News broke late Wednesday morning of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s and the cities of Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Opelika’s mutual decision to remove the University of Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium and Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium from the Super 7 football championships rotation.
The move was made due to the new expanded College Football Playoff plan that could require both schools to host playoff games in the future, which would impact the AHSAA’s annual football championship games.
When I first heard the news, I couldn’t help but think back to the first Super 7, or actually the Super 6 as it was known then. It was held at Bryant-Denny back in 2009.
I was going on my second year as sports editor of The Cherokee County Herald, and I had the honor of having not one, but two of our coverage area teams playing in the inaugural championship games there. Those two teams were the Piedmont Bulldogs and Cherokee County Warriors. Both were seeking their first football state titles.
Piedmont capped a 13-2 season with a dramatic 35-38 victory in overtime against Cordova in the Class 3A championship. Quarterback Chase Childers threw for a pair of touchdowns to running back Chris Cantrell and also ran for 102 yards. Cantrell carried for 108 yards on 14 attempts and scored four touchdowns.
But the game was decided on Luke Smith’s fumble recovery in overtime that secured the Bulldog victory.
A day later, Cherokee County earned its first state championship — also in dramatic fashion — with a 31-27 victory against Jackson in the Class 4A title game. The win capped a 15-0 season for the Warriors.
Cherokee County quarterback Coty Blanchard led the Warriors 53 yards in 10 plays to score the deciding touchdown.
Facing a 27-24 deficit with 3:05 left to play, the Warrior offense took over after the Cherokee County defense stopped Jackson on downs at the 41-yard line. The Warriors wouldn’t be denied on the game-winning drive. Gabriel Chambers made a crucial catch on the drive, and Blanchard ran in from 5 yards for the winning score with 26 seconds remaining.
Blanchard went on to clinch another first for Cherokee County High School a few weeks later. He won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Mr. Football for 2009.
But another thing I remember about both of those title games is the respect the Piedmont and Centre communities showed each other during their respective titles. Despite the fact the two teams are rivals on the field, both fan bases supported each other in the Bryant-Denny stands.
I know I’m a little biased here, but I feel like those were the best two championships the Super 7 ever had.
I’ve also been fortunate to cover both schools multiple times in the AHSAA’s championship settings. Piedmont played for five more state titles in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021, adding four more blue maps to the trophy case. The Warriors have played at Auburn and Tuscaloosa the past two years. I’ve also been fortunate to cover Cedar Bluff in its 1A title game appearance back in 2015 at Bryant-Denny.
In all, I got to cover 10 Super 6/7s in the three-venue rotation of Tuscaloosa, Auburn and Birmingham since 2009.
It remains to be seen what happens at this point. The 2024 Super 7 is at Birmingham’s Protective Stadium this December. There may be other college football stadiums to enter into a new rotation in 2025 and beyond. Jacksonville State’s Burgess-Snow Field, the University of North Alabama’s Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Troy’s Veterans Memorial Stadium at Larry Blakeney Field, South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium, and Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl would all be exceptional facilities to host the Super 7 in the future.
But the Super 7 championships at Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare stadiums were fun while they lasted.