Gridiron on the horizon
By Staff
Justin Schuver, Sports Editor
Tigers snubbed – The Alabama Sports Writers Association came out with its first high school football poll of the season on August 1, with one rather conspicuous omission.
Despite finishing the 2006 season with a record of 11-2 and playing eventual state champion Athens to the wire in the playoffs (in addition to defeating them during the regular season), Hartselle is nowhere to be found in the Class 5A top 10. Unbelievably, the Tigers aren't even the highest "others receiving votes" team – Hartselle is slated at the No. 13 spot.
It is unfathomable to me as to how Hartselle was left out of the top 10. Yes, the Tigers have to deal with significant losses including quarterback Wes Chenault and linebacker Caleb Blanton, but every team loses some key players to graduation.
Hartselle won 11 games last year and was a state semifinalist, yet couldn't make it on a preseason top 10 that features a team that won eight games (No. 6 Briarwood Christian) and another team that had a losing record in 2006 (No. 7 Jess Lanier, who was 5-6).
Inexcusable.
"Usually that first preseason poll is kind of indicative of what you did the year before," Hartselle coach Bob Godsey said. "And I felt like we did enough last year that we needed to be there…Obviously we didn't do enough last year to get that type of respect."
It could be a blessing in disguise, however, as Hartselle started the 2006 season unranked as well. And 2006 preseason No. 3 team Decatur failed to even make the playoffs.
"It's not a huge deal, though, because you really want to be in the top 10 of that last poll rather than the first one," Godsey said. "The good thing about it is that now we've got 10 weeks to go out and prove the point that we deserved to be there (in the preseason top 10)."
Coaches deal with loss of two-a-days – With school starting earlier and earlier across the state of Alabama each year, football coaches have been forced to adapt. The two-a-day practice, a classic ritual where players were put through boot camp-like conditions in the days before school started, has completely disappeared from the schedules of most high schools.
Monday was the official start of practice for high schools, and was also the first day of school for Morgan County Schools. Hartselle City Schools did not begin until Thursday, but Tiger coach Bob Godsey still couldn't run any two-a-days because he and the other coaches were busy with teachers' workshops and other administrative duties during the day Monday-Wednesday.
"I don't think it's really that big of a deal," Godsey said. "We can do things in the summer now with 7-on-7 camps and things like that to take the place of the traditional two-a-days."
Most schools across the state began classes this week, although there are a few exceptions, giving the argument those football teams have an unfair advantage. An example is private school Westbrook Christian, which does not begin classes until August 15. Westbrook Christian is in the same region as Falkville, meaning the Warriors will have 1.5 weeks to practice without worrying about school while Falkville coach Neil Estes and his Blue Devils will get no such days of practice.
