GR I DI RO N O HE ROE S
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Pr eviewingtheseason..... .G3
Column: Pr edictingsuccess forlocalteamsin2024 ....G44
Te amschedules.............. .G 47
Te ampreviews
Ardmor eT igers ............... .G 39
At hensGoldenEagles..... .G 28
Th ew in do fc ha nge
Eas tL aw re nceEagles..... .G 33 Eas tL imestoneIndians .. .G 40 Elkmont Re dD evils......... .G 35
G34 LawrenceCo. Re dD evils .G 32
Pr icevilleBulldogs...........G12 Ta nne rR attlers................G38 We stLimestoneWildcat sG 36 We stMorgan Re bels....... .G 15
Fo rc overa ge,scores, ra nkingsan ds tandi ngsthis season ,v isit:https://ww w. decaturdaily.com/sports/ high_school Austin’sJaxon Po tter,Decatur’sMartin JohnsonandDecatu rH eritage’sSa va rius Evansar er eadyfortheseason. [PHOTO
Lo ca lt ea ms ,c oa ch es fa ce ne wc ha ll en ges
ByCalebSuggs Sports Wr iter
Iftherewasoneword that could define the upcomingfootball season fo rl ocalteams,it woul db e“ cha ng e.” Sincetheendofthe2023season, t os aythelandscape acros sM organ, LawrenceandLimestonecountiesis differentwould be qu itethe un derst ate ment.Intotal,11teamshave change dr egio ns, seve nt ea ms ha ve new headcoaches,fourteamshavemoved upinclassificat ionandone team even has an ew playoffformat to deal wit h.
Itcertainly wasn’ ta quietoffs eason.
“It’s been aw hir lwind,”newPriceville coach SethParker said.“There’sa lotofthingsgoing on ,b utitfe els like ac leanslate. For th es chool,the kids andfor me ,w e’reallexperiencing al ot ofchange toget her.”
Ne wc oa ches ta ke thereins
Se vennew he adcoacheswillta ke ov er thi ss eas on ,f iv eo fw hich arein th eirfirs th eadcoaching job. Amongthesenew coaches ,t hreeare atsch ool st ha ta reamongth eb ig gest in th eD ai ly’s co verag ea re a( Dec at ur, Hart se lleand Pric eville).
Last of fs eason, longtime De ca tur head coach Jere Adcock retire da ft er co ac hingtheRedRaidersfor27 seaso ns .F or merAuburn st an doutAairon
Savage was tappedtoreplac eh im but, after a3 -7re cord, resign ed at th ee nd of last seaso n.
No wD ecatu rh as an ewhea dc oa ch in
JohnRitter wh oh as as ucce ssful record (8 5- 42 as ah ea dc oa ch )a nd wh oi sa lso very familiar with thetr aditionso f Dec aturfootball.
“M yd ad was he re fo rs ix years in the lat e‘ 80sasanassistantunder Steve Ri versand Iw ent to school he refora lit tl ew hi le,so there’s al otof familia ri ty wi thth is pr og ra m, ”R it te rs ai d.
“H aving that familiarit y, Ik now the expectations of what thisprogram shou ld be. Dec aturis ap remier job in north Alabam aa nd it’san honorto coachher e.
Be rtNewto nisH artselle’s newhead co achaftersixseasonsasdefensiv ec oo rd inator. [MARIANN PAR KER/FOR THEDECATURDAILY]
La yoft heland
Ha rt se ll eT ig ers
Hartsellewil lbeinC las s6 A,Re gion7 withAthens,Columbia,Cullma n, Decatur, JasperandMuscleShoals.
Headcoach
BertNewto nise nteringhisfirstseason asheadcoachatHartselle.Newtonwas previouslythedefensivecoordinato rat Hartselleforsixofthelastsevenseasons.
Lastseason
Hartselle(9-3,4-1)finishedsecond in Class6A,Region 7a ndadvancedto th es econdroundoftheClass6Astate playoffs.
Wo rdstogro won
BertNewtonreplacesBryanMoor eas hea dc oachafterMooreledHartselle to a3 8-9recordinfourseasons.In hisfirst he ad co ac hi ng jo b, Ne wt on sa id he wa nts tocontinuethesuccesstheTigershavehad andbuilduponit.
“I’v ew ante dtob et he he adcoach at Hartsellesince Ig othere,”Newto ns aid. “Alotofthingswon’ tc hange ,b utthere’s alwaysroomforgrowth. Iw ant tocont inuetogrowourprogramandd ot hi ngs therigh tw ay.”
Quarterback
Fo rt hefirsttime sinc e2 018, Hartse lle returns as tartingquarterbackfromthe previousseason.
NoahLeedidn’tbeginthe202 3s ea son asthestarter,buttookoverforaninjured LandonBlackwoodearlyon.Heledthe Tigersto a6 -2record asquar te rbac kw hile playingthrough as houlderinjur yl at ein theseason.Nowhe’shealthy an dm ore experienced.
“He’sanalphaoutthereleadin gt he offen se,”Newtonsaid.“Evenwhenhe’s ju st stan di ng to th es ide, he ’s he lpi ng and makingsurepeople arewh er et he y’re supposedtobeanddoingwha tt hey’re supposedtobe.”
“Ithinkhe’s ag uythatwhenwe’reina huddlethisyear,he’llbeableto lo okinto theeyesofourguysan dt hey ’l lh avecompletefaithinhim,”Newtonadded.
Offen se
Hartselle’ sJ ay denMor ris(4 )iso nepla ye rt he Tiger sp lan to re lyonat
Au st in Bl ac kB ears
La yoft he land
AustinwillbeinClass7A,Region4 withAlbertville,BobJones,Florence, Grissom ,H untsville, Ja mesClemens andSparkman.
Headcoach
JeremyPerkin sise nteringhi s1 5th se asonatAustin.TheBlac kB earsare 98-60underPerkinswith10playoff appearances.
Lastseason
Austin(8-3,5-2)finishedsecondin Class7A,Region4.
Wo rdstogro won
Austinhasplentyofyouththis season,butit’snothingnewfor Perkins.
“Youhavetobepatient ;itt akes time,”Perki ns said.“Whenyo ul ook b ackatthoseyearswherewelosta lotofguysfromthepreviousseason, wegenerallygotbetterasth es eason progressed.Youcan’tgiveuptooearly or pa ck itin wh en th in gs do n’ tg oy our way.Youhavetokeeponplugginguntil you’replayingyour best at th ee ndof theseason.”
Quarterback
SeniorJLDavisisbackthisyearafter splittingtimeevenlywithJuddBailey in2023across11games.
Davispassedforover1,000yards andninetouchdownslastseason ,a nd thestaffexpectshimtobeevenbetter in2024asthesolequarterback.
“IexpectJLtotakethenextstep,” Perkinssaid.“It’shisoffensenow, and Ie xp ecthi mt ot akeittoth en ext le ve l. He’smorematureandheunderstands notonlywhatwe’retryingtodo,but whatdefensesaredoingandwhereto gowiththeball.
“Ifyoulookatourseasonssinc e2 015 when Is tartedworkingwiththequarterbacks,mostofourmostsuccessful se as on sw er ew it hs ec on d- ye ar st ar tingquarterbacks.Havingthatsecond yearisimportant beca use th eg ame s lowsdownforthem,and th ey see thingsmoreclearly.”
Offense
Austingets ab igboostthisyearwith GavinFuquareturnin ga tr unningback.
Fuquarushed fo rn early1,200yards an d21t ouchdownsin2023 an dh as the chancet obeo neofthe best run ning backsinnort hA labama.
Als ob ackis receive rJ axon Pot ter. Pottercaught31 pa sses for548 yar ds an ds ixtouchdow nslastseasonand committedt oM urrayStateoverthe offseason. Po tter alsoservesasthe te am’ sk ickoffand pu ntreturnerand Perkinssaid he’sprimed for ab reakout season.
OtherreceiverswillbeChanning Pat ton an dS ean Ba nnister ,w hileEthan Brookswillplay atful lbackandti ght end.
Kenn et hJ oshua wil ls erveas the backu pr un ning back again,wi ththe ab ilit yt oa ls op la yf ul lb ac k, ti gh te nd andreceiver,bu tw ill als op lay defen se. Austi nr eturns just on es tarting of fensivelineman,butPerkinssaid it wil lbeh isbiggestgroupinhis timeat
,G 18
AU STIN ROST ER
0K ennethJoshua
1J LD av is
2N at hanGr ay
3S eanBannister
4C hannin gP atton
5J axon Po tt er
6C ha ys eD av is
7Z ionOrr
8E th anBroo ks
9C or ta vious Mason
10Qadir Ly le
11Jamic ha el Ta ylor
12 Ky len Sto ver 13 Tr istian Gr een 14 Lan don Buttleman 15 DJPa rks
16 Jakeem Pe nd leton
17 Ta kay us Key 18 JamarriVinson
19 Ty len Swop es
20 Ga vin Fu qua 21 To ri anHolla nd
CamorisHullett
23Rico Ru ss ell
Ze mar Wa tk ins 25 Tr istian Va lencia
26Ez ek ialByrd 27 Pe yt on Ma clin 28 JaidenWilliams 29 CalebCaudle
30 Lando nB aker 31Da vid Johnson
32 Caden Pr est on 33 JeremiahOrr 34Aidan Da vis 35 MaleekNance
36Ga ry Willie
37 Tr eyJo we rs
38 Ky le Fo rb es
42Christ oph er Seal
44 DemarcusOrr
45Ma rk Gr een
46Joseph Le mon
48Angel Ro mero
49 Camer on Smith 51Malac hiGibson
52 Br ay denEchols
53 Br ay den Pa lma
54 Ze phaniah Gar th
55 Ja va nH ood
56Maylo rR amirez
57 Lan dynNance
58 Re coWillingham
60 Braxto nD oz ier
63 Cody Po rt er
64 Ka mer on Johnston
65 Ty re eE llis on 68Mar cus Fu ller
70 A’ So nW ray
71Xa vier Ye lder
72 Pa xto nJ on es
74St anleyElliott
75 JosiahChu rch
76 WilliamOrr
77 JerrionSw opes
78 Jacobi Ph illips
80 Canaan Gr een
81 Ha yd en Wy nn
95 Ro ber tO rr
Austin ’sGavin Fu qua (2 0)is ba ckafter rus hi ng fo rn early1,20 0y ardslastseason. [J ERONIM ON ISA/DECATUR DAILY/ FIL E]
De ca tu rR ed Ra id ers
La yoft heland
DecaturwillbeinClass6A ,R egion 7w ithAthens,Columbia ,C ullman, Hartselle ,J asperandMuscleShoals
Headcoach
JohnRitterentershisfirst se asonas coachatDecatur.Ritte rh as a8 5-42 c areerrecordas ah eadcoachacros s11 seasonsatRussellville,WestMorganand RedBaywith10playoffappearanc es.
Lastseason
Decatur(3-7,1-4)finished fift hin Class6A,Region 7a nd mi ssedthe playoffs.
Wo rdstogro won
LastyearwasDecatur’sfirstseason since1996with an ewheadcoachwh en AaironSavagetookoverforJereAdcock. NowtheRedRaiders hav ea nother new headcoachinRitterwhotakesovera youngrosterthathas70freshme nor so phomoresamongit s1 06players.
“Wehaveveryhighexpectation sa nd standardsofwhat we wan tt hi sp rogram tobeknownfor,butRom ew asn’ tb uilt in ad ay,”Rittersaid.“Sometimesyou havetobepatient,andI’mno ta patient person.
“Theimportan tt hingis th es ek ids wanttobuyinandwantto wo rkhard and th at’shalfthebattle.We ju st ha ve tokeeppluggingalongandgetsomeage andexperiencefortheseguysan dw e’re goingtobein ag oodspot.”
Quarterback
Decaturwillhavetoreplacearguably itstopplayerfrom as easonagoinquarterbackBradinDupper,whopassedfor 86 5y ards ,r ushe df or98 0a nd ac coun ted for17touchdownsin2023.
Whowillreplacehimisstillupinthe airwithseniorZaynePointe ra ndsophomoresReedRobersonandDonovan Jarmancompetingforthejob.
“We’reveryinexperience da tt hat position.Wehavethreeguys compe ting andbetweenthethree of them, they’veplayedzerosnaps,” Ri ttersaid. “Obviouslywehavetopickone ,b utit ’s goingtobe ac onstantcompetitionand it’ll pr obablybewhoeverhas th eb est weekgoingintoBuckhorn. Thei mportantthingis,nomatterwhoitis, that wedesigntheoffensetopla ytot heir strengths.”
Decaturrunning ba ck De vi nH aley (35) ro undsthe co rne ronM aeJemiso n’sGr ay sh au nS wa in (6) las
Off en se
Rittersai dp ossiblythe deep estpositiongroupcomingback in2024 willbe ru nningback.SeniorDonteRossand
sophom ores Dev inHaleyan dI saiah Al le na ll sawsnapsin2023.
On th eo ther hand, th er eceivergroup returns noexperience.DerekCutler, Bryce Pa rk er, Brayden Simpson ,C am Ga mbleandJayle nD av en portwill be the
De ca tu rH er it ag eE ag les
L ay oftheland
DecaturHeritagewillbeinClass 2A ,R egio n8w it hL ex ingt on ,R edBay, Tanner,TharptownandWinstonCounty.
Headcoach
NikitaStoverisenteringhisthird seasonatDecaturHeritage.TheEagles ar e1 3-8underStove rw it ho ne pla yoff appearance.
Lastseason
DecaturHeritage(9-2,6-0)finished firstinClass1A,Region7.
Wo rdstogro won
Fo rt hefir sttimein sch oolhistory, th eD ec atu rH er ita ge foot ba ll te am will bemovingt oC la ss2A.
Fo rt un ate ly fo rt he Ea gl es ,i t’ sa mo ve they’vebeenpreparing fo r.
“Y ou lo ok at la st ye ar ,o ur no n- re gi on gameswer ea2At eam, two3Ateamsanda 4A,”St ove rs aid.“T ou st hisis noth in gn ew. We’l lp laywhoeve r’s on theschedule.”
Quarterb ack
Deca tu rH eritagereturnsitsquarterba ck inNashTh omas ,b utth et ea mis
st il lt ryingto“figuresomethingsout at quarte rback,”Stove rs aid.
Whil eT ho ma sh asexperienc e, Stov er sai dh eh asth ea bil ityto be aD ivisionI ti ght endand th et eamwould rather be able tomo vehimaroundin th eo ffe nse.
Com petingfor the opportunity totake ov eratquarterbackareseniorDylan Ge rmanyandRo ss Letson ,w ho St over saidis at alented ei gh th -grader.
“We’v eg ottwogreatrun ning backs and al ot oftal ent onoffe nseso
Pr ic ev il le Bu ll do gs
La yoft heland
PricevillewillbeinClass5A ,R egio n7 withArdmore,EastLimestone,Fairview, LawrenceCounty,Russellvill ea ndWe st Point.
Head coach
SethParkerisenteringhisfirs ts eason asheadcoachatPriceville. Pa rkerwas previouslytheoffensivecoordinato rat Bo bJ one s.
Lastseason
Priceville(5-7,4-3 )f inishedfourth i nC lass4A,Region 8a ndadvance dto th es econdroundoftheClas s4As tate playoffs.
Wo rdstogro won
There’sbeen al otofchangefor Pricevillethisoffseason.TheBulldogs have an ewcoachinSethParker,who waspreviouslytheoffensivecoordinatoratBobJones,andhavealsomoved to Class5Aforthefirsttimeinscho ol history.
Thegoodnewsistheprogra mi sinf ar b ette rs hapethanitwaspriort o2 01 9as previousheadcoachChrisFosterwent 40-18inhisfiveseasonsatPriceville.
“Ihavenothingbutrespectand admirationforcoachFosterfo rw hat he accomplishedhere, ”P ar ker sa id.“He laid ap henomenalfoundation ,a ndmy goalistocontinueto bui ldon th at.”
Quarterback
Thequarterbackpositionwilllook dra sticallydifferentunderParkerthan underthepreviousregime.
Inthepreviou so ffense, Pr iceville passedverylittle,ifatall.Thequarte rb ackwasaskedtofacilitatethebal lin th er unga me andcon tri but easa ru shingthreat.
Now,thequarterbackwillbeexpected totakeonmoreof ar oleas ap asser.
Parkersaidjunior sH udso nE ubanks andSheldonGrahamarecompeting for thejob.
“Theydothings al ittledifferently. Hudso nisf ast,canrunaroun da nd is v er ya th letic, wh il eS heldo ni sm or eof ap ocketpasserthatcangetth eb all out ontime,”Parkersaid.“I’m reallye xcited aboutthatposition. It hin kb othguy sc an runtheoffensethewaywewant it tobe run.”
Off en se
Priceville wil lb ea wayfrom th es inglewin go ffens et hat wa su sed fo rt he past fiveyear stoam oretradition al attac k.
However,Parkersaid tha tw hilethe formationsmaylookdifferent, the pri ncipleswillbeverysimilar.
“Wewanttobe as mash-mou th, runfirstteam, ”P arkersai d. “Ar eweg oi ng tothro wt heball?Yeah,but at the end ofth ed ay ,I think we’l lbec lo setowh at they’vebe eninre cen ty ears,even ifit looksdifferent.”
