Takeaways: Week 9
- Updated: October 22, 2014
The key to Cleburne County’s continued success is depth, depth and depth
By Chad Barnett
East Alabama Sports Today
The Cleburne County Tigers are rolling. Fresh off their win over Class 4A No. 2 Saks, the Tigers are celebrating their first region crown since 2006. How’d they do it? Depth, depth and more depth.
Head coach Michael Shortt is playing a lot of different numbers on Friday night. And while the Tigers don’t have a “Devin Harris” (Saks) or a “Sid Thurmond” (Jacksonville) they have a host of players who like to hit hard and play fast.
Meanwhile, Saks and Jacksonville, their challengers for the Class 4A Region 6 crown, have their best players in key positions on both sides of the ball. This has been the difference in both games.
“I felt like if we played our game we would be able to wear them down by the third quarter,” Shortt said following the teams 14-point win last Friday night.
This isn’t a new concept for Shortt. The Tiger boss has made it one of his top priorities since playing in the southern bracket in Class 4A a few years back. It appears his concept has his team in a position with which they were most familiar back in the 2000’s when they claimed five region championships during a seven-year period.
Landon Machristie (12) and Jeremiah Farmer (61) are part of a Wellborn senior class that has won 41 games and now make a sixth straight playoff appearance. (Photo by Greg McWilliams)
Wellborn: 6 in a row
Even though Wellborn has suffered a couple more losses than it hoped to begin the season, the Panthers celebrated a little piece of school history last Friday night.
Last week’s 55-22 win over Ashville solidified their sixth straight playoff berth. No other class in school history has made the post-season every year.
The senior class has made the playoffs each year since their seventh-grade season, which coach Jeff Smith considers the start of a player’s career. The seventh-grade year for this class was also Smith’s first at the school – when the Panthers were Class 2A.
This senior class has been responsible for 42 wins during that span, including back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2011 and 2012.
The Panthers won 12 total games in the six seasons prior to the current run.
If things fall right, Pleasant Valley could have a playoff berth Friday night. If they don’t, all kinds of craziness could ensue.
Pleasant Valley: 3 might be enough
When you’re in a top-heavy region such as Class 3A Region 6, you might only need a handful of wins in order to dance in the post-season. The Pleasant Valley Raiders find themselves in that very spot in 2014.
Entering the final region week of the year, the Raiders have only three wins. And with region champ and third-ranked Glencoe on the docket, a fourth doesn’t look very promising. Good news for them is they don’t need the win to get in.
If Weaver loses to Piedmont and Westbrook Christian falls to Ashville, the Raiders will advance as the No. 4 seed in the region behind – in order — Glencoe, Piedmont and Wellborn. Safe to say Piedmont is the favorite against Weaver, but the Westbrook-Ashville game is a tossup. If that game doesn’t cooperate for the Raiders, we could have a lot of tie-breakers (including a coin toss) on our hands. Good luck with that.
Oxford: The Unsung Jacket
The Yellow Jackets are represented well on Friday nights. Despite not having back-to-back wins this season, they are still in good position for consecutive playoff berths on the Class 6A level. But it’s on Saturday’s where they are represented best.
On any given Saturday the Yellow Jackets have four alumni playing on fields throughout the Southeastern Conference. Roc Thomas (Auburn), Trae Elston (Ole Miss) and Kwon Alexander (LSU) are the best-known Jackets in the SEC these days, but while watching the Alabama-Texas A&M game last week, I saw the “other” Oxford alum get his name on the big screen.
Senior long-snapper M.K Taylor is one of a handful of Crimson Tide football players who will receive their Master’s Degree this December. He doesn’t have any game experience listed, but at least he’s been part of an Aflac Trivia Question. That’s more than most of us can say.
Chad Barnett covers high school football for the “Pigskin Roundup.” Read his impressions of the high school week that was every week at East Alabama Sports Today.
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