washed out in Montgomery

For those of you looking for updates on the Munford Lady Lions or others at the AHSAA 3A softball tournament, here they are:

-- The wireless card in my laptop is lousy, so it's hard to post any breaking updates from the press box.
-- Munford lost in the first round 8-0, with the game called in the bottom of the sixth (two Munford players on and a 2-0 count on the batter) due to heavy rain. As detailed here, the rain actually washed out every other game for today (Thursday), pushing them back to tomorrow.
-- Munford plays Straughn at 4 p.m. for the right to continue playing in the tournament. If they win, they'll play at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Check out tomorrow's edition of The Daily Home for the full story.

wlh

playoff baseball, son

With the AHSAA playoffs starting this weekend, let's take a look at The Daily Home's playoff baseball teams -- we only have a handful, but the ones we have do have a chance to make a deep run.
While we're here, a round of applause for the squads from our area who came up just a little short -- Lincoln, Talladega, Munford, B.B. Comer and Sylacauga. All of them have impossibly young rosters, all of them played their tails off and ultimately came up a few plays short. Fans of these programs, take note: they've got bright futures ahead of them, trust me.

Also while we're here, let's add that fewer things in life are more exciting than playoff baseball -- energetic crowds, momentum shifting with each pitch, pressure mounting with each inning. One of the most draining fan experiences of my life was a weekend I spent at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa in 2002 when Alabama hosted an NCAA Regional. I could barely drive home after Sunday night's finals.

I'm stalling here. Here's a quick look at this weekend's area playoff matchups:
Pell City (20-10, 6A Area 14 champs)
vs. Shades Valley
Pitching rotation: Adam Purdy, David Kendrick, Shane Waters
Analysis: You won't find many teams riding a bigger wave of momentum than Adam Tarver's Panthers. They came to Panther Field for a doubleheader on Thursday against Clay-Chalkville (their arch-nemeses for a long time), completely unsure if even winning would get them in the playoffs, and by the time it was over they were area champs. Momentum means more in the postseason than you think -- just last year, 4A Childersburg's lineup got on such a roll, I think they could've hit Tim Hudson by the time the season ended.
As for hard analysis, the Panthers have three guys -- Purdy, Kendrick and Waters -- who established themselves in the Chalkville series as bonafide big-game pitchers. Waters, particularly, with his low-ball style, is a significant change of pace from the hard-throwers at the top end of the rotation.
The one question is whether the momentum they established will cool by the time Friday gets here. The top part of Pell City's batting order is very good, but good teams need production 1-9. We'll see if they can continue getting that this weekend.
Childersburg (19-7, 4A Area 7 champs)
vs. Central-Tuscaloosa
Pitchers: Gabe Hernandez, Logan Holmes, Nathan Gardner
Analysis: Here we are, a year later, and the defending 4A state champs are right back where they were at this time last year -- area champs, preparing to host a first-round playoff series.
This year's version of Chad Slaten's Tigers are not, however, the potent offensive team they were a season ago, not even with reigning 4A Player of the Year Bryan Wheeler drawing weekly visits from major-league scouts.
This time around, Big Blue is built around pitching and defense, and they've got both in plentiful amounts. Are they good enough to be the two-time defending 4A champs this time next year? It's tough to say -- the matchups will tell the tale, obviously. Don't be surprised, though, if we're still having this conversation a month from now.
Talladega Co. Central (14-4, 1A Area 7 runners-up)
at Berry
Pitchers: Dion Duncan, Preston Sillmon, Cameron Duncan
Analysis: The classic small ball team -- Robert Duncan's Fighting Tigers are built almost exclusively around speed, speed and more speed. They bunt for base hits, steal bases and put pressure on the opposing defense at every opportunity -- basically, they're an absolute nightmare to face in the postseason.
It's too bad, really, that they played their first round of area games so early in the year -- once the school's athletes got in "baseball condition," they reeled off a 12-1 run, that they're currently still on. Dion Duncan can be a beast in the one spot, but whether they're good enough behind him to win a series is probably their biggest liability in the postseason. Well, that and the fact that they have only one guy who can consistently hit the ball past second base.

One other note, before we go: what really submarines teams like TC is the state's decision to play best-of-three in all rounds of the playoffs. The potential for upsets becomes greater, the longer you have to keep playing.
I'm just glad we're having this discussion these days. Let's play two!

wlh

mischief managed

Even though his resignation won't become official until Monday, Norred was willing to sit down with us today (Tuesday) and discuss it. Here's the result.