Pricevillehasbecomeknownforitsslew oftalente dr unnin gb ac ksin re cen ty ear s, andthisyeartheywill tr yt oa ddanother wit hB ronsonCarroll. Park er said Carroll is builtt oc arrytheball20-25times ag ame.
UrijahBurnhamis ar eceiverth atwill ge ts om ec arries,andZavion Came la nd
PRICEVILLEROST ER
0L andonByer
1W estonDut ton
2H udso nE ub anks
3C ay denCartee
4T ho mas Fe rg us on
5J DP fluegger
6T yd
WHENEVE RY SE CO ND CO UNTS CO UN TO NB ETTER
Our ex pande da nd re mo dele dERisc lean, ef ficien ta nd co nv enient.With at ea mofb oard ce rtifie de me rg en cy ph ys iciansan de xperien ced ERnur se sa ll fo cu se donab etter ex perien ce fo ry ou, it ’s no wo nd er Cu llman Re gional’ sER is co nsis te nt ly re co gniz ed fo rb ea ting st at ea nd na tion al benchmark sf orqualit yc ar e.
Better ev eryday st ar ts he re. Le ar nm or ea tc ullm anregional. co m.
Emergen cy Servic es
Co lt on Ma de we ll ar et wo fr es hm en who Parkersaidhavebrightfuturesandcould potentiallyseeactionthisseason.
Theoffensivelinewillbe on eo fb est positiongroupsfortheBulldogs,returningthreestarters.
ColeOliver,JohnScottChristma na nd EthanJohnsonsecuretheleftsideofthe offensivelineattackle,guardandcenter, re sp ec ti ve ly .J TM il le r, Tr en tW oo d, Wi ll WatersandJacobAldridgearecompetingforthetwospotsontherightside. Receiverwillbethebiggestques tion marksince th eB ulldog sd idn’ tu sethe positionunderthepreviousoffense.
Parkersaidth ep ositionisn’ td eep, but the yh av ef ourorfive gu ys th eybel ie ve theycancountoninBurnham,Cooper Cl ark,CasenDrawbaugh,JDPluegger andTydeBorden.
Defense
Alongthedefensiv el ine,ColeOliver willpulldoubledutyaswillJTMille r. Kaleb Dozier,JakeHamiltonand Jay Patellwilljointhem.
Parkersaidthedefensiv el ine,lik et he offensiv el ine,willbedeepand wil lh elp
carrytheteam.
Atlinebacker, th eB ul ld ogs arethe de epest ,P arke rs ai d,with“a lo to fb odies tha ta reabletoplugandplay.”Returning wil lb eB rodyCollinsan dhew il lb ej oined byBraydenReh mer,Bry ce Ca rrol la nd ColeWells.
Inth es econdary Pr ic evi lle wi llturn t oC adenCarteeand Sin cereBakerat
co rn er bac k.Tyde Bo rd en ,p os si bly Pricevil le’sbes tr eturnin gp lay er, Parker sai d, will pl aysafetyalongwith Jack EubanksandCasenDutton.Thomas Fergu sonan dJDP lu egger wil lp lay in hy brid li neba cke r/safetyrol es.
Must- se eg ames
Withthemoveto Class5A,ther ew ill
be plent yo ff re sh opp on en
he Bul ldogsli ke Russellville and Lawr ence Co un ty.
Pr oba bly themos ta nt icipatedgame, how ever, will be aS ept. 13non-region meeting wi th Wes tM or gan. Thetwo bi tter rivals will meet fo rt he first time since2021.
Fi nal wo rd
Wh ile the re may be al otof change, Pa rk er said the recip ef or succes st ha tP riceville ha su se dt hepa st five years,will be the sam eg oing forward.
“Thest yles may be different ,b ut fo otball isfoot ba ll,” Parkersaid.“The de ta ils an dt ech ni qu es th at we re ta ug ht stillapply. It hi nk the bigges tt hi ng is thephysi cality; thi st ea mi sb uilt to be st rongand phy sical. I’v eb een really impressed .”
Themos ti mporta nt thin gf or Park er will be keeping the Bulldogs’ top rushin ga tt ac k.
“I fw e’renot ableto run the ball effectively, Id on’t ex pect us tobesuccessful,” Parker sa id. “Ifyou’re no ta ble torunthe ba ll,it’s hardto winatany level,andI ex pec tt ow in .”
—C ale bS uggs
We st Mo rg an Re be ls
DrewPhillipshas co mpiled a2 7-8 re co rd inthreeseasonsat We stMorgan. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FOR
L ay oftheland
WestMorganwillbeinClass4A, Re gion 7w ithBrooks,Central-Florence,Danville,Deshler,EastLawrence, Hatton,WestLimestoneandWilson. Headcoach
DrewPhillipsisenterin gh isfou rth seasonatWestMorgan.TheRebelsare 27-8underPhillipswithtw op la yo ff appearances.
Lastseason
WestMorgan(12-1,7-0)finishedfirst inClass4A ,R egion 7a ndad vance dtot he Class4Aquarterfinals.
Wo rd st og ro won
WestMorga nh adits bestseason in schoolhistorylas ty ea r,finishing
undefeat edin th er egula rs eason. No w, afte rg raduatin g18s eniors, the Rebels ha ve an ewbatch of pl ayer sr eady to maketheir own mark.
“I thi nk ou rg uy sh av ea ne dge ab out the mc omin gi nt ot his season,”said We st Mo rg an he ad co ac hD re wP hi llip s.
“Everybodysti lltalk sa bout la styear and rightfully so,bu to urguys want to put th eirow ns ta mp on th isseason.”
Quar ter back
Th eR ebels will have to re place Braxt on Peters, who passe df orover 2,000yards an d3 2t ouchdowns as ea son ag o. In ste ps so phomor eT itan Pa rtlo w, whoha sg rown al ot this off season, Phillip ss ay s.
“T it anhas reallymaturedsomuch this
SE ER EBEL S, G27
THEDECATURDAI LY]
La yoft heland
Br ew er Pa tr io ts
BrewerwillbeinClass5A,Region8 withAr ab,Boaz,Douglas,Guntersville, SardisandScottsboro.
Headcoach
MattPlunkett isen teri ng hisfourth seasonatBrewer.ThePatriotsare 11-20underPlunkettwithoneplayoff appearance.
Lastseason
Brewer(4-6,2-4)finishedfifthin Class5A,Region8.
Wo rdstogro won
Brewerhasjustonewinningseasonand twoplayoffappea rancessi nc e2 000,and Plunkettsaidit'stimeforthattochange.
"WeknowourhistoryhereatBrewer. Ourbackshavebeenagainstthewallfora longtime,"Plunkettsaid."We'vebeenin ourfairshareofclosegames, a nd It hink nowwehaveanunderstandingofwha tit takestowinthoseclosegames,an di t's definitelytimewestartwinning som e."
Quarterback
CasonOdenreturnsforthePatriots thisyearatquarterback,andPlunkett sa idheandthe sta ffexpectthe senio rto take ab igstepup.
"He'shad ag reatoffseasonandhe's reallysteppedupthissummer,"Plu nkettsaid."WehadanOTAwithCen ter Poin ta ndwesa ww hatwethoughtwas ther et hewholetime.Tremendousarm strength,poiseinthepocket, tr ustinhis receiversandputtingtheballi np laces wherehegavehisathletes ac ha nc e."
FreshmanColeDrikardwil ls erveas theteam'sbackup.
Offense
UnderPlunkett,Brewe rh as beena s trongheavyformationteam.Plunkettsaidthatwillchangein2024asthe teamtransitionsto am orespreadattack, intendingtousemorewidereceivers thanfullbacksandtightends.
"Casonis al otmoreconfidentatquarterbackandwehavesomereall yg reat athletesatreceiversowefeltlikewe ne ededtoadjustouroffense tof it our p ersonnelcomingoutofthespring," Plunkettsaid.
ThetopreceiversBrewerwillrely onthisyearwillbesophomoreCam
Wa lkerLathamwillbeon eofB rewe r’ sp ri mar yo ptionsat ru nn in gb ack th isseason. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FOR THEDECATURDAILY]
Ballinger,senior Qu maine Anderson, juniorHunterKnighten an dj un ior Clay Cle mo ns .P lunkett sa id th eg roupha st he chan cet obe oneof th eb estth at 'sco me throug hB rewer.
Atrunnin gb ack, Bre werwil lt urnto WalkerLathamandC.J. Watso nw ith th et wobeingoptions1Aand1B .P lu nke ttsai dL athamis the st ronge roft he two ,b utth atWatso nh asbettervision. Headde dt heyboth ha vegre at spe ed ,c an block andcancatc ht heballoutofthe backfield.
Alongtheof fensiveline will bejunior Wayn eH ortonat le fttackle ,s enio rB re tt
Campbellatleft gu ard, junior Mason LawrenceatcenterandIsaihShackelford
atrighttackle .J uniorsJesus Gonza lez and Christia nP arrishar ec ompeting at rightguard wit hb oth expected to pl ay al ot.
Horton ,L aw ren ceandShackelford are al lm ulti-year start er s.Thisyearwill be thefirstinthreeseasonsthatBrewer does n't ha ve af reshman or sophomore st ar ti ng.
Defense
TheBrewerde fen se allowe d2 5p oi nts pe rg ameduringthe2023seaso na nd Pl un ke tt said th eg oa lt hi sy ea ri st og et th atnumbe rd own to 18or lo wer.
BeauYanceyand DakotaCrawford willanch or thedefensivelineateach of
th ed efen si ve en ds po ts wi th El iH ow ell ex pectedto ro tat ei n. Je su sG onza le z, Wayne Horton and Isai hS hackelford will rotate at th en os eg uard posit ion andal so mi gh ts lid eo ut to de fe ns iv ee nd at ti me s. At line ba cker,Brewe rw ill tur nto De rek Corre aa tM ikelinebacke ra nd La nd on Fe rg us on at Wi llline ba cker. At outside line ba cker, the Patriotswill use Walker Lathamand C.J. Wat son, therun ni ng ba ck du ot ha tw ill pl aybo th way st hi ss eas on. Co rb in Raines an dS ilas Simp son wil lb othrota te in. Cam Balling er and Qumaine An de rsonwill both startatcorne rback wi th
th eh ardestondefenseastheyreturn ju st thr eeguy st ha tp laye ds ig ni ficant snapsi n2 023.
expectedto seeti me.
At safety,Kenneth Joshuaand Ch ays eD avis wi ll st art.
Austinwithmultipl eg uysover3 00 pounds.
XavierYelder, as ophomore ,w illplay lefttackle,whileWilliamOrr,thelone returningstarter,willplay on eoft he twoguardspots,mostlikelyrightguard. SophomoreTyreeEllisonisexpecte dto playatleftguard,juniorStanleyElliott wi ll pl ay ce nt er an dr ig ht ta ck le wi ll be sophomoreJacob iP hillips.
Defense
InexperiencewillhittheBlackBears
Cortavi ou sM ason,last ye ar’sleadin gt ackler,wil lbet he leading re turner onthedefensivelineandwill be joined byRecoWillingham ,J avan Ho odand ZyanOrr.
Ma rkGre enand DJ Orr wil lp lay insid el inebacker,while NathanGray, ZemarWat kinsan dJ amar riVinson are competingforthetw oo utsidelinebackerspots.
Cale bC audle makes th em ov ef rom safetytocornerback.Land onButtl ema nw illalso playcornerback,with KylenStoverand RicoRussel la lso
Must -seegames
Austinopenstheseasonwithbackto-bac kr iv al ry game sa tH ar ts el le and agains tD ecatur.
AnOct.18 dat ea tJ ames Cl emenswill als obec rucialas eitherAustinor James Clemensha sw onCla ss7A, Re gion4 ever yy ea rs in ceAust in moved to7A in2018.
Final wo rd
Austinha sa mixofreturnin gs ta rs an di ne xp er ie nc ed pl ay er si n2 02 4a nd
Perki ns sai di no rde rf or the Blac kB ears to achieve high-levelsu ccess, he ne eds th os ep la ye rs to be more th an ju st gr eat fo otballplayers, bu tg reatleadersas we ll.
“When yo uh av ea yo ung te am,hav ing goodle adershiphelps youstay gr ounded wi thsuc ces sorn ot get too do wnwh en th ings do n’ tgow el l, ”P erki ns sa id .“I f thingsgohaywire, you ng guy sa re going tolo ok at th el eaders,and if they panic, thenthe youngguyswill, to o.
“Ou rl eaders set theton e, and how the yh andle the upsanddownsis importa nt fo rw hatcome sn ext .”
—C ale bS uggs
Austinquar te rb ackJLDa vis re tu rns atquarter ba ckfor th eB lackBears th is se aso n.
RED RA ID ERS
Ontheoffensiveline,seniorMartin Johnsonreturnsatlefttackle.Left guardwillbeeithersophomoreWilliamPerryorsoph om oreGeorg eC obb, whilesophomoreBraydenBattle sa nd juniorJacobGoodwinarevyingfo rt he centerspot.Rightguardwillbesenior JaredGuyse,whoplayeddefensive li nelastyear,andrighttacklewill b ej uniorHarrisPenley ,a re turning starter.
DE CA TUR ROSTER
0C ay denOliver
1T re yG re en we ll
3D ylonMartin
4K aden Wa tkins
5B rayd enSimpson
6I saiahAllen
7Z ay ne Po inter
8D onte Ro ss
9Q uaylenHampton
10 Lo uis Tr uffa
11CamGamble
12 Tu rner We inman
13DerekCutler
14 Re ed Ro berson
15CaseyJustice
16JaylenDa ve nport
17Dono va nJ arman
18Ja yd enDa ve nport
19DeshaunSwoopes
20Bryce Pa rker
21Devin Haley
22 Ke rringto nB ell
23 Ke nto nB irgans
24Latavio nS ykes
25Grad yG ra ham
26IanNewton
27DallonClay
28Ja yd en Po inter
De fe nse
Goingintothe season, Ritter saidthe defensewil lb ea headoftheoffen se since the yr eturnmoreplay er sw ith experienc e. JaydenDavenpor t,twi nb roth er to Jaylen ,r eturnsat defensiv ee nd. He ’llbe joinedbyJoshJones an dT yA sh er ,w ith
JasonTennisonand Lev iJ effer satd efensiv et ac kl e,wh ob ot hp layed la styear. At li ne ba ck er,Ca yd en Ol iv er and Dylo nM artinreturn andwill be joined byCaseyJustic eati nsidelinebacker.
Christian Crabb and Turne rW ein ma n.
Inthesecondary, Trey Gr eenwell,who
29Christian Cr abb
30DustinMcIIwain
31BradenSimpson
32 Ty Sho nM or ris
33ChristianMalone
34 Ka mer onBell
35Isaa cV ernon
36Gavin Wa tkins
37JosephBotto
38Austin We igner
39Hu ds onC ollins
40Ca mM alo ne
41CooperWilliams
42JacobMarshall
startedevery ga meatreceiver in2023, ha sm ov edtosafety. Qua ylenHampton, Lo uis Tru ffa ,K adenWatkinsallreturn af te rp laying la styear.
Must-see gam es
Decaturopenswiththree ro ad ga mes agains tB uckhorn ,t heRiverCityRiva lry against Austin andagainstJasper.
TheJaspergameandanOc t. 18 me etingathome vs. Cullman could decide whet hertheRedRaidersreturnto the play off si n2 024.
Dec at ur cl osestheregula rs easonwith ar ivalryregio ng ameat Athens.
43 JoshuaJones
45 Wa llace Ro by
46Martez Lee
47Emman ue lR osales
48 Broo kG hol ston
49JesseChilds
50Andres Seb astian
51Jared Gu yse
52Kj Wa re
53 Dariu sH ubb ard
54QuindaleCannon
55Alex Ro man
56 Makh iM at th ews
57ChrisCreech
Fi nal wo rd
Rittersay sh ed oesn’t kn owwhat the season holds, but what he viewsasa successful first yearwon’tco me do wn to win sa nd losse s.
“Iwan tu st om aximiz eo ur potential,” Ritter said.“What does tha tl ook lik e? Istha t8 -2and hosti ng ap layoffgam e, 6- 4o re ven 2-8? Onc et hese as on begin s, we ’llbeabletofigure ou tw ha to ur ce ilin gi sa nd maxim ize it .Ifo ur ce ili ng is 8-2 ,l et’s not go6-4 and le av e8 -2 on the table.”
—C ale bS uggs
58 Ty du sN an ce
59Angel Salaz ar
60 D. Ta ylor
61 Ky danEr vin
62 Demetriu sB ro wn
63Am on Jackson
64 Jaco bG oodwin
65Miles Schultz
66 Jet vu sC lark
67Br ay den Battles
68Ethin Sm ith
69BradleyConde
70William Pe rry
71 Joh nW ortham
72 JermaineCollier
73Asher Ma rion
74 Wa rr en Re ardon
75 Harris Pe nley
76 Ko rd ay Harris
77Mar tin Johnson
78 Cur’Br ay lin Pic ke tt
79Geo rg eC obb
80 ConleyDa vidson
81 Edis on Mi ejo
82 DemonBr own
83 Owen Mu rph ree
84 CallahanCania
85 JeremiahDa vis
86 Br ay denWilliams
87MaxGo dwin
88 Ro die Mat th ews
89 ElmerCastro
90Ax el Alm esan
91 Ty Asher
92 Fe lipe Fr ancisco
93 Jacks on Klein
94Aar on Shar pley
95 Jas on Te nn is on
96Aiden Crabb
97 Za cchaeu sC lark
98Aar on Cruz
99 Le vi Jeffers
Da nv il le Ha wks
La yoft heland
DanvillewillbeinClass4A ,R egion7 withBrooks,Central-Florence,Deshler, EastLawrence,Hatton,West Lime stone, WestMorganandWilson.
