HS FOOTBALL SCHEDULES: CCC teams rearrange traditional schedules due to success, quirks
Robert Johnson and Montgomery Academy became the second team from the CCC to reach the state championship in ‘21 after Catholic made the Super 7 the previous year. Teams in the conference have found scheduling for the next two seasons more difficult due to the success. (File photo)
By TIM GAYLE
Putting together a football schedule isn’t easy, particularly for the teams in the Capital City Conference as they come off the most successful season in conference history.
For the past two years, a CCC team has reached the state championship game and the five teams in the conference combined for a 33-1 record against outside competition in regular season games this past year.
Capital City Conference coaches had another dilemma on their hands as well when Alabama Christian Academy was moved from 4A to 3A based on enrollment, then back to 4A based on a Competitive Balance Factor ruling from the Alabama High School Athletic Association, then back to 3A following an appeal. Each time the program was moved, it changed region rivals and possible open dates, creating an uncertainty among coaches wanting to schedule the Eagles.
“We were behind the eight ball a little bit with that because it was hard to get anybody to commit because I didn’t know what our (non-region) weeks were going to be,” ACA coach Michael Summers said. “But we ended up getting 10 games. It isn’t going to be an easy schedule but at the same time I’m not scheduling to go 10-0, I’m scheduling to give our guys a hard five-game stretch (heading into the playoffs) where they’re going to be prepared.”
ACA managed to schedule each of their CCC rivals in 2022 and 2023, joining Montgomery Academy as the only two schools in the conference to schedule each of the others.
“This (football schedule) is really a Plan B and some of it is a Plan C,” Trinity coach Granger Shook said. “ACA was in our region and I had a schedule, then ACA was out of our region. Then there were some teams I was trying to get on my schedule, like a Catholic or other teams in that region, that when ACA went to that region it made them a nine-team region. I went ahead and made another schedule, thinking the state is not going to reverse their decision. Then they did and it knocked a team off my schedule and put ACA back on my schedule.
Catholic coach Kirk Johnson, entering his second year as the Knights’ head coach, inherited the 2021 schedule but had to assemble a new schedule for the first time as a head coach after the two most successful years in the history of the program.
“It was very difficult,” Johnson said. “There are five private schools in Montgomery and I wish that we all played each other, but unfortunately there are some that don’t want to play us. ACA and MA definitely agreed to play and (St. James coach) Jimmy (Perry) reached out late and said that he would do it, but we actually already had a Week One opponent and that was ACA. I have been asking Granger for months and he said no. He said they were going in a different direction and I hate that they found a different direction to go in.”
The Knights open with 6A McGill-Toolen, followed by Alabama Christian and seven region rivals over the next eight weeks. Catholic’s Week 5 opponent is pending following that school’s admission to the Alabama High School Athletic Association.
“Catholic was a doormat for people for numerous years,” Johnson said. “Catholic had a little success and suddenly the same schools that beat up on us for 25 years don’t play us now. That’s unfortunate because intercity (matchups are) a big rivalry, a big gate. Our kids grew up together. I wish we had some written rule where we would play each other so we could get back to having the CCC.”
In playing McGill-Toolen, Johnson was looking for a team that could challenge his players after last year’s stunning loss in the semifinals to Montgomery Academy.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got start rising up to those challenges,” he said. “We didn’t trail until the fourth round of the playoffs last year. Well, that’s good but it’s bad because it’s the first time we had seen adversity. So I’ve got to do better as a coach to schedule those opponents that will give us that challenge.”
Montgomery Academy, which went on to lose in the 3A finals, accumulated enough points under the Competitive Balance Factor to move up to 4A and will join Catholic in their new classification as region rivals.
“When you get seven region games, (scheduling) is real simple because you’ve got three city opponents (that aren’t in the region),” MA coach Robert Johnson said. “That makes it nice. We just fit St. James and Trinity in the same spots where they were and then got ACA and had to figure out if we had the right open date for them.”
Both Catholic and Montgomery Academy will face new region opponents for the first time in school history -- Booker T. Washington, Dale County, Geneva, Andalusia, Slocomb and Bullock County.
“I think the schedule is tougher,” Robert Johnson said. “St. James was excellent last year, but I think they’ll be the team to beat this year. Trinity will always be great. ACA, I think, will be better next year and Andalusia will be vastly better than Thomasville. That’s not a slight on Thomasville. And the fact the other teams are 4A teams instead of 3A teams, individually that might not make a difference but I think collectively it does.”
ACA, St. James and Trinity will be in the same region in 3A, creating some familiarity along with new region rivals Greensboro, Prattville Christian, Southside-Selma and Sumter Central.
