Friday Night Lights: Local teams hit the road for second round of playoffs

The third Friday of November is supposed to be the pinnacle for fans of high school football. The regular season is complete and the pretenders who snuck into the playoffs from a weak or small region have been eliminated, clearing the path for the real state championship contenders to battle it out.

With a little fall nip in the air but before winter temperatures hit, this week is the perfect time to get out and see a high school game that really matters.

But, unless you’re a fan of the McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets, you won’t have that opportunity in this area. That’s because a combination of unexpected losses, a troubling continuation of a losing streak and just bad luck when it comes to the playoff brackets have all of the other Gulf Coast teams on the road this week.

It may be misleading to say “all of the other Gulf Coast teams.” It’s probably more accurate to say “the few Gulf Coast teams remaining.”

Seventeen teams from Mobile and Baldwin counties made the playoffs. Only six survived to advance to the second round. McGill-Toolen was again the only 7A team to advance. Since the state went to seven classifications five years ago, no regional team other than McGill-Toolen has won a playoff game. 

Five of the remaining local teams are from Mobile — McGill-Toolen, St. Paul’s, Faith Academy, UMS-Wright and Mobile Christian — while only Spanish Fort is still alive from Baldwin County.

Spanish Fort is unlike those other teams in more than just being from another county. The Toros were the only local team to win on the road, beating Dothan in the Wolves’ first playoff game ever.

The other difference is more glaring. All five Mobile County teams still alive are private schools. That on its own shouldn’t be the basis of any controversy. But it certainly adds fuel to the private versus public debate.

It also adds another data point to the competitive balance legislation passed by the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) before last season.

Only two football teams were impacted by that legislation. How have those two teams responded? Madison Academy reached the second round of the Class 5A playoff last year before losing 44-19 to Central Clay County. This season the Mustangs were eliminated in the first round with a 55-14 loss to No. 1 Jasper.

St. Paul’s reached the Class 6A playoff last season but lost to Opelika in the first round. The Saints are again set to face Opelika, this time in the second round, after beating Sidney Lanier last week.

So, those schools promoted because of competitive balance are doing just fine and will continue to do so.

The outlook is not as clear for public schools that are being hurt much more by lack of funding and support than any concern about their players being recruited away by private schools.

There is a reason why schools like Saraland and Thompson and Hoover are having consistent success on par with anybody in the private school ranks. It’s because there is a financial and staffing commitment to the football team, just as there is a commitment to every other activity and program offered by the school.

These public schools, in addition to most private schools, make up the haves who are going to be contended for championships every season. The have-nots are going to struggle to be consistently competitive with those teams.

It’s hard to know what the answer to this issue is. Certainly it was great seeing Murphy, among others, make the playoffs and show improvement going into next season.

But there’s a reason why a majority of the state champions crowned in Auburn next month will be either private schools or schools from independent school districts who have decided to fund success on the playing field and in the classroom.

Here is a look at the six local teams still alive in the state playoffs and their road to a possible championship.

McGill-Toolen: Auburn is the operative word for the Yellow Jackets. They host Auburn this week. The following week they will likely travel through Auburn to face Central Phenix City. The winner of that game will earn the right to play in Jordan-Hare Stadium for the state championship.

St. Paul’s: A win this week at Opelika would likely mean a home game in the third round against Hueytown and Alabama running back commit Roydell Williams.

Spanish Fort: The Toros were the No. 4 seed from Region 1, but still went on the road and won. Up next is a visit to Wetumpka. The last time the Toros visited Wetumpka for the 2017 quarterfinals, the Indians scored the most points (69) ever given up by Spanish Fort.

Faith Academy: The Jack French magic is real. The Rams had never won an AHSAA playoff game before last week. Now they are 11-0 with a long trip to Pleasant Grove this week.

UMS-Wright: The Bulldogs have the longest winning streak in the state at 29 games. They travel to Talladega this week before what is expected to be games against undefeated Catholic of Montgomery and high-powered American Christian. Both of those games would be at UMS-Wright.

Mobile Christian: The Leopards have scored exactly 49 points in four games this season, including the last three in a row. They have a tall task this week on the road against undefeated Pike Road, which has yielded only 88 points all season.

Randy Kennedy, who has been a leading voice on the Gulf Coast sports scene for 17 years, writes a weekly column for Lagniappe. Follow him on Twitter: @kennedy_randy.