom won at least one game in the playoffs last year.

“We love to accept a challenge and be the underdog,” Riley said. “He’s a really good coach and I’m sure we’ll have a plan for them.”

Nick Birdsong covers prep sports for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3575. Follow him on Twitter @birds_word.

• Goal-oRiented: Wehunt’s look-ing to bring his winning ways to the Creekbank now. He didn’t want to put a number to it but the first-year, first-time head coach said he thinks his team is capable of winning several games. “Our goal is to make the playoffs,” he said.

Week 1 Opponent: Despite losses in their last three meetings, including a 30-19 defeat last season, Ohatchee has more than a good track record against White Plains, the team it will travel to take on during the season-opener. Ohatchee has won 21 of 26 overall meetings against the Wildcats. That’s an 80.8 percent winning percentage. Prior to 2009, Ohatchee beat White Plains eight times in a row, dating back

to 1995. • neveR scaRed: Coaches always

say preseason rankings don’t mean anything. With a full-fledged five-week playoff, they’re right. But they’d be lying if they said they don’t look at them. When the ASWA preaseason poll was released earlier this month Fultondale, Ohatchee’s Week 2 opponent, was ranked No. 2 in the state to begin the season. But instead of being intimidated by their opponent’s position, Wehunt used it as a means of motivation.

“They’ve got to beat us,” Wehunt said. “We don’t have to beat them. They’ve got a target on their back as big as this building.”

— Nick Birdsong

time to wehunt

New Ohatchee coach ready to turn program around


First-year coach Nathan Wehunt watches as his Ohatchee players go through drills. Wehunt was most recently an assistant at Cherokee County.

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Page 12 Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star oxford yellow jackets

By joe [email protected]

OXFORD

lots of question marks sur-round Racean Thomas this season, but two things are certain.

One, all eyes are on the Oxford junior already tout-

ed as one of the nation’s top running backs for the Class of 2014.

Two, the lone-returning offensive star from a state-semifinal team is ready to shoulder the load as Oxford’s feature attraction.

That latter question got answered in the school of hard knocks, when Thomas was a scout-teamer going up against now-LSU linebacker Kwon Alexander and other former Yellow Jacket first-teamers in practice.

“Kwon and Trae (Elston, now with Ole Miss) and them on defense kind of made me better and let me know I should never be scared of anything,” Thomas said.

Not that Thomas ever was. That much became clear to Oxford coach John Grass when he first glimpsed Thomas.

Grass was named Oxford’s head coach in 2008, when Thomas was in seventh grade. When Grass observed Oxford’s up-and-coming players, Thomas was already showing a will-ingness to challenge defenders.

“He’s a true running back guy, not a kid that was an athlete that you had to turn into a running back,” Grass said. “He’s a natural runner with the ball in his hand.

“… He would break 60-, 80-yard runs, and he would run the ball even inside at that age when the blocking ability is not advanced. A lot of times you’ll see running backs run to the sidelines every time, but he wouldn’t do that. He’d run the ball up inside.”

It wasn’t long before Thomas got to test his willingness to run inside as a member of Oxford’s scout team. He got what he called “tough love” from older Oxford stars, one in particular.

“At first, it was kind of brutal,” he said. “Gary Mason, when he hits you, it’s like a truck hitting you, for real.”

It was all preparation for what Thomas will face this season.

A 1,500-yard rusher in 2011 who saw regular action as a freshman in 2010, he’s one of few proven com-modities on Oxford’s offense. The Yellow Jackets lost departed senior quarterback Jackson Stephens, run-ning back/receiver Coty Spurling, receivers like Elston and Dominique Williams and four starting linemen, including Michael Flint (who is on scholarship at Arkansas State) and Calvin Baker (Jacksonville State).

All are either college football sign-ees or professional baseball players.

That means Thomas will have to produce against Class 6A defenses that will key on him, at least until new starters around him prove to be capable threats.

Thomas lists at 6-foot, 200 pounds and looks every bit of it. He certainly seems physically capable of taking the pounding.

Ideally, Grass said, he’d like to keep Thomas’ carry load in the low 20s, but it depends on how games play out. Thomas has had high-carry games, like 30 for 301 yards in a first-round playoff game against Spain Park last season, but he didn’t have to do it week in and out.

“I think he’s matured and ready for that,” Grass said. “I think he’s ready to lead and be the mainstay on our offense.”

Joe Medley is The Star’s sports columnist. He can be reached at 256-235-3576. Follow on Twitter @jmed-ley_star.

Unleash the Beast

National spotlight firmly fixed on Oxford’s Thomas as he returns to carry the load for Jackets’ ‘0’


Running back Racean Thomas is one of the few returners on Oxford’s offense, but he’s worthy of carrying the load after rushing for 1,500 yards last season.

where to start: Question marks abound on offense as Oxford readies to welcome new starters at several posi-tions, most notably quarterback.

The Yellow Jackets lost departed senior and three-year starter Jackson Stephens, and Oxford coach John Grass said the quarterback competi-tion is between sophomore Ty Webber and senior Joe McGuire, who can also play receiver. As of last word, Webber “probably has a slight edge.”

“We’re going to be able to throw the football enough that people are not just going to be able to bottle up the box on us,” Grass said. “The quarterback posi-tion is going to be able to get the ball out and get it in the receivers’ hands to where we spread the field enough to be effective.”

