SHANNON FAGAN: Two area football teams left standing

When you get to this point in the high school football season, every team that’s left standing is pretty dog-gone good. And boy, do we have two pretty dog-gone good area playoff games this week.

Undefeated teams? Check.

Region champions? Check.

Former state champions? Check.

Man, it sure is going to be hard to pick this week.

Speaking of picking, yours truly went 3-0 last week, bringing my overall record to 60-10 for the season.

Will I be picking games next week, or will this be it for Spring Garden and Piedmont? Read on to find out “What In The World Is Shannon Fagan Thinking?”

 

No. 5 Spring Garden (12-0) at No. 4 Mars Hill Bible (9-3)

Revenge can be a great motivating factor, and Spring Garden has it on their side.

These two teams met in the Class 2A state semifinals last year, with Mars Hill coming away with a 32-14 victory in the pouring rain.

The forecast for Florence on Friday night is a complete 360-degree turnaround: temperatures in the 40s with practically no chance for rain.

If you look at just records, one might think Spring Garden should come away with the win in this one. However, Mars Hill’s three losses have been to Class 6A Jasper (35-6), at Class 6A Cullman (49-7), and Class 4A American Christian (55-36). They opened the state playoffs with a 48-13 win over Sand Rock two weeks ago, and posted a 47-20 victory over Tanner last week.

Against Sand Rock, Mars Hill sophomore quarterback Griffin Hanson ran for two scores and threw for two more. He finished that game with 127 yards passing and 123 yards on just seven carries.

In the Tanner game, sophomore running back Jay Dobbs rushed eight times for 126 yards and three touchdowns.

The point here is any number of playmakers can step up for the home team.

But the road team has plenty of those playmakers too in Cooper Austin, Chapel Pope and Andrew Floyd. And they have even more stepping up of late, including Larry Rogers and Cam Welsh.

I think this one might be closer than last year’s battle. And with the added ingredient of revenge, I might just be picking Spring Garden in the state semifinals next week.

The pick: Spring Garden.

 

No. 3 Winfield (12-0) at No. 4 Piedmont (10-2)

So last week, I thought Lauderdale County at Piedmont was going to be the closest of our three playoff games last week. As it turned out, the Bulldogs made me look foolish making that statement with a 31-0 beat down.

I don’t know if what I said was motivation, but I’m going to pretend it was anyway.

And I’m going to try it again.

Winfield has six shutouts to its credit, including three straight weeks to end its regular season. The Pirates have outscored their opponents 549-84. They’re allowing just a touchdown per game.

Winfield opened the playoffs with a 62-14 win over Clements, and they’re coming off a 56-27 victory over Ohatchee.

In the Ohatchee game, junior quarterback Aidan Quinn passed for three touchdowns.

Ohatchee is the only common opponent the two teams have. The Bulldogs lost at Ohatchee 28-24 back on Oct. 1.

So with all that being said, you’d think I was leaning Winfield, right? Wrong. I’m going with Piedmont.

The pick: Piedmont.

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