You know that football season is just around the corner when sports writers across the state begin sharing notes about the teams in their coverage areas to get ready for the first prep football poll of the season.
The Alabama Sports Writers Association will release its annual preseason football poll in a few weeks, and writers have already begun gathering information for their ballots. That information is often shared between members of the ASWA, and based on some of the reports I’ve been getting, it looks like this season is shaping up to be a good one.
Here are just a few nuggets of information about some of Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy’s opponents this upcoming season that some of you might be interested in reading.
Hillcrest will open the season on Aug. 31 in Chatom against Washington County High School. Washington County will have lots of talent this season and could make a state title run. Many of you know that they went 9-4 last year and made it all the way to the Class 3A quarterfinals before losing to eventual state champion, Handley.
The following Friday night Hillcrest will travel to Mobile to play UMS-Wright. UMS will likely field a good team again this year. They made it all the way to the Class 4A semifinals last year before losing to eventual state champs, Jackson High School.
In Hillcrest’s home opener on Sept. 14, the Jaguars will take on Andalusia. The Bulldogs should be pretty decent this year. Most folks feel like the Bulldogs should be ranked somewhere between No. 6 and No. 10 in 4A.
While Hillcrest is playing Andalusia that night in Evergreen, Sparta will be across town, hosting Escambia Academy. Escambia has hired veteran coach Hugh Fountain, and EA should be better this year compared to last year.
The following Friday night, Hillcrest will travel to Grove Hill to take on Clarke County High School. Sports writers are thinking that Clarke County will not be a Top 10 team this season because they will field a very young team this season.
The next Friday night, Hillcrest will travel to East Brewton to play W.S. Neal. Neal went 1-9 in Class 4A last year under new head coach Doug Hoehn. They’re in 3A this year and won’t have to play UMS, Jackson or Thomasville. They should have a better season in Hoehn’s second year, but they’re probably not a Top 10 team.
On Oct. 5, Sparta will play Jackson Academy in Evergreen. Jackson Academy graduated 13 seniors from last year’s state championship team. Jackson Academy will still be pretty good, but it’ll be hard for them to defend their state title.
The next week, Hillcrest will travel to Thomasville to play Thomasville High School. Thomasville lost Alabama signee Tyler Hayes to graduation, but they will return one of the top players in the state, Tevin Waters. The Tigers won’t likely be as strong as they’ve been the past few years, but they’ll probably still be one of the best Class 4A teams in the state.
In the end, keep in mind that you should take preseason predictions for what they’re worth. While you can make an educated guess, you can never predict things like this with 100 percent accuracy and you can rest assured that there will always be a few surprises.
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