Area Breaking News

  By JOHN VELLA Highly recruited Theodore linebacker Cameron Pruitt got some looks on offense Thursday night as the Bobcats and Jackson played to a 21-21 tie in a spring game at C.A. Douglas Field. Theodore returning starting quarterback Cameron Rigby connected with Pruitt on several big plays as the four-star recruit showed his athleticism on…

      By JIMMY WIGFIELD Anyone hoping Saraland might get too full of itself and just go through the motions on game days were likely bitterly disappointed with what happened in Thursday’s spring game. The defending Class 6A state champions dispatched Enterprise 35-7. The starters won the first half 21-0. That was no slouch…

By JIMMY WIGFIELD JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — Amid a stampede of cowbells wielded by the 1,300 partisan Etowah fans packed into Rudy Abbott Field, a rumbling coming from the other direction was audible. In the shadow of Mount Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama, a UMS-Wright avalanche seemed imminent and it had the potential to finally…

Staff Report JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — Leroy battled through the loser’s bracket to reach the Class 1A state softball finals Wednesday night but fell to Brantley 6-2. It was the sixth state title for Bulldogs (33-13), all since 2014, while the Bears (35-18) were denied their first Blue Map. The championship game was delayed six hours…

  By JIMMY WIGFIELD OXFORD, Ala. — Things couldn’t have gone much worse for UMS-Wright Tuesday night as it started its quest for an 11th state baseball championship. The Bulldogs were plagued by bunts. They committed four errors. They extracted just three hits off Etowah right-hander Jameson Scissum, whose well-spotted fastball touched 90 mph at…

By ARTHUR L. MACK After playing games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for much of the last six decades, Davidson High School cut the ribbon on its on-campus stadium Thursday, signaling a new era for the Warriors’ football program. “I don’t know what it’s like because I’ve never had one where I’ve been,” Davidson coach Rick Cauley…

By ARTHUR L. MACK A new era in high school football in Mobile County began Wednesday when LeFlore and Vigor high schools held ribbon-cutting ceremonies for their new on-campus football stadiums. The stadiums are two of five facilities being built on Mobile County Public School System campuses — the others are at Davidson, B.C. Rain…

By ARTHUR L. MACK GULF SHORES — Less than 24 hours after setting a new state record in the girls long jump, Saraland’s Morgan Davis cleared 6 feet in the high jump on Saturday to secure her place in Alabama prep track and field history on the last day of her high school career. Davis’…

By JIMMY WIGFIELD Offensive linemen live largely in anonymity although they are engaged in hand-to-hand combat on every play, their faces buried in the dirt or in somebody’s groin on a drive block. They’re a crankshaft inside an engine, never noticed until it malfunctions. “Guys don’t grow up with blocking pads in the front yard,”…

By JIMMY WIGFIELD Zaylon and Emery Williams don’t know they are sleeping down the hall from a five-star recruit. They just know their big brother Ryan is faster than they are. Of course, he is faster than everybody else, too. Zaylon, 9, a third-grader nicknamed “Fat,” and Emery, 7, a first-grader nicknamed “Chunk,” don’t recognize…