Alabama High School Football History (2024)

The best 7A football teams will still be the usual four suspects in Thompson, Central Phenix City and Auburn along with newcomer MGM. If we include Hoover in the mix, since the 2017 football season only three teams, Lee Montgomery (2018), McGill-Toolen (2017) and MGM last year have reached the semi-finals that were not one of those four teams. Think about that. Of the 24 teams that reached the semi-finals only three were not one of the top four programs in 7A.

Central lost a ton of talent on defense but will welcome back one of the best quarterbacks in the state in Andrew Alford along with a couple of excellent receivers. Thompson also has a star at QB in Trent Seaborn while Hillcrest will rely on the magic of Bryson Kimbrough. I like teams with returning quarterbacks.

Auburn will depend on Sophom*ore sensation Omar Mabson at running back and transfer athlete Peyton Plott when the season opens. The Tiger's defense will also be a strong point of the team.

Mary Montgomery was the Cinderella team of 2023 and will be out to prove they were not a one hit wonder. We do not think they were. While most fans talked about their explosive offense it was the defense that was most impressive.

So basically it will be more of the same in 7A. Regions one and four have just one team that has even won a state title since the playoffs began. That team was Daphne.

It is really difficult to get this top ten down to just ten teams. Several others should have been on the list including Dothan High and Vestavia Hills. We may be totally wrong about the Hoover Bucs but decided to install them back in the Top Ten although it may not be permanently.

Not far behind is Vestavia Hill who will open with Carver Montgomery and Auburn then host Clay-Chalkville to close out the regular season. Both schools reside in Region 3, which is arguably one of the toughest regions in any classification, making their region schedule difficult to navigate also.

Opelika takes on Benjamin Russell, Callaway, Georgia (9-3) and Pike Road in non-region play. The Bulldogs also play eight playoff teams from last year. One note here is that all the schools on the weighted schedule list are in Regions two and three.

The easiest schedules? Those belong to Huntsville, Foley and James Clemens in 7A.

Hillcrest joins 7A this year and comes in at number four on the list. This will be their first adventure into 7A but they should be more than a little competitive.