Sparta Academy’s varsity football team will compete in the semifinal round of the Class A state playoffs tomorrow (Friday) night when they travel to Cougar Stadium in Luverne to face Crenshaw Christian. The Warriors advanced to the semifinals by beating Lowndes Academy last Friday night in Evergreen. Both of these games are historically significant.
Friday night’s win over Lowndes marked the first time that
the Warriors have won a first-round playoff game since 1997. The 1997 season
was the last time that the Warriors appeared in the semifinals. Interestingly,
in 1997, Sparta also won in the semifinals and went on to face Crenshaw in the
state championship game. Crenshaw beat Sparta, 45-15, in the state title game
in 1997, so in my book it’s time for a little payback.
In addition to the 1997 season, Sparta has appeared in the
semifinals on three other occasions: 1988, 1991 and 1996. Sparta advanced to
the state title game in 1991 and 1998. In other words, Sparta is 3-1 all-time
in semifinal round games, that is to say that when Sparta makes it to the
semifinals, they usually win, which is what I look for them to do this coming
Friday night.
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The seventh week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em
contest closed out on Saturday and when the last game wrapped up on Saturday
night we had another shake-up in the local standings.
Casey Grant remained in first place, and Justin Mixon moved
into sole possession of second place. Steve Stacey, John Johnston, Robert
Bozeman and I were tied for third place. Austin Weaver and Arthur Ingram III
were tied for seventh place. Tristan McPhaul and Clint Hyde were tied for ninth
place, and Brett Loftin was in 11th place.
If you’re taking part in this local contest and didn’t do so
well this past weekend, don’t sweat it. We have four more weeks left to go and
much will change during the course of the next month. Like I always say, it’s a
marathon, not a sprint.
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The seventh weekend of the SEC football season also closed
out on Saturday, and college football fans enjoyed four conference games, even
though Alabama and Auburn had the weekend off. This week, we’ve only got seven
SEC games lined up for this Saturday: Alabama at LSU, Auburn at Mississippi
State, Vanderbilt at Kentucky, Georgia at Missouri, Texas A&M at Tennessee,
Arkansas at Florida and South Carolina at Ole Miss.
For what it’s worth, here are my predictions for that slate
of games. I like Alabama over LSU, Auburn over MSU, Kentucky over Vandy,
Georgia over Missouri, Texas A&M over Tennessee, Florida over Arkansas and
Ole Miss over South Carolina. (Last week: 2-2. So far this season: 25-12)
The Alabama-LSU game is scheduled to kick off at 5 p.m. and
will be broadcast by CBS. The Auburn-Mississippi State game is set for 3 p.m.
and will be shown on the SEC Network. There were rumblings late Monday
afternoon, when this column was written, that both of these games could
possibly be postponed due to the Coronavirus. Let’s hope not.
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