Headcoach
AndroWilliam si se nteringhisfourth seasonasheadcoachatDanville.The H awksare11-20underWilliamswith oneplayoffappearance.
Lastseason
Danville(3-7,2-4)finishedfifth inClas s3 A,Region 7a ndmissedthe playoffs.
Wo rdstogro won
Inthepasttwoseasonscombined, Da nv il le ha dj us to ne se ni or to ta l. Now theHawksfinallyhaveanexperienced team.
"Al lofas ud den, we 'vefina ll yb ro ken thebarrierwith10or11seniors," Williamssaid."Youcanreallytell ad ifferenceinthematurityofthisteam."
Quarterback
DanvillereturnsJaceGlennatquarterb ac ka ft er Gl en ns ta rt edever yg am ef or theHawksin2023.
"He'sstilljust aj uniorandhe's as mart kid.Heunderstandsouroffens ea nd whatitiswewanttodo,"Willia ms said. "Weexpecthimtocontinuetomature in that po sitio ntow orkto ma ke ev eryone aroundhimbetter."
Offense
Wit hnos en ior sl as ty ear, Da nville returnsallitspersonnelandadd se ven more,making2024havethepotentialto b eak eyseason.
Thetopreturningskillplayerwillbe seniorBenEllenburg.Ellenb ur gs tarted atquarterbackas as op ho mo re and movedtoreceiverandrunnin gb ackas aj unior.Thesenio rh asth ea bili ty to moveeverywhereintheoffenseandthe Hawkswanttogethimtheballasmu ch as possible.
SeniorCristianRodriguezreturnsat ru nning ba ckaf te ra st ro ng ju ni or ca mpaignandisexpectedtocarr yah eavy loadforDanvillethisseason.TalanCross willalsogetrepsatrunningb ackalong withColbyReed.
El le nb ur g, Cr os sa nd Re ed al on gw ith
rB enEllenbu rg has startedfo rt he Hawksat quarterback ,r unning ba ck ,r eceiv er anddefensiv eb ack th ro ughouthis career. [CALEB SUGGS/DECATURDAILY]
WyattSummerfo rd, Donal dW al ker and Ho us to nM cC le sk yw il lp la ya tr ecei ve r. John Sal vi aw ill pla ya tt ightend. Wi lli am ss ai db
orrunning th eb all.
Alon gt heoffe nsiveline from le ft toright wi ll be RyderReeves, Cory Thibodeaux, Ca de nF lowers,La ndon Ha nse rd andMitchell Owen s. Williams sai dt heof fen siveline is experien ce d, physicaland ag ro upthe Hawkswil lh ang their ha to ni n2 024.
Danvillesenio
Fa lk vi ll eB lu eD ev ils
La yoft heland
Falkvill ew illbeinClass2A, Region 6w ithCleveland,ColdSprings,Co osa Christian,Southeastern-Blount ,S usan MooreandWestEnd-WalnutGro ve.
Headcoach
SethWardis enteri ng his fourt hs eason atFalkville.TheBlueDevilsare15-17 underWardwithoneplayoffappearance.
Lastseason
Falkville(4-6,2-4)finished fift hin Class2A,Region8.
Wo rdstogro won
Aftermissingtheplayoff sf orthe secondtimeinthreeseasonslas ty ear, Falkvillelookstorebound ,r eturningan experiencedteamwithninereturning startersonoffenseandsixondefense.
"Inordertosucceed,wejus tn eed toplayeverydownwithgreat ef fort,” Wardsaid.“Footballissimple.Block an dt ackl e.Ifwe doth at ,w es houl db ein ever yg am e. We ne ed to no tm ak ei tt oo b igandjustdoourjobwithgrea te ffort andintensity.”
Quarterback
LandonPowersreturnsforhissecond seasonas as tarte ra fterpassin gf or1,149 yards,rushingfor41 2a nd accoun ti ng for 19touchdownsin2023.
"Theexperienc et hatLando ng ot last seasonshouldgivehimtheconfidenceto leadouroffense,”Wardsaid.
Offense
DenverComstockreturnsasth eB lue Devils'leadingrusherfromlastseason an dw ill be jo in ed by Br od ie Be nne tt and AsherLentz.
Atreceiver,FalkvillewillturntoLogan Fowler,CashLawrimore,Ryan Childers andEliHarriswitheachbeing able toline up in th es lo to ro ut si de .L an do nH or ton andComstockwil lp la yt igh te nd. Falkvillereturnsfou rs ta rt er sa lo ng th eo ffensivelineinBryan tO wen s, TreyHemming,JacobJacksonandAncel Maze.MasonMooreandHousto nJ ac ksonarebattlingforthefinalspo t.
Defense
Alon gw iththeirdutiesontheoffensiveline,BryantOwens,TreyHemming, JacobJacksonandHoustonJa ckso nw ill
Fa lkvillerunsontoth ef ieldprior to ag am ed ur ing th e2 02 3s eason. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FO RT HEDECATURDAILY]
FA LK VILLERO ST ER
0E liHarris
1L ando nP ow ers
2D en ve rC omstock
3L ando nJ ones
4R eedDillard
5B enLacey
6J udson Tew
7R ya nC hilders
8L ogan Fo wler
9S am ue lJ aco bs 10Esteban Re ndon
11 Tr isten Pe rry
12 Cash Lawr imo re 14Gab eM otes
15 BrodieBen ne tt
18 CJ Jackson
al sost artonth ed ef en si veline. Brayden TomlinandCohenJarrettwillrotatein as well.
LandenHorton returnsasth eo nly lin ebackerwith ex perien ce and, Ward said,theremaining sp otsareupfor grab s,buttherear em ultipleguy sw ho gi veth eB lu eD evils ac ha nc et ow in.
LandonPowers,Rya nC hil ders,Brodie Be nnet t,Lo ga nF ow le r,Ash er Lentz, CJ Jackso na nd Es ta bon Re nd on all re turn as gu ys th at pl ayed in th es ec on da ry la st season.
Mu st-se eg ames
Falkv illeisin2A,Region 6t his se ason afterplayin gt helasttwo seasons in Region8.Four ofitssixregionopponents madet heplayoffslastseaso ni ncluding
21 Lan den Horton
22 Cla yF it zg erald 23Jaxon Strin ger
24 Lan don Lin der man
33 Asher Le ntz
50An ce lM eza
53 Tr eyHem ming 55Maso nM oo re
56 Br ay dan To mlin
58 CohenJarrett
62 Carter Fo wler
63 HoustonJackson
66 Br ya ntOw ens
74Jaco bJ ackson
80 Lan den Huddleston
CoosaChristia n, whic hp la ye df or the 1A champi onshiplas ts easo n.Joining Co osa isSouthea stern-B lount, Susa nM oor e, WestEnd-Wa lnut Gr ove,Cleveland an dC old Sp rings. No n-reg ion opponentswi ll be Vinemont,ColbertHeights, De caturHe ritageandWinstonCo un ty.
Fi na lw ord
Falkville be li evesit ha sw ha ti tt ak es to returntothe play of fsin 2024as long as the Bl ueDevi ls take itone gameat at ime. “E ve ry ga me onou rs ch ed ul ei si mp ortanttous,” War ds aid.“Wi ns aren't easy to co me by in hi gh sc ho ol ,s ow et ry not tomakean yo ne gamemore special or ta keanyone fo rg ran te d.”
Fa lkville’s Lan don Po we rs dodges Ta nn er’s Ke vin Hale last season. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FOR THE DECATURDAILY /F ILE]
DecaturHeritage co achNikitaSto ve rise nteringhisthir ds eason withtheEagles. [PHOTOSBYJERONIMONI SA /DECATURDAILY]
Fr om Pa geG10
we’rejustlookingfor so meon et hat can managetheoffense,butstillmakesome playstoo,”Stoversaid.
Offense
DecaturHeritagereturnsitsbiggest weaponfrom as easonagoinrunni ng b ackSavariusEvans,whorushed for over2,000yardsas af reshma ni n2 02 3. TheEaglesalsohavesophom or eD aniel “Budda”Taylor,whocameonatth ee nd of2023,rushingfor532yards.Stover saidhefeelsTaylorwoul dbet heNo.1 ru nnin gb ac kf or al ot of te am sa nd the combinationof him and Ev an sg ives th eE aglesoneof th em ost- ex pl os ive
Decatu rH eritage’sNashThomasstartedatquar terb acklastseason bu tc ouldmo ve ar oun di nt he of
bac kf iel dsi nA labama th at will ru shfor moreyard sa sa team th anin2023.
Atreceiver,Har ri son Ha rd yr et urns, while Paxton Tarv eris back pl ay ingfootball af te rm issing la styear.
Alongtheoffensive line,seni or Tr ey Letsonreturnsatlefttackleas wel las AndrewRodridgue zw ho,likeTarver, didn’t playlas ty earbutstarte dt wo ye ars ago.Rodrigue zw illpla yc ente r.
JonathanBowlingandColeStuartare bot hb ackafterstartingatguardas freshme na sea so na go .J oh nV in cent play ed defensive en di n2 02 3b ut wi llswitch torighttackle in 2024.Stov ersa idthe ju ni or ad de d2 5p ou nd si nt he of fs eas on inordertom aketh es witc h.
D efen se
ZavierJohnsonreturnsatdefe nsive
G RE AT PL ACE TO EA T!
Ch ic ke nW in gs &M ore
en df or th eE ag le sa ft er le ad in gt he te am insacksin 2023.Als ob ackwillbeLuke
Mc Ge ea tn os et ac kl e, wh ile th ed efensiv ee ndwill rotatebetw een John Vin cent and Nash Tho mas.
At lineb ac ker, Ia nW ickwirereturns asa thre e- ye ar starter, as doe sD ylan Germany at ou tsidelinebacker.Conno rS iv le ya nd Ezra Burne yw illals op layatline backer, wit hB urn eybeing on eo ft he mostimprovedplayer sf rom 2023,Stover said.
Inthesecondary, Daniel Taylorand Dalto nG ay return at cornerback ,w hi le HarrisonHardyandPaxton Tar ver will playatsaf ety.
Must- se eg ames
Whil em ovin gto2Aw ill br in gt ough competition ,s cho olslikeTan ner,Red BayandFalkvillepresent freshchallenges
an da ls oa no ppo rt un it yt op la yc lo se rto home.
“Eve ryawaygame we had lastyear wa sl ik ea nh ou r- an d- 45 -m in ut e, tw ohou rd rive,”Stover sai d. “Thi sy ear, our longestdriv ei sj ust ov er an hour. We ’re pre ttyex ci te da bo ut that.” Fi nal wo rd
Itma yb et he school’s first year in2A, bu tw it hsom uchre tu rning talent,the Eagles still hav eh igh expec tatio nsin 2024.
“W he ny ou ju mp up ac la ss, ever yt hi ng is new, ”S to ve rs aid .“ You ’re pl ay in ga ll newteams, and you hav et he chance to do thingsthat have never be endonehere before. It hi nk wewill adju st well to2A an dI th ink it ’s goi ng to be af un se as on .”
—C ale bS uggs
fen se th isfall.
ClayClemonsandTristanFranksal so expectedtoplay.MicahEdwards, ap reviousstarteratcornerback,make st he movetofreesafety,whileColeDrinkard willstartatstrongsafety.
Plunkettsaidtheathleticism ofthe defensiv eb ackfield,aswell assize and height.willhopefull ya llowthePatriots totakeawayothe rt eams'bes tr eceivers in2024.
Must-seegames
PlunketthighlightedPriceville ,A ra b,
BREWERROSTER
1C amBallinger
2C orbinRaines
4C asonOden
5Q umaineAnderson
6M icahEdwards
7H unterKnighten
8C la yC lemons
9R yd erAna ya
10Julian We st
11ColeDrinkard
13 Re illyBurney
15 Wa lkerLatham
TE
16DakotaCr aw fo rd
17ElijahAlexander
18Edwar dK elley
19XanderShirey
20AustinWilliams
22Ethan Va nn
23BrandonCole
24 Tr istan Fr anks
26Cj Wa tson
28DerekCorrea
31ElliotFisher
32BrianKanad ay
CullmanandScottsboro as rivalrygames or gamesaga ins to pponent sB rewer has struggledagainstinthe pa stth athe fe els thePatriotsneed totry an df ind aw ayto ge taw inin.
Fina lw ord
Plunkett saidthetimeis no wf orthe Patriotstostar tp utting thingstogether. "Af ter ac oupleofyearsof pl aying al ot of yo ung guys ,w e'r ef inallyput ting an ex peri enc ed gro up on th ef ie ld ," Plunkett said ." Wh enBrewe rp uts anexpe rienced andtalentedgrouponth ef ield,good thing sh avehappened ."
33ConnerNewton
37Riley Fo rtn er
39Lando nF erguson
42SilasSimpson
45David Pe rez
50LandonMcB ride
53MatthewDube
55 Eli Ho we ll
59NathanDube
60Collin Br adford
62Christian Pa rrish
66Jor danCr oss
68 Bret tC ampbell 70 Ka iden Summ ersill 72Jesus Gonz alez
74Mason Lawr ence
76 Wa yn eH orton
78 IsaihShackelfo rd
80 Ro ni Miguel
84Beau Ya nc ey
88 Ka mR icks
90CarsonAulabaugh
IT E•P ES T•M OS QU ITO
offseasonit’sincredible,”Phillipssai d. “Hisawarenesshasgoneup,heunderstandstheoffenseandhe’sgottheguys ralliedbehindhim.”
TyshonTuckerwillalsoge ts napsat quarterbackin aw ildcatpacka ge.
Offense
Th eR eb el sl ed th es tat einp ointsper gamefornearlytheentireseasonin2023, finishingwith51pointspergame.
Unfortunatelytheskillplayersthat accountedforthemajorityofthos ey ards an dp oin tsar en ow go ne .T ha ti nc ludes runningbac kJ alenFle tc her ,t heDa ily’s 2023co-PlayeroftheYear,who’snowat UNAandreceiverTi’ArriusMosleywho nowplaysforJacksonvilleState.
Replacingthatamoun to ft alentis nevereasy,especiallyfor a4 Ap rogram, b utPhillipssai dp artofwhyhisstaffisso excitedfortheupcomingseas on isge tti ng to sh ow ever yo ne ju st ho wd eep the WestMorganprogra mi s.
“Wehave al otofguy st hatcould’ve playedthelas tc ou pl ey ea rs,butu nf ortunatelyyoucanonlyput11onthefield,” Phillipssaid.“Theseguyscould have easilytransferredsomewhereelse,but th ey’vewaitedtheirturn.Seeingthem fi nallyhavetheopportunity toshow whattheycandoisexciting.”
TyshonTuckerwillste pi ntothe “a thlete ”r ol et ha tw asused by Fletche rin 2023 an dw il lm ov ea ro undthe of fense. Ma Ca rri Jo hn so na nd Ty Jo ne sw il la lso playdifferentrolesintheoffense.Johns on wi ll se et im ea tr ecei ve ra nd ru nning b ack,whileJoneswillplayrunningback, tightendandevenwildcatquarterback.
Jayli nM cGuir ea nd Jabar iW iggin sw ill rotateatrunningback,whileJoshGarland,KaylinDanielsandShone Tap sc ott willseetimeatreceiver.JacobJohnston will playatfullbac ka ndtightend.
ThebiggestplusfortheRebelsthis year wi llbealongtheof fe nsive li ne wheretheyretur nf ourstarters.
LeftguardwillbeWileyGarrison, ce nterisMelvinCarrillo,whowas All -Statein2023,rightgua rd will be Kr ishawnGood ea nd righ tt ackl eis DanielDavis.Left ta ckle is st il lac omp etitionbetweenConnor Ri kardand BraydonBlankenshipwithPhillipssaying thateithercouldeasilystart.
Defense
Whiletheoffensegrabbedth eh eadlineslastseason,thedefensequietlyhad as trongyearaswell,holdingteamstoan
We stMorgan’sJackson We bster ce lebratesa tacklelastseason. [JERONIMONISA/DECATUR DAILY]
avera ge of15.5 pointspe rg ame.
Th eR ebel sl ose af ew ke yp la ye rs ,s uch asline backerSh a’ Ma rvion Mo sl ey ,w ho wa st he Daily’ sc o-P la ye ro ft heYe ar with Fl et che rin2 023 ,b ut als oh av es evera lr eturningstarters.
Alon gt hedef ensive line,Maddox Pendegraph,Jac ksonWe bsterandSeth Alexand erar ea ll ba ck afte rs ta rting every gam eas ea so na go.
