2020 football season begins tonight for Conecuh County high school teams

Hillcrest High School, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, will kick off its 2020 varsity football season today when they travel to Tiger Stadium in Greenville to take on the Greenville High School Tigers.

This season will be the 32^nd season of football for Hillcrest, which fielded its first team in 1989. Hillcrest enters the season with an all-time record of 156-181, an all-time winning percentage of 46 percent. Hillcrest has an 85-83 all-time record at Brooks Memorial Stadium in Evergreen, and they are 70-98 all-time in games on the road.

Hillcrest also enters this season on a seven-year playoff streak, that is, they haven’t missed a trip to the playoffs since the 2012 season. During that time, the Jags have gone 13-6 in playoffs games, which is excellent compared to most other programs in the state. Of course, Hillcrest fans will remember that the Jags went 5-0 in the playoffs in 2017, the year that Hillcrest won the Class 3A state title.

This season will also mark the sixth season for Clinton Smith as head coach at Hillcrest. He enters the season with a 42-24 overall record, and his 42 overall wins at Hillcrest makes him the winningest football coach ever at Hillcrest. He is also 12-4 overall in playoffs games at Hillcrest, a record that puts him among the elite coaches in the state when it comes to playoff winning percentage.

Hillcrest has a good chance of running the table during the 2020 regular season, but that’s not to say that there won’t be some challenges along the way. Teams like Greenville, Bayside Academy, T.R. Miller, Flomaton and others have a lot of pride, and they aren’t just going to lay down for anybody. With that said, Hillcrest football fans have a lot to look forward to this season.

Sparta Academy will kick off its 2020 season next Friday, Aug. 28, when they will play Monroe Academy at Stuart-McGehee Field in Evergreen. This season will be the 50^th season of football for Sparta, which fielded its first team in 1971. Sparta enters the season with an all-time record of 231-288-4, an all-time winning percentage of 44 percent.

The Aug. 28 game against Monroe Academy will be remarkable because it will be the first game between Sparta and Monroe since the 2007 season. It will also mark the first time that Monroe has visited Evergreen since the 2006 season. That 2006 game was also the last time that Sparta beat Monroe in football, a 25-6 decision that was one of Sparta’s biggest wins ever over the Vols.

This season will also mark the second season for Arlton Hudson as head coach at Sparta. Hudson, a former Hillcrest coach who won 37 games while leading the Jags between 1999 and 2005, will be looking to snap a four-year playoff drought for the Warriors, who made their last trip to the playoffs in 2015.

In the end, I’m wishing both of our local teams good luck as they get their seasons started. The 2020 season is going to be very different because of the Coronavirus, and I hope that both teams get to finish out their seasons uninterrupted. If nothing unforeseen occurs, I look for both local teams to make the playoffs and make strong runs for state titles in their respective classifications.