The Selma High Saints (1-0) were marching high after the week one win over Southside, but assistant coach De’Andre Wilson is trying to keep the team level-headed as the team heads into its first road test against region opponent Opelika (0-2).

“It was a big win for us, but we wanted to keep the guys level-headed throughout the week,” Wilson said. “We won by a big margin, but we didn’t want that to go to our head. We have a bigger, stronger opponent this week, and we just want to stay focused and come out to play this week.”

Opelika entered the season at No. 6 in the ASWA preseason rankings, but two early losses against Callaway (GA) and Auburn has bumped them out of the top-10.

However, they only lost to Callaway by 14 and Auburn by a touchdown. The Opelika Bulldogs are still a team to lookout for, especially with region games carrying more weight down the stretch.

“They haven’t won a game yet, but they’re going to be a big, strong opponent,” Wilson said. “But they are beatable, just like every other team is. We need to start off strong and seize the moment.”

The Saints looked impressive in their 60-point effort against Southside. The running game, passing game and special teams accounted for nine trips into the end zone in a one-sided game.

Selma’s strength is in its depth and experience. Especially on offense, where returning starters players Tyreshon Freeman, Amarian Molette, Nicholas Parnell and Gabriel Wade are in sync with one another.

“We want to continue to do the small things right, and correct some of the small things that we haven’t done correctly,” Wilson said. “Hopefully, we’ll keep clicking.”

The lineman are experienced and have the size to match. Jeremiah Wright anchors the line at tackle and Maximus Jones returns from injury to solidify an already stocked group.

Selma’s defense will be tested this week since Opelika has the depth to go toe-to-toe with the Saints.

The result of this game will be the first measuring stick for Selma in this new region. The two teams haven’t played against one another since 2005, and Opelika won the last game 51-6.

“This is a much stronger region,” Wilson said. “There’s more competition. There’s a lot of teams in this region that went to the playoffs last year. We have three teams that only lost one game in the regular season last year and another team that went all the way to the state championship game. There’s another team that has three commits to Alabama already, so we know what we got ahead. It’s important that we come out and set the tone early with this game Friday.”

Ellwood Christian

The Ellwood Christian Eagles and head coach Migeual Catlin are looking for their first win of the season as they host Holy Spirit on Friday.

It will be the Eagles first home game of the season and the teams’ first region game as well.

In the teams’ last game, the Eagles were shutout and gave up 36 points to Beulah.

However, the program is in the midst of a rebuild and Catlin is focused on getting the team to improve week by week.

This week’s practice has been great. The kids came back out ready to get better and we tried to correct the mistakes we made last week,” Catlin said. “The mistakes we made are things they can be coached up on.”

Eagles lineman Christian Walker will return to the field on Friday after missing last week’s game due to an injury.

Ellwood’s defense will have a tall task on Friday facing a Holy Spirit team that scored more than 50 points in each of its first two games.

“They’ve got a starting 11 that goes both sides, and they do a good job on both sides of the ball,” Catlin said. “They’re not big, but they’re coached up well and do things right. They’re 2-0 for a reason.”

The Saints shutout Autaugaville 55-0 and defeated Vincent 56-22. The Saints have a go-to receiver in Jaylon Stevenson that can present a threat on offense.

“I think [Stevenson] had about eight touchdowns already in two games, so he’s their go-to man,” Catlin said. “He runs good, crisp routes and he’s hard to deal with one-on-one. We’re going to put our best guy on him and we’re going to see where the chips fall.”

The first region game will be a litmus test for how the Eagles will survive a tough region schedule. The schedule only gets tougher as the season goes on as they have multiple teams on the schedule that made the playoffs last season.

“Region play is huge every week, but this one in particular is huge for us,” Catlin said. “With the top end of our schedule not being as heavy as the back end, we have to take advantage of the top end of our schedule and get the wins right now that we have to have. We definitely don’t want to be waiting until the end of the season trying to scratch out wins on the back end of the schedule.”

Ellwood’s success this season will reveal itself in how the players improve through the course of the year.

Meadowview Christian

The Meadowview Christian Trojans (0-2) and the Pickens Academy Pirates (0-3) will face each other on Friday night at Wasden Field in search of their first win of the 2018 season.

“Pickens has had a rough start to the year, but they have a pretty decent football team,” Meadowview head football coach Bob Taylor said. “We’ll have our hands full with them this Friday. They have a couple of really good players that we’re going to have to contain.”

This also opens up region play for both teams, so the urgency level of this game increases with the chance of getting a good start in the AISA-A Region 2 standings.

The Trojans have scored just 6 points in each of the teams’ first two ball games. The team is still working on improving their blocking and execution of plays to create a more consistent offense.

The Pirates play a similar style of football to Jackson Academy, so preparation on defense overlaps some from the previous week.

“They run almost the same exact offense we saw last week against Jackson, so that presents a challenge in itself,” Taylor said. “We’re still trying to figure everything out, but we’ve had a really good week of practice.”

The region game adds a greater incentive for the Trojans to show how much they are improving in practice. After facing tough opponents in the opening weeks, the Trojans face a team that is also looking to win its first game.