TyJones,who wa sa nh onorable me ntion All-State lin ebackerin 2023, isbackatinsideline ba ckerandwill playalongsideJaylin Mc Gu ire andJose Bibiano.
ColeTh or nr eturnsatoutsidelineb acker,whileKeithanDelonywillpl ay atth eo theroutsiderba cker spot.
Inthesecondary wil lb eS honeTaps cot ta ndNat hani el Sm it hw ill pl ay at cornerbackalon gw ithMaCarriJohnsonandKaylinDaniels. BrodyBanks and Carso nG illilandwil lp la ys afe ty.
Must-se
eg ames
West Morga no pens with at ou ghnonregiongam eatR andolp hb eforestarting regionpla yaw ee kl ate rv s. Brooks. They ’ll alsorene wa cl as si cM organ Count yr ivalr yw hen the yt akeon Price villeonSept. 13.
Pos sibl yt he bi gg es tg am eoft he ye ar thoughwil lb ea gainstDeshler.The We st Morga nv s. De shler ga meha sd ec idedthe
We stMorgan ’s Ty shon Tu ckerin te rc ept sap ass intended for Et ow ah’sEric Te aldu ri ng las ts eason’spla yo ff s. [J ERONIM ON ISA/ DECATUR DA IL Y]
WE STMORGA NR OSTER
1T ys ho nT uc ker
2J ay linMcGuire
3A sherFletcher
4C olb yJ ones
5J oseBibiano
6J ackson We bster
7K ay linDaniels
8TyJ ones
9J aco bJ oh nst on
10 Josh Gar land
11 Ty lerMosley
12 Ke ithanDelony
13 Shon eT apscott
14BrodyBanks
15Titan Pa rt low
16EllisJohnson
17 Ta yM cDaniel
18Nathaniel Sm ith
19 Lan den Ro driguez
20 Ka rso nG illiland
21Julian Lo ng
22 ColeThorn
23MaCar ri Johnson
We st Mo rg an’s Ty Jones ce lebrates ap ick-six againstEas tL aw re nc el ast season. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FOR THEDECATURDAILY]
24 JabariWiggins
26 Can aan Str andridge
27DylanBradley
28Da vid Za va la
29 Pa rk erEs helm an
30 Pe yton Allen
31 Lo ganWingo
32Culle nK irby
34Dominic Gant
35 Pa blo Man do za
36 Brady Ho dges
37Kiley Hess
38Aar on Her na ndez
40 Ty ler Smith
43 BenJohnston
44Alv er ado Ya nez
47OwenNewman
50 Set hA lexander
51MelvinCarrillo
52Jonathan Maiso net
53 JDKirby
54 Pa tr ickRic hey
55Noah Casteel
reg ion each of th el asttwoseaso nsand thisyearittakes places on thelast da yof th er egula rs eas on.
Fi na lw ord
WestMorgangr aduated al otfrom last year’sreco rd- breakingseason,but the Re bel sb el iev et hey’l lr el oadin stead of
56Maddo xP endegraph
57 Tu cker Gar rison
58 Colt on Lo we ry
59Mar ekJank ow ski
60 Jes seKi rby
61Ry an Her na ndez
62 Easton Hutto
64 DanielDa vis
65 Zav ian Ma rt in
67 Carlo sH er ná ndez
68 Os ca rH er na ndez
70Kr isha wn Go ode
71 Br ay don Blankens hip
72 Connor Ri ka rd
73 Wiley Gar rison
74 Br odee Ro bins on
75 BenBr own
76 Ben Alex ander
77 Briar Pow ers
78AlexMessina
79 Cas hM ur phy
81 Will Smith
82 Is ay Ta pia
reb uild in2024. “B eing able to see the guys tha th ave waite dt heirturn get thei rc hance and have success is some thi ng I’ mr ea lly lo ok ing fo rw ard to ,” Ph il li pssaid .“ Th ese guysare hu ng ry .”
—C ale bS uggs
At he ns Go ld en Ea gl es
La yoft he land
Athenswill be inClass 6A ,R egion 7 withColumbia, Cu llman, De catur, Hartselle, Ja sperandMuscleShoals.
Headcoach
CodyGrossisenteringhisninth seasonasheadcoachatAthens.The Golde nE aglesare 48 -38wit hf ive pl ayoffappearancesunderGross.
Lastseason
Athens(8-3,3-2 )f inishedthirdin Clas s6 A,Region 7a ndadvancedto thefirs tr ou nd of th eC lass6A st ate playoffs.
Wo rdstogrow
Athenshasputtogetherseveralsolid s ea so ns unde rG ro ss, bu th as st ru ggl ed inthepostseason,advancingpastthe firstroundjustonceunderhimin 2019.
TheGoldenEaglesarehoping to changethatin2024.
“Wegotpastthefirstroundin2019 andhaven’tsince,”Grosssaid .“ We’ve ha da co upl ee ig ht -w in se as on sa nd got b ouncedinthefirstround,an dt hat’s notwhatwewant.
“Winningeightgamesintheregular seasonandgoinghomeisn’tgoingto cu ti t.Wewanttoadvanceandtodo that,wehavetocontinuetogetbetter astheyeargoes,behealthywhen pl ay of fs ro ll ar ou nd an dm os ti mp ortantly,beingplayingourbestballwhen Novembercomes.”
Quarterback
Athensreturnsitssignalcallerfrom la st ye ar in Br og an Gr os s. La st se as on, Grosspassedfo rn early2,500yards, ha d31t ot altouchdownsand was namedtheDaily’sClass5A-7APlayer oftheYear.
Andifthenamesoundsfamiliar,the seniorquarterback ,w hoisenteringhis thirdseasonasthestarter,isthesonof CodyGross.
“Iexpectmoreofthesamefrom him,”CodyGrosssaid.“Thething with hi mi sh is un ders tand in go ft he offenseisprettyspecial.We don ’t even ta lk ab ou ti tath om e, bu th es tu di es it, he unde rs ta nd si t. It me an ss om et hi ng tohim.Athensfootball me an sal ot to him.”
Offense
Whil eA thens doesret urn it sq uarterback ,itd oesn’t havethe sameluxury wi th skillplayers.
Th eG ol denEagle sl os tn early every skil lp laye rf ro ml astyea r,in cl uding re ceiverJay’Shon Ridg le wh on ow plays fo rt heUniver sityofHous ton.
“It’ sg oingto be toughe rf or su re. Yo u’r en otgoingto ge tc reditfora 75-yardtouchdown pas sb ecauseyou pitcheditforward to Ja y’ Sh on, ”C ody Gr os ss aid.“We’re goi ngto ne ed al ot ofguy st os tepupinordertohavethe successwe want.”
Athensgo tap lus atrunning back with the mov einf romXavierEdwardsfrom EastLimesto ne wherehe wa sa sta rf or theIn dians .A lsoatrunning backwill beDa mar cusMalon ea nd KJHoward.
At receiv er ,G ross sa id th er e’ sl it tle experiencewithsenior JaretJo hnson havingthemost. So phomoreAidan
At hensquar te rb ackBrogan Gr oss passed fo rn early2,50 0y ardsand28 to uchd ow ns lastseason. [JERONIMO NI SA/DECATURDAILY]
GOLD EN EA GL ES
Lovell,GradySullivanandevensome defensiveplayerslikeWalkerHarrison andJacksonUngerwillalsoplay.CJ Croonewillplayattightend.
Athensdoeshavethe luxur yof having arguablyoneofthetopoffensivelinesin NorthAlabamareturning ,l edby se nior AuburncommitSpencer Do wlandatleft tackle.Alsoreturningwillbeleftguard JebShinkunas,TylerMasse yw illplay at center,PrattJohnseyatrightguard andBenDavisatrighttackle.
“Ifyoucan’tblockanybody,itdoesn’t ma tte rw ha ty ou ha ve at th es ki ll po sitions, ”G rosssaid.“Thoseguysha ve
AT HENSROSTER
1W alkerHarrison
2C larenceJones
3B rayd enMooney
4J eromeMalone
5A idan Lo ve ll
6D amarcusMalone
7X av ierEdwards
8KJH ow ard
9A mariMoore
10MicahHenson
11JaxonUnger
12BroganGross
13 Rowe Vinson
14CamCarden
15Gavin Ro dr iguez
16 We ston Le gg
17Grad yS ullivan
18ConnorJohnstone
19JaretJohnson
21BradyJohnston
pl ay ed al otof ba ll, an dw ee xp ec tt hem tohelpuscarrytheload.”
Gros ss aidallhis best teams atAthens hadbigandtalented offe nsive lin esand thatthisyear’sgroup has thechanceto b eo neofth eb iggest an dt hebes t.
De fe nse
Alon gt hedefensive li ne,seni ors KolbyWilliams and La ndynKingare bo thbattlingforth ej ob atno se gu ard wit hG rosssayingthat bo th will play.
Atdefensiveend,GavinRodriguez, BennySeibert, Al exMurphyandEthan Lawniczakwillrotate.Grosssaid he’s pleasedwiththedepththeyhave an dt he abilitythey’l lh ave to play al otofguys.
At li ne ba ck er ,J er om eM al on em ak es themovefro md efensiveend,where
22 Ka yd onBl ed soe
23JackJones
24HalstonBar ker
25 AustinCampbell
27Marcus Ay ala
28JaxonBailey
30AlexMurp hy
31 Ka denCaldwell
32 Aa yd enB ai nes
33Luk eM cGuire
34 Re eceBo ye tt
36 CaronMathis
37 Br yl yn nB ri te
38 Brice Emery
39 To rr ient eW hite
40 Ko lb yW illiams
41Nicolas Gu ilbert
42Benn yS eibert
43 Sterlin gM ahoney
44Elijah St evens
he startedthelasttwoyears,to Mike lin ebacker. Joinin gh im wi ll be ar eturningJackJone sa ndAustin Campbell at insidelinebacker.Atoutsidelineback er willbeJaxonBailey, Halston Barker and MicahHen so n.
Inthesecondary, WalkerHarris on, th et eam’s lead in gt ackler in 202 3, returns as at hre e-year st arterat saf ety. Br ayde nM oo ne yw il la ls op la ys af et y, while Clarence Jones and Ja ckson Unger retu rnat cor nerb ack.
Must -seegames
You’ll ha ve tohi tt he road thi ss ea son inorderto ca tc ht hebestofAthens’ g ames.TheGolde nE agles wil lh ave to trave ltoC ullm an, Mus cle Shoals, Hartsellean dR us sellv ille.
45KianJackson
47 Lan don Wa les
48Joshu aC osby
49 DanielVicente
50 Lo gan Har vey
51 Joh nT ro ut
52 Ty lerMassey
53 Fe rn and oN ava
54 Desmo nd Malone
55MaxJones
56 Lan dynKing
57Azriel Lo za no
58 Le wis Cam pu za no
60 Coo pe rR eed
61Eric Salg ado
62AlmarionDa vis
63 Br yc eS ch wan
64 Ben jamin Da vis
66 Pra tt Joh nsey
68 Da vidBau er
Ja sp er on Sep t. 20and Decat ur on Oct. 25 highlight thebest home games. Fina lw ord
Athen sl ost some hi ghligh t-ma ki ng pl ay ers fromlas ty ear,but return eda st ro ngnu cl eu so fg uy s, st ro ng en ou gh to ma ke ad ee pe rp os ts eas on ru nin 2024.
“T he re ’s be en am en ta lit ys etar ou nd here of working hard an dg etting after it and ourguy sh ave been doi ng that,” Gr oss said.“Ofcourse,we have guys that ha veto re ally step up, but with fo ur of fensi ve line men back, aq uar terback ba ckandseveral defen sive guy sb ack, yo uc anbe really good wi ththat.”
—C alebSuggs
70 Br ay len Harris
71 Jacks on Carter
74Spenc erDo wland
77 JebShin kun as
78Shem ar Ya rbrou gh
79 Br ay lenWhite
80Mat th ewBr oo ks
81 Evan Han ey
82 JamesNewby
83 Ha yd enBlake
84 Deun tr ay Pe oples
85 Jax on Mann
86 Ethan Lawn iczak
87Set hR ezack
88 Harold An der son
90 Br ay lon Yo ung
91 Ty ler Re ddick
94 Blyth eM enefee
99 CJ Cr oo ne
gr ea test depth andthatthe y're exci ted at the ability to be able to rotat eg uys in and out there.
Defense
Wi lliams sa id as tren gthof the te am wi ll be more dept h, wh ic hw il la ll ow gu ystono th av et op la ye ve ry sn ap bothwa ysoreven no tp lay bo thways atall.
Thedefensiveline wi llhave the leastamountofdepth wit hi tc onsistingof theenti reoffensiv el ine.Landon Hanser dw il lp laynose gu ard,with Co reyThibodeauxrotatin gi n. Mi tchell Owen sa ndRyderReeveswill pl ay atdefensiveend,alongwith Caden Flowers.Mason Asher branne rw ill be an on -o ffensi veline guy that will get rep so nt hedefensiveline.
At outsidelinebacker wil lbeJ akalyn Orrand Co lby Reed. Matthew Ti dwell and Col eF low ers return as two-year sta rt ersatinsidelinebacker.
Ben El lenburg willbeat free safety and DonaldWalker atstrong safety wit hS hawnHarris also gettingreps.
AJ Wil liamscouldalso se et ime.
Avery Muhammad, Cody Ba rb er, Hous to nM cC Leskyan dW ya tt Su mmerford willall get repsat cornerb ack. Wil liamssaidthesecondaryhasthe
Must -s ee games
Da nvi llemakes theju mpin to 4A for th ef irsttimesin ce 20 19an dt he Hawkswi llbe join in go ne of the toughestregio ns in north Alabama, whichwil la lsobe an ine-tea mr egio n.
Da nv il le ha sa cha nc et os ta rt str on g, howev er. In theirfirstfive games, they will pla yt hree team s( Tharptown, Wil sonandEastLawrence)that had two wins or le ss in 2023.
Fi nal wo rd
Movin gt o4 Ap rovidesanincrease in com petition ,b ut Will iamsandthe Haw ks stil lb elieve 2024 ca nbet he stron gs ea sonth ey've been bu ilding towa rd.
"We've taken al otoflumps the past two yea rs, bu tw e've triedto learnfromit every time," Wil liams sa id."We have al otof guysth athave startedmultipleseaso ns. Som eo f th em st il la re n' ts en io rs ,b ut we ho pe th at ex pe riencewill le ad to big th ings th is fa ll."
—C al eb Su ggs
Andr oW illiamsisenteringhisfourt hs ea sonas head co ac ha tD anville [JERONIMO NI
whonowplaysforUNA.
Th eT igersreturn th em aj ori ty of the ir re ceivers,though,including6-foot-7 MarkusTapscott.Tapscott, ab asketball sta rf ortheTi ge rs, pl ayedfootballlastyear andimprovedthroughouttheseason.He’s expectedtotak eag ian tl ea pf or wardthis year.
“In al otofthe7-on-7tour na mentswe didthissummer,ifhegotinsing le cove ragehewasunstoppable,”Newto ns aid.
“Lastyear, Id on’tkno wi ft heconfidence wasn’tthereearlyon,buthe reall yc ame onattheendoftheseasonand tu rnedi nto ar gu ab ly ou rb es tr ecei ve r. It hi nk th ec arryoverfromlastyearwillbehugeforhim, andus,becausethere’snot al otofguys thathavehissizeandathleticism.”
AlsoatreceiverwillbeBradyHolt, Tr ammellHurleyandAidenPointer,a freshmanwhosetalentmay get him on thefieldsoonerthanlater,Newtonsaid.
Atrunningback, th eT igerswil lt urn toJaydenMorrisandJaheimPruit tto replaceFletcher.Whilethedu om aynot haveFletcher’sabilityto“go80yardsfor at ouchdownatanyti me” asNewton pu ts it,hesaidtheywillbring am oretraditional
Ha rt se lle do wn hi ll ru nning at ta ck th at wi ll continually moveth ec hains.
Ontheoffensiv el ine ,H arrisonTapscott an dJ aydenShekel lr etu rn at ce nter an dl eft guard,respectively.Elijah Guillon, who Newtonsaidha sh ad at reme ndous offse as on ,w il lt ak eo ve ratl ef tt ackl e, while NolanCarrollwillplay atri ghttackle.Luke Sp arksandJaylyn Gr issomare battl ingfor theotherguardspot.
Defense
Wit hN ewto nm ak ingth es witc htoh ead coach,Matthe wC ole ,a lon gt ime assistant, willtakeoverthe coordinatoran dp laycallingduties.
Har tse ll er eturnsarguably it st op de fe nsiv ep layerinPorterSimmon s. The sen ior defensiv el inema ni sa fo ur -yearstarter andhas multipleDivision Io ffer s.
“H e’sa na mazingpla yer that hasoffers fromTroy, Sa mfor da nd others,” Newton said.“Everycollege coachI’vetalk ed to tellsmethe same thi ng ,t heyknewhe was tal l,fas ta ndstron gb ut they didn’t re alize howhar dh ep layed untiltheyturn ed on film.”
Joininghimo nt he de fen sive lin ew illbe DaltonBuntainand Ty lerMilandatnose guar da ndEli Kin ga td efensiveend.