• dose of realIsM: Oxford lost a lot of talent off a team that went 12-2 and made the deepest playoff run in the school’s 6A history, and a school with about half the enrollment of 6A powers like Hoover doesn’t exactly just reload.

“I don’t think we’ll ever be to a point where we just reload in 6A football,” Grass said. “It’s so different from 5A, and we still play with almost 5A num-bers, so we’re going to have that build-ing deal.

“We don’t have the number of kids to do that, but I love our kids. I love this team’s attitude. We’re going to play hard, work hard. We had a great offsea-son. Everything you could expect them to do, they’ve done, so I’m looking for-ward to going into battle with them.”

— Joe Medley

Quick hiTs

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 PIedmont bulldogs

by Joe [email protected]

PIEDMONT

the news from Piedmont’s day at Jacksonville State University’s 7-on-7 tourna-ment in July was eye-open-ing, most of all for Cade Bradley.

He had to miss the tour-nament to attend his great grandmoth-er’s funeral, so how did the Bulldogs do sans their senior starting quarterback throwing the passes?

They made it to the finals before los-ing to Georgia power Carrollton.

“I was like, dang,” Bradley said. “I’ve got some competition.”

Maybe not so much, because Bradley is the clear frontrunner to take over for departed senior Chris Strott this season, but Piedmont’s day at JSU just further proved two constants in Steve Smith-coached programs — winning and quar-terback play.

Coming off a 12-1 season and Pied-mont’s fifth in a row to reach at least the third round of the playoffs, it appears the third-ranked Bulldogs are well on their way to continuing both trend lines.

Bradley, who saw extended and pro-ductive action when Strott was injured in 2011, is plenty ready to run Smith’s spread offense.

Sophomore Tyler Lusk, who took over for Bradley on July 19 at JSU, looks plenty ready to play the third-series, change-of-pace role and groom.

Oh, and Piedmont is good once again. Book it.

Their veteran defense is a big part of the reason why they’re ranked behind only No. 1 Leeds and Deshler, and the line — the heart of that strong defense — didn’t play in a 7-on-7 tournament.

Neither did the starting quarterback nor his brother Collin, Piedmont’s mid-dle linebacker. Top prospect Jamie Major (ankle) sat out, as did starting corner-backs Laphonso Burroughs and Denard Spears, who also plays receiver.

Top-returning receiver Cass McCord was limited with a shoulder injury, and the Bulldogs lost their top three receivers from a year ago, all seniors.

“We went into that camp with the

mindset that we were going to try to play a lot of kids any way,” Smith said. “Those guys just stepped up and played really, really well.”

To add perspective, Piedmont went 2-4 in a 7-on-7 camp at Samford two days prior, but that was Piedmont’s first day of throwing for a bunch of guys who had thrown baseballs all summer. Two days later, they almost won at JSU, so the football-throwing muscle memory came back quickly.

No one should be surprised.Smith, a former quarterback, coached

Cole Peace and Jamie Hampton at Cedar Bluff. Kevin Bedwell, Chase Childers, Strott and Bradley have won for him at Piedmont.

They’ve been big and small, but they’ve all been smart, coachable and eager to learn.

“I’m kind of picky on the kind of kids that I like to use there,” Smith said.

This year, Smith has Lusk, sophomore Gadsden City transfer Sloan Tyler and eighth-grader Taylor Hayes behind Cade Bradley on the varsity.

Smith gets a close-up view of Lusk’s development. The Smiths and Lusk are next-door neighbors.

“I see him out there in the yard con-stantly working, trying to get better,” Smith said. “The arm strength that he’s developed from ninth to 10th grade and his decision-making and his confidence, Tyler has really progressed nicely.

“He’s probably been one of the big-gest surprises of our early camp.”

Bradley completed 18 of 30 passes for 382 yards and five touchdowns with one interception in 2011, playing nearly three full games when Strott was hurt. He’s the clear starter.

Smith typically plays a change-of-pace quarterback, usually in the third series, and Lusk looks likely to step into that role. Then there’s Tyler and Hayes.

“If one of these other guys work their way into the rotation, too, you may see a third quarterback even some,” Smith said.

Indeed, Smith never runs out of quarterbacks, and his teams just keep winning.

Joe Medley is The Star’s sports colum-nist. He can be reached at 256-235-3576. Follow on Twitter @jmedley_star.

Arms rAcePiedmont’s performance sans starter at JSU camp latest evidence Smith’s teams never run out of QBs

• deFense Key: For all of the atten-tion paid to quarterbacks and offense since Steve Smith became Piedmont’s head coach before the 2006 season, Piedmont might be best on defense this year.

The Bulldogs return Marquez Gamble, Jaylan Johnson and Exavyer Jackson on the line, Jamie Major and Collin Bradley at inside linebacker, Cody Daughtry at outside linebacker and Laphonso Burroughs at defensive back.

“We’ve got a lot of experience on that side, and that’s definitely going to be the strength of our team,” Smith said. “Our defense should be pretty good.”

• Plenty oF dePtH: Piedmont has 66 players on the roster, and Smith expects to play 30-35 every varsity game.

“We’ve got a lot of quality depth, probably the most kids we’ve had since I’ve been here that we feel comfortable putting on the field in a game-time situ-ation on Friday nights,” Smith said.

• regIon suPPorter: While Pied-mont was voted No. 3 in the preseason Alabama Sports Writers Association poll in 3A, the Bulldogs were the only team from their region to receive a vote. Smith called it “a slap in the face.”

