Wenonah Dragons (0-3) vs. Pleasant Grove Spartans (1-1)         

AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week

Pleasant Grove Faces Wenonah in Key Class 5A, Region 5 Battle Tonight

       MONTGOMERY – Wenonah High School (0-3) hosts Pleasant Grove (1-1) tonight in a key Class 5A, Region 5 battle at Bell-Culpepper Stadium in the AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week tonight at 7 p.m. The game is being produced by Vince Earley and the production crew at WOTM TV.
      The Game of the Week broadcast team consisting of former Birmingham radio personality Landrum Roberts, who will handle the color commentary, and veteran TV 24 sports director Gerhard Mathangani, handling the play-by-play. The battle will be televised live over the AHSAA TV Network and livestreamed over the NFHS Network. WOTM TV has put together a strong network of cable affiliates across Alabama. It will be live on WOTM TV as well as WABM TV 68 in Birmingham. TV 68 will carry all the AHSAA TV Games of the Week each Thursday the rest of the regular season, announced Earley last week.
     The two schools will meeting for the 17th time in both programs’ football history with the series tied at 8-8. The series history has indeed been close. The Dragons have outscored the Spartans 288-281 – with just one touchdown separating the two teams.
     Pleasant Grove, coached by Darrell LeBeaux, has won the last three games in the series including last year’s 42-0 win. The Spartans are coming off two straight appearances in the Class 5A state finals losing to St. Paul’s Episcopal 29-21 last year and to Central of Clay County 31-27 in 2019. LeBeaux is just the seventh head coach in Pleasant Grove history. Now in his fourth season as head coach, his teams have compiled a 34-9 record during his tenure going 9-3, 13-2 and 11-3 in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
   “We had a lot of questions coming into this season, and we still have a lot of work to do,” said LeBeaux. “However, I am very excited about this team. It is a team with a senior-led work ethic that is best described I think as a workmanship mentality. We as coaches don’t have to push them to do the things they need to do to get better.”
    Pleasant Grove beat Cordova last week 46-18 and downed Oxford 61-24 the week before. However, the Spartans forfeited that contest due to an ineligible player situation.
    The offense has shown a lot of fire power, however, in both games – in big part to running back Demarcus Lacey and quarterback Tyson Allen and a strong offensive line anchored by 6-foot-6, 350-pound senior Onez Cooper. Defensive end Kameron Blevins is one of several very athletic players on defense.
   Wenonah forfeited its first two games of the season due to COVID 19 but returned to the field last week falling to powerful Ramsay 26-6. Nicholas Howard is in his first season as head coach after serving as an assistant to Daniel Flowers, who replaced the school’s all-time winningest coach Ronald Cheatham, who retired after the 2018 season after compiling a 172-136 record over 30 seasons. His 2016 team reached the Class 5A state finals.
    “We had a couple of incidents early this season where we had to quarantine due to COVID,” said Howard. “We are continuing to work hard on social distancing and doing the things that can keep our kids safe. We are in a rebuilding year.”
     He said his team has shown a lot of grit and has impressed the coaching staff with their work ethic as well. “We are a small team with a lot of heart, but our kids are very tough. They are buying in to what we are trying to do.”
    The Dragons offense is led by senior quarterback Ricco Wells, who has some impressive receivers including seniors Korrin Williams, Michael Edwards and Ja’Colby Houston. Houston is 6-3, 220. Defensively, 6-5, 210-pound linebacker/defensive end Carlos Fuqua is a leader along with DE Keondre Hendrix, DT Marcus Lewis junior center and noseguard Xavier Skeen.
    For both teams, this week is a must win since Region 5 is considered one of the most competitive regions in Class 5A. Parker, Ramsay, John Carroll Catholic and Pleasant Grove all opened Region 5 play last week with wins. All four schools have played in state finals in their storied histories. Cordova, Fairfield, Carver-Birmingham and Wenonah all fell to 0-1 last week in region play – and amazingly, all but Fairfield have played in a state final too. The Tigers have reached the playoff semifinals three times, however.
     A total of six games are set for Thursday night with three being live-streamed over the NFHS Network.    The NFHS Network has a busy week with AHSAA member schools in the NFHS School Broadcast Program set to live-stream 120 varsity football games Thursday and Friday night.
   The AHSAA Radio Network’s Scoreboard Show will also air across the state Friday night. Go to www.ahsaaradionetwork.com for network information.
    To access the AHSAA Game of the Week over the NFHS Network, go to the following link
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ahsaa/gamd6897bd53c

    To access the AHSAA Game of the Week over WOTM TV and its network of cable affiliates, go to AHSAA TV Network at the following link:
https://www.ahsaa.com/media and click on the AHSAA TV Network link.
 

    A complete list of all varsity football games set for tonight and Friday can be found at:
https://www.ahsaa.com/sports/football/2021-football-season-schedule