At linebacker,JamesonFalcian ir etur ns afterbeingoneof th eT ig ers’toptackler sin
2023. Hereplaces Jake Haynes .w ho si gned with Samfor d,astheteam’sdefensive play caller.
Als oatl in eba ck erwil lb eJ ustin Metz, No ah Gi bs on ,B la in eJ oh ns on an dA us tin Pa yne.
Co le Mi le sa ndJacePreuittreturnatthe hybridoutsidelin ebacker/safety sp ots, whi le HudsonBuckelewan dC hris Hutson wil lp layfre es afety .S abanWi tt, Carson Je tt an dS ha dP ri ol aw il lp la yatc or ne rb ac k.
Must-seega mes
Hartselleopensthe se asonwith ar iva lry ga mevs.Austinat ho meat J. P. CainStadium .T he twoteams ha ve open ed the seaso ne veryyearsince2018andar ean even 3-3 in thatstretch.
Har tselle’ sa nnualregio ns howdown with Mu scleShoals,which usually has high re gion sta kes ,w ill takeplace onOc t. 25.Normallyplaye di nt hemiddle of the season, this yea ritw ill be th el as tr eg ion gam ef orboth.
Final wo rd
Har tsellehas been oneofth et opand mostconsistentprogramsin Clas s6 Aa nd, even thoughthisisNe wt on’sfirstjo bat he ad co ac h,he ex pe ct st ok eep th at go in g.
“Tha t’stheplan,”Newtonsaid. “I’m wo rkingon keep ingour numbers up .If there’s ak idin thisschoolthat ca nh elpus pl ay football,I’ md oi ngmybesttogethim inthe fa cility. It hink ifour num bers stay strong, we ca nc omp ete wi th anybody.
“I’mnotworried aboutus playing hard, because that’ sj ust whatwe do he re,”Newton said.“It doesn’t need to be coache d.”
—C alebSuggs
La wr en ce Co un ty Re dD ev ils
La yoft heland
LawrenceCountywil lc ompeteinClass 5A,Region 7t hisyearwit hA rdm ore, Ea st Limestone,Fairview,Priceville ,R uss ellvilleandWestPoint.
Headcoach
TheRedDevilsenterthei rf ourth seasonwithTrentWalker,whowent6-5 lastyearwith as tateplayoffappearance. LawrenceCountyis9-22unde rW alker.
Lastseason
LawrenceCounty(6-5,4-2)finished thirdinClass5A,Region8.
Wo rdstogro won
Afterhisfirstwinningrecord an dp layoffappearancelastyear,Walke rs aid he wantstoprovelastyear was n’t ao ne-off.
“Wewanttoplay af irst-roundplayo ff gamehere. If eellikewewereclos el ast yeartoachievingthat.That’sth eg oal, b utthemantrathatwe’rereallyusing torallyaroun dt hisyearissomething toprove,”hesaid .“ Thisseasontome isaboutsomething to provebecauseI wantto proveforthesesenior st ha tl ast yearwasn’ ta fluke. It wasn’t ad ro pin thepanthatwegotlucky.”
Quarterback
ParkerFrostreturnsas af ou rth-year startingquarterbackfortheRedDevi ls. Th es eniorfinishedthe la stseasonwith 1,311passingyardsand13touchdowns. Healsohad115rushingyard sa ndfive touchdowns.
“He’sgoingtohaveeve nm oreproduction .Hep layedinspurtslasty ear b uthe’sgoingtobeourprimar yg uy,” Walkersaid.“Weknowthatwithanythingwewanttodoontheperimeter,our skilledplayers,thequarterbac ka nd the receiversare allbe tterthanlastyear.”
Offense
Th eR ed De vi ls wi ll ha ve to re pl ace 14 seniors,includingrunningbackDrew Gatlin,whoranfor15touchdownsand 1,3 70yard stob ecometh es chool’s secondall-timeleadingrusher.
Otherstarterslos tw ereEliLong (OL ), CooperWilkerson(OL),AdamTerry (OL),KaidenWear(WR),JesseCartee (WR),MaddoxDenham(WR), Br od yG illespie(WR),ZanderBillings(WR),Wyatt Kelsoe(TE)andArnoldAlexand er (HB). ReceiversBrodyBean, Tr ippEngl ea nd
OSTER
2B ro dyBe an
3T ys on Hopper
4T annerHobbs
5T roy Salazar
6J ordan Ta ylor
7L aw re nce Te rry
8J ac kB oy ll
9J ackson Ba rrett
10Caden Lee
11Canaan Eubanks
13 Tr ip pE ngle
14 Pa rker Fr ost
15Br ay lonDame
16GabeHall
18Shilo hR itch
19BrysonHollis
21ColeKimbrough
22 Su tt on Phillips
23 Za nd er Lo ng
24 CadenNor wo od
25 Ka md enHall
26An tho ny Fo ssett
29JacksonBar bin
31Maddo xM or gan
33RyderMcGregory
35Ja yd enHor ton
37 JosephEspitia
44 Wy attKnight
50Richar dM at his
51 Payd enBlasingame
52Macall Sapp
53 Hu nt erBradley
54Jaim eD eJesus
57 Lan don Harris
Bray lo nD am er et urn .S utton Ph il li ps and Jac ks onBa rnettwi llro tate atru nning back .K ade nL eeals om akes hisreturn asth ep unter an dk icker.
Def ense
Wear (DE), Ma ddox Denham (DE), Wyatt Kel soe(LB), Ar nold Alexa nd er (LB), XanderBillings (L B)an dJ es seCa rtee (D E).
Retu rning starte rsfor the Lawrence County defen se areBrodyBean (DE), Braylo nD am e( DE), Ja ckso nB arnett (LB), TrippEngle (SA F) ,G abe Ha ll(SA F), Ca den No rw oo d( LB ), Su tt on Ph illips (LB),Zande rL ong (DE)and Ryd er McGre gory(D E).
58 Christian Gr aham
59Jaylin Yo ung
60Ev erett Gr aham
61 Gag eB elisky
62Aiden St evenson
63 Ko lb yC yr
64Riley Hoang
70 Ad am Te rry
71 Ko be Pa rk er
72Broo ks Lee
76 Lan eT erry
77BrentHill
78MJMcCroskey
79Chris Ay ala
81 Ze phaniahEch ols
84 Ty lerHar we ll
86Ash to nL ittle
Ne wcomer sa re expected to be Jor dan Ta ylor(HB), Evere ttGr aham(DL), Richard Math is (DL), MJMc Croske y( DL), Bro ok sL ee (DL), Ta nner Hobbs (W R), TroySalazar(DE) an dT yler Ha rw el l( DE).
Mu st-s ee games
In theopener,the RedDev il sm eet Ea st Lawrencefo rt he first time since 2017. Wi ns ov er Fa ir vi ew and Ru ssell vill ea re alsoneededif th ey’re to host th ef irst roun do ft he pl ay offs.
Fi nal wo rd
“Ourplaye rsare talki ng toother peopleoutsidethe lockerroomabout th is season. So met imes you don’t want to saysomet hing because you don’t know ifit’s tr ue,” Walker said. “Butwh en pl ayersare tel ling people in th ec ommu nity, tea ch ers, family, thatthe y’re excited aboutwhatwe’re about to do. Thatme ans the yb elieve th at th os et hin gsare possi ble.”
Ondefense theRedDevil sl ose Eli Lo ng (DL),Co ope rW ilk erso n( DL), Ka iden
Tofilltheholestheseniorslef tt heRed Devilspla ntof ield:Tyson Hooper (W R), La ws on Te rry (W R) ,Z an de rL on g( WR ), MaddoxMorgan (WR) ,R yder McGrego ry (WR), JacksonBarbin (TE), JackBoyll (Q B),Gabe Hal l( RB),Brent Hi ll (OL), ChrisAy ala(OL),Kolby Cy r( OL)and ChristianGraha m( OL ).
Lawrenc eC ountyqu arterb ack Pa rk er Fr ostloo ks fo rr unnin gr oo md ur ing ag amelastseason.
Tr ent Wa lkerisentering his fourt hs eas on as head co achat Lawr enc eC ou nt y. Wa lker wa st he Daily’s 5A -7ACoach ofth eY earin 2023. [CAL EB SUGGS/DE CATU RD AILY]
Ea st La wr en ce Ea gl es
La yoft he land
Eas tL aw renc ew ill bein Cl ass4A, Reg ion 7w ithBrooks,Central-Flo rence,Danville,Deshler,Hatton,West Limestone,WestMorga na ndWilson.
HeadCoach
MacHamptonreturn sf orhissecond year.Lastseason,theEaglesfinished 2-8.
Lastseason
EastLawrence(2-8,1-6)finished seventhinClass4A,Region7.
Wo rdstogro won
After aw inlessseasonin202 2a nd twowinsin2023,theEastLawrence Eagleswanttocontinueimproving.
“Thissummer’sbeenveryproduct ive,onthefield,offthefield ,i nt he we ightroom,”Hamptonsaid.“The majorityoftheteam’sbeenreall yp roductive.We’reputtin gt hewor kinto have ab etterseasonthanlast.”
Quarterback
BrylanWhitecontinuesasstarteras as eniorafterbeinginjuredlastyearin Week7,throwingfor1,214yardsand 12touchdownslastyear.
“H e’ sh ad ag ood su mm ersof ar .He hasn’tmissed aw orkout.We’veseen himimprove.Eveninthespringgame, heshowedimprovement,”Hampton said.“He’sjustmorecalmandpoised, making be tterdecisi on so veral l. He’s stillgotsomeworktodobuthe’sdef initelyimproved.”
Offense
Ea st La wr en ce lo stsi xs ta rt er sf rom lastyear,includingreceiversJaylan SmithandBrandonWilliams ,r un ning b ackKameronPittandlinemanTim Carter.
However,returningstartingseni ors includequarterbac kB rylanWh it ea nd runnin gb ackAlex Ne wman.
Othe rs enior so nt hi sy ea r’ st eam includeTristanArcher(OL),Jaxon Atkins(OL),JamarionFoster(W R), ZainGilchrist(WR),JacksonChaseton (OL),KeshaunKingston(WR),Brody Kitchens(OL),JoshLoosie r( WR) ,S am Lowery(WR),SolanMarks(OL)and LandonPitt(WR).
Hamptonsaidtherunningback
positionhasn’t been decided, buthe expects New ma na nd Cayn eM cClure torotate.
Those expectedto fill inthe gapsare: ColtWhite(OL), Noah Sh ort (WR), GabeRomero(OL),MalkhaiOrr(W R), Gage Nelso n( WR) ,S am Montgome ry (OL),MaddoxHarville (WR )a nd Jay Davi s( WR).
De fe nse
Theoffensiv el os ses als oc ontributed on defense withtheEagles als ol osing notableslik ed efensiveback Jaylan SmithandlinemanTim Ca rt er.
Thosereturn in gtos tartareTri stan Arche r( DL),Jamar rion Foster(WR), Zain Gilchrist(WR),KeshaunKingst on (WR),JacksonChas et on (D L), Solan Ma rks (D L) ,A lexNewman (LB)and Land onPitt(DE).
Players broug httofillingaps are MaddoxHarville (DE), Colt White(DL), Noa hS hort(DE),Gabe Rom er o( DL), MalkhaiOrr(DT),GageNelson(DE), SamMontgomery(DL), an dJ ay Da vis (DT).
Must-seegames
Theseason op enervs .L awre nce Count yisar ivalrythat hasn’ tr earedits headsince2017andwould be at est for th er es toft he Eagles’sc hedule.Hatton is al so ex pe ct ed to be ac lo se ga me af ter
the Ho rnetson lywonbyfourlas ty ear. It ’s now ar egiongame.
Final wo rd
“Peopledon’t realizethattheoffthe -f ield st uff can hinder you onthe fi eld .W hen yo u’ ve go tb adenergy ,it do es n’ tm atter ho wh ar dy ou wo rk,” Ha mpto ns aid. “Ifyou br ing bad ene rgy totheclas sroom or tothecom mu nit y. Yo ub ri ng th at ba de ne rg yt ot he te am an di t’shardto buil dt hat ch emistry yo uw ant. Fo ot bal l’ so nl yg oi ng to be as ho rt port io nofy our en tirelife. But you’re goingtobe am anyour enti re li fe ,s ow ew an ttot ea ch th em th ose ski lls.”
—Z ane Turner
EAST LA WRENCE ROS TER
0T yler Bales 2T odd Ke mp 3J acobChan dl er 4A adenJones
5L andon Pi tt
6J amarion Fo st er
7E li Tu cker
8J JT ra vis 10Malik Hu mphr eys 12 BrylanWhite 13 Ke ys ha wn Kingst on 14 Br ay lon Re eves
20Gage Nels on
Jacks on Jones
22 Ca yn eM cClure
24Maddo xH ar ville 27 Ja yD av is 28 Ka den Pitt
Newman
CadenJohnson
ColtWhite
Br ody Kit chens 52So lo Mar ks 55 Tr is tan Ar cher 58An thon yE dge
61Skylar Da ve npo rt
63AidenSt ewart
64RileyGrubbs 65Sam Mon tgo mery 67Br ian In ce 75 Pe yt on Fo st er
East Lawr ence’s Lan donPit t( 5) carriesfor af irs td ow na gains tH at ton last ye ar.
MacHampto nise nterin gh issecondseason asEastLawrence’shead co ach. [PHOTOSBY J ER ONI MONISA /DECA TU RD AI LY]
La yoft heland
Ha tt on Ho rn ets
HattonisnewtoClass4A,Region 7, an ine-teamregionwithBro ok s, Central-Florence,Danville,Deshler, EastLawrence,WestLimestone,West MorganandWilson.
Headcoach
DentonBowlingembarksonhi sn inth seasonastheHornetheadcoach.Bowling is41-42withfourplayoffappearancesat Hatton.
Lastseason
TheHornets(7-4,4-2)finishedthird inClass2A,Region 8w ith af irst-rou nd playoffexit.
Wo rdstogro won
Afterjumpingtwoclassifications, Bo wlingsaidheknowshisplayersare readyforthechallenge.
“Wecansitaroundandcomplainor wecanrolloursleevesupan ddow hat wecantomakethemostouto ft hesit uation,” Bo wlingsaid. “T hekids kn ow we’regoingto4Aandthey’vebeen receptiveforthemostpart ,b utthisis probablythemostdifficultschedule Ha ttonHighSchool’seve rh adtoroll through.”
Quarterback
Ju nior Tasean Lov er et ur ns to le ad the offens ea ftercollecting1,525 ya rds an d13 to uc hd ow ns la st ye ar .L ov ew asal so the team’ssecond-leadingrusherwith636 yardsand12touchdowns.
“Tasean’scomingback, ar eturning ju nior,anAll-Stateplayer, ”B owling said. “H e’shad ap ositivesummer.With someoftheotherguyscomingbac kf rom injury,weexpecthimtohave ap rodu ctiveyear.”
Offense
Hatton wi llhav etor epl ac en inestartersthisyear,includingrunningbackK.D.
HATTONROSTER
Porteran dw id er eceiver sK ahn eL ittle an dK enyonSuggs.
Otherseniorslost inclu de :W eston Bu rn ey(OL), AlexBrackin (RB),Co le Borden(WR), TristenGart h( OL ), Par ker Huff(DB),Garson Pierce(O L),and TaydenMontgomery(OL).
However ,t he Ho rnetcoreremains you ng .T he yr etain runningback sK arveon Blac ka ndJabariPorter, re ceiverQuenderuiusBoldingandli nema nT ra ceHill.
Other se xp ectedtofilltheholesare:
Ta ege nB urle so n( WR) ,R ekeyd ricBibbs (WR),SilasAlexande r( K),Kemorrian Hawkins(RB) ,J on Ol ive rC zervionke (RB),CalebLindley (RB), IsaiahMims (O L) ,L ay to nW il so n( OL )a nd Bre nd on Pierce(OL).
De fe nse
TheHornetsreturned most ofit ss econdarybutlostmajo rp iec es of th eir interior.Linebacker sW es ton Bu rn ey and Ale xB rackingraduated la styear.
“We’retrying to ba la ncethe front righ tn ow.We’ vegot al otof re tu rning start erswith aw in ningski ll set ,a very skilled gr oupof kids,” Bow lingsaid. “Butyougetinto as ituatio nw here you can’tlos eak idasyoucl imb th el adder
inclassifi ca tion.These ot her sc ho ols are pullingfrommore,so youtypical ly have guys th atonl ygoo neway.”
Returning st artersin cl ude: Za iriyon Long (DB), TaseanLove (DB), Qu enderius Boldin g( DB),Jabari Porter(DB), OwenBrackin (DB), Tra ceHi ll (DL), Is aiah Mim s( DL), KoleMcMillia n( DL) andTerr io nC lop to n( DB).
Tohelpfill inth eg apsare:Taegen Bu rle so n( DB) ,L JS tron g( LB ), Nyz aeGa mb le (D B) ,S ilasAle xander(K), Pierc eW ilson (D L) ,J oh nS te ep le s( DL ), Sa mS te phe ns (DL), Bre nd on Pie rc e( DL )a nd Andy Du tt on(DL).