“I don’t know what these people are watching,” he said, “but Weaver and Saks and Glencoe and Susan Moore, really, for those four teams to not receive a vote, that’s an injustice. All four of those teams are playoff-caliber teams. They’re all top-10-worthy teams.

“Our region last year went 3-for-4 in the first round, and the only loss was Weaver on the road to Madison Acad-emy, who wound up being the state runner-up, and it was by a failed extra-point conversion. Weaver could have easily knocked off the state runner-up in the first round.”

Smith also said White Plains is “knocking on the door of getting over the hump.”

— Joe Medley


Piedmont head coach Steve Smith chats with quarterback Cade Bradley during practice. Bradley is the frontrunner to take over the starting QB job.

QUick hitS

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star Pleasant Valley raiders

By riP donoVanStar Sports Correspondent

PLEASANT VALLEY

the future could be now at Pleasant Valley.

Since Pleasant Valley began playing football in 1982, the Raiders have reached

the playoffs four times. Three of those appearances — 2007, 2008 and 2010 — have come during Jeff Davis’ tenure. The Raiders have never played a postseason game at home. Davis, beginning his eighth year at the Raiders’ helm, wants that to change.

“That’s our goal, to play a home playoff game. That’s what we’re shooting for right now,” Davis said. “We don’t want to just make the playoffs. We want to make the playoffs something that is expected and done around here on a regular basis.”

Many of the pieces for a suc-cessful season appear to be in place. Junior Lucas Ford returns at quarterback.

“Lucas started 10 games for us last year as a 10th-grader and there’s so much more to his con-fidence level right now than there ever was last year,” said Davis.

Senior Hunter Green and sophomore Dalton Bean return at running back.

“Green’s running the ball with more authority. If we can get Bean to quit dancing and run it, he’s going to get us five, six, seven tough yards when we need for him to do that,” Davis said.

When Ford looks to throw, he’ll have proven pass catch-ers in seniors Preston Garrett,

Eddie Roe and Austin Tate at wide receiver and junior Dustin Andrews at tight end.

Senior Ethan Lambert and junior Jared Colvin will anchor the offensive line. Colvin started every game as an eighth-grader and has started every game since then.

“We expect great things out of Colvin and we expect great things out of Ethan on the line,” Davis noted. “Everybody in northeast Alabama that plays us knows where we’re going. We’re going right behind those two big line-men.”

Size on the offensive line will be a strength for the Raiders. Behind those linemen, Pleasant Valley could generate ball-control scoring drives of 12 to 15 plays.

“You’ve got to be disciplined team to have those kind of drives,” Davis said. “You’ve got to be able to hold on to the football. You’ve got to be able to move the football with some consistency.”

“I think Lucas will bring all of that in and get us in the right situ-ations.”

As much as anything, the dis-appointment of last year’s 3-7 sea-son, a season which Davis feels could have produced six or seven wins, may make the Raiders suc-cessful this time.

In several losses, Pleasant Val-ley was unable to capitalize on a break or unable to overcome the effect of a break its opponent used to advantage.

“Little stuff like that, we’ve got to learn to overcome. Good foot-ball teams overcome something like that instead of letting it kill them,” Davis noted.

no Place like homeWith playoff appearances accomplished, PV set its sights on hosting playoff game


Pleasant Valley quarterback Lucas Ford picks up yardage at a recent practice. Coach Jeff Davis said his confidence in Ford is high.

• Where BaseBall Goes, can FootBall FolloW?: On its way to an area championship in the spring, the Pleasant Valley baseball team won a number of games with late-inning ral-lies after trailing early. None of that escaped the attention of head football coach Jeff Davis.

“Last spring, our baseball team learned how to overcome that (defeat-ist) mentality. They would get down and then they would not get beat. They refused to lose. Well, we’ve got the same kids that are playing football that played baseball. … We’re building on the success the baseball team had in the spring,” Davis said.

• oVercominG sPeed: Davis named Fultondale, Wellborn, Woodland and Vincent as his pre-season favor-ites in Pleasant Valley’s new Class 2A region, Region 6.

Each of the four won at least one playoff game last year. All four can be expected to have more speed than the Raiders but Davis has a plan.

“We’ve got to narrow the game down, keep them in a box,” Davis said. “That’s the thing that we’ve done so well in the past. We can play with any-body that we play for 20 yards.

“… Now, if we’re chasing, we’re losing.”

— Rip Donovan

Quick hits

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 saks wildcats

By Joe [email protected]

SAKS

it’s 4 p.m. on a Thursday at Saks High School, hours after a morning football practice. The school’s football team has gone home, and a front-office worker assumes the same for

the new head football coach.Just to make sure, the man calls,

and … “Oh, he’s still here watching film?” the man said.

Yes, Jonathan Miller is a disciple of the late and great Larry Ginn.

When Saks promoted Miller from defensive coordinator to replace Clint Smith, now head coach at Jackson-ville, Miller became Calhoun Coun-ty’s third current head football coach with Ginn roots, joining Alexandria’s Frank Tucker and Weaver’s Daryl Hamby.

Miller’s Ginn roots won’t show in Saks’ spread offense, a departure from the wing-T Miller ran as a wing-back under Ginn on Alexandria’s 1995 state-championship team.

Miller’s Ginn roots won’t show in Saks’ three-man defensive front, a departure from Alexandria’s four-man fronts, but the ex-Valley Cub out-side linebacker must take advantage of Saks’ speed to overcome inexperi-ence.

