PREP UPDATE: Former Reeltown star tabbed as new BTW football coach; Catholic softball gets area win
By TIM GAYLE
The Macon County Board of Education replaced Booker T. Washington’s winningest football coach with one of the sport’s up-and-coming stars by naming Lawrence A. O’Neal as the Golden Eagles’ new coach at its board meeting on Tuesday.
O’Neal, the son of Hall of Fame coach Jackie O’Neal, was serving as the defensive coordinator at Pike Road.
“He’s a great football coach,” said Pike Road athletic director and head football coach Patrick Browning. “He will do a really good job at Booker T. Washington. He’s a phenomenal person. I hate to see him go, but I wish him the best of luck.”
It marks the second consecutive year Pike Road has lost one of its coordinators to a head coaching job. In 2020, former offensive coordinator Blake Boren took over as head coach at Montevallo.
“We are going to start an immediate search and we’re hoping to have a strong candidate in place soon,” Browning said.
In O’Neal, the Macon County administration took a bold step by naming a popular assistant with an outgoing personality to his first head coaching job in replacing Maurice Heard, who coached the team for 10 years before getting into administration.
Heard’s record of 24-74 makes him the winningest coach at a program that has experienced just one winning season and one playoff berth since Tuskegee Institute High, South Macon and D.C. Wolfe merged into Booker T. Washington in 1991. O’Neal was raised in a football program known for winning -- his father Jackie won 241 games at Reeltown -- but was attracted to a program that has never won.
“It was really just the kids,” O’Neal said. “Every summer, I would go to Frank Walker’s camp (in Tuskegee) and sit down and talk to coach Heard about the football team. I just always saw talent at Booker T. Washington. From praying on it and talking it over with my family, we decided that if we take the knowledge we have and the ability God has given us and get behind these kids, we can do something special in a town that really needs something special done.”
He was a special player for his father at Reeltown, taking a team to the finals in 2000 and returning in 2001 with one of the most impressive teams in central Alabama history. The Rebels went 14-1 with the younger O’Neal at quarterback (and safety), losing to Maplesville 14-13 early in the year, the only time in the regular season a team scored more than one touchdown on the defense. Reeltown avenged the loss by thumping Maplesville in the semifinals, then destroyed Notasulga 46-6 in the championship game.
The elder O’Neal, who coached the Rebels to 25 playoff appearances in 28 years, took six teams to the finals, including two led by L.A. O’Neal.
“He’s got a great football mind,” Browning said. “He played quarterback in high school and really understands the offensive side of the ball. But in college, he played on the defensive side of the ball so he also has a great mind for defense.”
O’Neal, who played in the secondary for Western Kentucky, said his goal was to create a Booker T. Washington team that was a “disciplined ballclub that plays fast and physical. We want to make sure we don’t beat ourselves with penalties, we want to make sure we line up in the correct place and we want to know our assignment so we can play fast and impose our will on people when we get to the ball.”
He first arrived at Pike Road High in 2019, where he served as head coach of the middle school program before he was elevated to defensive coordinator of the high school team this past season.
“He was so impressive,” Browning said. “He really elevated our defense. He’s as much a reason we had the success we did as the offense was. When you’re having more opportunities to score, you can’t put a value on that.
“He wanted to be a head coach, he wanted head coaching experience. That’s why I brought him in as the head coach of the middle school program because he wanted to do that to get some head coaching experience. He’s going to maximize Booker T. Washington. I’m excited to see what he does over there.”
Pike Road’s defense was nearly as impressive as its offense last year as the Patriots rolled through an undefeated season in its first year as a Class 5A program by forcing 29 turnovers and scoring six touchdowns with its defense.
“My biggest strength is communicating to the kids and putting it in a simple way that they can play fast and play the game the way it’s meant to be played, with a lot of joy,” said O’Neal, who has coached quarterbacks and receivers at Reeltown in addition to serving as defensive coordinator at Pike Road.
O’Neal said he will add three members to the BTW coaching staff and praised superintendent Jacqueline Brooks, principal Brelinda Sullen and athletic director A.J. Nelson for their vision in helping him create a better product on the football field.