“Now is the chance to start working towards the playoffs, and it’s our mindset to work toward a goal that we can get to,” Taylor said. “Our biggest thing we’re trying to get to is playing with consistency and getting better each and every week. Pickens is going to present us with an opportunity to do some of that.”

Morgan Academy

 The Morgan Academy Senators (2-1) have a two-game win streak going into the road game this Friday at Lee-Scott Academy (0-3) in Auburn.

The Senators are coming off a big upset win over Patrician Academy, which was bounced out of the ASWA top-10 rankings.

Despite the early success, the Senators are still hungry. The team was an overtime possession away from a 3-0 start to the season, and the week one loss to Pike Liberal continues to provide fuel for the Morgan Academy team.

“We’re still kind of bitter about the week one loss, but we’re still trying to move forward each week and get better,” Morgan Academy head coach Josh Thacker said. “It was a big win for us on Friday night, but the guys know there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Lee-Scott has lost its first three games of the season. In week two, the Lee-Scott Warriors lost to Fort Dale Academy 40-18, and the team lost to Edgewood Academy 34-3 this past Friday.

The Senators scrimmaged against Fort Dale prior to the season and looked good moving the ball against them.

In week two of the season, Morgan Academy shutout Edgewood Academy 37-0 and only allowed the opponent to gain two net yards in the game.

The Senators have scored more than 30 points in their past two games, and the defense is only allowing 9 points per game to opponents through the first three weeks of the season.

“I think we’ve found out a lot about ourselves,” Thacker said. “I think we found a strong identity in who we are offensively. Of course, the defense is always going to be strong because they’re led by coach Bonds.”

Morgan Academy is set to make a push in its first region game of the season.

“We’re playing good football right now,” Thacker said. “I like where we’re out as a program and as a team. I’m excited about this week.”

Dallas County

The Dallas County Hornets (0-1) will host the Montevallo Bulldogs (2-0) on Friday night in Plantersville.

Hornets head coach Zeke Pigg will have the opportunity to look across the sidelines and go head-to-head with his former teacher Brandon Wilcox, head coach of the Bulldogs.

Pigg and the Hornets are still looking for the teams’ first win, and they have already had to make some adjustments.

“Motevallo is pretty well-known in the state,” Pigg said. “I know coach Wilcox from when I was in high school. He taught me my senior year in high school back at Rogers. He’s a really good football coach, a really good guy and he’ll have his team ready to play.”

Dallas County quarterback Octavious Palmer is still out after dislocating his hip in the Jamboree game against Selma High this past August.

“He suffered a pretty serious injury, but right now it’s all about getting physical therapy and recovery,” Pigg said. “We want to give him as much time as possible off, because at the end of the day there are just some things that are more important to take care of.”

However, Patrick Callens has stepped up to take over the quarterback position in his place. The new position is a transition, but one that can be effective if all the pieces come together.

“If he calms down and takes leadership of the position like I know he can, then he’s going to be  just fine,” Pigg said. “At the end of the day, it all starts up front.”

The Hornets are also looking for their first points of the season after having been shutout by McAdory this past week.

According to Pigg, the team had a strong week of practice leading up to the game against the Bulldogs.

“We had probably one of our better weeks of practice this week,” Pigg said. “We’re flying around and we look like we’re enjoying football.”

Montevallo has allowed 19.5 points per game to opponents through the first two games of its season, so the opportunity is there for the Hornets.

“Montevallo has really good skill players,” Pigg said. “Coach Wilcox will have them ready to play. He’s doing the same thing I’m doing. We’re preaching effort. We’re preaching toughness and that’s what Montevallo’s got. They play four quarters and we’ve got to match that. At the end of the day, I feel like this is going to be a real-good, tough-fought game.”

Southside

The Southside Panthers (0-2) are looking to bounce back after two losses to Class 6A opponents Northview and Selma High.

Playing up three classifications got the Panthers in two lopsided games where they allowed 94 points and only scored 26.

However, the playing field evens out this Friday as the team travels to play region opponent Dadeville (1-1).

The two teams have never met before, and this first meeting will determine who gets off to the better start in the region standings.

Southside head football coach Daniel Flowers isn’t discouraged by his teams’ 0-2 start because he believes the tough games prepared his team for the Class 3A schedule.

“These are the games that count,” Flowers said. “This is what gets you in the playoffs. My main goal is to go one step at a time and one game at a time.”

Playing from behind in the first two games forced the Panthers to pass a lot, but Flowers wants to return to the ground game to balance things out.

“I knew the first two weeks that we would be overmatched up front,” Flowers said. “This week we got back to the basics and started running the football. It might rain, so we’ve got to be able to run the football.”

Dadeville, which runs an offense similar to Keith’s, according to Flowers, has gotten off to an even start. The team won its opener 32-8 against Horseshoe Bend, but then lost its first home game last Friday 34-6 to Reeltown.

“Dadeville is an athletic team,” Flowers said. “They have a veteran quarterback and some pretty good receivers. They run a similar offense out of the shotgun that Keith runs.”

The Panthers are motivated to win, and the Panthers are looking forward to putting the first two games of the season behind them.

“We need to win,” Flowers said. “Our kids’ energy is up. They don’t act like a 0-2 team. They were ready to play Friday on Monday.”