Where Miller’s Ginn roots will show is in how he talks to his team and prepares for games, and count long days watching film as exhibit number one.

“He was always watching film. He had the film memorized,” Miller said. “From the coaching side, I knew he was prepared.

“He knew numbers. He knew heights. He knew weights. He knew who every player was and their weak-ness, and he studied that film over and over and over.”

Some of those film sessions came during school, in Alexandria’s old gym.

“He had this little TV there in the back, and we’d sit there and watch film,” Miller said. “He knew the play before it was coming.

“I always loved sports growing up, but he just fostered that and got me interested in coaching, just seeing how he went about things. He was very prepared.”

Miller has spent his entire coach-ing career at Saks, going there straight out of Jacksonville State University. He’s more known as the head boys’ basketball coach, a role he retains, but he’s entering his 12th season on the football staff. He spent the past six years as defensive coordinator.

Saks’ veteran players likely never met Ginn, who retired suddenly just before the 2007 season and died of melanoma in 2009, but it sounds like they’re describing him when they describe Miller.

“Fun, hard-working and down to business,” receiver Tre Smith said. “We watch a lot of film. We still watch film from last year so he can show me my mistakes, and we just learn from that.

“He’s serious about the film.” Quarterback Chase Johnson says

Miller “knows what he’s doing. He’s real aggressive.” Oh, and there’s the film thing.

“He likes to break down every play,” Johnson said. “He really likes to talk about details with everything, make sure that everybody under-stands what’s going on.”

Saks players who spend much time around Miller are likely to hear about more than football. He said he remembers fondly those driver’s-education sessions on Fridays, when Ginn would tell stories but let him know the moment the speedometer ticked over the speed limit.

“One thing I always remember is the life lessons,” Miller said. “He was always talking to us about effort and making sure you work hard, and there are guys that don’t have the opportu-nities you have to play sports.

“Some of them may have to work. Some of them may have a disability, or whatever, and you can’t waste your opportunity.”

Joe Medley is The Star’s sports columnist. He can be reached at 256-235-3576. Follow on Twitter @jmed-ley_star.

Miller tiMeAlexandria product set to put philosophies of

coaching legend to work in first season with Saks


Jonathan Miller, first-year head coach at Saks, gives some pointers to some of his players during a recent Wildcat practice.

• MissiNG deNNard: One player Saks won’t have on the football field is junior Corpio Dennard, the former receiv-er/back who suffered a broken neck dur-ing the J.B. Pennington game in 2011.

Dennard didn’t know how seriously he was hurt until the next day and near-ly didn’t get it checked. He underwent surgery, and doctors said his strong neck muscles miraculously spared him paralysis.

He could end up playing sports again for Saks, just likely not football. New Saks coach Jonathan Miller said

Dennard “would have helped us, abso-lutely. He would have been one of our better skill-position players.”

• BiG-Play coMBo: Saks lost nine starters on defense and seven on offense, but the Wildcats have two key returnees in quarterback Chase John-son and receiver Tre Smith.

Johnson threw for 1,664 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2011, and Smith had team-highs of 356 receiving yards and six touchdowns. They averaged 19.8 yards per completion.

— Joe Medley

Quick hitS

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star wellborn Panthers

bY nICK bIrDsonG [email protected]

WELLBORN

It was only the first day of practice but the tone was already being set.

Led by fourth-year coach Jeff Smith, Wellborn did everything on the hip, ripping and zipping through drills at various stations in the late

afternoon heat last Monday. The Panthers appeared to have postsea-

son focus in the preseason. “We’re going to take it one game at a

time,” Smith said “But our ultimate goal is to win a state championship. We gotta be serious about it if we’re going to do it.”

The past three years, he’s taken his alma mater to the playoffs. Prior to his arrival in 2009, Wellborn had gone 1-9 in back-to-back seasons.

Wellborn’s coming off an 8-4 campaign

in 2011, during which it advanced to the second-round of the Class 3A state playoffs. They finished fourth in a region which included state champion Handley, semifi-nalist Clay County and 2010 state champs Leeds. They went on the road and defeated Speake in the first-round, the Panthers first postseason victory since 1995, the same week they suffered the tragic death of for-mer Panther “Aaron “Tootie” Harris before bowing out at home against Washington County.

After the most recent AHSAA reclassi-fication, the Panthers, who received votes in the Alabama Sports Writers Association preseason poll, will drop down to Class 2A. They’re grouped in Region 4 with No. 2 Ful-tondale, No. 8 Vincent, Woodland, another team which received votes, Pleasant Valley, Ohatchee, Ranburne and Victory Christian.

taKInG the next steP

Playoffs achieved; Panthers looking bigger


After three trips to the playoffs, Wellborn coach Jeff Smith has his players ‘serious’ about focusing on winning a state championship.

• Four horsemen: Jeff Smith said he expects his defen-sive line to be especially strong this season despite the loss of former all-county selection Dejuan Traylor. The unit will con-sist of O.J. Pilot (5-10, 215), Jaleel Burton (5-10, 265), A.J. Files (5-8, 220) and James Dunn (5-11, 165). The group is experienced — Pilot, Files and Dunn are all seniors, and Burton is a junior. Their size should be key, too, especially in 2A ball.

Smith said the biggest reason he believes his front four will shine this season is the coaching they receive from assistant Allan Russell.

