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First-round tests await local football teams
Published Thursday, November 5, 2009
Chilton County, Jemison and Maplesville put themselves in the upper half of state football teams by earning playoff berths.
Now comes the next challenge: making it past the first round.
Such a feat would be nothing new for Maplesville, but Chilton County and Jemison are looking to long droughts. Jemison hasn’t won a first-round playoff game since 2000, one year after the Panthers’ appearance in the Class 4A championship game, and CCHS hasn’t done so since 1996.
Picking tonight's games
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Chilton County (5-5, 3-3 region) at No. 10 Briarwood (7-3, 6-0)
– This theme is surely old by now, but it can’t be overstated: Chilton County had two top-5 teams beat the past two weeks, but the Tigers couldn’t finish. Coach Brian Carter’s lesson about finishing has surely sunk in by now, so I’m picking CCHS to pull the shocker. Pick: Chilton Co.
Jemison (5-5, 5-2) at Anniston (6-4, 5-2)
– Jemison didn’t end the season the way it wanted, losing two of its last three games. But both of those losses came against top-5 teams in Bibb County and Shelby County. Shelby is a Class 5A team, as is Chilton Co., who Jemison played and lost to in Week 1. Sooner or later, the difficult schedule has to pay dividends for the Panthers. Well, it’s now or never. Pick: Jemison.
Talladega County Central (8-1, 5-1) at No. 4 Maplesville (9-1, 7-1)
– There are only two teams in the state—No. 1 Sweet Water and No. 2 Linden—that can defeat Maplesville. And the Red Devils might just get revenge for their only loss of the season, to Linden, if their paths cross again in the playoffs. Pick: Maplesville.
Picks record: 51-11
Still, each team each year gets a thrill just by making the playoffs.
“It’s always exciting,” Jemison coach Brad Abbott said. “Half the teams in the state aren’t practicing, and you’re getting to.”
The Panthers (5-5, 5-2 Class 4A, Region 3) will visit Anniston (6-4, 5-2 Class 4A, Region 4) on Friday.
The two programs have never met before.
CCHS, meanwhile, might already have the feel for the playoffs, having faced highly ranked teams in the last two weeks of the season.
The Tigers (5-5, 3-3 Class 5A, Region 3) fell to Class 5A No. 2 Greenville, 28-21, on Oct. 23 and to Class 4A No. 4 Bibb County, 32-26, on Oct. 30.
Greenville and Bibb County both ended the regular season unbeaten, but CCHS had legitimate shots to win both games.
CCHS coach Brian Carter said the message this week, as his team prepares to visit No. 10 Briarwood Christian (7-3, 6-0 Region 4), is “finish.”
“I think our guys have taken away a lot of confidence from [their last two games], knowing we can play with some of the best teams in the state,” Carter said. “That’s good because we’ve got another one [Friday] night.”
No. 4 Maplesville this year hopes for a return to its strong playoff tradition.
The Red Devils have made at least the semifinal round of the playoffs nine times since the 1994 season. They have played in two championship games and won one state title, in 1996.
But Friday’s opponent, Talladega County Central (6-4, 5-2 Class 1A, Region 4, has been closer than Maplesville recently. The Fighting Tigers lost to Sweet Water in the 2007 championship game.
The Red Devils (9-1, 7-1 Region 3) feel good, though—literally.
Coach Brent Hubbert said his team has had as many as five starters, and six players overall, out at one time this season, but everyone except senior Brian Bailey, who suffered a season-ending injury over the summer, should be ready to play Friday.
“We feel like we finished the regular season playing pretty good football,” Hubbert said. “We just want to turn it up a little bit here in the playoffs.”
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Comments
Posted by PhilBurnette (anonymous) on November 5, 2009 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I will be pulling for CCHS, as I always do, but let's be honest here. Does a team that can win only half it's games, no matter what sport it is, really deserve to be in the playoffs?
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 5, 2009 at 9:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Phil, you're over "phil-osophising", (yeah I made that one up!). The real question is, "which politican can get arrested"?
Posted by jkelley (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
kwsgraves...that story is over three weeks old.Find another comment for the sports articles, this same one is getting old.
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 9:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ahh but it stirs people like you who tune in to comment in reference to me and not the articles at hand. You still haven't figred IT out yet. ZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!
LOL!!!
Posted by jkelley (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I enjoying reading what you have to say. I guess it went over your head that I am ready for you to say something different. Believe me, it takes a lot more than some comments to a news article to get me stirring! (LOL)
Posted by DevilFan (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good luck to all 3 county teams in the first round tonight. Just wish the Clanton Advertiser would have written a more detailed article on all 3 teams. GO MAPLESVILLE DEVILS!!
Posted by PhilBurnette (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 10:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know which one it will be but odds are one will be. Sadly, we will soon not have Bham Mayor LaLa to laugh at anymore....if only he hadn't stolen/taken money. Doesn't he know the government HATES competition?
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 10:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Touché! I lost real interest in highschool footbal after my three finished playing/cheering. No grandkids yet, so ruffling feathers, or devil horns in this case is fun.
Posted by jkelley (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
kw...all my feathers have been plucked and my horns will not grow, so write me something different other than the arrest that stole the football show! (LOL)
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Give me a little time, I'm waiting for a certain response. Besides, I have a concrete vs. conduit problem to solve this morning. 3100 yards of concrete poured yesterday and today, after the fact, the engineers want to add conduit in the decking. Nothing like planning! Sounds like some of OUR local politicians. As Dude would say, "DOH"!!!!
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 6, 2009 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jkelley, here's a lightly philosophical theology question; "Does God approve of christians promoting satan through highschool football mascots and school name?" If the answer is, "It's only a name of a team", then why not have the Podunk Jesuses? It would only be a name. Kind of makes me glad my highschool and college alma maters were both TIGERS!
Posted by bamafn (anonymous) on November 7, 2009 at 2:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good game tonight Devils. Now all of the proud TIGER fans can come watch us next week.
Posted by PhilBurnette (anonymous) on November 7, 2009 at 8:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It seems Clanton and Jemison answered my question from Thursday...
Posted by kwsrgraves (anonymous) on November 7, 2009 at 10:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree Phil. And seems I NEVER got an answer to my philosophically enhanced theology question. Does anyone believe God approves of christians promoting Lucifer, his fallen angel, by having him as a school mascot and promoting his image? If it's no big deal, where are the Jesus Christ Superstars? Oh wait that was made into a movie around 1978,79, or 80. And there was plenty of christian oposition to the name of the movie. Not to mention the absurd content. Which brings us full circle to Christians yelling FOR Satan.
Posted by PhilBurnette (anonymous) on November 7, 2009 at 11:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is called desensitization. Hollywood has shoved so much down everyones' throats for years until they are no longer cognizant of the dangers of this garbage infiltrating every area of life.
Posted by kuntrygirl (anonymous) on November 9, 2009 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ehh it dont matter to mee who wins. but GO DEVILS anyway!
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