Must- se eg ames
The seaso no pe nervs.Deshlerwill be ag ood benc hm ar ka st oh ow th er es tof
the season migh tg of or Ha tton’ sv en ture into4A. The ma tchup with East Lawr ence couldalso be oneto watchafter Hat ton onl yw on byfour in as hootout las ty ear.
Fi nal wo rd
“COVIDwas tough, an dIs aid, ‘I don’t knowtha tI ’veever coachedanythingmoretoughthan COVID. ’T hen we hadthe consolidation,”Bowling said.“Where we fit 90- something kids intothis loc ker ro omandwe didn ’thave helm ets. You rollon an dm aybe we ge ta littlebit of ab re ak .B ut then yo ug et the 4A news.Then allof as udden youhaveto deal wi thth ef acts,andwe hav eab ringit- on mi ndse t. It’ su sa ga in st the wor ld .”
—Z an eT urner
Ta sean Lo ve re tu rn sa sH atton’squar te rb ac kt his season. [P HO TO SB YD AN BUS EY/TIMESDAIL Y]
El km on tR ed De vi ls
La yoft heland
Elkmont wi ll comp et ei nC lass3A, Region 7w ithClements,Colbert Heig hts,ColbertCounty,Lauderdale County,MarsHill ,R ogersand Sheffiel d. Elkmont’smostrecentplayoffapp ea ranceandwinningseasonoccurredin 2014,whentheteamwent8-3overa lland5-2inClass4A,Region 8( third place).CoachedbySeanHolt ,t heRed Devils lost inth ef irst roun dt oH aleyville. Beforelastyear,theteam’s la stregion winonthefieldwasin2017,40-12at EastLawrence.Elkmontwasgranteda forfeitvictoryoverDeshlerin2018.
Headcoach
JoelSchrenkentershisfirst se aso nas Elkmontheadcoach.HereplacesChris Bunio, wh oc oach ed th et ea mi n2 022 andstarted2023.Schrenk pr eviously co achedatFalkville,Haze lG reenand Woodland.
Lastseason
Elkmontfade da fter ap romisin g3 -0
start,losingsix of itslast seven games. Bu ni or es ign ed wi th tw og am es rema ining.The4-6finishwas th eR edDevils’ bes ts ince2014.Theteamwas 2-4in 3A, Regio n8.
Wo rd st og ro won
“Th ek idshavebeen so good as fa ras payingattention,doin gw hat we as k,” Schren ks aid.“We’vehad af ai rly su ccessfu ls um mer.”
Quarterb ack
Sc hrenknam ed sop homor eL ay ton Schrimsheran df reshman ReidBard osas op tionsasquarterback.He sai dw hic heverplayerdoes no ts tartatquarterback willstartatreceiver an da dded th ey couldsharequarterbackdutie s.
Off en se
Senior Ja keGuthriereturnsatrunning bac kw ithsenior Montar io Cosby. Senio rE than Adam sa nd juniorLincoln Doner ar eo ptionsat receiver. Seni or Caleb Boldenan dj un iorJe rem ia hM ay
COME SEEUS AFTERTHE GAME.
wi ll be am on gt he co nt ri bu tors on the line.
Defense
Cosby andseni orEv an Ma yw illlead th ed efen se atdefensiveen da nd mid dle linebacker,respectively.Guthrie will als oc ontributeatli nebacker.Schr ims her (safety)and Bardos (cornerback) will be ap artof th es econda ry.
Must-
se eg ames
St. John Pa ulII wil lv isitElkmo nt to startthese ason.Othernotablematchups includehomegame sa ga in st Cl em en ts andMarsHillandroadconte st sa tL auderdale County and Ardmore.
Fi na lw ord
“A lo tofi t’ sj ustbuilding co nsis te ncy and co nfid en cewithth es eg uys ,” Schren ks aid.They’v eb ee nt hroug ha lot in thelas tf our years. It’s justgonna ta ke time ,c on sist en cyand trust.”
—R .S irvellCarter
ELK MO NT RO STER
0L incolnDoner
2C oo per Wa les
3J us tin Aik ens
4B ra yd en Arnick
5E th an Ad ams
6R eidBardos
7E lvin May
8S haylen Baker
9C oo per Baker
10 Jak eG uthr ie
11 Noah Ho lt
12 Owen Bur gess
13Mont arioCos by 15 Ay dryan Ro cha 19 La ytonSchrimsher
Caden Mor ris
30 Le vi To dd 33 CalebCrutcher
35 Camden Th om as
37 DJ Mo ore
52 Wy attWilliams
55 Cade Hawk ins
58 CalebBolden
71 Jeremiah May
71 Lo ganOgletree
75 Clint Th or nt on
We st Li me st on eW il dc ats
La yoft heland
WestLimestone’sClass4A,Region7 opponentsincludeBrooks, Ce nt ral-Florence,Danville,Deshler,EastLawrence, Hatton,WestMorganandWilson.
Headcoach
ShelbyDavisentershisseventhseason with am arkof35-28(18-22intheregion and2-1inoneplayoffappearance) as WestLimestone’scoach.
Lastseason
WestLimestone’s2023seasondu pl icatedits2022campaign.TheWildcats startedtheseason2-0,losttwostraight, wonthreein ar owanddroppedtheir finalthreeconteststofinish5-5.Inthe region,theylosttheirfirsttworegion games,wontheirnexttwoan dl ost threestraighttoendat2-5.Eachseason resultedinnoplayoffberth.
Wo rdstogro won
“We’vedone ag reatjob of building kindofbuildingsomeconsistencyat West,”Davissaid.“We’vebeenableto ma in ta in .. .a nd fi nd aw ay to wi ns ome games.We’vewon al otofcountygam es. We’re17-5inthecountysinceI’v eb een thereand6-0inthelasttwoyears .J ust tryingtogetoverthathump.Sometimes yo uj us th av et oh av es tu ff go yo ur wa y.”
Quarterback
SeniorBradyCrawfordtransferred fr omHazelGree na ndissettostartat quarterback.
“Thekid’sgotgreatarmtalent,”Davis said .“ Not ab ig runn in gt hreatbu tj us ta verysmartkid.He’scomeinanddonea goodjobofgettingusedtoourculture.
Re al ly bo nd in gw it ht he te am .W e’ ve do ne al it tl em or e7 -o n- 7’ st hi ss um mer thanwetypicallydojusttohelphimget timingdownwithourreceivers.”
Off ense
SeniorsDawsonMewbourne,Trey McWilliam sa nd Be nM al le ya re th et op re turningreceivers.
“Probablyourbiggestthissummer,” DavissaidofMalley.“He’sneve rs tar ted b uthe’s at all,lankykid.Hasdone ag re at jobofworkinghistailoff ,k ee pingto himself andreallyjustgettin gh imself readyforthismoment.”
SeniorPres to nM oore an ds op homo re
Tr av isMcCl uskeywil lbep artof ar ot ationofrunningbacks Davis wil lu se.
“Runningb ac kw il lb eb yc om mittee ,” Dav is said ,a dding th eW il dc at sd on ot have as etfeatu re db ack .“ We’ll ro ta te someguy st hr ough there.”
Se ni orAronG onzale za nd ju nio rS ky ler Adam sr eturnontheline.JuniorsKeaton Wh it ea nd Br en to nD am er on an ds op homore Th om as Mos sw ill fil lo ut th er est ofth el ine.
Def en se
Senio rd efensive en dE th anRee sewill lea dt heline.
“He’s af ast,strongguy,” Davissaid. “Pla ye dv er yw ellfo ru sl as ty ea rs ow e’re excite da bo ut him.”
Junio rJTW inter wil lb ea key contri butoratoutsidelinebacker.
“H er eallystarte dtog et itfigure do ut
la st year, ”D avis sa id .“ Ha sd on ear ea lly goo dj ob th issummer.”
Mc Cl us ke yw il lb et he bo ok en da tt he othe ro ut sidespot.
“He’s as trong ,p hy sical ,t ough ki d,” Da vissaid. “Ca nr eall yr un.”
Mo oreand so phomore Gav inPat terson wil lp rimarilyfillthein si delin eb acker spots.
“Oursignalcallerondefense,”Davis said ofMoo re. “H e’s le dt he co un ty in ta ckles thelasttwoyears. He’sha dag reat of fseaso n. He ’sgottenevenbigger and even stronger.We’vemoved hi ma roun dal ittle bit wh ich It hink wi llbenefi th iman du s.”
Seni orstartingsafetyLogan Mi tchell is backalongwith jun ior Jaden Reed,who wil lp layco rnerba ck.
Must- se eg ames
West Lime st one wil lp lay si xg ames
againstlocal te ams. The Wildcat so pen the seasonby hostingClements. The next three games will be against East Lawrence (home),WestMorgan(home )a nd at Danville. Ro ad games at Eas tL imestone and Hat to na ls oa wait.Central-Florence (h ome )a ndgam esatDes hl erand Brooks will als ob ek ey matc hups.
Fi nal wo rd
“W e’ re in on eo ft he to ughe streg io ns in the state ,” Da vis sa id. “You ’vegot threeteam st hatwenttothethi rdround lastyear or should have .. .. Brooks (rea che dt he th irdro un d), Desh ler (l ost in th es econd round) and West Mo rgan (re achedthethirdround). It’s go in gt obe tou gh.And Central, ev er yb ody forgets ab ou tC ent ral, but, man ,C oa ch (Hea th) Wood doe sa gre at jo b.He’ sg ot just ab ou te ve rybody ba ck fromla st year, so Ie xpect th em to be re al ly good al so .J ust to ge ti nt he pl ay offs, man ,y ou’re going to ha ve beat ar eallygoodtea m.”
Shelb yD av isis35-2 8ins ixseasonsas head co achat
Cl emen ts Co lts
La yoft he la nd
ClementswillcompeteinClass3A, Regio n7a gains tC olbertCou nt y, Co lb er tH eights, Elkm ont ,L auderdale County,MarsHill,RogersandSheffield.
Headcoach
BrickPughtakesoverasheadcoach, succeedingsix-yea rc oachMichael Pa rker.Pughplayedforhis fa therJeff atEastLimestone,wher eheg raduat ed in2015.
Afterplaying foot ba llandbaseball atBelhavenUniversity,hereturned to EastLimestoneandwasthequart er backsandmiddl es cho ol coach.He was Athens’runningbackscoachin 2022and2023andhealsocalledplays fortheninth-gradeteam.
Lastseason
Clementswent5-5(2-4inRegion 8,fifthplace).TheColtsstarted1-3 b eforereelingofffourstraightwins but droppedtheirfinaltwoconteststomiss theplayoffs.
Wo rd stog ro won
“They’reworking out hard, wo rking onhaving ag ood mind set, no tq uitting, justdoin gw hatev er it ta ke st ow in,” Pughsaid.
Quarterback
Jun ior sJ ake Fleming andBrady Tu rnerwillbeco mp eting fo rp laying timeatquarterback.
Offense
Sen iorWil liamPe re za nd sophomore Torre`Prid ew illcarrytherunningback load.JuniorDavi nH ol lo waywilladd ve rsat ility.
“( Ho llo wa y) wi ll pl ay th ew in g, ru nning bac ka nd receiverand pretty much doitallforus,Pughsaid.
SeniorTimGallionand fr eshman WilliamPopewillmakeuppartofthe offensiveline.
Defense
Gallionan ds ophomore JoseDiaz will helpancho rt heline. Senio rD omi nic Holt
wil la ddleadershipatlineba ck er .S en ior Wi lliamPerez andHollowayar ea mong others whoshould co ntri bute.
Must-s ee games
Clementswi llhos tA rdmore to open th es eason.Colber tH eightswillvisit the Colts to begin theregion sche dul e. Other notable game si nc lude roa dc ontests ag ain stElkmont, Tann er ,L au de rd al eC ou nt ya nd Ma rs Hill.
Fina lw ord
“My mottois ‘youwon’t,we will,’” Pu gh said.“S omethingthat nobody want st od o, yo u’regoin gtod o. Ju st notquitting ,r unning extrasp rin ts, beingthebestyouca nbei nt he wei ght ro om ,b eing the bestyoucanbe outs ideofClementsfootball.Be in ga go od ma nw he ny ou grow up ,w hen yougetoutofhereiswhat Ir eallycare about.”
—R .S irvellCarter
Ta nn er Ra tt le rs
La yoft heland
Tannerwil lr egrou pa fte rg ra duating15 playersfromlastyear’ st eamandhiringa newheadcoach.
TheRattlerswillcompetein Cl ass2A, Region 8a gainstDecaturHeri tag e,Lexington,RedBay,TharptownandWinston County.
Headcoach
MattSmithreplacesOscarBonds,who co ac he dt he Ra ttl er sf or si xy ea rs .S mi th, a2 007Tannergraduate,playedfootball underformercoac hL aronWhite.
Afte rp layingfootbal latM ile sC ollege, hewas aT annerassistantfrom201017 .H es er ve di nv ar io us ro le s, in cl uding defensivelin ec oach ,o ffensivelinecoach, runninggamecoordinator andas sistant defensivecoordinator.From2018-23, he wasth ed efensive li necoachatSparkman. SmithhasalsocoachedtheTannerboys so ccer te am si nc e2 01 3. He le dt he mt ot he statetitlein2023.
Lastseason
Tannerwo nt he 2A ,R egio n8 ch ampionshi p( 6-0) an df in ished8-4 ov erall, losingathometoPisgahinthesecond roundoftheplayoffs.
Wo rdstogro won
“We’regoingtogetbackto someof the oldTannertraditionsthatI’mused to,”Smithsaid.“Mebeing aT annerguy, graduating fr omhere an dm ec oaching hereforsolongunderLaronWhite, al ot ofpeople(are)goingtolook ou ta nd see mostofthethin gs tha tL aron Whit ed id here.
“That’swho Il earnedfrom. Ip layedfor him,coachedforhim.That’smycoaching mentor.”
SmithaddedthatWhite ha sj oined Smith’sstaffasananalyst.
Quarterback
SmithsaidsophomoreKadenFreema nw il le nterth es ea so na st he starting quarterback.
“Verysmart,”SmithsaidofFreem an.“Gottoworkonhistiming.Small stuffth atyou’vegot to dowithyoung quarterbacks.”
Offense
eadingreceiver.
Ta nner’s Ka den Fr eeman (1 5)andNy’qu av eaus Gr een (10 )c elebrate at ackle fo rl ossagainst Fa lkvillelastseason. [TRISTAN HOLM ES/FO RT HEDECATURDAILY]
“He’sdynamic,” Sm ithsaid. “H e’s got speed,gotgreatsize, gr ea th ands.”
SeniorJordanG race willalso be counted ontocon trib uteatreceiver and running back .A nother senior,DaQualonMalone, willalsoline up at receiver. Sophomore Ny’Quaveau s“ Ny Ny ”G re enwil lh elp carrytheloa da tr un ning bac k.
Sm it hs ai ds iz ew il lb eo neattrib ut eof theline.
“W e’vegot Pey ton Peden, 6-8,300 pounds,”Smithsaid.“We ’v eg ot Colton Gay,about6-2,6-3,260 .T hose two are goingtobeleaders. (E ig hth-grad er )C ole Peterson,he’ sg oin gtop robably sta rt forusonO-lineand D-li ne,he ’s 6-foo t, probabl y2 50.”
De fe nse
Junio rl ine backer Maiky hM itchell return st ol eadthedef ens e.
“He’sgoin gt ob et heleader an dt he capt ai no ve rt here,”Smith sai d.“He’s verysmart .V er yp hysical .V ery big,fast guy.”
Malo ne an dG reen will br in ge xp erie nce tothesecondary.
Sop homoreAlanMontoya willbe cou nte do nt om ak ea ni mpa ctat out side linebackeraswe llasfullb ac k.
Matt Smith, af orme rT annerfo otb allpla ye ra nd as sista nt co ach und er La ro nW hite, as we ll as curre nt soc ce rc oa ch,is the newhead fo otb al lc oach ofthe Rattlers. [JERONIMO NI SA/DECATURDAILY]
TA NNERRO ST ER
1D aqualo nM alone
2I saiah Pr yor
3J or danGrace
4A lanMon to ya
5M ichaelDempsey
6T aronWilliams
7K aden Fr eeman
8C ameronCase
9R icoAllen
10NyNy Gr een
11 Tr aeMalone
13 Ta ko re yG re en
14CadeDor ni ng
16 Jacks on Owens
18 La’Br on Williams
19Chris Ta te
21 Mat th ew Flet cher
22 Ja yd enJames
23 Ty ro ne Douglas
24 Tr ae Ma lone
25 Ay den Gr ace
30Maikyh Mi tch ell
37Ja ve nC art er
39AJ La gr one
“Hebrings al ittlematurity,” Sm ith said.“He’s a1 0th-grader buthe’sma ture. Verysmartonthe field. Oneof th eh ardestworkerswe’ve got .Hed efinitely s urpr ise du st hi ss um mer withsome of thethi ng shec an do onthefootballfield.”
So phomor esMat tM cC lendonandIsiah Martinez wi llalsoprovidedepth on the bothth ed efen sive an do ff ensive li ne.