“He’s the best defensive line

coach in the state, hands down” Smith said. “He comes over from Hoover every day and he just works those guys. He was with me at Hueytown and he’s done a good job with them.”

• one to watCh: Landon Machristie tallied about 80 tack-les and started at linebacker all-season for the Panthers a year ago. He was a freshman. The 6-1, 205-pounder certainly looks the part and could put up even big-ger numbers this fall.

“He’s strong. He’s got good speed and he’s real aggressive,” Smith said. “He’s also a very good person. He’s a high-charac-ter guy.”

— Nick Birdsong

Quick hits

Please see wellborn ❙ Page 19

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012

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Wellborn opens this season’s slate August 31 when it travels to face cross-county foe Saks.

And the Panthers will have plenty of offensive firepower, namely quarterback Judd Smith and running back tandem Chantz Goodman and Kevin Mixon.

Judd, Jeff’s son, is a rare fourth-year starter under center.

Already, a two-time selection to The Star’s All-Calhoun County team, chosen by local coaches, the 5-foot-8, 150-pounder completed 40 of 68 passes for 706 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior. He’s also equally as viable a threat to take off run-ning for a first down as he is to find the open man. But it’s knowledge as much as his numbers that makes him the chain on Wellborn’s bike and has them think-ing they could make a deeper run in the playoffs should they make it their come November.

“He’s started 34 straight football games for us,” Jeff said of Judd. “We’ve got a load of experience at quarterback for us. If dad here calls a bad play, Judd can fix it.”

Goodman is the Panthers’ power back

and undisputedly so. The 5-foot-5, 160-pound dynamo bench presses 315 pounds and squats 700. He rushed for 1,078 yards and 19 touchdowns on 170 carries as a sophomore on his way to a being named a first-team selection to the all-county squad.

“That’s all we do when we’re here Mon-day-Thursday is workout,” Goodman said of

While Goodman will likely be Well-born’s go-to guy between the tackles Mixon will be a threat to make a cut and bounce a run down the sideline for a big gain. The 5-8, 160-pounder rushed for 800 yards while being named an honorable mention to the all-county team.

“We always try to one-up each other and see who’s better,” Mixon said of his relationship with his backfield mate. “But we always give each other props because we want each other to do our bests.”

For Judd, having a slash (Goodman) and slice (Mixon) duo to hand the ball off is a luxury most signal-callers don’t have.

“They’re tough guys and their fast too,” Judd said. “I think we’ve got the best half-backs in the state in the Wing-T offense.”

Nick Birdsong prep sports for The Star. He can be reached at 256-235-3575. Follow him on Twitter @birds_word.

WellbornContinued from Page 18

Sunday, August 19, 2012 The Anniston Star weaver bearcats

by Joe [email protected]

WEAVER

It doesn’t take much to get a groan from Weaver players and coaches these days. Just men-tion Madison Academy.

The Bearcats’ wrenching, 27-26 loss to the Mustangs in

the first round of the 2011 playoffs was hard to take for a program that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2005, but there’s another side to agony.

Watching Madison Academy’s run after that game turned agony into big dreams. As the Mustangs roared through the playoffs en route to a loss to Handley in an epic Class 3A final, Weaver’s possibilities came into focus.

“It showed us a lot,” junior Mr. All-Purpose Chris English said. “We use that as our fuel. When we think about football, we think about the Madison Academy game.”

With that as a rallying cry, Weaver returns a strong core from a team that found itself two missed extra points — one in regulation and one in overtime — away from a breakthrough.

There’s English, an all-state point guard who flirted with giving up foot-ball to concentrate on basketball but bulked up and came out for football anyway.

There’s muscle-bound running back Brandell Massey, who looks ready to bowl over defenders.

There’s Timothy Hawkins, an ath-letic playmaker who is back home at quarterback this season after spending some time at wide receiver last season.

There’s also tailback Chris Troge, H-back Austin Jennings plus receivers Fernando Forbes and Drake Ledet.

“I think we’re going to have some surprises for everybody,” Weaver coach Daryl Hamby said. “We’ve got some good backs, and we’ve got some

good specialty players.”That core of playmakers returns to

a team that had an impressive array of athletes and now seems ready to realize potential. All it took was brutal disappointment, followed by watching Madison Academy dismantle Elkmont 42-0, Lauderdale County 35-14 and Rogers 34-7 on the way to the title game in Tuscaloosa, where the Mus-tangs lost 20-14 to Handley.

Handley rallied and needed to recover an onside kick to set up the winning score.

Weaver led Madison Academy 14-0 before giving up 17 unanswered points.

“It lets the kids know that we’re close,” Hamby said. “It’s not the impossible dream that we can actually do it.”

The Bearcats seem to have gotten the message, mounting what Hamby called “probably one of the best sum-mer workouts that we’ve had.”

“They’re enjoyable to coach, and that’s the main thing,” he said. “We’ve had some good groups of athletes, but they weren’t as fun to coach.

“These guys are fun to coach. They love to compete. We open up the gym, and they’re here all day. We’ve got to kick them out.”

Massey said there’s no shortage of motivation.

“We trained a lot harder this year than we did last year, because we know we should have won that (Madison Academy) game,” he said. “I know we can win. I know we can go to the championship.”

Hawkins agrees.“We definitely could have beat

them,” he said, “and we could have gone to the championship and, prob-ably, won state.”