“I didn’t do any preemptive scheduling because all of that stuff usually falls through,” Perry said, “so we just waited until we got classified and then we started making phone calls. But the other cog in the wheel was Alabama Christian getting temporarily moved to 4A. It got rectified pretty quickly, to the credit of the Alabama High School Athletic Association.
“We’ve been fairly successful the last few years, which made scheduling a little tougher, but that’s OK. I like playing good folks. My four non-region games are probably going to be some of my toughest games.”
In addition to Montgomery Academy, the Trojans will be playing host to Handley early in the year and traveling to Charles Henderson and Carroll.
Summers wanted to challenge his players more with the non-region schedule, which includes the season opener with Catholic and the following week a trip to Lynn.
“It’s difficult,” Summers said of the challenge of facing Catholic in the season opener. “But number one, we beat them however many years in a row and they kept scheduling us. At the same time, I want my players to know there’s a difference between really hard and impossible and I think MA proved (in last year’s win over Catholic) it’s not impossible to beat anybody.”
The Eagles will also play Montgomery Academy in the middle of the season before closing out at Bayside Academy.
“That’s going to be a travel game, so that will give us a week to kind of do a mock playoff game,” Summers said. “We’re going to do everything pretty much the same way we would do the playoffs. We may not be on the road in the playoffs in the first round, but at some point you’re going to be so you need to know how to handle that.”
He’s proud to include each of his Capital City Conference rivals on the 2022 schedule.
“Everyone of those games is going to have a good atmosphere,” Summers said, “and that’s the kind of atmosphere you’re going to face in the playoffs.”
Trinity’s schedule will have a different look this year as the Wildcats open with Booker T. Washington, followed by Montgomery Academy, then play Sylacauga and Marbury in back-to-back weeks in the middle of the season.
“We’ve got some really good non-region opponents this year,” Shook said. “I really wanted to get our kids in some good environments. I think Marbury is a playoff caliber 5A team this year, I think Sylacauga is known for their football. For our boys to go into another stadium and play is really going to bring a lot of excitement and those two teams get us battle tested for the latter half of the year. I’m excited about the gate Sylacauga is going to bring, excited about the gate Marbury is going to bring (in 2023) because those communities really like football.”
The region, which includes ACA and St. James as well as intriguing road trips to Southside-Selma and Sumter Central, should provide a new test for the Wildcats as well.
“I think the top of this region is just as good as the region we were in last year,” Shook said. “Our region is very good, so we’ll be battle tested and that excites me. Our kids work too hard in the summer and too hard in practice to go out there on Friday night and play two quarters” before giving way to the reserves in a lopsided win.
ALABAMA CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (3A)
8/19 Open
8/26 Catholic Home
9/2 Lynn Away
9/9 *Trinity Away
9/16 *Sumter Central Home
9/23 Montgomery Academy Home
9/30 *St. James Away
10/7 *Prattville Christian Home
10/14 *Greensboro Home
10/21 *Southside-Selma Away
10/28 Bayside Academy Away
CATHOLIC (4A)
A\8/19 McGill-Toolen Home
8/26 Alabama Christian Away
9/2 *Booker T. Washington Away
9/9 *Slocomb Home
9/16 *Geneva Home
9/23 TBA Away
9/30 *Montgomery Academy Home
10/7 *Bullock County Home
10/14 *Dale County Away
10/21 * Andalusia Away
10/28 Open
MONTGOMERY ACADEMY (4A)
8/19 St. James Home
8/26 Trinity Home
9/2 *Bullock County Away
9/9 *Dale County Home
9/16 *Andalusia Home
9/23 Alabama Christian Away
9/30 *Catholic Away
10/7 *Booker T. Washington Home
10/14 *Slocomb Away
10/21 *Geneva Away
10/28 Open
ST. JAMES (3A)
8/19 Montgomery Academy Away
8/26 Handley Home
9/2 *Prattville Christian Home
9/9 *Greensboro Away
9/16 *Southside-Selma Home
9/23 Charles Henderson Away
9/30 *Alabama Christian Home
10/7 *Trinity Away
10/14 *Sumter Central Home
10/21 Open
10/28 Carroll Away
TRINITY (3A)
8/19 BT Washington Home
8/26 Montgomery Academy Away
9/2 *Southside-Selma Away
9/9 *Alabama Christian Home
9/16 Sylacauga Home
9/23 Marbury Away
9/30 *Sumter Central Away
10/7 *St. James Home
10/14 *Prattville Christian Away
10/21 *Greensboro Home
10/28 Open