Saraland, Mary Montgomery to meet in home-and-home series

 

 

 

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

Mary G. Montgomery and Saraland — the two preeminent football teams in the Mobile area the last four years — will play each other in a two-year home-and-home series beginning this season in Semmes.

The Class 6A Vikings and the Class 5A Spartans will open the season on Aug. 21 in Semmes and open the 2027 season in Saraland.

“It’s an exciting way to kick the season off,” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly said Friday. “I know the kids will be excited about that. A lot of those guys know each other. I think it would be a huge turnout. I think there’s a lot of people that will be excited about this game. They’ve had a great run and we’ve been pretty good lately, too.”

The Spartans have the best record among Mobile-area teams in the last three years (40-3) and been to four straight Super 7s under Kelly.

“They’ve definitely been the standard for the last five to 10 years,” MGM coach Zach Golson said. “We’ve been the best two teams in the 251 and that was one of our goals when we got to Mary Montgomery, being the best in the 251. We’re going to get a chance to go prove it. It’ll definitely give our kids something to be motivated about, just knowing that they’re going to get to go play on a big stage like that.”

Under Golson, the Vikings have the second-best record in the area in the last three years (31-5) and have been to the playoffs in four straight seasons — including the Class 7A semifinals in 2023 — marking unprecedented success for a program that at one time was one of the state’s worst.

“Coach Golson and his staff have done a great job of really turning that program around and making it a statewide-type program,” Kelly said. “Coming into our season and looking at our team with some of the new faces, I felt it was important to try to play good teams and make us get better in a hurry. It provides a little something extra throughout the offseason and the summer as you’re getting ready to play.”

Golson said he and Kelly have talked about playing for several years as MGM has surged to prominence.

“Jeff’s been wanting to play for a while and I felt like we were getting our program started and getting it to where our feet were solid on the ground,” Golson said. “We’re losing a lot (of starters) and they’ve got a really good team coming back but I feel like we’ve got to go test ourselves and play other really good teams to get ourselves ready for the playoffs.”

In anticipation of a huge crowd, Golson said it’s possible the first game could be moved from Semmes to 25,000-seat Hancock-Whitney Stadium on the University of South Alabama campus.

“We haven’t gotten too deep into those discussions yet with (USA) but there’s a potential for that,” Golson said. “There is a lot that goes into playing a game at South Alabama. One of the advantages is that’s where the state championships are going to be. I do think it could be a big crowd but if we play it at our campus, it’ll be a great atmosphere there too. It’ll be a packed house. Shoot, we may have to bring bleachers in for that game.”

Kelly said Golson can move the game anywhere he wants because it’s Mary Montgomery’s home game.

“I’m OK with that,” Kelly said. “But 2027 will be in Saraland.”

The Spartans will also play at Pell City on Sept. 25 and end the regular season with Class 6A power Auburn at home on Oct. 30.