Joe Medley is The Star’s sports col-umnist. He can be reached at 256-235-3576. Follow on Twitter @jmedley_star.

to fuel theIr fIre

First-round playoff loss serving as a motivating factor for Bearcats


Weaver quarterback Timothy Hawkins isn’t shying away from the spotlight. He’s taken the No. 1 jersey and said he wants to emulate NFL star Cam Newton.

• toutING tIMothy: Quarterback Timothy Hawkins has taken jersey No. 1 and wants to pattern himself after former Auburn and current Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

Hawkins said he hopes to do like New-ton — bring a championship to his team. Weaver coach Daryl Hamby expects big things from Hawkins this season.

“I think he’s really going to blossom this year,” Hamby said. “We’re going to throw the ball a whole lot more than we have in the past, because he’s making a

lot better decisions.”• MIssING IN treNches: Weaver

must overcome key losses like Malik Anderson and Chandler Fall on the defen-sive line, which Hamby said will be next to impossible.

“They made it really tough, so we’re going to have to have some people step up on that defensive line,” Hamby said. “I don’t know if you can replace them, to tell you the truth. They were that good for us.”

— Joe Medley

Quick hits

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 white Plains wildcats


WHITE PLAINS

the field goal David Gomez hit in the closing seconds to beat Pleasant Valley in Week 7 last season did more than provide the White Plains football team with a huge sigh of relief. More

than just a game-winning kick, it may have changed the course of a program.

The Wildcats had not won a game to that point in the season and there were fears they might not win at all. Instead, with one 37-yard swing of Gomez’ foot, the dark clouds that were hovering over the program parted and everything changed.

The Wildcats won their final three games to finish 3-7 and suddenly football was cool again at White Plains.

Enthusiasm and interest soared. It grew even more when the Wildcats got to play in Jacksonville State’s stadium in the spring. More than 50 players took part in the spring and now they have more than 40 players on the varsity, plus junior high and B teams, and 11 coaches to cover them all.

It’s against that backdrop they go into the 2012 season as positive as fifth-year coach Heath Harmon has seen it in the last 2 1/2 years.

“That (field goal) was real big because that game was all of the things we told our kids would happen if you don’t quit,” Harmon said. “Those kids had been told by other athletes and kids in the school they (weren’t good), why do you play? They just never quit.

“It’s easy to say you’re going to do something; we’re going to build a pro-gram at White Plains and people laugh. We were dealing with that adversity, building with one hand and fighting with the other. If you win a game like that, then all that stuff we’ve been talking about and preaching and believing in was true. They kept chopping to get out of it and

couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and then we saw it. The momen-tum off that took us all the way into the off season and the spring.”

It wasn’t the first time Gomez had won a game for the Wildcats on a last-second field goal, but it was by far his longest. He beat Weaver with an 18-yard kick with 10 seconds left in the second game of 2010.

He agreed the field goal was “very important to all my teammates,” but he wasn’t about to take credit for being the source for all the growth that has trans-pired in the program since.

“I’m not responsible for anything,” he said. “If we all do our jobs, a good out-come will come of it. That day we were focused and doing our jobs. We got into it and we won. If we can do the same in those (upcoming) games, we can finish off the whole season real good.”

It certainly was inspiring. Among those it inspired to return to the program were linemen Logan Price and Alex Col-lins and running back Johnny Bynum.

Another thing the Wildcats have going for them this year is one of the biggest offensive lines in the area. If someone asks Harmon where’s the beef he won’t have to look far.

The Wildcats have two 300-pounders up front to protect quarterback Del Red-dick — center Price (6-1, 300) and Jacob Nisbett (5-11, 301) — to go along with guard Adam Smith (280), tackle Alex Col-lins (250) and Cade Shaw (205). Nisbett is the strongest player on the team, squat-ting 500 pounds, and Smith is said to be glue that holds its all together.

“I think they saw how it finished last year and were encouraged to try again,” Harmon said of the returnees. “We’re heading in the right direction; it’s so much better than it was. I tell them how do you eat an elephant — this is a big thing we’re trying to do here? One bite at a time. Some go down nasty, we’ve done that. Now we’ve experienced a little bit of positive, we’ve got a chance to grow.”


swift kick in the Pants

Last-second win set Wildcats on winning streak, potential turnaround for downtrodden program

• converted: The field goal David Gomez kicked to beat Pleasant Valley in Week 7 last year wasn’t the first time he won a game on a last-second kick. The second game of 2010, Gomez, then a sophomore, hit an 18-yarder to beat Weaver.

Actually, Gomez is a newcomer to football. He had been a soccer player until he thought about giving football a try the year of his first big kick.

And there may be more of them in his future — and longer.

“When we went to play at (JSU),” coach Heath Harmon explained, “he was so pumped about being in that stadium, he was nailing 50-yarders in pregame. I feel good about him at 40, but he’s strong enough (for longer).”

• little Better off: The making of a football schedule is a two-part pro-cess. The Alabama High School Ath-letic Association tells you the games

you have to play and in the order you have to play them. The non-region games left over, the coach gets to pick the opponents.

The order of the region games and the scheduled off weeks aren’t ran-dom; it’s all about a rotation.

So, let’s just chalk up last season to the schedule gods not being kind to the Wildcats.

White Plains opened the season with a tough Glencoe squad and had a string of seven straight region foes in a nip-and-tuck Class 3A, Region 6.

And in that schedule, White Plains lost its first seven games.

This year, however, a smile has come from above.