“They’ve done everything in their power to really assure me that we’re fixing to start taking athletics to another level at BTW by being able to bring in guys that specialize in certain aspects of the game,” he said. “We want to win football games, but our main goal is to impact young men so that they can be great husbands, great fathers and great members of the community.”
GIRLS SOCCER
Montgomery Academy 1, Oak Mountain 1
BIRMINGHAM -- The MA girls team travelled to one of the best 7A schools in the state on Tuesday night and came out with a respectable tie to remain unbeaten on the season.
The Eagles took the lead midway through the first half when Alex Budny put in a great cross to Leighton Robertson who scored a header from long range. Oak Mountain scored to tie the game just before halftime. The second half saw some great soccer played from both teams, but neither team managed to break through.
“I’m proud of the girls today,” said MA coach Joseph White. “It is never easy to go to a school like Oak Mountain and get a result. Leighton scored one of the best goals I've seen in high school soccer with a header from distance after a great delivery from Alex. Although you always want to win games, I can't be upset with the tie. I hope to use this to propel us back into a tough area game vs. St. James on Thursday.”
St. James 6, Prattville Christian 0
Katie Brightwell scored four goals to lead the Trojans to a 6-0 shutout over the Panthers at Carlisle Field on Tuesday.
Haley Brightwell and Mackenzie Turner had the other two goals for St. James, while Katie Irving’s defense helped maintain the shutout.
Dodge Prim had two assists, while Katie Brightwell, Ava Card, Caroline Yancy and Hope McCain all had one assist. St. James remains home to play Montgomery Academy in an area game on Thursday, while PCA dropped to 4-3-1 with the loss.
Trinity 1, Benjamin Russell 0
ALEXANDER CITY -- Hastings Avant scored the game’s only goal as the Wildcats defeated Benjamin Russell 1-0 on Tuesday night at the Charles Bailey Sportsplex.
Goalkeeper Kaylee Peevy preserved the shutout.
BOYS SOCCER
St. James 2, Prattville Christian 1
Matthew Lisle scored the Panthers’ lone goal, but it wasn’t enough as the Trojans won 2-1 at Carlisle Field on Tuesday night. PCA dropped to 4-5 with the loss.
SOFTBALL
Catholic 7, Trinity 0
Alanna Aiken pitched a complete game one-hitter, striking out three batters, as the Knights earned a 7-0 win over the Wildcats in a 3A Area 6 game at Catholic on Tuesday.
Catholic (12-9-1) improved to 2-1 in area play with the season sweep of Trinity, while the Wildcats (3-9) dropped to 0-3 in area play with their fifth consecutive loss.
At the plate, Mallory Hildebrand had two hits and two RBIs to lead Catholic, while McKenzie Norton had two hits and scored a run, Carissa Gilbert had two hits, CeCe Crawford had two hits and Chloe Walden scored two runs.
Catholic returns to action on April 1 in a road game with 6A Robert E. Lee.
Macon East Academy 6, Lee-Scott Academy 0
AUBURN -- Taylor McKinney scattered six hits over 6.2 innings off shutout ball as the Knights defeated the Warriors 6-0 on Tuesday afternoon.
Macon East scored all the runs it would need in the second inning when Hannah Parker singled in a run to break a scoreless tie. The Knights broke open the game with three runs in the seventh inning with the help of an RBI single by Devyn Debardelaben and an RBI double by Kadence Ward.
The Knights made the most of their five hits as Debardelaben, Kylee Smith, McKinney, Ward and Parker each had hit. Macon East returns to action on Thursday with a tournament at Hooper Academy.
GIRLS TENNIS
Montgomery Academy 9, Opelika 0
The Eagles remain undefeated with a sweep in singles and doubles over section foe Opelika on the MA courts Tuesday.
Winning in singles play were Gabby Barrera, Jenna Chandler, Mae Mae Voltz, McRae Freeman, Ann Cobern Chapman and Kareena Singh. Doubles winners were Chandler-Voltz, Barrera-Freeman and Cate Peeples-MaryLee Kelso.
MA will close out section play in its final home match on Tuesday against Trinity..