Jackson’s E.J. Crowell rips off a big gain in last year’s 35-27 loss to Saraland. Crowell was the only back to gain 100 or more yards on the Spartans last season, finishing with 206 yards and three touchdowns, and had figured to be the pivotal player in Friday night’s season-opening showdown in Jackson before he was suspended for the game. (Todd Stacey/Call News)
If there was a state championship game between teams regardless of their class — one that would be historic and fulfill every competitive craving — Jackson versus Saraland on Friday night would be on a very short list, although it’s a seminal game with no serious consequences for the loser, as was proven last season.
For that reason — and with all the college talent on the field — neither team is likely to play cautiously or conservatively, which isn’t their style. Maybe it will be 50-49. Maybe the winning touchdown will come when Keeyun Chapman soars over the goalposts for a pass from Landon Duckworth or Jamison Roberts squeezes a perfect post to Deshawn Spencer, who makes a one-handed catch between two astonished defenders as the clock drains to 00:00.
With all due respect to the Spartans and their tradition of excellence, we are watching perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime team in the Aggies, who can compete with and beat anybody in this state, even the better Class 7A teams. Jackson — which is only 41 students short of being the state’s smallest 4A school — was in position to beat the 6A Spartans last season until a late turnover. A few weeks later, the Aggies defeated 7A Baker 20-13 in a game that wasn’t actually that close. In the spring, 7A Mary G. Montgomery scored late to edge Jackson 21-14 in the half amongst starters.
Aggies coach Cody Flournoy will have other outstanding teams after this year but he knows he has generational talent in running back E.J. Crowell, Duckworth, Chapman and defensive back Jamarrion “Juicy” Gordon. A loss to Saraland won’t stop Jackson from winning a second straight Blue Map — it didn’t last year — but a win Friday night at Legion Field, especially without the suspended Crowell, could burnish this team’s legend and by season’s end give it a legitimate claim as one of the state’s greatest teams of all time.
“People will be talking about this group here for a long time,” Flournoy said.
Saraland has arguably been the state’s best program in the last seven years — going 85-12 with a state championship and three straight trips to the Super 7, unprecedented for a 6A team — and Flournoy knows what beating the Spartans will mean.
“It’s one of those measuring sticks,” Flournoy said. “They don’t lose regular-season football games over there. They play championship-level football and that’s what you going to get in this game. We both played the championship game last year, so you’re going to get two teams that do things right, that have a high level of talent, that coaches hard.”
With the stakes so rooted in pride and legacy rather than playoff survival, the fans packed into Legion Field will see as much spectacle as substance. Both teams are brimming with playmakers and every snap promises a quality of football so exemplary that the Aggies don’t want retribution for last year’s 35-27 loss — only their second in the last 27 games — just validation of their place in the galaxy.
“I wouldn’t say revenge is the most correct word,” Flournoy said. “Saraland has not lost a regular-season game since ’22. There’s a reason we put this game on the schedule is because we thought that each other would be a good test early.”
For the Spartans, it’s another opportunity to demonstrate that Jeff Kelly has built one of the state’s most formidable programs regardless of class and — despite the loss of great players — can consistently develop more great players who know what it takes to win.
Great players decide big games and this time it would have likely been Crowell. However, the Alabama commitment, Rivals preseason All-American and the No. 3-rated running back in the 2026 class was given a one-game suspension by the Alabama High School Athletic Association Wednesday for accepting an improper gift, a charge he and his mother denied. Crowell would have given the Aggies a decided advantage on the ground, just as K.J. Lacey gave Saraland the edge in last year’s game.
Last year, Crowell punished the Spartans with 206 yards on 22 carries and touchdown runs of 54, 6 and 47 yards in a game that had 817 combined yards of total offense. Tellingly, he was the only back to surpass 100 yards against Saraland all season.
Without Crowell, Jackson will be even more reliant on Duckworth and Chapman to move the ball. Duckworth has a menacing dual-threat presence and Chapman seems to get open whenever it’s needed.
Duckworth is probably motivated to atone for his uneven performance in last year’s loss, when he was 9-of-20 passing for 178 yards and no touchdowns. Contained in the pocket, Duckworth forced some throws, something Flournoy expects his star quarterback to avoid this time. The last time Duckworth was on the field in a game that counted, he was 14-of-17 passing for 325 yards and had more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (3) in a 69-6 win over Cherokee County in the Class 4A state championship game.
“You look at the championship game, he’s just so confident and all the balls were on the money and we didn’t miss throws and our reads were right,” Flournoy said. “They’ll give us some wrinkles to change up the stuff to try to confuse him but Landon’s really good and I expect him to have a good night.”
Roberts, in his first season as Saraland’s full-time starter, also has next-level talent and if he gets into a rhythm can keep pace with Duckworth. But Roberts hasn’t had to carry a team on his shoulders and come from behind in the fourth quarter to win a close game. Then again, neither has Duckworth because he’s usually on the bench in the fourth quarter. The exception is last year’s loss to the Spartans, who Kelly points out with pride are accustomed to handling the gravity of such games with confident composure.
“We’re going to get their best shot and I think that brings urgency for us to be ready to go every week because that’s how it is,” Kelly said. “That’s really the world we’ve lived in for the last five years. That’s just standard operating procedure for us.”
And when it’s over, the fans at Legion Field will likely have seen the best unofficial state championship game ever played, even without Crowell.
