MONTGOMERY – Upstart Class 2A, Region 4 rivals Thorsby and Fayetteville square off in tonight’s AHSAA TV Network/NFHS Network Game of the Week. WOTM TV, under the direction of executive producer Vince Earley, is producing the contest – the seventh in the 2019 Game-of-the Week series.
     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. Veteran announcer Tommy Wood and legendary football coach Rick Rhoades will be handling the commentary for the WOTM production.
      Earley also announced the lineup of AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week pairings for the next two weeks: Jacksonville at White Plains on Oct. 17 and Briarwood Christian at Fairfield on Oct. 24.
     Coach John Limbaugh is in his eighth season as head coach for Fayetteville (4-2). The Wolves athletic program did not add football until 1997 and since then have had just six winning seasons. Limbaugh led Fayetteville to a 9-3 record in 2015, the school’s best overall, and has hopes of repeating that success thanks to this year’s fast start. He is 33-45 with three of the six winning campaigns occurring in his tenure. He is the winningest head football coach in the school’s brief football history.
     Thorsby (3-4) has been around much longer, playing one football game in 1937. However, the current program got underway 29 years later in 1966 and has produced 13 winning seasons in the 55-year span. Like Limbaugh, Rebels head coach Daryl Davis is the winningest head coach in Thorsby history. He served as head coach from 2005-08 compiling a 10-30 record, but returned in that role in 2017 and guided the Rebels (3-4) to seasons of 8-3 and 9-2  heading into this year. The four losses this season have come at the hands of Chilton County rivals Class 5A Jemison (2-4), Class 1A Isabella (6-0) and Class 2A Region 4 powers Reeltown (7-0) and LaFayette (3-3).
    Anchoring Fayetteville is senior quarterback Blake Machen, who piled up over 300 yards in one game this season and has been consistent as a runner, passer and receiver. Pacey DeLoach has also seen a lot of playing time at quarterback for the Wolves. Fayetteville set a single-game school record with its 75-36 win over Central Coosa earlier this season.
   Thorsby is led by junior quarterback Brody Barnett, who has completed 42-of-86 passes this season for 597 yards and six TDs and has rushed for 202 yards and another score. Running back Jacob Lockhart, a senior, has rushed for a team-high 248 yards and has 18 catches for 237 yards and three TDs.
     The NFHS Network School Broadcast Program has 10 varsity live-streamed football productions and three middle school football games planned for tonight and 72 varsity contests through Saturday. A total of 60 AHSAA football games will be available Friday night.
      In addition, 69 varsity volleyball matches are set for tonight through next Tuesday. Including junior varsity, freshman and middle school contests, the AHSAA’s NFHS Network member schools participating in the School Broadcast Program have 232 total events planned through Oct. 15.
     In addition to tonight’s Thorsby at Fayetteville Game of the Week contest, the NFHS Network has scheduled for tonight Class 4A: W.S. Neal (2-3) at Williamson (4-2); Class 5A: Wilcox-Central (1-4) at LeFlore (0-6), Briarwood Christian (5-1) at Parker (3-3); Class 6A: Helena (5-1) at Carver-Birmingham (1-5), Fort Payne (5-1) at Buckhorn (3-4), Pelham (1-6) at Jackson-Olin (2-4); Class 7A: Prattville (5-1) vs. Jeff Davis (2-4) at Cramton Bowl.
    Among the 60 varsity games set for Friday is the battle of Class 6A, Region 4 unbeatens Bessemer City (6-0) vs. Hueytown (6-0) and the 6A, Region 1 headliner featuring St. Paul’s Episcopal (5-1) at Saraland (7-0); the key Class 7A, Region 3 battle featuring Thompson (6-0) at Vestavia Hills (5-1). On Saturday, and the much anticipated contest between defending 7A state champion Central-Phenix City (6-1) and Lee-Montgomery (6-1) at Cramton Bowl will be live on the NFHS Network.
    Some of the other top games in each class set for the NFHS Network Friday night are: (Class 1A) Georgiana (3-4) at Elba (4-3); Class 2A: Calhoun ((0-6) at Goshen (5-1); Class 3A: Providence Christian (6-1) at Opp (3-3), Slocomb (3-3) at Pike County (6-0); Class 4A: Andalusia (4-3) at Escambia County (4-3), Monroe County (2-3) at UMS-Wright (6-0); Class 5A: Russellville (6-0) at Hamilton (5-1), Lawrence County (3-3) at Jasper (6-0), Faith Academy (6-0) at Vigor (4-2);  Class 6A:  Cullman (3-4) at Muscle Shoals (7-0), Oxford (6-0) at Shades Valley (2-4); Class 7A: Hewitt-Trussville (5-2) at Mountain Brook (6-0), Spain Park (2-4) at Hoover (5-1), and Huntsville (4-3) at Austin (5-1).
         The complete AHSAA schedule of football and volleyball contests set to be livestreamed over the NFHS Network this weekend can be found at the following links:

Football
http://www.ahsaa.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=kZO2IZaEqhI%3d&portalid=0
Volleyball
http://www.ahsaa.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=h8QpGjxqeM8%3d&portalid=0

    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

For information concerning the AHSAA TV Network’s cable football game availability, got to the following link:
http://www.ahsaa.com/Media/AHSAANOW/News-Articles/ahsaa-signs-3-year-tv-agreement-with-nfhs-network-alabama-cable-network