Coach’s Corner Week 6
We’ve hit the midpoint of the season. Last week saw a lot of non-region play and a lot of bye weeks for teams. This is a point where many teams where many staffs pause to reevaluate their season, and evaluate their goals. One big thing happened this past week that I want to address this week. Last week, Tuscaloosa County fired their head coach Cris Bell. The wildcats were 0-5 and it was not looking up for them. However, in my opinion it is absolutely ridiculous to fire a coach mid season. As long as he is running a clean program and doing right by the kids a coach should never be fired midseason. Coach Bell is a great man and a heck of a football coach, he will land on his feet if he wants to continue coaching.
Vigor: The Vigor Wolves did something that I find very commendable and they scheduled a tough non-region opponent in Benjamin Russell. They even went on the road to visit the Wildcats. The Wolves took care of business 20-10 and they find themselves positioned really well to compete to win a state title in 4A. Big shout out to Coach Jackson and his staff. I really hope to see them rematch with Orange Beach in the playoffs.
Calera: When Calera hired Coach Rials he knew it was going to be a long rebuild. I credit the Calera administration for sticking with Coach Rials. Their patience is really paying off as the Eagles currently are 4-1 with their only loss coming in a close game to a really good Ramsey team. They now are about to hit the meat of their region schedule with games against Homewood and Mountain Brook coming up in the next two weeks. We will see what the Eagles are really made of as they fight to make the playoffs. No matter how those games go, big credit to Coach Rials and his staff. They certainly have Calera on the right trajectory.
Smiths Station: If you know anything about high school football in the state of Alabama you are reading this and saying “Smiths Station!”. My answer to you is, yes, Smiths Station! The Panthers were 0-5 as they headed to Wetumpka to face the Indians for their homecoming. I am sure Coach Harrison told his team all week that they were going to go spoil the party and boy did they. The Panthers knocked off the Indians 28-20 in what I might say is the upset of the season. Who knows what the result of this could be for Coach Harrison. Hopefully he can parlay this upset win into getting more players out so they can get Smiths Station football back to where they want to be.
