South Alabama Sports

  By JIMMY WIGFIELD Ronnie Cottrell was hired as T.R. Miller’s new head football coach on Tuesday, marrying the state’s all-time winningest high school football program with one of the state’s top coaches of the last decade. Cottrell, 66, a 1977 T.R. Miller graduate, was approved as the Tigers’ coach Tuesday evening by the Brewton City School District Board. He replaces Brent Hubbert, who retired after going 58-18 in six years. “It’s very exciting to be involved in a program…

  By JIMMY WIGFIELD MOBILE — Many football coaches were dissuaded from applying for the UMS-Wright job because of the program’s tradition and championship expectations and the inevitable comparisons to Terry Curtis. One man was not and he’s now standing in the gargantuan shoes Curtis left on the front porch when he retired. Sam Williams, who took Class 7A Brandon High School to the Mississippi state championship game in three of the last four years, left a loaded football team…

By JIMMY WIGFIELD UMS-Wright has hired highly regarded Brandon (Miss.) High School coach Sam Williams as its next head football coach, the school announced on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon A formal press conference to introduce Williams will be held next week, the school said Williams succeeds the legendary Terry Curtis, who recently announced his retirement after winning eight state championships with the Bulldogs. Curtis finished his career as the state’s No. 2 all-time winningest coach with a 361-105 record…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — The tight rims that demanded perfection or otherwise spat out shots, the vastness of Legacy Arena that made those rims hard to pick out of a crowd and the horrific thoughts of avoiding a second straight loss in the state finals did not matter to Vigor on Saturday. Instead, the Wolves put on a stark fourth-period clinic on the basics of winning a state championship. Vigor’s relentless full-court pressure got…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — Jackson’s Isaiah Gladney didn’t see all the wires running out of the backboard, nor the bright lights shining in his eyes from the high reaches of Legacy Arena, maybe not even Plainview’s Sawyer Wilborn sliding over to get in his way and not even the clock that was silently draining down to milliseconds when he snared the basketball with his left hand. He did see an orange hoop, a Blue…

    By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — There was little consolation for Vigor coach Andrea Powell and star center Jamonica Chambers after the Wolves reached the state’s final four, only to unravel on the grandest stage of Alabama high school basketball. No. 2-ranked Scottsboro administered Vigor’s worst defeat this season, 72-36, at the worst time for the Wolves — in the Class 5A state tournament semifinals Wednesday at Legacy Arena. The loss left Chambers without words and unable to speak…

          By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — In a game with all the suspense of a man standing before a firing squad, Vigor annihilated Guntersville 71-53 in the Class 5A state tournament semifinals Wednesday evening at Legacy Arena to reach the finals for the second straight year. And if the Wolves keep playing the way they did against the Wildcats, they will likely find a seat for a Blue Map on the bus back to Prichard on…

        By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — McGill-Toolen coach Phillip Murphy, who nearly lost his life to a ruptured, infected intestine two years ago, knows a lot about guts. Perhaps that is why he clutched up in speechless silence, looked down and scratched his head when asked to describe how a team with barely a breath of offense could reach the state tournament. “This is the most unique team I’ve had at McGill,” Murphy said Wednesday after the…

      By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — After his team had thrashed nearly everything that got in its way the last two months, Jackson coach Anthony Hayes was on a knee during a final timeout Tuesday evening asking his players if they could stop Brooks from yanking a possible second state championship from their grip. The game in the semifinals of the state tournament was tied 34-34 with 46 seconds to go when Hayes asked the question that went…

      By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — Brooke O’Mary was the smallest player on the floor but made the biggest shot of the game. The 4-foot-11 O’Mary chased down a missed three-pointer in overtime and laid it in to give Brilliant the lead with 37 seconds remaining and the Tigers went on to defeat No. 9-ranked McIntosh 54-51 in the Class 1A girls state tournament semifinals Monday morning at Legacy Arena. “I was really nervous,” O’Mary said. “I knew…