AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week
MONTGOMERY – Valley High School (1-2) and Sylacauga High School (0-3) will both be looking for their first Class 5A, Region 4 Thursday night when the two storied programs meet at Legion Stadium in Sylacauga in the AHSAA TV Network High School Football Game of the Week.
WOTM TV will be producing the clash which will be shown over the AHSAA TV Network’s participating stations. The contest will also be live streamed over the NFHS Network and over wotm.tv. Executive producer is Vince Earley of WOTM TV. The commentators will be longtime TV personality Mickey Shadrix and for high school and college coach Rick Rhoades.
The game, which was originally scheduled for Thursday night from the get-go, will be on of approximately 100 AHSAA varsity football contests played Thursday night. Most of tomorrow’s game were changed Monday and Tuesday to get ahead of predicted inclement weather heading toward Alabama Friday.
Weather is not concern of these two teams, however. Overcoming a struggling start is, however. Aggies Coach Rob Carter is in his second season as Sylacauga’s head coach. He coached seven seasons at Beauregard – going 13-1 in 2016 on the way to the Class 5A state championship. He owns a 58-34 overall head-coaching record and is 7-7 at Sylacauga. The Aggies are in their 114th season – fielding their first team in 1910. Sylacauga owns a 603-416-40 overall record winning their 600th school win last year in Carter’s first season at the helm.
Coach Adam Hunter is in his third season as head coach at Valley, located on the Georgia-Alabama state line just northeast of Opelika. The Rams’ storied program, now in its 96th year, has compiled an overall 521-388-21 record. His teams finished 4-5 the last two seasons competing in Class 6A.
Sylacauga has won one state championship since the playoffs began for all schools in 1967. The Aggies won the 1969 Class 3A state title under Hall-of-Fame coach 96th season coach Tom Calvin, who coached the Aggies from 1956-1976 compiling a 134-60-10 slate. He moved to Austin of Decatur in 1978 and remained 11 seasons retiring in 1988 with a 201-130-11 record. He remains the winningest head coach in Sylacauga High School history, earning pre-playoff state titles from the state’s newspapers in 1957, 1960 and 1961. The Aggies also went 10-0 and were crowned state champs by the media in 1954 – under the direction of another Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Harris.
Valley’s tradition is also steeped in championships. The Rams, which had their first season in 1927, were declared mythical state champs in 1959 and 1962 and won the AHSAA Class 3A state crown through the playoff system in 1970 – all under the direction of Hall-of-Fame coach Doug Lockridge. He spent his entire head-coaching career at the Fairfax school compiling a 171-111-10 record over 31 seasons from 1950-1980. He was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, the second class of inductees. Calvin was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1991. His wife Lenette Calvin, who was a champion diver in high school at Birmingham-Woodlawn and one perhaps the AHSAA’s greatest gymnastics coach of all time, was also inducted into the HOF in the same class as Lockridge, 1992.
Both schools have had a strong NFL presence with Valley producing a number of NFL standouts including John Copeland, Lemanski Hall, Gerald Williams, Gary Barnes, Marcus Pollard, Dave Thompson, and Jylan Ware. Sylacauga’s NFL alumni include Jon Hand, Freddie Hyatt, T.J. Green, and Cecil Leonard, who prepped at East Highland High School in Sylacauga.
The 2022 Aggies’ squad is averaging 17.3 points per game but have given up 41, 58 and 48 points in its three losses. Junior running back Conner Twymon and 6-foot-4 sophomore wide receiver, defensive back Quindavious Swain both have big-play potential while junior fullback/linebacker Bryant Waters (6-0, 230) is a key player on defense.
Valley lost 22-20 heartbreaker to unbeaten Class 4A Handley in the season opener, handed powerful Lanett a rare 19-0 shutout in its first win and lost another defensive battle to Beauregard last week 14-3. Rams quarterback Cam Dooley is considered one of the top players in East Alabama.
Mountain Brook downed Minor in last week’s AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week 42-21. Next week’s Game of the Week will feature Auburn at Lee-Montgomery in a Class 7A, Region 2 contest.
WOTM TV has put together a strong network of cable affiliates across Alabama. Tonight’s game will be live on WOTM TV as well as WABM TV 68 in Birmingham and most Spectrum networks. Check out the listings on the AHSAA website at the following link:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/Sports/Football/Super%207/WOTM-Cities-November2020.pdf?ver=OVOVtQ2dCsWzvgoL086upQ%3d%3d×tamp=1605813191158
To access the AHSAA Game of the Week over the NFHS Network, go to the following link
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ahsaa/gamce94eb4770
The AHSAA Radio Network’s Scoreboard Show will also air across the state Friday night. Go to www.ahsaaradionetwork.com for network information.
2022 AHSAA TV NETWORK
FOOTBALL GAME OF THE WEEK
SCHEDULE
All Games also airing Live at 7 p.m., on WOTM TV/
AHSAA TV Network, WABM TV MY68, and NFHS Network
Week 0: Aug. 18 Helena 28, Chelsea- KICKOFF CLASSIC, CRAMTON BOWL
Aug. 19 Auburn 17, Hoover 14 – KICKOFF CLASSIC, CRAMTON BOWL
Week 1: Aug. 25 Southside-Selma 42, Hokes Bluff 7
Week 2: Sep. 1 Mountain Brook 49, Minor 14
Week 3: Sep. 8 Valley at Sylacauga, 7 p.m.
Week 4: Sep. 15 Auburn at Lee-Montgomery
Week 5: Sep. 22 Anniston at Piedmont
Week 6: Sep. 29 Orange Beach at St Michael Catholic
Week 7: Oct. 6 Lee-Montgomery at Central-Phenix City
Week 8: Oct. 13 Prattville at Lee-Montgomery
Week 9: Oct. 20 Gulf Shores at Vigor
Week 10: Oct. 27 Hueytown at Gardendale
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