Obviously, we'll have to wait a few days to let the other major players in this deal -- Comer's principal, Linda McAdam and the BOE members -- have their say. But here are some facts:

Since Bobby Overton retired in 2002, B.B. Comer has had five different head coaches, none of whom have stayed more than two seasons (including one, Chris Musso, who resigned before ever coaching a game).
Those coaches have compiled an on-field record of 8-52, including (most appalling) seven consecutive losses to Sylacauga (to be fair, one of the losses in that streak is Overton's).

Now, it's unfair to look at that and think Norred's tenure at Comer was a complete failure. His 2007 team was markedly improved by the end of the season. They had a good chance to beat Sylacauga (admittedly, it was a young Sylacauga team, but that would've meant so, so much to the Comer faithful). He successfully made the Tigers a more physical, nasty football team, the sort you'd really rather not play. And I have no doubt that, had he stayed at Comer, (as I said in a previous entry) the Tigers might even be thinking playoffs in 2008.
On the other hand, the one thing the Comer program needed -- stability -- Norred never really seemed interested in providing. His wife never moved to Sylacauga, he kept his cell phone a Georgia number and never seemed interested in even offering an explanation. Once the sabre-rattling about the offseason program started, it was obvious he'd be gone in a matter of time. Sunrise, sunset.

Now ... I'll let you in on a secret, a secret no one at Comer actually believes: I really like B.B. Comer. Their people have a great deal of pride, built up over roughly 40 years' worth of winning and essentially living in the postseason. They do complain a great deal -- they're getting overlooked, they're not getting enough coverage, all we care about is Sylacauga ... and so forth. But they're that way because they care. Nothing would mean more to those people than seeing someone restore that program to prominence -- at this point, they'd settle for relevance.
The usual suspects will come up in the search. Carson Grier, who never left the Comer community even when he appeared to be on the receiving end of a boot, will undoubtedly throw his name in the hat again. Mike Reed, the former Winterboro head coach who was the odds-on favorite to get the job this time last year, may show up again. And undoubtedly some other upstart assistants will make candidates of themselves before the hire is announced.

Whatever happens, let's hope Comer makes the right choice. It's time.

wlh

breaking news we've got to fix

We have some unofficial word that Comer is indeed looking for a new head football coach once again -- David Norred is reportedly preparing his resignation for Thursday's Talladega County BOE meeting.

Hopefully we'll have more on this in tomorrow's edition.

wlh

Bears win two

A link to an important happening that slipped by us over the weekend, in which Lincoln's baseball team -- headed by coach Mark Glen, a native of Hanceville -- won its first two games of the season in the head coach's hometown.

At 3-5, Lincoln's got B.B. Comer at home today in a doubleheader starting at 4:30, and an area game at hone against Weaver on Tuesday.

wlh

addendums, housecleaning and so forth ...

A few things we need to get clear — and yeah, we'll cover these in the printed version of the paper later, but I wanted to get them up now:

• In Wednesday's column about local players at the next level, I neglected to mention Jesse Sharbutt (total goof on my part), currently batting .267 with 6 RBIs at Bevill-Fayette, according to the ACCC Web site (well-run and easy to understand, by the way — I give it a 7 out of 10). Sharbutt was one of 4 from the '07 class of Aggies to sign, and those Aggies finished in the state quarterfinals (losing to St. Paul's).
I also left out Sylacauga's Daniel Hicks and Chase Fowler, currently at Montevallo. I'm passing the buck on this one because these two graduated a full year before I ever came to the desk here. Still, they deserved to be mentioned.

• In today's story about the Talladega Sharpshooters, head coach Tom Reichert mistakenly says that the cost of a shotgun is "$8-9,000, bare minimum." Apparently, he meant to say "$8-900." This seems to have raised the hackles of multiple people in Sylacauga (not hard to do, but whatever) who are now calling me to accuse my desk of attempting to undermine the sport with a completely positive story. I'm not sure how we could be that crafty, but we'll have a clarification running in tomorrow's edition.

And that's pretty much that. Enjoy the rest of the week, folks.

wlh

a football break in early March

I was running down the teams in East Central Alabama that we see on a regular basis yesterday while in the car (one must visit the parents occasionally, after all) and came up with what I thought might be a pretty good blog entry.
We have, unofficially, 14 teams in our coverage area, counting Coosa Valley Academy and Ragland, who we don't get to see much of (and that doesn't count Central-Coosa, Vincent or either of the Clay County schools, all of whom complain intermittently about us not coming over to see them).

