High School Sports

Cleburne County High School football coach Michael Shortt got exactly what he wanted out of the AHSAA's biannual realignment this past spring.

In 2006 and 2007, his Tigers played in Class 4A, Region 3, pitting them against schools located in the state's more southern region such as Beauregard, Dadeville, Holtville and Central Coosa.

For Shortt, whose team has reached the playoffs each of the past nine seasons, that meant frequent 90-minute drives on Sundays in order to meet with opposing coaches and conduct the traditional film swap the week before a game.

This season, the Tigers (1-0) are still in Class 4A. However, won't have to go to such foreign locales. As members of the rough and tumble Region 4 they'll square off against the likes of Calhoun County's own Saks and Anniston — down from Class 5A — Talladega County's Lincoln and Munford — each up from Class 3A. Childersburg, Handley and Central of Coosa round out the region.

Last weekend, following the Tigers' 21-12 win against Lineville at home in their season-opener, Shortt needed only to travel 16 miles down Interstate 20 from Heflin to the Shoney's in Oxford to get what he needed to prepare for tonight's game against Lincoln, which kicks off at 7 p.m. in Heflin.

When asked if he was satisfied with the new region, Shortt's reply was a quick, "Without a doubt.

"The drives aren't nearly as long as they were. We'll make more money. We'll have more rivalry games. And when our kids go to the mall on the weekends they might see somebody they've played against. We didn't know any of those people last year."

Along with familiarity also came fierceness of competition.

Lincoln (1-0) is ranked No. 4 after its 33-6 beatdown of Etowah. Handley (0-0) is ranked right behind them at No. 5.

Handley, which won Class 4A, Region 3 last season, had an open date in Week 1 and will play its opener tonight at home against Munford.

In other region games, Saks hosts Central Coosa tonight. They captured a Class 4A, Region 6 title in 2007 and started the season off with a 48-7 win against Wellborn. Munford went 6-4 but missed the playoffs, playing in a region that included several teams that reached the third round of the postseason, including Class 3A runner-up Clay County.

"We moved up and then we were placed in a region with Heflin, who we used to be a in a region with, Handley, who was very successful last year and everyone knows about the tradition that Anniston has had," said Lincoln coach Keith Howard, whose team features several players that will play at the collegiate level. "We were really concerned (when they first heard of the realignment) and still are, but our kids are excited about the competition."

Anniston travels to Childersburg, where they'll try to get their house back in order after falling 9-0 to Alexandria on the road in its opener on Aug. 28.

"They pretty much played like I expected them to play," said Anniston coach Alex Wilson of his team. The Bulldogs churned out an impressive performance on defense, but struggled due to penalties and turnovers on offense.

"We have an understanding of what we want to get done," Wilson said. "Now we've just got to keep coaching them. We've gotten better…We just have to take care of the football and have good ball control. (The football) is our most precious commodity right now. We can't put it on the ground. The defense just needs to keep doing what they've been doing."

Even with all that said, Region 4 might not be the toughest in the state in its own classification — that honor will likely goes Region 1, which includes UMS-Wright, Andalusia, Clark County, Thomasville and B.C. Rain, all of which are traditional powerhouses.

Week 2 is when the jockeying for playoff positioning begins, and anything is possible with so many evenly matched teams going at it. Shortt said he thinks it could go down to the wire, with the region's winner possibly having a loss and several teams meeting in the playoffs in the early rounds could be a possibility.

"It's a must," said Wilson of getting a win in the first region game. "If you start your season off with a win, at least for one week you control you own destiny."