Must-seegames
Tan nerwi llope nt he season at Ar dmo re.Notable ho megamesinclud et he regio no pen ervs.WinstonCounty and contestswith Clement sa ndDecatur
50Gar rison Gr iffin
51 Cole Pe ter son
52 Ja yd enWilliams
54Mat tM cC lendon
55 Elijah At kins
56 Is iah Mar tin ez
57 Ka mar e’ez Sanchez
60 Colt on Gay
62Malachi Beddingfield
64 Pe yt on Pe den
70 Is idr oM endez
75 Ta ko re yG re en
He ritage. TheRa ttlers wi ll alsotravelto
Re dB ay la tein th es ea so ni nw ha tc ou ld be ap ivot al re gi on matc hup.
Fina lw ord
“The main thing right no w,our focu sis dis ci pli ne ,s tr uc tur ea nd organization,” Sm ith sai d.“Can’thavethelasttw ow ithout thatfirst one. There ’s ar hymean da reason to whywe do thi ngs. The boys have bou ght into that.They understand that it’s onlyone way to do thi ngs here and th at’s th er ight way.”
Ar dm or eT ig ers
La yoft heland
ArdmorewillcompeteinClass5A, R egion 7a gainstPriceville,EastLimes tone,Fairview,LawrenceCounty, Russellvill ea ndWestPoint.
Headcoach
JonathanSniderwas11-20(5-13in theregion)inhisfirstthreeseasonsat Ardmore.He’sencouragedbyhisteam despitetheTigerswinningonl yf our ga mesthelasttwoseasons.
“Ournumbershavegoneup ab it ev en thoughwewent1-9lastyear,so If eellike there’sstill av eryvestedintere st he re in ourprogram,”hesaid.“We’vejus tg otto find aw aytogetoverthehump.”
Lastseason
Ardmore’sonewinof2023was41-14 atElkmont.TheTigersfinished0-6 in 5A,Re gion8.Snidersaidthecoaching staffwouldemphasize ah igherlevelof co mmitmen tin2 024.Includedint hat wasthefirstspringtrainingdurin gS ni der’sstintwiththeteam.
Wo rdstogro won
“Whenyoucomeoff3-7and1-9those twothingsarereallytoughtocomeback from,”Snidersaid.“(However)we’ve got ar eallyresilientgroup.”
Quarterback
SophomoreAlexKingreturnswith startingexperienceat qua rterback.
“He’sgrownupphysically an dm entallythisyear,”Snidersaid .“ It’spretty cooltohave as ophomoreandbea second-yearstarteratthequarterback position.Lastyear(he)wentthrougha lotofgrowin gp ains.”
Offense
SophomoresZavionHawthorneand JaveanRiddlereturn at runningback. SeniorsJaretDouthitandSkylerJean andjuniorNoahStaffordaretopreceiversfromlastseason.Fourstartersonthe offensiveline,juniorsBraden Bil lions, Brady Sirten,LandryRubleeandWill Seabolt,areback.SophomoreLandon Sniderwillgetanopportunity tof ill the otherlinespotatcenter.JuniorJackRush willgetplayingtimeattightend.
Defense
SeniorsTyClarkandDominicMurphy
ARDMOR ER OSTER
Zav io nH aw tho rne
JailynSmith
Bran do
Ka denLarsen 14 Lo ga nN ewman 15Ca yd enHazlewood 17B ra xto nR esendez
aE va ns
38 Ra yF oote
42 Ja ve anRiddle
43JackRu sh
an dj uniorAdenElliswillbringexper ien ceontheline .S ophomor eL anden Comb sw illprovidedepthon bo ththe offensiveanddefensiveline.Seni ors Camero na ndDevlin Jarrettareexpected toancho rt hedefense atlin ebacker. Jea na ndjuniorBraydenAtkinsreturn
Ar dmore’sJonathan Snider isentering his fourth season as head co ach. [JERONIMO NI SA/DECATUR DAILY]
44 Lu ke At chley
45 Pre ston Gat lin
46Dayt on Br umme tt
47 Hu nt er Gr een
48JudahWise
52Nat han Clau nch
53Ga vin Osbo rne
55 Ty lerMcKnig ht
56 DakotaColeman
57 Br ay denMcCrary
58 Lu ka sW ales
59Joseph Salg ado
60Jaxson We lls
61Jo va nR odrig uez
62 RidekHobgood
63 Ke vin Ve ga
64Eli Po rt erfield
65ColetonMcCor mi ck
67 BradenBillio ns
68 Sh an eM cKnight
69Gab eC ollins
70 Lan dr yR ub lee
71 Lan don Sn ider
72 Ad enEllis
73 Lan denCombs
74 BradySirten
75Will Seab olt
79 Ta ylo rD av is
80Hun terFitts
81 BenWhitt
83 Ro nn iePylant
85JadenDor ning
95 Br ys on Re neg ar
99 Gab eA leja nd ro
inthedefen sivebackfieldwi th soph om oreLoganNewman ste ppin gi nto co ntri bute.
Must- se eg ames
Ardmore wi ll op enit ss easo na tW est Limesto ne fo llowe db yt ripsto Cle ments
Ar dmor eq uar ter ba ck AlexKin gt
and Pr ic ev ille. TheTigers wi ll host Fa ir vi ew in th ei rh om eo pe ne rb ef ore tr aveling toRu ssellvi ll e.Home ga mes agai ns tL aw re nc eC ou nt ya nd El km ont are other featu redmat ch up s. Fi nal wo rd
“We’ reas ki ng for al ittle bit hi gh er level of commitment fro mo ur kids,” Sni de rs aid.“I tm aymean th at we have to pla yk idsbo thways because maybewe do n’t ha ve enoughbo ugh ti no ri tm ay meanthat we have 30 kids that wecan cou nt ononFrid ayni ght.”
Ea st Li me st one In di ans
La yoft heland
EastLimestonewillcompeteinClass 5A ,R egion 7a gainst Ar dmore, Pri ce ville, Fairview,LawrenceCounty ,R ussel lvil le andWestPoint.
Headcoach
WillJohnsonisinhi sf ir styea rash ead coach.JohnsonwashiredinlateJulyto replaceClintWoodfin,whoaccepte da jobasassistantprincipalatBo bJ onesin June.Johnsonplayedfootball at Danvil le, wherehegraduatedin2013.
Previouscoachingexperienceincludes assistantrolesatDecaturHerita ge, Cl emen ts an dH ar ts el le .D ur in gt he of fseasonheaccepte da positiononformer Hartsell ec oachBryanMoore’sstaff at OpelikabeforetheEastLimestonejob b ecameavailable.
Lastseason
EastLimestonefinished 3- 7o ve ral l,2-4in5A,Regio n8.T heIndians droppedtheirfirstsevengamesbefore endingtheseasonwiththreestraight wins.
Wo rdstogro won
“I ’m ar elat ionshi pb uild er ,”Joh nson said.“Ithinkintentionalrelationships ar et hekeytoanything.Successonthe fieldan da llisgreatan di t’llco me, but you’vegottowintherelationshi pp art withthemfirst.Ifyoudon’tdothatand theydon’ttrustyou ea rly,that’swhen youstarttorunintosomeissues.”
Quarterback
SeniorJakeCochranreturnsasstarting quarterback.
“JakeCochranis ap henomenalathlete, ag reatyoungman,very smart ,”Joh ns onsaid.“He’sveryvocalaboutwhat heexpectsandwantsthisyear. It hi nk (he)isgoingtobewhatmakeseverything run.”
Offense
JohnsonnamedseniorAdria nV illaas thefrontrunnertogetthebulk of carries atrunnin gb ack. Se nior Ga rrett Ri tt er returnsatreceiver.
Defense
SeniorlinebackerHaydenBonville willbringexperienceondefense.Ritter, seniorsLakenWilderandMarkGuerrero
andjuniorCalebClickwillsolidify the secondary.
“Itoldthemdefensively is wherewe’re goin gtoh av et ow in games,” Jo hn son said.
Mu st-se eg ames
East Li me st on ew il lo pe nt he se as on at West min sterChristian .O the rn otable ma tc hup si nclu de homega me sw it hR ussellville ,W es tL imestoneandArdmore an dt ripst oP rice ville ,L awrenceCounty an dF airview.
Fina lw ord
“Ifeellikethispl acecan bespecial,” Johnsonsaidsh or tlyafte rb eing hired. “It’sbeenspecialbefore. Iw asecstatic to be ab le to ge tinh ere.We ’r eh itt ing theg roun dr unning.It’sbeen ab usyfew daysandI’mfire du pa bo utit.”
EAST LI MEST ON ER OSTER
Wishes YouGoodLuck
SeatedL-R:Board Vice Chairman Paul Holmes(Eva) -TracieTurrentine(Superintendent) -Board Chairman John Holley(Union Hill/Lacey’sSpring)
Standing L-R: Adam Glenn(Danville)- Mike Tarpley(Falkville)- Billy Rhodes(WestMorgan) -Chris Humphries(Cotaco/Brewer/MCSTechPark) -Jimmy Dobbs(Priceville/Sparkman)
“Havingsaidthat,theprogramis notevenwhereitwa sw henJerele ft twoyearsago.Thesekid sh ave been throughtheperfectstormofchangein justtwoyearsandsometime st hatcan b et oughtonavigate,”Rittersaid .“ At theendoftheday,wehaveDecatur ki ds .C on fi de nc ea nd ex pe ri en ceca n’t b ec oachedin ju stfou rm onths ,b utthe desireisthere.”
Just as hor td rive do wnU.S. 31 at Hartselle,anothernewcoachistaking over at raditionallystrongprogr am. Ber tN ewtonwas pro mote da fter six seasonsastheteam’sdefensivecoo rdinatorandknowstheexpectations, havingbeen ap artoffiv ep layoffteams andtworegionchampionshipteamsin histimewiththeTigers.
“Obviously,it’sbigshoestofillwhen yourfirstheadcoachingjo bi satap lace likeHartselle,butatthesam et ime It hinkthetraditio niss os trongh ere thateveryoneknowswhattoexpect nomatter wh ot heco ach is,” Newt on said.“Ithinkthebigges tq uestionfor meis,whatwecandototakethingsto thenextlevel?”
Other ne wh ea dc oache sa ro und thear eaareMattSmithatTanner, WillJohnsonatEastLimestone,Brick PughatClementsandJoelSchrenkat Elkmont.
Growingpains
Thegrowthof as chool ,a ndas ar esult thegrowthof an at hleticprogram,is al wa ys aw elco me do ccu rre nc e, but it usuallydoesn’tcomewithoutgrowing pains.
Thi sy ear,fou rl ocal sc hool sh ave movedupinclassification.Priceville is nowinClass5A,Danvillean dH atton areinClass4A,andDecaturHerita ge isinClass2A.
DecaturHeritage ,w hichonlystarted footballin2010,has se en pl en tyof successinClass1A,advancing tothe playoffsninetimesandwinningfive regionchampionships.TheEagles,n ow underthird-yearheadcoachNikita Stove r,areconfidentthey ca ndot he samein2A.
“We’regoingtoplayballregardless. Itdoesn’ tm atterwhatclassw e’ rein,” Stoversaid.
ItmightnotbeaseasyforDanville andHatton.
Notonlyhave th osetwoschools movedupto4A, the y’realso jo ini ngarguablyoneofnorthAlabama’s
toughestregions inCl ass 4A, Reg ion 7,whichfeatures teamslikeBrooks, DeshlerandWest Morgan.
“I nt helasttwoyears,we’ve had onesenior,whi ch isprobablyunhea rd of .N oww eh ave 10 -11 senior sa nd we mo ve up ac lass in to on eo ft heto ug hestregi ons,”Da nv il lehead coach Andro Williamssaid. “Itmakesyo ul au gh, but it’sthecardswe’redealt.How we deal wit hita ndwhatth er esu ltsareatthe en do ft hese as on wi ll be no bo dy ’s fault butours.”
Itmightbeeven to ugherforHat to n.
TheHornetsaremaking at wo-c lassi fi ca tion ju mp fr om 2A. Wi th R. A. Hu bbardclosing in2022andmany of it ss tu de nt sg oi ng to Ha tto n, th eH ornetswere pr epared for am ove.
JohnRit ter co me st oD ecat ur aftersixseaso
“WehopedwewouldbeTop 5in3 A, b utitdidn’tturnoutthatway,”Hatton coachDentonBowling sa id .“ Th ep ro blemwefaceiswe’renow a4As chool with2Afacilities.”
Hattonwasthesmalles ts choolin Class4AwhentheAHSAAannounced thenewclassificationslast December.
“Youtrytoprepareyourkidsforwhat they’regoingtoface,”Bowlingsaid. “ IfyougoallthewaybacktoCOVI D, we’ve be en fa cingadversity ateve ry stepoftheway,sothisisnothingnew.
“It’sthesamewayit’sgoingtob ein life.You’regoingtofaceadversity ,so thequestionishowdoyouhandleit?”
An ew fo eatt heendofth er oad
Sinc em ovingtoClass 7A in 2018,it’s b een fr us tr at in gt os ay th el ea st fo rt he Austinprogram.
Austinhastworegionchampionships in7A,buttheBlackBearshaveyetto se cu re a7 Ap la yo ff wi n. Au st in ’s Cl ass 7A,Region 4—f acingRegion 3e ach ye arinthefirstround —h asnotwon ap layoffgamesince2019.Th eB lack Bearswoneightplayoffgame sint hree
seasonspriortogoing to 7A.
“We’ vecertainly ha do uropport unitie sa ndweprobablyshould have c apital ized on,” Au st in coachJe re my Perkin ss aid .“ Butwe’ve also hadsome toug hm atchups.We’vefacedsome teamsthatplay as tyle of fo ot ball our ki ds don’t se ea llyear an ds om eti mes thatcanb et ough toprepare forinone we ek.”
Thisyear,how eve r,things wil lbe different. Th eA HSAA approved an ew 7A forma tt ha tw il lf eatu rerotating first-roundplayoffmatch ups.This season,Austin’sRegion 4w ill cross wit hR egion2, which featuresteams likeCentral-PhenixCity ,A uburn and Do than.
Whil ei tc oul dm ean al on gd riv eif youdon’thost af irst-roundgame, the changecoul da lso be justwhatthe Bl ack Bear sn ee dtob reakthrough.
“It’ sd ebatabl ew hether it’s anyeas ier becausetheteamsinthatregion are reallyg oodaswell.But it’ll be af resh chal le nge, ”P er kins sa id .“ It hi nk the biggestthi ng is ifwecanget past that first-roundhump, it wi ll gi ve us al ot ofconfidence.”
—c aleb.suggs@decaturdaily.comor 256-340-2395. Twitter@CalebSuggs2
Clements’Brick Pu gh isoneofseven new head co achesin
ca
ea ms on cu sp of ev en mo re su cc ess
in2023,threeof wh ich wo nr eg ion championships. 2024isbringing al otof change though wi th11te am sinn ew regionsand fourof th os et eams ha vi ng mo ve dupi nc lass if ica ti on. Se ve nl oc al te ams have new coaches.
Wit hsom uc hc ha nge ,w il lt ea ms st ill be abl etof indsuc ce ss?
Here’s al ookateach region wi th rec or ds fromlast season an do urpicks ma king th ep layoffs.Not et hatfour teamsfromeachregion wi llmakethe playoffs:
Clas s7 A, Re gi on 4: Ja me sC le me ns (7 -4, 6-1) ,A lbertville(0-10,0-7),Austi n( 8- 3, 5-2), Bo bJ ones(5-6 ,5 -2),Florence (6-5, 5-2),Grissom(2-8, 1-6) ,H un tsv ille(5-5, 3-4)and Spark man (5-5, 3-4).
Austinfinished second las ty ear des pite beatingtheregion winner JamesClemens 28-7late inth es ea son.Th eB la ck Be ars ret ur nj ustthreeguysondefense, but do havetheirquarterba ck (J LD av is ),star rec eiver(Ja xo nP ot ter) and starrun ning back(Gavi nF uq ua)back.
SinceAustin mov ed to Cl ass 7AIn 20 18 ,R egio n4h as be en wo nbyt he Bl ack
Bears or Ja mes Cl eme ns. Those tw ow ill mee to nO ct. 18at Ja me sC leme ns. Pr ed ictio n: Austin(winner), James Cl emens, Florence an dB ob Jo ne s.
Cla ss6A, Re gion 7: Athens (8 -3, 3-2), Columb ia (0-10, 0-5), Cullman(5-6, 2-3 ),De ca tur (3- 7, 1- 4) ,H artselle(9-3, 4-1) ,J asper(1-9, 1-6 in Class 5A, Region 5)an dM uscleSh oals (11-1,5-0). Mus cleShoals en dedHart se lle’s bid for at hird straight region title lastseason.
We stMorganhead co achDrewPhillip si sh opin gtol eadthe Re belsto as econ ds tr aigh tr egion cha mpion ship. [J ERONIM ON ISA/ DECATURDAI LY]
Thosetwoteamshavecombinedt ow in theregioneveryyearsince2018except for2020whe nA thenswon.