Anyway, I had intended to save this until I could nail down spring practice dates for all of our schools, but I won't. Here's a brief overview of everyone in our area, complete with new regions. I'll post more spring practice dates as I get them.

In the meantime ...

Winterboro
2007: 1-9 (Todd Evans, first year)
2008: 1A Region 4
What they need (according to us): What they got, actually — after two miserable years in 2A, where they won 3 games overall and only one region game, the Bulldogs moved back to 1A, where they most recently posted the best season in school history (12-2, third round of the playoffs back in 2005).
Now, as for the rest of the rebuilding project, it's tricky. They'll have to break in a new quarterback and tailback, but have a perfectly capable back in rising senior Ron McGhee. And they'll have to replace the girth of twins Nick and Nakia Simmons. They do have McGhee and Troy Garrett coming back, along with rising sophomore Bacardy McClendon. That trio, plus some others may have to grow up quickly if Winterboro is to compete for a playoff spot.

Childersburg
2007: 2-8 (Jeff Bullen, eighth year)
2008: 4A Region 4
What they need (according to us): Some toughness — the Tigers, a team chock full of athletes, got out-hit in most of their games, and made some bad mistakes at the worst possible times (see the game against Central, which the Tigers could've won about 16 different ways). With quarterback Hunter Yarnell graduated, along with receivers Brian Wheeler and Ralphael Lylias AND tailback Dravo McGowan, I wouldn't be surprised to see Childersburg building around defense for 2008, particularly since they're facing one of the toughest regions in the state (more on this later).

B.B. Comer
2007: 2-8 (David Norred, second year)
2008: 3A Region 3
What they need (according to us): More than anything, B.B. Comer needs for things to not change for a few years — Norred represents the fourth head coach at the old Sylacauga school since the retirement of Bobby Overton in 2000 (counting Chris Musso, who didn't even make it to spring practice before resigning). And if you believe the chatter on the al.com forums — and I don't recommend it — he and his staff are already butting heads with the Comer administration.
Here's the irony: Norred's Comer teams made tremendous strides in 2007 — that's a five-or-six-win team in 2008, with everybody healthy and a few breaks (think Childersburg, with all the problems we discussed earlier, wants to play these guys in Week 1?). So if everything stays status quo, they could be the best Comer team in a while. If, however, they have to endure another coaching change ... well ...

Coosa Valley Academy
2007: 2-8 (Steven Mackin, third year)
2008: AISA Class A Region 1
What they need (according to us): Some better luck and a year or two more to grow. That's about it.

Sylacauga
2007: 2-8 (Matt Griffith, fourth year)
2008: 5A Region 4
What they need (according to us): See Coosa Valley, above. The Aggies had some bad fortune early, which hurt them because of an incredibly young roster. They have two dynamite tailbacks in Josh Crowe (a junior) and Aaron Brooks (a sophomore) to complement quarterback Kelsey Pope (a junior). They'll need some breaks early, but this is a team that could contend for a playoff spot by season's end.

Talladega
2007: 2-8 (Bill Granger, second year)
2008: 5A Region 4
What they need (according to us): In a word, patience. One of the time-worn cliches in sports is the one about "changing the culture" of a program or an area, but in Talladega, that's exactly what's needed. Do you realize, for example, that Talladega hasn't made the playoffs since 1995? That's 13 years. That's a really long time. That's an entire class of high-schoolers, followed by another class of high-schoolers, followed by another, all of whom will graduate without ever seeing Talladega play more than 10 games. In that same time period, every other school in our coverage area has made the playoffs at least once, including Fayetteville and the Alabama School for the Deaf.
Well, a program doesn't get in that shape overnight. And it doesn't get fixed overnight. Talladega showed some flashes in '07, but it will take more time than you realize.

Victory Christian
2007: 2-8 (Scotty Smith, second year)
2008: 1A Region 5
What they need (according to us): Are you kidding? Victory couldn't have asked for a better situation than they've got — every team in their new region ends in Christian, except for Appalachian, St. Bernard and Ragland.
Otherwise, Victory will be without the services of the multi-talented Mason Tefilo, but most of the rest of the roster returns intact. With the added bonus of a ridiculously-easy region, the Lions could slip into the playoffs in '08.

Alabama School for the Deaf
2007: 3-7 (Paul Kulick, fourth year)
2008: NR
What they need (according to us): For everyone to grow up in a big hurry. The Warriors are losing much of the speed that's carried them the past few seasons, which means a lot of youngsters. According to Spence McCracken (my old head coach), for every 10th-grader in your lineup, that's another L on your schedule.
And it looks as though this team may have a lot of both.

