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Alabama Ledger www.AlabamaLedger.com
PAGE 3B August 2023
Talented Guntersville squad hoping for return trip to State Playoffs
By Brandon K. Pierce The Sports Ledger The Asbury Football program will begin its eighth season this fall, and the Rams will be under the direction of first year head coach Matt Harris. “Defensively we’re young,” said Harris, noting that the program will have five seniors on the 2023 roster. Despite being young, Harris added that he is excited about the season, and he believes that the Rams will “come out and stand toe to toe with anybody we’re on the field with.” Asbury will be competing in Class 3A Region 7 this fall. The Rams closed out the 2022 season with a 36- 32 victory over Woodville. Asbury will try to build upon that when the 2023 season opens on Friday, August 25 against Gaston. Matt Harris to coach Asbury Rams off the Kyle Davis era on Friday, August 25 against Sardis. It will be a battle of first year head coaches, as the Lions are under the direction of new head coach BJ Brooks. DAR under leadership of new coach Kyle Davis By Brandon K. Pierce The Sports Ledger The DAR Patriots are one of four Marshall County football programs under new leadership this fall. The four schools, which equates to half of the high schools in Marshall County, include Bert Brown at Albertville, Kyle Davis at DAR, Joshua Bailey at Brindlee Mountain, and Matt Harris at Asbury. Kyle Davis is the fourth coach in as many years at DAR. “We are excited about what this year has to offer,” said Davis at the recent Marshall County Media Days. The Patriots have around a dozen student athletes returning and about the same number of players that have left the team from last season. Davis said that the Patriots have just over 40 total student-athletes on the roster, that includes several young 8th and 9th graders. DAR will be competing in Class 4A Region 8 and the program will be trying to improve upon last year’s 1-9 season. The Patriots will kick
By Brandon K. Pierce The Sports Ledger Last fall the Guntersville High School football program finished with a 9-3 overall record and reached the third round of the state playoffs. During the regular season the Wildcats ranked in the Top 10 and the program reached No. 3 after starting the year with six straight wins. This year, the Wildcats are hoping for a return trip to the playoffs and Guntersville will begin that quest when the season opens on August 25 against Southside. Despite losing some quality receivers and linemen from last year’s team and not a lot of depth this year, Guntersville has the personnel to have a successful season. This includes six returning starters on both offense and defense, as well as some talented new players. Also returning for the
program during the off- season, Browne said he has already been changing some little things and he believes that these changes “can go a long way” to help build a new and better program in Albertville. “We’re trying to change the culture,” he said. “We’re going to work hard and have discipline.” be competing in Class 5A Region 7 and will be focused on one game at a time in what may be a competitive region this fall. The Wildcats’ Region foes include Douglas, Boaz, Scottsboro, Arab and Sardis. The Wildcats open the season on Friday, August Guntersville also has a tall group of wide receivers, including four players who are 6’ 3” or taller. Guntersville will
25 at Southside, and it will mark the start of the 14th season for Guntersville head coach Lance Reece. “It’s an honor to play for Coach Reese,” said E.J. Havis at the recent Marshall County Media Day. Teammate Dale
Wildcats this season will be running back Julyan Jordan who has reportedly received an offer to play college football at Mississippi State. Browne trying to change culture at Albertville Since taking over the Albertville will Peterson even compared the Wildcats coach to Alabama head coach Nick Saban. “He doesn’t show off and I really respect him,” added Eli Morrison. Photos by Brandon K. Pierce, The Sports Ledger Guntersville Senior Cheerleaders
By Brandon K. Pierce The Sports Ledger Building a quality and winning high school football program is not an easy task and trying to change the culture of a program may be even more difficult. However, this is exactly what first year Albertville head coach Bert Browne is trying to do.
Browne also said his team is going to learn to do things the right way and that the Aggies will be prepared for competition this fall. “I have asked a lot of these kids this summer,” he said. Overall, the first-year coach has been impressed with the young men that have stuck out the coaching transition. “It says a lot about them,” commented Brown.
be competing in Class 7A Region 4 and trying to rebound from a 1-9 season last fall. “We are 7A and we’ve got to go out and play a 7A schedule, and that’s what we’re going to do,” added Browne. The Aggies will open the season at Arab on August 24. Albertville will
return home the following week to host rival Boaz. The region part of the schedule starts in week three with a home game against Florence and it will be the first of seven straight region match-ups. Albertville is set to conclude the regular season on November 3 with a home game against the Guntersville Wildcats.
Courtesy of Armando Munoz with Munoz Schools
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