Area Sports
Saraland, Jackson each ranked No. 1 in preseason poll
Staff Report Saraland and Jackson will be ranked No. 1 in their respective classes entering their season-opening clash on Aug. 23 in Saraland. The Spartans are favored to win the Class 6A state title and the Aggies are favored to win it all in Class 4A in the Alabama Sports Writers Association…
Read MoreThe root cause of high school ills? Loyalty cannot be legislated in an era of selfish privilege instead of sacred sacrifice
___________________________ Fewer and fewer want to climb the hills when the easy way is open, even if it requires cheating, and this attitude has taken hold of some who claim they love what sports teaches. But I think they slept through that class. ___________________________ St. Paul’s coach Ham Barnett didn’t plan to say…
Read MoreCoaches say recruiting, transfers are making the ground beneath them shift
______________________________ “You have to have a backbone in Montgomery. If you don’t have a backbone, you don’t need the job. I don’t think in the last three years (the AHSAA) has done anything about it, so it’s like the wild, wild West.” St. Paul’s coach Ham Barnett ______________________________ By ARTHUR L. MACK MOBILE —…
Read MoreSaraland star Antonio Coleman says he’s staying put at Auburn
By JIMMY WIGFIELD SARALAND — Saraland four-star defensive lineman Antonio Coleman, who found Auburn coach Hugh Freeze to be as incessantly aggressive as he is, committed to the Tigers for the second time on Saturday. On Tuesday, he responded to criticism on social media for his three flips between Auburn and Alabama and…
Read MoreJohn McKenzie thrilled with return to Vigor, confirms Kentonio Kelly’s plans to transfer
By ARTHUR L. MACK MOBILE — Three years after delivering a state championship but leaving the school under murky circumstances, John McKenzie has returned to Vigor and said he couldn’t be happier about it. McKenzie, who led the Wolves to the Class 4A state football title in 2021, will coach Vigor for a…
Read MoreSaraland’s dominant Antonio Coleman makes Big Cat Weekend memorable by committing to Auburn a second time
By JIMMY WIGFIELD SARALAND — Saraland four-star defensive lineman Antonio Coleman, who found Auburn coach Hugh Freeze to be as incessantly aggressive as he is, committed to the Tigers for the second time on Saturday. Coleman (6-4, 280) — a four-star prospect who is rated the No. 12 defensive lineman nationally in the…
Read MoreKelly’s lesson: ‘I want to enjoy the journey’
____________________ “The end of the season felt like a letdown and it shouldn’t have been. It’s so hard to get there. We didn’t enjoy and appreciate the work everybody had done and I don’t want to do that anymore.” Saraland coach Jeff Kelly ____________________ SARALAND — Jeff Kelly doesn’t want anyone…
Read MoreJohn McKenzie returns to Vigor as coach
By ARTHUR L. MACK MOBILE — John McKenzie, who led the Vigor to the Class 4A state football title in 2021, will return to coach the Wolves for a second time after the Mobile County School Board approved his hiring on Wednesday. McKenzie was 19-6 in his two years at Vigor, including a…
Read MoreJackson’s Landon Duckworth outgrows the Superman cleats to become one of the nation’s top prep quarterbacks
By JIMMY WIGFIELD JACKSON — Landon Duckworth did not emerge from the shadows as a reluctant kid dragged into the sunlight, uncertain if football, with its pageantry and lore, its savagery and gore, was right for him. At the age of 6, he showed up at a Jackson park for his first…
Read MoreRonny Massey touched lives and didn’t even know it
By JIMMY WIGFIELD As Ronny Massey lay dying from cancer in the summer of 2010, those who had benefitted from his humanity and compassion came to his sickbed. That included a special-needs student who was in Massey’s algebra class and a former student who had grown into a doctor. “It was more than…
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