Gordo Green Wave (6-1) vs. Fayette County Tigers (3-4)
NFHS Network has 230 Events Set for this Week
West Alabama’s Gordo-Fayette County Rivalry Set for AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week
MONTGOMERY – Fayette County High School and Gordo High School started football two years apart in 1915 and 1917 – respectively. Since then, both programs have become two of the most successful in AHSAA history – combining for 1,319 wins between them.
Thursday night, the Tigers 3-4) and Green Wave (6-1) put their rivalry on display for statewide viewers as the AHSAA TV Network/NFHS Network Football Game of the Week produced by WOTM TV.
The NFHS Network’s AHSAA School Broadcast Program has scheduled 230 events this week with 71 varsity football games available via the NFHS Network platform Thursday night and Friday as the 2020 season moves into Week 8.
Fayette County, coached by legendary Waldon Tucker, will be striving to clinch a playoff spot while Gordo, coached by Ryan Lolley, one of the top young coaches in the state, will be striving to win the Class 4A, Region 5 title outright.
Tucker, 312-130-3 in 38 years as a head coach, began his coaching career in the AHSAA at Gordo in 1978. In six seasons with the Green Wave, he had two unbeaten regular seasons (1980 and 1981) winning the Class 2A state title in 1980 with a 14-0 record. He then moved to Fayette County in 1984 and remained through 2010 retiring with 230 wins as the Tigers’ head coach. He also had undefeated regular seasons in 1989 and 1996 at Fayette – winning the 4A state title in 1996 with a perfect 15-0 record. He retired with 309 wins but returned this season to take over the program once again.
Lolley, in his eighth season as head coach, is 83-14 with undefeated regular seasons in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. This year’s team moved from 3A to 4A and hasn’t missed a beat going 4-0 in region play thus far.
Fayette County beat Gordo in the two schools’ first meeting 103-0. The Green Wave were fast learners, however, and four years later when the two teams met for the second time, Gordo won 12-0 – perhaps the biggest turnaround from one game to the next in a series in AHSAA history.
Since 1958 and for 66 straight years, the two teams have played annually – many years opening the season with each other. Fayette County, which has a 699-354-35 all-time won-loss record to lead the AHSAA, holds a 42-29-2 edge in the series. Gordo won last year’s battle 34-6.
Gordo, on the other hand, is 620-358-31 and ranks 17th overall.
“We have a lot of respect for Fayette County and Coach Tucker,” said Lolley. “Here in our neck of the woods he is a hero. I have been involved in this game for 19 years, 11 as assistant coach and the last eight as head coach. There will be a lot of great players on both sides. It will be a great atmosphere … it is really what high school football in Alabama is all about. Both schools have a lot of respect for each other.”
Tucker says he is glad to be preparing for a strong team like Gordo.
“I was able to coach five or six years at Gordo and had some success, and we then went to Fayette and we had some success. People in Gordo take their football seriously and so do the folks in Fayette,” he said. “This Gordo team has a lot of talent … they are a well-oiled machine. We are very young. It is fun getting ready to play a real good football team like Gordo. It makes it all worthwhile.”
The game will be live-streamed over the NFHS Network subscriber-based program and will also be available on the network of cable stations that have joined the WOTM Network in Alabama. Tommy Wood and Rick Rhoades will be handling the commentary for the WOTM/NFHS Network production.
Kickoff for Thursday’s game is set for 7 p.m., and can be seen over the NFHS Network and the WOTM TV Network’s cable station affiliates across the state. Three Top 10 battles are scheduled to round out the remaining regular-season games of the week will be: Ramsay at Pleasant Grove on Oct. 22; and Central-Phenix City at Oxford on Oct. 29 to close out the regular season. WOTM will also feature a playoff game of the week through the first round rounds of the playoffs and will also produce all seven state finals at the 2020 Super 7 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa in December for the AHSAA TV Network.
The NFHS Network is also featuring a number of AHSAA volleyball area tournaments today as well as a number of sub-regional playoff matches Thursday through Saturday.
The NFHS Network link for Thursday’s Game of the Week is:
http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/ahsaa/gamede26f3fe8?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=ahsaa.com&utm_campaign=ahsaaweekly
For information concerning the AHSAA TV Network’s WOTM cable availability, go to the following link:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/WOTM-Coverage-2019_1.jpg
A subscription allows the viewer access to any events on the NFHS Network. Monthly and yearly subscriptions are available.
For more information on how to subscribe, go to the following link:
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/subscribe/retail
The complete AHSAA schedule of events set to be livestreamed over the NFHS Network tonight through October 17 can be found at:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/AHSAA%20events%2010_12-10_18.pdf
For this week’s AHSAA Football Scoring Leaders, check out compilation at:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/Sports/Football/Region%20Standings/2020/2020%20Scoring%20Leaders%20through%2010-03%20games.pdf?ver=JatiaC8Q07uY-0Bm3nTgvA%3d%3d
For this week’s AHSAA Football rankings through last week’s games, go to:
https://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/Sports/Football/Region%20Standings/2020/2020%20Region%20season%20standings%20%20Week%207.pdf?ver=rva32EOIVKYqyNwuv0sVeQ%3d%3d
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