Three of White Plains’ first five games are non-region contests, and it’ll open with Ohatchee, which won three games last season.

— From staff reports


White Plains’ David Gomez boots a field goal during practice. Gomez started the Wildcats’ 2011 winning streak with a 37-yarder against Pleasant Valley.

Quick hits


17Football

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For the championship playoffs the region qualifiers in each class will be paired ina 32-team bracket with positions in the brackets as follows:

2012 Playoff Bracket

Nov. 9 Nov. 16 Nov. 23 Nov. 30 Dec. 6–7

In the first round of play in 2012 for all classes, the teams listed on thetop of the brackets will be the host teams.

R1-1R2-4

R4-3R2-1R1-4R4-2R3-3

R3-2

R5-1R6-4

R8-3R6-1R5-4R8-2R7-3

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R1-2

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R5-2

2 0 1 2 A H S A A p l A y o f f S1. Resolve all two-team ties first, using

tiebreaking factor (a).2. If two or more teams are tied for

one of the qualifying places in a sport, first resolve the tie for the highest of those places in the standings, then the next high-est place in the standings, etc.

3. To resolve the team rankings if more than two teams are tied, determine the high-est-ranked team by applying the tiebreakers in the order listed, beginning with (b). Until the highest-ranked team has been deter-mined, no consideration will be given to determining the ranking of the other teams involved in that tie.

After the highest ranked team has been resolved, then the next highest ranked team will be determined by applying the same tiebreakers, beginning with (a) or (b) as necessary.

4. If a certain tiebreaker does not apply to the tie being resolved, apply the next tie-breaker in the order listed for that sport.

5. Forfeited contests count as losses. A team that intentionally forfeits a required game becomes ineligible for championship competition for the remainder of that clas-sification period plus the next classification period in that sport.

6. If two area, region or section teams elect to play each other more than the required number of contests during the same season, the first contest played (or first at each site if two are required in a sport) will be used in computing standings unless the State Office is otherwise notified in writing by both schools prior to the sea-son. The other contest(s) will be treated as nonrequired contest(s).

7. Contests against teams that are not eligible for the championship program and contests in regular season tournaments are not used in figuring any tiebreakers

IF TWO TEAMS TIE . . .a) If two teams are tied for any place,

the team that defeated the other in the required regular season game will be placed above the other tied team. The team that lost its head-to-head contest will qualify for the next highest place.

IF MORE THAN TWO TEAMS TIE …b) Ifmore than two teams are tied for

any place, the teamthat defeated all the other tied teams in the required regular season games will be placed ahead of all the other tied teams. If one of the teams did not defeat all the other tied teams, the tie cannot be resolved by this factor.

c) If more than two teams are tied for any place, the team (or teams) that had the highest winning percentage against the No. 1 ranked team will be ranked ahead of all the other tied teams. If there is a three-way tie for first place, apply (f) and the remaining tiebreakers in the order as needed.

If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regularseason game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as appli-cable for the remaining teams in the tie.

d. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 2 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

e. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 3 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead

of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

f. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 4 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

g. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 5 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

h. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 6 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

i. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 7 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

j. Apply (c) using percentage against the No. 8 ranked team. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

k. The team with the best winning percentage against non-required common opponents. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

i. The team whose defeated non-region opponents in class and above have the most victories if all teams involved in the tie play an equal number of games. If two teams tie for the highest winning percent-age ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

m. The team whose defeated oppo-nents have the most victories if all teams involved in the tie play an equal number of games. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

n. The team whose defeated oppo-nents have the most victories. If two teams tie for the highest winning percentage ahead of all the other teams involved in the tie, the team that defeated the other in their required regular season game will be placed ahead of all tied teams. Then, if necessary, apply (a) or (b) as applicable for the remaining teams in the tie.

SOURCE: AHSAA 2012 Fall Sports Book

TiE-BREAkiNg PROCEdURE➤ Bracket applies to all six AHSAA classification

The Anniston Star Sunday, August 19, 2012 CALHOUN COUNTY FOOTBALL

2 0 1 2 r e g i o n a l i g n m e n t sClass 1A

RegiON 1J.U. Blacksher

John EssexFruitdale

A.L. JohnsonLinden

Saint Luke’sMcIntoshMarengo

RegiON 2BrantleyFlorala

Geneva Co.Georgiana

KinstonMcKenzie

Pleasant HomeRed Level

RegiON 3Akron

AutaugavilleBillingsley

Ellwood Chr. *Holy Spirit

KeithMaplesvilleSunshine

RegiON 4FayettevilleLoachapokaNotasulgaSaint Jude

Talladega Co. CentralVerbenaWadley

Winterboro

RegiON 5Berry

BrilliantHubbertville

LynnMarion Co.

ParrishPickens Co.South Lamar

RegiON 6Addison

AppalachianFalkville

Jefferson Chr.Meek

RaglandShades Mountain Chr.

Southeastern*Sumiton Chr.

RegiON 7Cedar BluffCollinsvilleCoosa Chr.

DonohoGaylesville

Jacksonville Chr.Spring garden

Valley HeadWoodville

RegiON 8Decatur Heritage

HackleburgR.A. Hubbard

PhillipsShoals Chr.Tharptown

VinaWaterloo

Class 2ARegiON 1

Choctaw Co.Flomaton

LeroyMillry

Mobile Chr.Southern Choctaw

Sweet WaterWashington Co.

RegiON 2Ariton

CottonwoodHouston Acad.

