South Alabama Sports

    By JIMMY WIGFIELD PHENIX CITY, Ala. — Cody Flournoy won’t necessarily feel more weight on his shoulders to succeed at Central Phenix City than he did in Jackson, where he won the last two Class 4A state football championships with some of the best talent the state has ever seen. It’s true that all of Jackson High’s student body (320) would fit inside Central’s indoor practice facility (capacity 419) with enough room to have dinner on the grounds.…

    By JIMMY WIGFIELD Cody Flournoy, who coached Jackson to two straight dominant seasons as the Class 4A state champion, has accepted the Central Phenix City job. Flournoy — who is 80-31 overall in nine years as a head coach, including 69-21 in seven seasons with the Aggies — confirmed the hire Tuesday night and will be introduced in Phenix City Wednesday evening. With generational talent such as running back E.J. Crowell and quarterback Landon Duckworth, along with wide…

_________________ “People tell me all the time, ‘Well, this is a new era.’ I’m tired of hearing it. It’s not a new era. The rules have been there for years and some are not going by them.” Central Clay County’s Danny Horn _________________     LINEVILLE, Ala. — Danny Horn is the quintessential high school football coach, an idyllic man in an idyllic setting and, by God, that’s the way it was intended. He’s also an example of how to…

  __________________ Most coaches don’t seem to want a split but major change seems inevitable in an increasingly rancorous environment marked by transfers and recruiting __________________ By JIMMY WIGFIELD It seems unlikely that the status quo will survive when the Alabama High School Athletic Association officially announces its reclassification on Jan. 23 and possibly renders an historic decision on how public and private schools will or will not coexist. The AHSAA’s Central Board is facing pressure from its member schools…

          AUBURN, Ala. — If you are an Auburn fan, put a bag over your head and plugged your ears since September, then suddenly had your senses restored Saturday night, it’s likely you would have thought Bruce Pearl was still coaching the Tigers and they were heading back to the Final Four. A Pearl is still coaching them and Steven Pearl, the spruce from Bruce, received a desperately needed 95-73 victory over No. 15-ranked Arkansas and…

        TUSCALOOSA — The local Dominos offered 50% off on pizzas Saturday if Alabama made 10 three-pointers against Kentucky. The Crimson Tide had that many by halftime, when it led by 16 points and had its boots pressed against the Wildcats’ windpipe. Let’s say Alabama fans were rolling in dough. All the threes are expected of a Nate Oats team — “They’ve got shooters all over,” UK coach Mark Pope said — but Dominos didn’t offer any…

  ______________________________ A simmering feud between public and private school athletics in Alabama has come to a boil and a landmark decision could soon settle it. At the heart of the issue is recruiting — each says the other does it. A split is the worst possible answer but can it be avoided? ______________________________   Terry Curtis knows a decision he will soon help make might be the most monumental in the history of high school athletics in Alabama. It could…

      BIRMINGHAM — With the exception of the last three Super 7s, Saraland usually makes good teams look bad and bad teams look forward to next year. But now it’s the Spartans who must again look ahead. Does Friday night’s 38-21 loss to Clay-Chalkville in the Class 6A state championship game make them a bad team? Of course not. But a third straight loss in the Super 7 — the only times in the last three years Saraland…

      By JIMMY WIGFIELD BIRMINGHAM — Jamison Roberts kept getting off the turf and launching pocket rockets after getting knocked down. Deshawn Spencer kept catching them. But they and Saraland were still no match for the latest Clay-Chalkville quarterback to torment the Spartans. Cougars quarterback Aaron Frye stretched Saraland’s defense so thin that it practically vanished at times as the No. 1-ranked Cougars took an early 17-0 lead and went on to defeat the No. 2 Spartans 38-21…