It’s that time of year – when the days of August winds down, cheerleaders and marching bands don their uniforms, and students and alumni alike descend upon high schools across the state to watch the boys of fall under the Friday night lights. It’s high school football season. With play beginning for many teams this Friday, we’ll take a quick look the top teams in each classification throughout the week, starting with 7-A and 6-A today.
Class 7A
According to The Alabama Sportswriters Association (ASWA) preseason poll, these are the current Top 10 teams in 7A going into the season:
- Hoover
- Central (Phenix City)
- Thompson
- Hewitt-Trussville
- James-Clemens
- McGill-Toolen
- Spain Park
- Bob Jones
- Auburn
- Enterprise
All 10 of these teams made it to the first round of playoffs last season. Hoover went all the way, dominating McGill-Toolen in a 17-7 championship win. However, the Bucs found themselves in need of a starting quarterback and lost many of their star defensive players to graduation. While their defense held opponents to single digits ten times last season, Hoover faces some formidable challengers who hope to prevent them from repeating their dominance this season.
All of the teams on this Top-10 list are in a position to do so, and Spain Park and Thompson will get that shot in the regular season. Other Birmingham area schools such as Mountain Brook and Oak Mountain will also have a chance to prove their worth against the top rated Bucs. Toppling Hoover could give any of those teams a big push throughout the season, so it will be exciting to see which team is King of the Hill in December.
Class 6A
These are the top 10 teams in 6A according to ASWA:
- Ramsay
- Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa
- Blount
- Austin
- Opelika
- Pinson Valley
- Oxford
- Daphne
- Muscle Shoals
- Park Crossing
Again, all 10 of these teams proved their worth last season, making it to the first round of playoffs. Park Crossing, Opelika, Ramsay, and Austin all made it to the semifinals. However, Ramsay took the state in a hard0-fought battle against Opelika in the championship. Ramsay’s championship win was unprecedented in recent history, as the first title for Birmingham city schools in nearly a generation and the first for the school since returning to football in 2012, Ramsay hopes to continue that success into the 2017 season.
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