Hartsellehas an ewhead co ac ht his season,butonethat’sfamilia rw ith the program.TheTigerspromotedBert Newton,whowastheteam’ sd efensive co or di na to rf or si xo ft he la stse ve ns easons.Hartselleshouldcontinuetoroll, as shouldMuscleShoa ls .T he tw ot ea ms aresettomeetinthefinalregio ng ameof theseasonatMuscleShoals on Oct.25. Athenswon’tbefarbehind.The GoldenEaglesreturnseniorquarterback BroganGross,theDaily’ s5 A-7APlayer oftheYearin2023,and ap owerfuloffensiveline,butdolosealmost al lof their skillplayers.Decaturhas an ewcoach a sw ellinJohnRitter,whocamefrom Ru ssellvilleandboasts ac areerrecord of 85-42with10playoffappearances. Ritterinherits ar osterof70freshmen andsophomores,butitwon’ttakemuch toimproveonlastyear’s3-7mark.
Pre diction: Muscl eS hoals (wi nner ), Hartselle ,A thens,Decatur.
Class5A, Re gion8: Arab(8-3,4-1in5A, Region7),Boaz(6-6,2-3in5A,Region 7),Brewer(4-6,2-4),Douglas (4 -6 ,0 -5
in 5A ,R eg io n7 ), Gu nt er sv il le (1 2- 2, 4-1 in5A,Region7),Sardis(6-4, 1- 4in5 A, Region7)andScottsboro(8-3, 4- 1in5 A,
Region7). Breweristheonlyholdoverfrom last year’s5A,Region8.
Gun te rsvilleis thetop dogin the region,coming of far eg ion championsh ip an da tr ip toth eC la ss 5A se mi fi na ls last season. Scottsb orois as olid team as well,as isArab,alth ou gh the lat terhas an ew coach followingthe resignationo f Le eO zm in ti nr ecen tm on ths. Br ewer coach Mat tP lunkett is en te ring hi sf ou rth season,and he returns to an experienced tea mf orthe firs tt ime.He thinksthetim ei sn ow for Brewer toturn close losse si nt ow ins.
Pr edict io n: Gunters ville(winner), Sc ottsboro ,B rewer,Arab.
Clas s5 A, Re gio n7: Ardm or e( 1-9, 0-6 in 5A, Region 8), East Limestone (3-7, 2-4in 5A, Region 8) ,F airview (9-2, 5-1 in 5A, Regi on 8), Law renceCoun ty(6-5, 4- 2i n5 A,Regio n8 ),Priceville(5-7, 4-3 in Cl as s4 A, Re gi on 8) ,R us se llv il le (9 -3, 6- 0i n5 A,Region8) and WestPoint (5 -6, 2-4in 5A, Regio n8 ).
Itmay be Reg ion 7i nstead ofReg ion 8, bu tt he teamsare vi rtually the same. Theon ly differen ce is Brew er isout and Priceville, whichis join ing 5A forth ef irst time, isin.
Pric eville, whic hh as an ewhead coach inSeth Par ker, will be joiningthreeother localtea msinArdm or e, Ea st Lim est one an dL aw re nc eC ou nty.
Th eA usti nB lackBearsar el ooking to winClass7A, Re gion 4t hi sy ear. They finishedsecon dl ast ye ar. [PHOTO SBYJ ER ONIMONI SA/DECATURDAI LY]
LawrenceCountycoachTrentWalker wasnamedtheDaily’sClass5A-7A CoachoftheYearin2023fo rl eading the RedDevilstotheirfirstwinning seasonsince2015.Hereturnsanexperiencedteamin202 4t hatinclude ss enior quarterbackParker Fr ost, at hr ee-ye ar star ter.
Russellvillehasdominate dt he region inrecentyears,havin gw onfou rc onsecutiveregionchampionships.However, th eG ol de nT ig er sl os th ea dc oa ch Jo hn Ri tte ra sw el la st he bu lk of la st ye ar ’s team.
Fairviewhasbeenanothe rs olidteam intheregion,havingwonninegamesor moreinfourofthelastfiveseasons.
ItseemslikethetimeisnowforsomeoneotherthanRussellvilleto st rike,but untilsomeonedoes,theGoldenTigers arestill as afebet.
Pr ediction: Russellville(winner),LawrenceCounty,Fairvie wa nd Pr icevill e.
Class4A, Re gio n7: Brook s( 8-5,5- 2), Central-Florence (6 -5,4-3),Danville (3-7,2-4inClass3A,Region7) ,D eshler (8-4,6-1),EastLawrence(2-8 ,1 -6), Hatton(7-4,4-2inClass2A,Regio n8 ), WestLimestone(5-5,2-5),Wes tM organ (12-1,7-0)andWilson(1-9,0-7).
Class4A,Region 7h asthe high est loc alflavorwithfiveteams(Danvi lle, EastLawrence,Hatton,West Li mestone andWestMorgan)fromtheDaily’scoveragearea.Thisyear,withtheaddition ofDanvilleandHatton,theregionmoves toninete ams.
WestMorganisthedefendin gr egion champion,buttheRebelsgraduated18 playersfromlastyear’sschool-record 12-wi nt eam.Still,coac hD rewPhill ips,who’s27-8sincetaking ov erthe Re bels,saystheteamwillreload ,n ot rebuild,andmakeanotherpus ha ta regionchampionship.
Deshlerwontheregionin2022,while BrooksadvancedtotheClass4Aquarterfinalsin2023.
Th os et hreeseem tobe th ef av or ite s, wh ile th er em ay be am as si ve lo gj am to seewhowillbefourth.
Pre diction: WestMorgan(winner), Deshler,BrooksandCentral-Florence.
Class3A, Re gio n7: Clement s( 5-5, 2-4 inClass3A,Region8) ,C ol bertCoun ty (6 -5 ,4 -2 in Cl as s3 A, Re gi on 8) ,C ol be rt Heights(1-9,0-6inClass3A, Re gio n8 ), Elkmont(4-6,2-4inClass3A,Region8), LauderdaleCounty(12-1,10-2inClass
3A ,R eg io n8 ), Ma rs Hi ll (1 0- 2, 5- 1in Class3A,Reg io n8 ),Rogers(4-6, 3-4in Clas s4 A,Regio n7)a ndSheffield(3-7, 1- 5inC lass2A,Region8).
Whetherit’sRegion 8o rR eg ion7, the teamsare mor eorl ess th es ame.The resul tw ill proba bl ya lso be th es am eas MarsHillandLauder daleCoun ty ha ve dominate dt hereg io ni nr ecen ty ea rs.
Rogersmove sd own fro m4 Aa ndSheffieldmovesu pf rom2A,whil eC le ments an dE lkmontbothhav en ewcoache s.
Pr ediction: Ma rs Hil l( wi nn er ),La ud erdaleCounty,ColbertCountyandRogers.
Class 2A, Re gion8: Dec atur He ritage (9-2, 6- 0i nC lass 1A ,R egion7) ,L exington(7-5,5-1) ,R edBay (6- 5,3-3), Tan ner (8-4,6-0),Tharptow n( 1-9, 0- 6)and Wi nstonCount y( 5-5,2- 4i nC lass 2A, Regio n5)
De catur He rit ag ei sm ovin gu ptoC lass 2A fo rt hefirsttime,butth eE ag les aren’t la ck ingintalenttomakethejump. Thirdyearheadcoach Ni ki ta St ove rr et urn st he bulkoflas ty ear’sregionchampionship team ,i nclu di ng ru nn in gb ack Sa va rius Evans ,w horushe df or ove r2 ,000 yards asfres hman.
Tanner wa sl ast yea r’sregion cha mpion,buttheRattlers have an ew co ach inMattSmith.S mi th, af orme rT anner playerandassistantcoach ,w aswith th eR at tl er sw henth eywe re domi na ti ng2A .H owever, in hi sf irs ty ear, he inheritsquite ay oun gt eam .L exington an dR edBay roundoutthe reg ion’ so ther to pt eams.
Wit hn oc lear-cutbest team in sight, DecaturHeritagecould make ab ig splash init sf irs ty earin2A.
Pr ediction: Deca turHe ri tage (win ner ), Lexington,TannerandRe dB ay.
Clas s2 A, Re gio n6: Clevelan d( 1-9,1-5 ), Co ld Sp ri ng s( 5- 4, 1- 5i nC la ss 2A ,R eg ion 5),CoosaChristian(9-6, 3- 3inC lass 1A, Regi on7),Falk ville(4-6, 2-4 in Class2A, Reg io n8 ),Southea st ern-B loun t( 7-4, 5-1), SusanM oore (6-5 ,4 -2inClass3A, Regi on7 )a ndWest End-Walnu tG ro ve (5 -6,3-3).
Fo urte am sm ov ei nt oR eg io n6 in 20 24 .C hiefamong the misC oosa Christian ,w hichlostby at ouchdowninthe Class1Ast at ef inal sl astyear. Falkv illestartedla st year3-0bu tl ost six of its la stseven games. Th eB lue Devi lsreturnninestartersonoffense andsixondefensefromlast ye ar’steam. Pr ed ic ti on: Co osaChr istia n( winner ), Falkv il le, Su sa nM oore an dS out he as te rn. —c aleb.suggs@decaturdaily .co mor 256-340-2395 .T wi tt er@Caleb Su gg s2
Fa lkville’sBrodieBennettloo ks todeliv er mo re big hit st his se aso na ndhelp th eB lueDevils re turn toth ep la yo ff s. [TRISTA NH OLMES /F OR THEDECATURDAILY]
*—Denote sr egiongame
MorganCounty
Austin
Aug.23atHartselle
Aug.30 vs .D ecatur
Sept. 6v s.Sparkman*
Sept.13atFlorence*
Sept.20atAlbertville*
Sept.27Open
Oct. 4v s.Huntsville*
Oct.11atBobJones*
Oct.18atJamesClemens*
Oct.25 vs .G rissom*
Oct.31 vs .M uscleShoals
Decatur
Aug.23atBuckhorn
Aug.30atAustin
Sept. 6atJ asper*
Sept.13 vs .M uscleShoals*
Sept.20 vs .H artselle*
Sept.27 vs .L ee-Huntsville
Oct. 4atC olumbia*
Oct.11 vs .M aeJemison
Oct .18v s.Cullman*
Oct.25at At hens*
No v. 1O pen
Hartselle
Aug.23 vs .A ustin
Aug.30 vs .J ackson-Olin
Sept. 6O pen
Sept .13v s.Columbia*
Sept.20atDecatur*
Sept.26 vs .W oodlawn
Oct. 4atC ullman*
Oct.11 vs .A thens*
Oct.18 vs .J asper*
Oct.25atMuscleShoals*
No v. 1atM ortimerJordan
DecaturHeritage
Aug.23 vs .S heffield
Aug.30at Ad dison
Sept .6v s. Le xington*
Sept.13Open
Sept.19 vs .T harptown*
Sept.27Open
Oct. 4atF alkville*
Oct.11at Ta nner*
Oct.18at Re dB ay*
Oct.25atWinstonCounty*
No v. 1v s.Ragland
We stMorgan
Aug.23atRandolph
Aug.30 vs .B ro oks*
Sept .6atW estLimestone*
Sept.13 vs .P riceville
Sept.20 vs .H atton*
Sept.27Open
Oct. 4atE astLimestone*
Oct .11atD anville*
Oct.18 vs .C entral-Florence*
Oct.25 vs .W ilson*
No v. 1atD eshler*
Pr iceville
Aug .2 3a tC ol umbia
Aug .3 0a tB re wer
Sep t. 6v s.Ardmore*
Sep t. 13at We stMorgan
Sep t. 20 vs .E astLimestone*
Sep t. 27 Open
Oct .4a tW est Po int*
Oct.1 1a tF airview*
Oct.1 8a tL aw re nceCounty*
Oct. 25 vs .R ussellviile*
No v. 1v s.Arab
Fa lkville
Aug .2 3a tV inemont
Aug .2 0O pen
Sep t. 6atW estEnd -W alnutGr ov e*
Sept .1 3v s.CoosaChristian*
Sept .2 0a tS ou theastern*
Sept .2 7a tC olbert Heights
Oct .4 vs .D ecaturHeritage
Oct.1 1v s.SusanMoo re*
Oct .1 8v s.Cleveland*
Oct.2 5a tC ol dS prings*
No v. 1atW insto nC ounty
Danville
Au g. 23 vs .T harptown
Aug .30a tW ilson*
Sep t. 6v s.Deshler*
Sep t. 13 vs .W estLimesto ne*
Sep t. 20at EastLawrenc e*
Sep t. 27Open
Oct .4 atB ro oks*
Oct.11 vs .W estMo rg an*
Oct.1 8atH att on*
Oct .2 5atS t.John Pa ulII
No v. 1v s.Central-Flo re nce*
Brewer
Aug .2 3a tH ay den
Aug .3 0v s. Pr iceville
Sept .6 atGun te rsville*
Sept .1 3v s.Arab*
Sept .2 0O pen
Oct. 4v s. Scot ts bo ro*
Oct .1 1a tB oaz*
Oct .1 8v s.Douglas*
Oct.25at Sar dis*
No v. 1v s. We st Po int
Lawr enc eC ounty
Lawr enc eC ounty
Aug.23 vs .E ast Lawr ence
Aug.30at Ro gers
Sept. 6v s.Ru ss ellville*
Sept. 13at We st Po int*
Sept. 20 vs .F airview*
Sept. 27at Haleyville
Oct .4v s.East Lim estone*
Oct .1 1atA rd mo re*
Oct .1 8v s. Pr iceville*
Oct .2 5O pen
No v. 1atJ asper
East Lawr ence
Aug.23at Lawr enceCou nty
Aug.30 at We st Lim est on e*
Sept. 6O pen
Sept. 13at Hatto n*
Se pt .2 0v s.Dan ville*
Sept. 27 vs .C olumbia
Oct .4v s. We stMorgan*
Oct.11atCentral-Florence*
Oct.18atWilson*
Oct.25 vs .D eshler*
No v. 1v s.Broo ks*
Hatton
Aug.23Open
Aug.30 vs .D eshler*
Sept. 6v s.Broo ks*
Se pt .1 3v s.East La wr ence*
Sept. 20at We stMorgan*
Sept. 27at We st min sterChristian
Oct. 4v s. We st Lim estone*
Oct .1 1atR us sellville
Oct.18 vs .D an ville*
Oct .2 5atC en tr al-Florence*
Lim estoneCounty
At he ns
Aug.23 atMaeJemison
Aug.30 vs .B uckh orn
Sept. 6atC ullm an*
Sept. 13Open
Sept. 20 vs .J asper*
Sept. 27 vs .H azel Gr een
Oct .4a tM us cleShoals*
Oct .1 1a tH ar ts elle*
Oct .1 8v s.Columbia*
Oct.25 vs .D ecatu r*
No v. 1atR us sellville
East Lim est one
Aug.23at We st minster Chris ti an
Aug.30atHazel Gr een
Sep t. 6O pen
Sep t.13 vs .R ussellville*
Sep t.20 at Pr iceville*
Sep t.27 vs .W est Limestone
Oct .4atL aw re nc eC ou nty*
Oct .1 1v s. We st Po int*
Oct .1 8v s.Ardmo re*
Oct .2 5a tF airview*
No v. 1v s. Sh elb yC oun ty
We st Lim est one
Aug.23 vs .C lemen ts
Aug.30 vs .E ast Lawr ence*
Sep t. 6v s. We stMorgan*
Sep t.13 atDan ville*
Sep t.20 vs .C ent ra l-Florence*
Sep t.27 atEast Lim estone
Oct .4atH atton*
Oct .1 1v s.Wilson*
Oct.18atDeshler*
Oct.25atBroo ks*
No v. 1O pen
Clements
Aug.23at We st Lim es to ne
Aug.30 vs .A rd mo re
Sep t. 6v s.Colber tH eigh ts*
Sept. 20 atElkm ont*
Sept.27 at Ta nn er
Oct. 4a tL auderdaleCounty*
Oct. 11 atColber tC ou nty*
Oct. 18 vs .S hef field*
Oct. 25 at Mar sH ill*
No v. 1O pen
Elkmont
Au g. 23 vs .S t. John Pa ul II
Au g. 30 vs .L exington
Sept. 6a tL auderdaleCounty*
Sept.13 atColber tH eights*
Sept.20 vs .C lemen ts*
Sept.27 Open
Oct. 4a tS hef field*
Oct. 11 vs .M ars Hill*
Oct. 18 atColber tC ou nty*
Oct. 25 vs .R ogers*
No v. 1a tA rd mo re Ar dmore
Au g. 23 vs .T anner
Au g. 30 atClemen ts
Sept. 6a tP ricev ille*
Sept.13 vs .F airview*
Sept.20 at Ru ss ellville*
Sept.27 vs .M adis on County
Oct. 4O pen
Oct. 11 vs .L aw re nce County*
Oct. 18 atEas tL imes ton e*
Oct. 25 vs .W es tP oint*
No v. 1v s. Elkmont
Ta nn er
Au g. 23 at Ar dmore
Au g. 30 vs .C olber tC ou nty
Sept .6 vs .W ins to nC ou nty*
Sept .1 3a tL exington*
Sept.20 atBelgreen
Sept.27 vs .C lemen ts
Oct. 4v s.Th arp town*
Oct. 11 vs .D ecatur Her itage*
Oct. 18 Open
Oct. 25 at Re dB ay*
No v. 1v s. Sw eet Wa ter TheDecaturHeritageEagl
Sep t.13 vs .R ogers*
Sept .2 7v s.Cullman
No v. 1atW ilson*
