The show must go on for the Aliceville High School football team.
Aliceville will play with heavy hearts at 7 tonight when it takes on Northside at Memorial Stadium in a Class 3A, Region 4 game.
Starting outside linebacker/kicker Tremaine Jackson was killed this past weekend in an automobile accident. He will be laid to rest in an 11 a.m. funeral service Saturday at Aliceville City Hall.
“This is the toughest thing I have ever had to deal with in my career,” Aliceville coach Charles Moody said. “This is my first year as a head coach and I have never had to deal with this as an assistant coach. As a player, I had a couple of teammates who had serious injuries that resulted in paralysis or loss of a limb. Then after college, one of my teammates was shot and killed. I have dealt with things from afar, but never like this.”
Playing in Jackson’s memory tonight, Aliceville can secure its first home playoff game since 2006 with a victory.
“We have had a tough week,” Moody said. “This will be an emotional game for us. We have not had a lot of time to think about Northside. We have been thinking about ourselves because of the situation. Tremaine was a real spark to our team.
“We have had counseling this week for the kids. We have not had a serious practice. We have had a lot of individual drills and fun things you can do with football. We have taken time to talk, reflect, laugh, and cry as we remember Tremaine. We are still going through the grieving process.”
Aliceville improved to 4-4 and 4-1 in the region last week with a 19-6 win at Greensboro. Jerry McMullen scored on runs of 21 and 25 yards. Terry Mayhew also had a 6-yard scoring rush. Aliceville pulled away late after leading 7-6 entering the final quarter.
“It is all about taking steps,” Moody said. “The first step was getting a playoff game at home. We have not had one here in five years. We have not won a playoff game in like six years, so having a home playoff game would put us in a better position to stop that streak.”
Northside (1-7, 0-5) is coming off a 54-20 non-region win against Marengo.
Elsewhere in the coverage area tonight, Lamar County will play host to Hatton and Sulligent will play host to Phil Campbell in Region Class 2A, Region 8, Pickens County will play host to Holy Spirit in Class 1A, Region 4, South Lamar will play at Meek in Class 1A, Region 5, and Pickens Academy will travel to Bessemer Academy in a non-district matchup. All games start at 7 p.m.
Hatton (2-6, 2-4) at Lamar County (4-4, 3-3)
The time is now for the Bulldogs.
Lamar County, losers of four of its past five, will try to move a step closer to securing the fourth and final playoff spot in the region tonight at George Bell Stadium.
“We have been preparing all week to win this game and get in,” Lamar County coach Ken Adams said. “If we can’t win, then we don’t deserve to get in. We are preparing to win and we have pushed that on to our kids this week. We told them the playoffs start for us this week.”
During the recent streak of misfortune, Lamar County’s lone win was a 6-3 victory against Sulligent. That may prove big because Sulligent and Hatton are tied for fifth in the region race. The four losses have been to teams that are a combined 27-5. Last week, Lamar County lost to Lexington 41-28.
“I think (playing tough teams) has helped,” Adams said. “We have played some good competition, but we did not beat any of them. We needed to win one or two of those games to gain some confidence for the playoffs. We were in a few of those games and could have won one or two of them.”
Sophomore quarterback Dallas Cockerham has 668 yards of offense and five touchdowns. Alex Wheeler has added 233 rushing yards and three scores.
“At times, Dallas has played like a 10th-grader,” Adams said. “He has missed a few things and hopefully he will not be missing those things anymore. He has played a whole year, so he is no longer a 10th-grader. He is now seeing things we expect him to see and doing better with the football. We need him to go out and play like he has started eight games for us. We are going to depend on him to put us in situations to be successful. He is a smart kid and he will do that.”
Hatton has lost four straight, including a 25-21 home loss to region rival Colbert Heights last week.
“I don’t know how they have lost to several teams,” Adams said. “They put nine guys on the line and line up with quarterback and tailback and run it right at you. They have a really good tailback. He is a hard-running kid. I have no idea how they are 2-4 in the region, but then again, I thought we would be better, too.”
Phil Campbell (2-6, 1-5) at Sulligent (2-6, 2-4)
The Blue Devils will play another region contest with possible playoff implications.
Sulligent must knock off Phil Campbell and have Hatton upset Lamar County to claim the fourth and final playoff spot in the region.
Thanks to a 9-6 win earlier this season against Hatton, Sulligent would get the nod if there is a tie with Hatton for the fourth and final playoff spot.
“We do have a mathematical shot,” Sulligent coach Scott Marchant said. “I tell them we still play now for all the reasons we started the season with. We play for pride, our school, our community, and each other, and we’re still in it. We want to do our best no matter the record or the playoff situation. We want to excel and give everything we’ve got.
