Last year’s game between Hillcrest and Straughn was the first time that the two teams had ever met on the football field, and Straughn barely won that game, 22-15.
Every time that I think of Straughn, I can’t help but think about Russell Gunter.
Gunter became somewhat famous in 1986 when he set the state record for most carries in a single game. He ran the ball 72 times against Coffee Springs, and went on to run the ball 426 times that season for 2,220 yards.
Gunter still holds the state record for most carries in a game. In fact, no one’s come close to breaking it. The second-closest guy on the list is Lee-Huntsville’s Dwone Hicks, who had 52 carries in a game against J.O. Johnson in 1998.
If you’d like to learn more about Gunter and other players like him, you should check out a great little book called “Tales from Alabama Prep Football” by Ron Ingram and Rubin Grant. Ingram and Grant, both long time sports writers in Birmingham, published the book in 2006, and copies of it are still available on Amazon.com.
The book includes a section on Gunter as well as other Alabama prep football legends like Bobby Bowden, John Hannah, Bo Jackson, Terrell Owens, David Palmer, Kenny Stabler, Bart Starr, Pat Sullivan, Pat Trammell and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams.
Tomorrow night’s game between Sparta and Ellwood will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools in football.
Ellwood Christian is a relatively new school, and this season is their first for full varsity football. In 2009 and 2010, they played eight-man football against other small schools like North River Christian, Victory Christian, Heritage Christian, Tabernacle, Tuscaloosa Christian, Victory Baptist, Marion Academy, Flint Hill and New Life Christian School.
Ellwood has yet to win a game this season, but Sparta shouldn’t make the mistake of taking them lightly. They don’t want to be the first team to give up a game to a school that’s never beat a team in 11-man football.
I’m glad that the NFL season has finally kicked off, and pro fans will have plenty of decent games to watch this Sunday. Games that you won’t want to miss are Jacksonville at the New York Jets and Arizona at Washington. Not counting the games from Monday night, only a handful of teams remain unbeaten – Buffalo, the New York Jets, Houston, Jacksonville, San Diego, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, San Francisco and Arizona.
Here are my picks for this week’s slate of SEC football games. I like Alabama over North Texas, Arkansas over Troy, Clemson over Auburn, LSU over Mississippi State, Ole Miss over Vanderbilt, Florida over Tennessee, Georgia over Coastal Carolina, Kentucky over Louisville and South Carolina over Navy.
Last week: 8-2 (.800), Overall: 19-3 (.864).
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