184 Events Planned by NFHS Network SBP Schools Sept. 24-30

    MONTGOMERY – Class 2A Sand Rock and Class 1A Spring Garden high schools have met 30 times since 1969 – the first year the basketball-rich Panthers fielded a football team. The Wildcats have won the Cherokee County bragging rights 24 times.
    The last five years have been nip-and-tuck, however, with Sand Rock, coached by Steven Chesnut, winning three and Spring Garden winning two. The Panthers of Coach Jason Howard posted 35-0 win in last year’s game – the biggest margin of victory in Panthers’ six wins in the series.
    The stage is set for another exciting battle Thursday night as this Cherokee County small-school rivalry takes center stage as the AHSAA TV Network/NFHS Network Game of the Week. WOTM TV, under the direction of executive producer Vince Earley, is producing the contest – the fifth 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/NFHS Network production.
      Earley also announced the lineup of AHSAA TV Network Game of the Week pairing for next week’s Game of the week – a Class 7A battle between Hoover and Tuscaloosa County at Northport on October 3.      Spring Garden (3-1) is riding a three-game winning streak coming into the game. The Panthers opened the season with a 14-12 loss to Cedar Bluff. Since then, Spring Garden has beaten Winterboro 41-21, Notasulga 26-14 and handed Donoho its first defeat of the season last week winning 16-12. Howard’s team is 2-0 in Class 1A, Region 5 tied with Appalachian (4-1) at the top of the Region 5 standings heading into the second half of the season.
     Chesnut’s Wildcats (2-2) are coming into the contest after two straight heart-breaking losses. Sand Rock beat Gaston 19-6 and Ider 20-14 before dropping a 14-7 overtime decision to Cedar Bluff and a 12-7 decision to North Sand Mountain last week. Sand Rock is still in the middle of the Class 2A, Region 8 race with a 1-2 region record.
      Howard, the winningest coach in Spring Garden history with an 87-72 career record in two tenures at the school, led the Panthers to an 11-2 season in 2018 and the third round of the 1A state playoffs. Chestnut in his fifth season as head coach, is 30-18 overall.  Spring Garden’s defense is anchored by Luke Welsh and the offense is managed by quarterback Ryley Kirk.
    Howie Holland anchors a Sand Rock defense that is allowing only 11.5 ppg. Ian Clanton and Banks Alexander are leaders on offense.
           The NFHS Network School Broadcast Program has 184 events planned for the NFHS Network subscriber-based platform this week. A total of 53 varsity football games are planned, 50 on Friday night, and 58 varsity volleyball matches are planned tonight through next Monday.
      Among the top football games will be Bessemer City (4-0) at Wenonah (2-2) and Lee-Montgomery (4-0) vs. Carver-Montgomery (4-0) at Cramton Bowl Thursday night. Friday night’s lineup of 50 contests includes G.W. Long (4-0) at Elba (3-1); Jacksonville (4-1) at Piedmont (4-0); Mobile Christian (2-2) at UMS-Wright (4-0); and Muscle Shoals (5-0) at Florence (2-3).

         The complete AHSAA schedule of events set to be livestreamed over the NFHS Network September 24 through September 30 can be found at the following link:
http://www.ahsaa.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=t-Sl8ErHDI0%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 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