Sulligent snapped a five-game losing streak last week with a 40-7 home win against Cherokee in a region game. The Blue Devils had three scoring plays of 50 or more yards. Juwan Metcalf and Peter Swanigan combined for 233 yards and four touchdowns. Metcalf, who had five carries for 121 yards, scored on runs of 50 and 70 yards. Swanigan had seven carries for 113 yards and scored on runs of 58 and 18 yards.
“We are starting to get things clicking better on the offensive line and at running back,” Marchant said. “We are still a work in progress, but they are coming around nicely.”
Steve Willingham had a team-high nine tackles, two sacks, and a tackle for loss. He also returned a fumble 15 yards for a score.
“(Willingham) is probably one of the kids I am the most proud of this year because of how hard he worked and how much he has sacrificed,” Marchant said. “Because of injuries, he moved from running back to starting center in the second week of the season. Not too many kids can make that move, or would want to. He has a great attitude and does whatever is best for this football team. We allow to him to run the ball at the end of each game. I am very proud of him.”
Phil Campbell lost to Red Bay 41-19 last week at home.
“(Phil Campbell is) a gritty bunch of kids,” Marchant said. “They will get after you. They have a really good runner and he runs the ball hard. Most of the time on defense, they will line up in an eight-man front. They will blitz and they are very aggressive. We have worked real hard on picking up blitzes this week in practice, so we will be ready.”
Holy Spirit (1-7, 0-6) at Pickens County (7-1, 5-1)
The Tornadoes will try to keep rolling tonight in a Class 1A, Region 4 matchup at G.S. Spruill Stadium.
Last week, Pickens County made amends for its first loss in a 74-0 region victory against Sunshine.
“I thought we handled (bouncing back) well,” Pickens County coach Patrick Plott said. “The important thing for this team is to go out and get a win. The main thing is cutting down on mistakes and penalties and playing our best.”
Against Sunshine, senior back De’Marko Hall scored four touchdowns to set a school single-season scoring mark with 29. The former record of 28 touchdowns was held by former University of Alabama and Dallas Cowboys defensive back Tony Dixon. Pickens County also received three defensive touchdowns. Kiloe Cole and Devonté Simon each had interception returns for scores, while Warren Butts had a fumble return for a touchdown.
“We like to speed the game up,” Plott said. “Once we get into a rhythm, we like to speed the game up and make the other team play at our tempo. So far we have been successful and put up points.”
That trend should continue against Holy Spirit. The Titans have lost seven straight, including a 58-0 region home loss to Essex last week.
“At the beginning of the week, we told our kids to come to practice and get better at doing things we know how to do,” Plott said. “So far we have done that. We have had four good days this week and gotten better as a team. We want to take care of the little things this week and focus on us.”
South Lamar (0-8, 0-6) at Meek (1-7, 0-6)
South Lamar has lost nine straight games, dating back to last season’s 45-22 home triumph against Meek.
“We are still trying to find answers,” South Lamar coach Josh Harper said. “I think Meek is like us in a lot of ways. We have struggled to be consistent. We have improved in a lot of areas but haven’t been able to put four quarters together.”
South Lamar lost to region rival Parrish 47-28 last week. Hank Parker ran 35 times for 171 yards and four touchdowns.
Meek has lost seven straight since defeating Tharptown 26-22 in the season opener. Meek has been outscored 350-72 this season.
Pickens Academy (2-6) at Bessemer Academy (8-1)
The Pirates will look to ride the momentum of their first region win into tonight’s non-region game.
The Pirates improved to 1-4 in Class 2A, Region 1 play with a 21-7 win against Lakeside Academy last week. John Morgan Owens ran for 245 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was a big win for us,” Pickens Academy coach John Gartman said. “We had a bye week the week before. We were able to regroup and did some new things on offense, which I think helped us a lot. We stepped up our game and it really showed. It was the best game we have played all year.”
Pickens Academy finished with 296 yards of offense. Sam Beachler had seven tackles and a sack, while Joel Pratt had six tackles and an interception.
“(Owens) ran the ball really hard,” Gartman said. “He has a lot of speed and the offensive line did a good job of blocking up front. They made some holes and with the speed he has, once he gets a step, he can take it to the house.
“Defensively, we gave up more yards than I would have liked, but we kept them out of the end zone after the first drive. Overall, we played well.”
A Class 3A school, Bessemer is one of the state’s best. Its lone loss is a 16-12 setback at Tuscaloosa Academy. Bessemer is allowing 10 points per game defensively, and surrendered just slightly better than that in last week’s 42-13 home win against Autauga Academy.
“They are definitely a big challenge for us,” Gartman said. “They are one of the best teams in the state. We played them tough last year. It was a 0-0 game after three quarters and we lost 13-6. Hopefully some of that confidence will carry over into this year’s game. Hopefully, we will play well and have a few things go our way and then we will see what happens.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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