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Sports Scene
Metro area daily newspapers thump their chests when discussing their area football teams during the regular season, but when the playoffs roll around it seems as though they really expand their coverage area to include the rural schools of Southwest Alabama. This is usually because all of the metro schools have fallen by the wayside and all that is left is country folks and our small schools. Most of the time this area is made fun of by other places. Be it terrorist insurance or something else, we are the butt of jokes. That is until football season rolls around and our teams start whipping everything in sight and when the dust settles we are playing for state championships. Since the new millennium started we have had at least one area school capture a football championship. In fact, over the first five years we won eight crowns. That is a pretty stout fact considering we don't have the same population as places like Mobile, Birmingham or Montgomery.
Now in 2006 we have three teams on the verge of playing for titles in Sweet Water, Leroy and Thomasville. Very business like in their approach to the game, each stresses fundamentals, running the ball and playing good defense. Nothing rattles any of the three either, no matter what. Look at Thomasville this past week, they fell behind 14-0 to Trinity but they never seemed to lose focus or get a bigger sense of urgency. They just went about sticking to their game plan and when the final horn sounded they had won 28-14. The Leroy Bears are so accustomed to being in the semifinals that a 10-win season just isn't good enough anymore. Last year they lost on a heartbreaking kickoff return in the closing minutes. That sour taste has stuck in their craws and now as they prepare to meet Houston Academy they know they are just one step away from Birmingham. Last, but not least, Sweet Water. I just have to imagine that this is like a return to glory for the folks in that town. They once ruled Class 1A with an iron fist, then they had some down time. Now they seem to be mentioned with reverence in every corner of the state. They are the type of program others try and emulate. Now here is the real kicker...the six degrees of separation, or whatever you want to call it. In the pre-season Thomasville and Leroy only competed in two passing camps....when they played each other at each school. Both are still in the playoffs. Sweet Water played both Thomasville and Leroy in the regular season, splitting the two games. Since 2000 these are three of the winningest programs in the state, meaning that winning is contagious. Each one still has four quarters to play before making reservations for Birmingham, but each has all the tools needed to make the next move. The biggest thing for me about the three is the play of the quarterbacks. Jake Overstreet at Thomasville may be the coolest customer in the state. Leroy's Clint Moseley can throw and run as well as anyone while Sweet Water's Drew Luker may be the smartest at that level. In all three games it will come down to the fewest mistakes, controlling the line of scrimmage and not giving up the big play. I know this because that is the standard line Danny Powell, Stacy Luker and Jack Hankins tell me every week before they play a game. It wouldn't matter if they were playing the Indianapolis Colts or R. C. Hatch. They might all three lose, but this I know....all three squads will be as prepared a any team can be and their coaches will put them is a position to win. Good luck to all three schools this week. Have a safe trip since they all are on the road. I am proud of what you have done so far and look forward to the next two weeks. We might not get anything else right around here but we do know how to play the game of football.
That's all folks.......
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