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This week in HS Sports: Alabama’s best football stadiums, Baby Maxi update

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This week in HS Sports: Alabama’s best football stadiums, Baby Maxi update

This is an opinion piece.

For the past 10 days, my colleagues and I have broken down our favorite places to watch high school football games in AL.com’s major markets of Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville.

I hope you’ve had a chance to check those out. If you would like to weigh in, you can still shoot me an email at bthomas@al.com. Where is your favorite stadium to watch a high school football game in Alabama and why?

I also didn’t want to leave out some of the other great stadiums across the state that don’t fall into the previous three markets. My buddy Randy Kennedy and I were talking recently about other great venues across the state. Here are a few we like:

Enterprise

After 54 years of playing at Bates Memorial Stadium (known as The Hole), Enterprise played it last game there in 2009. Somehow the old stadium withstood a tornado that destroyed the school in 2007. Now, the Wildcats play in a beautiful stadium that features an upper deck, a rarity for a high school stadium on campus.

Benjamin Russell

This is Randy’s favorite. The Wildcats play at Martin-Savarese Stadium at the Charles E. Bailey Sportplex in Alexander City. It seats 3,500 on the home side, another 1,500 on the visiting side. Outside the stadium features a military memorial complete with tanks.

Etowah High

One of my personal favorites because it is one of, if not the, first places I ever covered a game in Alabama. Jim Glover Field is the home of the Blue Devils. I may be partial to it because I saw Patrick Nix, Freddie Kitchens, Todrick Malone and Carnell Williams, among others, play there. Needless to say, it carries a lot of history.

Some other Stadiums on the must-visit list:

Auburn High School. Duck Sanford Stadium. Home side built into the side of a mountain.

Opelika High School. Bulldog Stadium got a $2 million renovation before this season.

Oxford High School. Lamar Field. The Yellow Jackets’ stadium is full of history as well and recently underwent a massive renovation that added a 90-seat, theater style meeting room, new lockerrooms and a new state-of-the-art weight room.

Fort Payne. Wildcat Stadium is nestled in the mountains of north Alabama. If you want to see long field goals, this is probably the place to go. Not to mention former coach Jerry Elmore gave me one of the most memorable quotes in my career. After Gadsden High coach Vince DiLorenzo said Elmore’s Fort Payne team was really fast, Elmore quipped, “He must have his film projector on the wrong speed.”

Piedmont. Any place named the “Field of Champions” has to be great. Artificial grass. The field is right next to the school and all the other athletic fields. Not to mention, the Hayes boys played there.

There are plenty of other great places obviously.

Here’s my suggestion: Go see some high school football! Also, I would love to know who has the best stadium food. If you have a nominee, email me at bthomas@al.com and tell me the stadium and the specialty and any other information about it.

The chase for the top spot

Three of the greatest high school football coaches in state history are within a handful of victories of being the AHSAA’s all-time wins leader.

Currently, UMS-Wright’s Terry Curtis leads the way with 357 career wins. Central-Clay County’s Danny Horn is second with 356 and Fyffe’s Paul Benefield is third at 354.

All have tough games tonight. UMS hosts Class 3A No. 1 T.R. Miller. Central-Clay County travels to unbeaten Scottsboro, while Fyffe travels to play Coosa Christian.

Wenonah High School retired the jersey of former star Sam Shade on Thursday night. Shade is now the head coach at Miles College. (Contributed)Contributed

An honor for Sam Shade

Wenonah retired the No. 4 jersey of former player Sam Shade prior to Thursday night’s win over Huffman.

Shade was an all-star player for the Dragons, graduating in 1990. He was the first black student to be honored with the Bryant-Jordan Scholar Athlete of the Year Award. He signed with Alabama where he helped the Crimson Tide win the 1992 national title.

He was drafted in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals and had an eight-year pro career. He finished with 528 tackles, 10 interceptions, nine fumble recoveries and 8.5 sacks.

Following his tenures with the Bengals and Washington Redskins, Shade returned to Birmingham as a member of the Samford University coaching staff. He also had stints at Georgia State and with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL before taking over as head coach at Pinson Valley in 2020.

He led the Indians to a 6A state title before becoming head coach at Miles College in 2022.

The secret to Catholic’s success

Montgomery Catholic has been one of the state’s most successful football programs over the course of the last four years.

The Knights are 46-2 under head coach Kirk Johnson with a 39-game regular-season win streak. They won the 4A state title a year ago and, this week, moved to No. 1 in 5A.

What’s the secret to success?

“Blocking out all the outside noise,” Johnson said. “People can write or say whatever they want. My job as the coach is to keep the team focused and make sure we are setting goals and doing our best to achieve those goals. We have a good staff that understands the standard, a group that believes in our boys and our boys believe in our coaches. Everything we’ve achieved, we have achieved together.”

Catholic’s scheduled game tonight at Class 6A No. 1 Saraland was canceled due to inclement weather conditions after Hurricane Helene. The Knights (5-0) will return to the field at home against Carroll on Oct. 4.

Baby Maxi update

Our sweet granddaughter is a fighter. She has been through a pair of heart surgeries this week. My family and I continue to know that God is in charge and always will rely on that. We also continue to be incredibly thankful for the love of support everyone has shown us.

I believe thousands have been praying for Maxi, and I am incredibly humbled by that. God hears our prayers. Thank you.

Thought for the Day

“Our suffering doesn’t define our stories; our living hope in Jesus does.” – Tim Tebow, One-Year Devotional

Ben Thomas is the high school managing producer at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com . He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.

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