Houston Co.G.W. Long

Providence Chr.Samson

Wicksburg

RegiON 3Calhoun

Central-HaynevilleElba

GoshenHighland Home

LuverneNew Brockton

Zion Chapel

RegiON 4Aliceville

Cold SpringsHale Co.

R.C. HatchLamar Co.

Francis MarionOakmanSulligent

RegiON 5Isabella

LaFayetteLanett

Montgomery Acad.Prattville Chr.*Randolph Co.

ReeltownHorseshoe Bend

RegiON 6FultondaleOhatchee

Pleasant ValleyRanburne

Victory Chr.Vincent

WellbornWoodland

RegiON 7Fyffe

GastonIder

North Sand MountainSand Rock

SectionWestbrook Chr.

West End

RegiON 8Cherokee

Colbert HeightsHatton

LexingtonPhil Campbell

Red BaySheffieldTanner

Class 3ARegiON 1

Bayside Acad.Cottage Hill Chr.

ExcelT.R. MillerW.S. Neal

OppSouthside-Selma

Straughn

RegiON 2Abbeville

Barbour Co.Dale Co.DalevilleGeneva

Montgomery CatholicPike Co.Slocomb

RegiON 3American Chr.

Fayette Co.Gordo

Greene Co.Greensboro

HoltNorthside

Sipsey Valley

RegiON 4B.B. Comer

Central CoosaLeeds

MidfieldMontevallo

TarrantThorsby

Trinity Presbyterian

RegiON 5Ashville

Cleveland

GlencoePiedmont

SaksSusan Moore

WeaverWhite Plains

RegiON 6Brindlee Mountain

GeraldineHolly PondNew Hope

J.B. PenningtonPisgah

PlainviewSylvania

RegiON 7CordovaDanville

Good HopeHamilton

HancevilleVinemontWinfield

Winston Co.

RegiON 8Clements

Colbert Co.DeshlerElkmont

Lauderdale Co.Madison Acad.

Westminster Chr.West Morgan

Class 4ARegiON 1AndalusiaClarke Co.

Escambia Co.Hillcrest-Evergreen

Monroe Co.ThomasvilleUMS-Wright

Wilcox Central

RegiON 2Alabama Chr.

AshfordBeauregardBullock Co.

Charles HendersonHeadland

Saint JamesTallassee

RegiON 3Beulah

ChiildersburgClay Co. Central *

DadevilleDallas Co.Elmore Co.

HandleyHoltville

RegiON 4

Bibb Co.Calera

Carbon HillCornerDora

JemisonOak Grove

West Blocton

RegiON 5Alexandria

AnnistonCherokee Co.Cleburne Co.Hokes Bluff

LincolnJacksonville

Munford

RegiON 6CrossvilleDouglasFairview

GuntersvilleLocust Fork

OneontaSaint Clair Co.

Sardis

RegiON 7Ardmore

ButlerDAR

J.O. JohnsonMadison Co.

North JacksonPope John Paul II

Randolph

RegiON 8Brooks

Central-FlorenceEast Lawrence

HaleyvillePricevilleRogers

West LimestoneWilson

Class 5ARegiON 1

Faith Acad.Gulf Shores

LeFloreB.C. Rain

Saint Paul’s EpiscopalSpanish Fort

VigorWilliamson

RegiON 2CarrollEufaulaMarburyRehobeth

Benjamin RussellRussell Co.

ValleyBooker T. Washington

RegiON 3CitronelleDemopolisGreenvilleJacksonSaralandSatsuma

SelmaSumter Central

RegiON 4Briarwood Chr.

Chilton Co.HomewoodJohn Carroll

RamsayShelby Co.SylacaugaTalladega

Region 5BrookwoodPaul Bryant

Central-TuscaloosaFairfield

McAdoryParker

Pleasant GroveWenonah

RegiON 6Center Point

CurryHaydenMoody

Mortimer JordanPinson Valley

SpringvilleWalker

RegiON 7ArabBoaz

BrewerColumbiaEtowah

Fort PayneScottsboro

Southside-Gadsden

RegiON 8AthensCullman

East LimestoneHartselle

Lawrence Co.Muscle Shoals

RussellvilleWest Point

Class 6ARegiON 1

BakerBlount

Alma BryantDavidson

Mary MontgomeryMcGill-Toolen

Murphy

Theodore

RegiON 2Baldwin Co.

DaphneDothan

EnterpriseFairhope

FoleyNorthview

Robertsdale

RegiON 3Auburn

Carver-MontgomeryCentral-Phenix City

Jeff DavisSidney Lanier

Lee-MontgomeryOpelika

Smiths Station

Region 4Chelsea

Oak MountainPelham

PrattvilleSpain Park

Stanhope ElmoreThompsonWetumpka

RegiON 5Bessemer City

Hillcrest-TuscaloosaHoover

HueytownJackson-Olin

MinorNorthridge

Tuscaloosa Co.

RegiON 6Carver-Birmingham

GardendaleHewitt-Trussville

HuffmanMountain BrookShades ValleyVestavia Hills

Woodlawn

RegiON 7Albertville

Clay-ChalkvilleGadsden City

GrissomHuntsville

Lee-HuntsvilleOxford

Pell City

RegiON 8Austin

Bob JonesBuckhorn

James Clemens *DecaturFlorence

Hazel GreenSparkman

SOURCe: Alabama High School Athletic Association * - Indicates new member school


24

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