By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

PIEDMONT – Perhaps no high school football team in the state anticipated the release of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s biennial realignment than the Piedmont Bulldogs.

For the past two seasons, Piedmont’s only two losses have come at Mars Hill Bible. Both of those transpired the Class 3A state semifinals. At the end of last season, rumors begun ramping up the private schools were going to compete in their own classification.

When the new alignments were officially announced in January, those rumors became reality. The AHSAA shifted the private schools into separate class divisions.

The Bulldogs also found themselves moving in classification – from 3A to 2A. They compete in the new Region 6, along with familiar foes Ohatchee, Pleasant Valley, Saks and Wellborn. Newcomers include Gaston, Vincent and West End of Walnut Grove.

But just because Mars Hill is no longer a playoff concern for Piedmont, and the top-ranked Bulldogs are competing in a smaller class and somewhat familiar region, doesn’t mean they’re taking their approach to the 2026 season any differently.

“Just because we’re in 2A and things have changed, it’s still going to be extremely hard to be a semifinal team or be a team that makes it three rounds or a team that makes it to the state championship game,” Piedmont head coach Jonathon Miller said.

“There are still a lot of things that have to come into play to get that far. I know there are a lot of good teams in our region, a lot of good teams across the state, but I think we’ve got a shot. It doesn’t mean we’ll get there, but I think the veterans we return on our team on both sides that at least we give ourselves a shot to see what we can do.”

Senior center and four-year starter Braylen Williams said, “nothing is given.”

“We’ve just got to make sure we have the mentality,” Williams said. “You’ve got handle adversity and just work hard. That’s how you get places. It’s earned.”

Senior linebacker and three-year starter Carson Sanders said “there’s a big misconception” about the Bulldogs moving down a class.

“They think it’s going to be given to us, but there are three teams that we played last year in the playoffs (Phil Campbell, Fyffe and Gordo) that are going down to 2A with us. There’s still a lot of talent around. There’s not much difference than us being in 3A. We’re going to have to work for it. It’s not going to be given to us by any means. It’s still going to be a rough road ahead to get in the playoffs. There’s nothing easy about it.”

This season, if Piedmont is to make another deep playoff run, the Bulldogs will have to do so without the dynamic playmaking ability of Rollie Pinto. An all-state performer the past two years, Pinto graduated and is now catching passes at Jacksonville State University.

But that doesn’t mean the cupboard is bare in Piedmont. It’s far from it.

Among the many starters from last season the Bulldogs return include junior quarterback Cole Austin. Austin threw for almost 2,000 yards and 26 touchdowns, as well as ran for almost 500 yards and 10 scores last season.

“Being in the system for a year as the starter, playing in a lot of big games, us relying on him to a great extent – not only passing but running the football – I think that’s been a big part of his development,” Miller said. “He’s been really, really good with ball placement so far this summer. He’s really done a good job anticipating throws and putting the throws where they need to be. I think in general he’s a confident kid. You have the experience aspect along with that, it makes for a dynamic football player. We’re going to count on him a lot to throw it and run it and be a big part of our offense.”

The Bulldogs will attempt to replace Pinto at receiver by committee.

“It is big shoes to fill, but the way we look at it, and the way I think our other receivers look at it is there’s 160-some-odd touches available to other guys that he’s had over the past two years,” Miller said. “There are a lot of open possibilities for guys to come in and make plays.

“Mason Morrow, who was a guy who started for us as a sophomore last year, he’ll be a guy asked to step up and do a little bit more. Carson Cleveland is a guy who did not start for us last year but a guy who could have at a lot of other programs. He’ll step in as a junior and get some of those touches. Also, Eli Johnson, who started for us last year, he’ll be asked to do a little bit more as well.”

The Bulldogs also have even more players returning with Austin in the backfield.

“Our H-back Ethan Tidwell will be a big weapon for us – both in the passing game and the running game. We have Jaxson Howard back. Jaxson will be a big part of our offense at the running back position. He was last year as well. Along with Jaxson we’ll have Aliandre Wright, who started on defense for us last year and will again this year at safety. He will come in and play some on offense.

“The idea behind that is we always want to try and keep guys fresh. We’ll split the carries and keep those guys from getting banged up too bad and keep them fresh throughout the season.

“We’ve got enough weapons. We may not have that super-dynamic guy like Rollie was. Not very many people have that, but these guys are all really good players. They’re all capable. I think those guys are excited and I think they’re all going to have big years.”

Williams will anchor the offensive line at center and also play along the defensive front.

Speaking of defense, the Bulldogs return 10 guys on that side of the ball.

“Everybody likes to talk about the offensive side all the time, but that’s a group we’re excited about,” Miller said of the Bulldog defense. “We’ve got a lot of three –year starters, several two-year starters coming back on that side of the ball.

“Up front, we’ve got three guys back in Leo Wright, Xanthan Wood and Bryant Waters, who played a lot of football for us last year, started a lot of games. Our two inside (line)backers, Bentley Chandler and Chase Kirkpatrick, are dynamic football players, three-year starters. Carson (Sanders) plays outside linebacker. Ben Tolbert is our other outside linebacker. Those guys both started last year.”

“In the secondary, Ivan Jones, Aliandre Wright and Nick Glover are returning starters. We’ve got some experience back in the secondary.”

To help prepare Piedmont for another deep run through the playoffs, Miller scheduled three 4A rival schools in addition to the Bulldogs’ Region 6 schedule.

Piedmont opens the 2026 season at home on Aug. 21 at home against Jacksonville, then travels to Centre to face the Cherokee County Warriors a week later on Aug. 28. Piedmont also hosts Alexandria on Sept. 25.

“You want to see the type of athletes those three teams will have at some point during the season,” Miller said. “We’ll see some in our region for sure, but it’ll be a good opportunity to play some non-region games against high-quality opponents. I think all three of those programs think they’re going to be really good this year.

“We felt like where we’re at and with the experience with have coming back with our team that we were ready to handle that type of schedule. I think it’ll be beneficial for us as we head into November. If we’re able to stay healthy and get in the playoffs, those games will definitely help us.”

Sanders said the Bulldogs are “a very unsatisfied team” heading into this season.

“The last two years we’ve gone 13-1 and lost to the same team. We want to get over that semifinal hump,” Sanders said. “I think that’s motivation in itself.”