Opelika Ready for Year Two in 7A State Championship Loss a Chip On Glenwood’s Shoulder

PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES / THE PBSERVER

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

OPELIKA —

For the varsity Opelika Bulldog football team, last season coincided with many milestones.

Beginning with their move up to the highest classification of Alabama high school sports, 7A, to the defeat of eventual region champions Central Phenix City in early September, to the end, when Opelika missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009, not all of Opelika’s milestones were happy ones. However, the new season is here, and after its initial exposure to playing in 7A, the Bulldogs are ready to cement their place amongst the state’s best in 2023.

“We are excited about this year,” said Opelika head football coach Erik Speakman. “This is year two for us in 7A. Last year, we struggled. We saw some growing pains of what we were facing each week with that jump but, we competed. There are no moral victories but, we lost three of those games by a combined 18 points. So we are hoping that carries over to this year.”

Opelika, which last year spent its first season competing in a region comprised of East Alabama regional powerhouses like Central and Auburn, finished the 2022 season with a record of 5-5. It matched that .500 effort in its eight regional games, going 4-4. The Bulldogs crashed out of the playoff picture in the end, however, losing its final two region games to Enterprise, 14-22, and Dothan, 7-14.

“I think the biggest thing is, you are always talking to your kids about the five or six plays that make a difference in the game, and little things matter,” Speakman said. “But I think when you actually lose a game because of it, it means a little bit more. And then all of sudden you don’t make the playoffs for the first time since 2009, you’re done before Halloween, that really puts some perspective on it. I like trick-or-treating and have fun scaring people but I rather be doing football practice.”

This season’s schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Bulldogs. Opelika will begin its schedule facing backto-back-to-back-to-back

7A champions, Thompson High School, in Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl for the AHSAA’s annual Kickoff Classic.

“It brings a lot of excitement number one,” Speakman said on what it means to open the season against Thompson. “It brings a lot of energy to your summer, because [the players] know what is ahead of them. When you get a chance to play Thompson with what they have done, you can kind of just see a different attitude going into the weight lifting, the running and the summer practice.”

Thompson is led by freshman quarterback Trent Seaborn, who, as an eighth grader, torched Auburn High School in the 7A State Championship game last December, resulting in a final stat line of 12-of-14 passing for 207 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, as well as being named the game’s MVP.

“Trent, great kid, they have a really good team over there,” said Opelika quarterback Roman Gagliano. “But I have full confidence in coach Speakman, our coaching staff and all our players that we are going to go there and make them earn the win. All of our players’ mindset is that we are the underdogs. That’s kind of how we are thinking — go prove everybody wrong.”

Speakman said he is aware of Seaborn’s abilities but the Bulldogs will not cower at the prospect of slowing the prolific Thompson offense. In fact, Speakman is betting on his guy, the senior 3-star, Gagliano, as the quarterback to watch in the season opener.

“The best quarterback in the state is wearing an Opelika jersey,” Speakman said.

To achieve a season-opener upset over Thompson, and to reach

BY NOAH GRIFFITH FOR THE OBSERVER

SMITHS STATION—

No one beat Lee-Scott last season, but no one came closer to doing it than the Glenwood Gators.

The Warriors beat everyone on their schedule by 30 points or more, but Glenwood was the exception which posed a threat to its rivals. Coming into Auburn in week four under first-year head coach Ryan Nelson, Glenwood put up a season-high 16 points on the Warriors in a 35-16 loss. The Gators improved on that in their second matchup with Lee-Scott, falling 35-21 in the AISA 3A State Championship in November.

Glenwood finished 8-4 in 2022, and the Gators encountered many setbacks along the way. Under Nelson, the team battled injuries and sickness while playing one of the toughest schedules in recent history, but instead of letting those be excuses, the Gators are using that for fuel in the chase to return to the Crampton Bowl for the title game this year.

“Last year, we went to the state championship, and it was a great experience for us, but it didn’t come out how we wanted,” said senior quarterback Dallas Crow at High School Media Day on Wednesday, July 26. “I think it gives us a chip on our shoulder to go back and work even harder … I believe in our coaches and I believe in our players, and I think we’re going to get it done.”

Crow is entering his third season as starting QB, and as Nelson pointed out, he can enter this one a little more comfortably.

Crow’s first two seasons at starter were spent adjusting, as he was operating under different head coaches with different offenses each year — Jason Gibson in Crow’s sophomore year and then last season under Nelson. While the offense dealt with injuries early last season, Crow didn’t hit his stride until the back end of the year. Glenwood started 0-2, and then 2-3, before winning six in a row leading up to the state championship.

This time around, the dual-threat QB with dynamic running ability can play more to his strengths with a system he understands and a coach who knows his skillset better.

“He went through some pains last season,” Nelson said of Crow. “I’m not going to say that he struggled early but it’s just, without experience [in a new offense], it’s hard to get in ballgames and play at a high level. After the third or fourth game, Dallas played extremely well for us last year.”

The Gators started out

PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES / THE PBSERVER

last season with two close losses to St. Anne-Pacelli and Brookestone — two talented teams out of Columbus, Georgia. Pacelli won the GIAA 4A State Championship, and it knocked Brookestone out in the semi-finals. Glenwood will have another tough start to this season with those same teams scheduled early, but it will be more prepared this time around.

The Gators have an experienced quarterback, but he also has plenty of skill around him. Despite losing its top running back duo of JT Banks and Aaron Burton, the Gators have sophomore running back Carter Judah, receivers Brandon and Mason McCraine and athlete Camden White, who plays all around on offense. Nelson said he expects all of those guys to contributed greatly over the course of the 2023 season.

Nelson compared White to Traveon Samuel, who he coached at Central before Samuel went on to play at Louisville, in that he can line up at running back, inside or outside receiver.

“You’re gonna see number three (White) all over the field this year,” Nelson raved. “Just a guy, when he’s got the ball in his hands, he’s dynamic.”

Nelson also said the Gators have placed an