Catching Up Part 2

Let's catch up with Week 1 of the high school season. Of course, Thursday, August 31st brought the big Anniston-Oxford game. Who would know what a history-making night this would turn out to be? Trent Stewart and myself were on the sidelines for the first half, but I was blessed to be in the pressbox for the second half visiting with our Game of the Week crew and radio guys from Anniston and Oxford. It was certainly a night and an experience I will never forget! Good to visit with two of our Friday Night Voices, Pete Tomlin of Anniston and Tommy Wood of Oxford, along with Mark Griffin and Coach Ware. All of you Oxford folks be sure to let Wayne Caldwell know what a good job he is doing on the sidelines this year. Great to visit with folks like Greg Seitz, Mike Pruitt, Mayor Leon Smith, Larry Gardner, Pastors Freddy Rimpsey and Carlton Weathers, and Greg Lovelady among the 12,000 or so fans at Lamar Field.

The next night was our first official night on the "The Pigtrail" as photographer Kenny Callahan and I went to Pell City for the PC-Cherokee County match-up. Another packed house at Pete Rich Alumni Stadium as the Panthers rolled. Thanks to the PC Band Boosters for the great steak sandwich in our ongoing Concession Stand Food of the Year contest. After hustling back to J'ville, we went to work on the Roundup. Bedtime that Friday night was about 2 a.m. Later I'll look at Week 2 and I'll also take you through at typical Friday night behind the scenes. Thanks for watching and reading and may God bless all of you richly!

Catching Up!

The first two weeks of the season have flown by quickly. Let me give you a taste of my last two weekends of prep football. It all began on Thursday, August 24 as Grant Taylor and I went to Spring Garden's jamboree. The 5 hour marathon featured Spring Garden, Gaylesville, Cedar Bluff, Sand Rock, Piedmont, Glencoe, Wellborn, and Ranburne. Let me say that the new stadium at SG is fantastic! I would estimate 4-5,000 fans during the course of the night. I think it was probably the biggest crowd for any event in the Garden's history. Cars were parked a long way in every direction down those country roads. I never thought I would see the day that teams like Piedmont, Glencoe, and Wellborn would be playing a football game at Spring Garden. Boy do times change!

I saw lots of folks in the standing room only crowd. Good to see Chris McCarthy from the Cherokee County Herald, Jerry White(play by play guy for Glencoe), longtime Glencoe fixture Doc Lett, Piedmont booster Brian Young, Wayne Thrasher from Wellborn, and Spring Garden basketball legend Dale Welsh. Trainer Shawn Seegar, referee Mark Jones, and Chain crew member Chris Tierce were all working hard. I also got to visit with some current and former administrators such as Cherokee County school system boss Brian Johnson, former Glencoe coach Alton Yancey, Wellborn principal Ed Whatley, Calhoun County Alternative School principal Hershell Evans, Glencoe principal and AHSAA board member Moe Smith, and of course Spring Garden principal Mike Welsh(who was pretty proud of the new Panther home).

Friday night the 25th Grant and I were at Saks for another jamboree featuring Saks, Crossville, Fyffe, and Talladega. Longtime Saks supporter Lynn Martin was again leading the chain gang crew at Jack Stewart Field. Not as big of a crowd at Saks, but a nice night of good football. The new pressbox/concession stand should be nice. We then hustled back to TV 24 for our first Pigskin Roundup of the season. Joe Billingsley drove over all the way from their jamboree at Oak Mountain and brought assistant Ali Smith with him. Ali was a great player himself for the Sansom Rebels back in the early '90s. Ricky Weems from Wellborn brought 5 of his senior leaders with him and it was a pleasure to put them on TV.

After getting in bed at 3 a.m., it was up on Saturday and on the road to Montgomery for the Champions' Challenge game with Clay County and Addison. It was 115 degrees on the field before the 3 p.m. kickoff. I had a chance to visit with Dan Washburn, Greg Brewer, Doug Barfield, Joe Evans, and of course Bogie Wood from the AHSAA Central Office. We went from 115 to a huge rain and wind storm in the second quarter, making for a long day and a tiring drive home back up highway 21. I am tired just writing this and at this point the season had not even begun yet! I will take you through Week 1 later....

Let's Get Started!

Friday Night Football is here! Our first Pigskin Preview show airs Friday night with a preview of the season and live guests Joe Billingsley of Gadsden City and Ricky Weems of Wellborn. Check out this blog for lots of high school football info throughout the season. My goal is to make this the best and most interesting high school football blog in Alabama. Check back over the weekend for my thoughts on the big 8 team jamboree at Spring Garden Thursday night and the Saks jamboree from Friday. I'll also give you some stuff from the Champions Challenge in Montgomery. Check in often, as one of the main features of this blog will be to talk about the fans and faces I come across in my Friday night travels on "The Pigtrail." Who knows? I may be writing about YOU here soon. Football season is here! God Bless!

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