By Rubin E. Grant As one of the greatest championship games in the history of Alabama high school football unfolded, Parker Gargis and Colt Byrom found themselves on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. Gargis was simply enjoying the moment, while Byrom was a nervous wreck as Homewood battled Benjamin Russell on a cold early December night at Legion Field for the Alabama … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant A cloud of uncertainty has enveloped the Vestavia Hills’ football program heading into the 2020 season. Legendary head coach Buddy Anderson and several Rebels players tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-August, forcing the school to suspend practice and cancel its first two games of the season, against Mountain Brook and Homewood. (See story on page 25) The … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Coming off consecutive 4-6 seasons, Spain Park coach Shawn Raney described the outlook for the Jaguars’ 2020 football season as “very encouraging.” “We’ve got some big kids for a change and our offense has the most skilled players we’ve ever had,” Raney said. “I hope we get to play the whole season because I think it could be special. “Harrison Barker, our … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant  Oak Mountain coach Cris Bell believes the Eagles are ready to challenge for a playoff berth this season. “If we can stay healthy, we’ll be OK,” Bell said. “We’ve got a really solid nucleus returning. On defense, we have nine guys who started or played impactful snaps. On offense, we’ve got (quarterback) Evan (Smith) back. He makes a lot of things go … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Mountain Brook football coach Chris Yeager expects it will take a few games for the Spartans to get a feel for what they’re doing this season. “We had a good summer of workouts and we have a lot of optimism, but we’ve got a long way to go to be the team we want to be,” Yeager said. “We can tell that we missed spring training, but I am sure other teams are in … [Read more...]