Fayetteville
2007: 6-4 (Jimmy Wright, third year)
2008: 1A Region 4
What they need (according to us): Given the natural progression of a head coach's program-building, Fayetteville appears to be in good shape — they'd have made the playoffs in 2007, if not for some horrible luck against Donoho and poor officiating in Appalachian. Unfortunately, they got dropped into an awful region — in addition to TC, the Wolves will see Loachapoka, Notasulga and Wadley, not to mention Verbena, Winterboro and Donoho. So their postseason fate is unclear.
Still, it's hard not to be excited if you're at Fayetteville. There's a head coach who genuinely wants to be there, a new home field and a team that's fighting its guts out each week. Don't be surprised if Fayetteville turns into one of those "out of nowhere" teams this fall.

Munford
2007: 6-4 (Todd Smith, second year)
2008: 4A Region 4
What they need (according to us): On the surface, Munford looks like the biggest loser in the latest re-classification. Not only did the Lions move up (somewhat unexpectedly) they moved into arguably the state's toughest region: Anniston (down from 5A), Central-Coosa (always tough), Childersburg (ditto), Heflin (yikes), Saks (yeah, Munford whipped them last year, but still) and Lincoln (we'll get to them in a minute). Add to that the losses to graduation — including their quarterback (Will Brashier), fullback (Jacorey Garrett), two best linebackers (Hunter Gravette and Tajee Stanford) and tight end Wes Johnson, and suddenly, this looks like a rebuilding season for Smith. And maybe it is.
On the flip side, they will have tailback Montrel Parker back, as well as fullback Tim Curry. That's two dangerous weapons, plus they'll have the advantage of being the "overlooked" team in the region. Maybe it's not much, but they'll be a tough out.

Pell City
2007: 6-5, lost in the first round of the playoffs (Jay Brown, seventh year)
2008: 6A Region 7
What they need (according to us): To rub a lucky rabbit's foot more often, or possibly stand on a different foot, or maybe even have one of those voodoo medicine men exorcise their training room. Or something to possibly keep the bulk of the roster out of the training room this fall — the inordinate number of key injuries the Panthers suffered in '07 was probably more than any other playoff team. It was uncanny — every time something would go right, someone would break a bone or tear a ligament.
A running game wouldn't hurt, either. The Panthers rushed for negative yardage last season, preferring to make their living off swing passes, screens and dump-offs. This time around, with little to no experience at quarterback and some seasoning at tailback, Pell City likely will try to do more on the ground. On defense, linebacker Boo Boo Shepard and end Lenny Harrell return to a unit that got burned too often in big spots last season.

Ragland
2007: 8-3, lost in the first round of the playoffs (Brian Mintz, fifth year)
2008: 1A Region 5
What they need (according to us): To throw a party — the Purple Devils likely won't lose a game in their new region for the next two seasons. Now ... as for getting out of the early rounds of the playoffs, that may be a little trickier. But they're set for the next two seasons in region play.

Lincoln
2007: 9-4, lost in the third of the playoffs (Keith Howard, fifth year)
2008: 4A Region 4
What they need (according to us): To stay grounded — the Golden Bears will receive a great deal of offseason hype, and some of it will even be deserved. Certainly, the presence of some dynamic athletes — T.J. Hoyt (a college recruit), D.J. Howard (ditto, even though he's only a junior) and Tiger Williams (yes indeed), to name a few — tabs them as top-4 in their very tough region. But how will they handle that attention, having been underdogs for most of their careers? It remains to be seen.
To be fair, when the worst a writer can think to say about your team is "they need to stay grounded," you're in pretty good shape.

Talladega Co. Central
2007: 14-1, lost in the state finals (Chris Mahand, third year)
2008: 1A Region 4
What they need (according to us): To get ready — there won't be a game this season where they won't get the best shot from every opponent. To be fair, they spent 2007 absorbing body blows from pretty much everyone, being the third-ranked team in the state in preseason and all (and second after that).
They'll have to fill some holes, as well — linebacker Reggie Virges, tailback Robert Reynolds, et. al, all graduated. My guess is you'll see more of the spread attack we saw towards the end of '07, featuring senior quarterback Dion Duncan (a genuine talent) and tailback Vnonte Chapman (and try saying that five times fast). Shoring up the defense — the state's best last season — against a much (much, much, MUCH) tougher region is another matter.
Still, look for TC to get back to the playoffs.

Of course, a lot can happen between now and the fall. So stay tuned.

wlh