Sep. 30—The calendar will move from September to October on Wednesday, meaning we’re in the home stretch of the high school football season.
October always marks an important shift for the high school football season; one because it starts getting cooler outside, and two because it means the stakes get higher.
After a week of non-region games to mark the midway point of the season, Friday begins a stretch of games where region championships will be decided. Last year only two local teams (Austin, West Morgan) won a region title. However, this year four teams (Austin, Hartselle, Priceville and West Morgan) are currently without a region loss and in the driver’s seat for a region championship.
So what’s the road to a region title like for each of these teams?
Austin’s 39-7 loss in the season opener to Hartselle was just an outlier for a young team. The Black Bears have won every game since by double digits and are currently the only undefeated team in Class 7A, Region 4.
After the Black Bears, it’s a logjam of 2-1 teams in the region. Bob Jones looked like the toughest challenge after beating James Clemens 54-7, but the Patriots have lost two in a row including 24-6 to Florence, a team Austin beat 34-6. James Clemens, which is the only team besides Austin to win the region since Austin joined in 2018, is 2-3 in its first season under a new head coach. The other 2-1 teams in the region (Florence, Sparkman), Austin has already beaten.
Austin will play Bob Jones and James Clemens in back-to-back games on Oct. 10 and Oct. 17. The Black Bears look like frontrunners to win their second-straight region championship.
West Morgan, Class 4A’s No. 3 team, has won Class 4A, Region 7 each of the last two years and is on 28-game regular season winning streak. The problem the Rebels face is health.
West Morgan lost its starting quarterback Titan Partlow three weeks ago in an 8-7 win over Priceville. The Rebels hope to get him back before playing Deshler, the only other undefeated team in the region, on Oct. 30.
Class 6A, No. 5 Hartselle came close to winning Region 7 last year, losing to Muscle Shoals by a single point in a region championship game. Hartselle begins a crucial region stretch this week at home vs. Cullman before traveling to Athens next week and undefeated Jasper the week after.
Navigate those games, and the Tigers would welcome No. 4 Muscle Shoals at home on Oct. 24 in the final region game of the season. Should both Hartselle and Shoals go into that game undefeated, it would possibly be the biggest game the rivalry has ever seen, which is saying a lot for a rivalry that’s produced several classics in the last 13 years.
Priceville has orchestrated quite the turnaround from its first season in Class 5A last year, which ended with a 2-8 record. The Bulldogs are 4-1 with an 8-7 loss to undefeated West Morgan being the only blemish.
Priceville also has possibly the toughest road for any local team to win a region championship. The Bulldogs will host last year’s Class 5A, Region 7 champion Fairview on Oct. 10. The Aggies are undefeated and ranked No. 5. Priceville will also have to travel to Russellville, which won the region from 2020-23, on Oct. 24.
Here’s how some other local teams are sitting in the playoff race:
—Hatton is sitting at fourth in Class 4A, Region 7 with a 2-2 region record. The Hornets’ two losses have come to Deshler and West Morgan, the region’s only two undefeated teams. Hatton will host Central-Florence, the other team ahead of it in the region, on Oct. 24. The Hornets also hold a tiebreaker over Brooks.
—Athens is 1-1 in region play with a 41-38 win over Cullman and a 30-13 loss to Jasper. The Golden Eagles will host Muscle Shoals this Friday and Hartselle next week. Athens hasn’t defeated Hartselle since 2020 and Muscle Shoals since 2014.
—Falkville is 1-2 in Class 2A, Region 6 with losses to No. 3 Coosa Christian 26-0 and Southeastern 21-14. Falkville will travel to Susan Moore, which is 2-1 in region play, on Oct. 10. The Blue Devils would need Susan Moore to defeat Southeastern to have a chance to jump back into the two seed in the region and host a first round playoff game.
—Ardmore suffered three loses in a row to Priceville, Fairview and Russellville, the top three teams in the region. The Tigers have a stretch of games at Lawrence County, East Limestone and at West Point as they look to secure the region’s fourth seed and their first back-to-back playoff appearances in school history.
— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2
