WEEK 3 PREVIEWS: Week 3 begins with two Thursday games, four more on Friday

Story By Jason Bowen

Week 3 of the 2025 high school football season gets started early with two games set for Thursday night and four more on Friday.

Every Jackson County team will be playing region contests this week. Here is a look at all six games involving Jackson County teams.  All series records are courtesy of the Alabama High School Football Historical Society (ahsfhs.org). Here is a look at Week 3’s games:

NORTH JACKSON at ST. JOHN PAUL II

Class 4A No. 10-ranked North Jackson makes the first of two trips to Huntsville for region games this season when they take on St. John Paul II in Class 4A Region 8 play.

The game is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Joe Davis Stadium in Huntsville. St John Paul II began playing its home games this season at the newly renovated former home of the Minor League Baseball team Huntsville Stars. Spectators should note that the City of Huntsville has a clear bag policy for Joe Davis Stadium.  

Thursday’s game will be televised statewide by Alabama Public Television (APT) as part of APT’s and AHSAA’s weekly game broadcast partnership.

North Jackson head coach Joe Hollis Jr. said the Chiefs called the opportunity to play at Joe Davis Stadium and in front of statewide television audience “exciting” for the program.

It’s the 10th all-time meeting between the teams in a series North Jackson leads 6-3. The Chiefs have won four of the last five meetings, including a 40-7 victory in Stevenson a year ago on its way to winning the region championship.

North Jackson (2-1, 1-0) opened region play last week with 40-28 win over Madison County, bolting to a 34-6 lead before the Tigers made a late push against the Chiefs’ reserves. The  win was North Jackson’s 12 victory in its last 13 region contests.

“I was really happy with how we played last week, especially in the first half,” Hollis said. “We executed in all three phases of the game.”

The coach said North Jackson cannot let up just because it started region play on such a good note.

“We don’t look ahead,” Hollis said. “We’ve just got to go 1-0 everyday in practice to put us in position to go 1-0 in the game.”

Meanwhile, St. John Paul (1-2, 0-2) is looking to snap a two-game losing skid. The Falcons opened the season with a 62-27 non-region win over Elkmont before losing region games to Madison County 41-24 and Westminster Christian 35-17.

This is the first season since 2019 that the Falcons have the same head coach (Kevin Creehan) as the previous season, which Hollis said has benefited the Falcons.

“Coach Creehan has done a good job with them. You can tell they’re really improved from last season,” said Hollis, whose father Joe Hollis Sr. coached with Creehan’s father at the college level. “I’ve known Kevin for a long time and he’s a really good coach.”

CEDAR BLUFF at NORTH SAND MOUNTAIN

NSM hosts the Tigers in a key Class 2A Region 7 showdown a night earlier than scheduled when the teams meet Thursday at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Dobbins Field in Higdon.

NSM head coach Jay Lipscomb said the game was moved due to a referee shortage within the official association it uses.

“They started texting on Saturday seeing if there were any teams that could move their game, and I talked to (Cedar Bluff) coach (Garrett) Crane and we decided we could,” Lipscomb said.

It’s the 11th meeting between the teams in a series NSM leads 7-3. NSM has won the last six meetings, including a 21-20 overtime win last season in which it converted a game-winning two-point conversion on the game’s final play. It’s also a matchup of teams that currently share the lead in the region standings with Pisgah.

NSM (3-0, 1-0) is off to its best start since its 2020 region-championship winning season. After posting non-region wins over Woodville 53-7 and Ider 43-0, the Bison went on the road and routed Sand Rock 41-0 to start region play, avenging a 16-0 loss to the Wildcats a season ago.

“After losing that game last year, this was a way better way to start region play,” Lipscomb said. “It’s really important to get off to a good start in the region. The kids played a clean game and played motivated and physical. We had a really good week of practice. We’ve got to have that this week.”

Meanwhile, Cedar Bluff (2-1, 1-0) opened its season with a 38-19 win over Valley Head before falling 53-6 to Class 3A No. 10 Collinsville. The Tigers began region play last week with a 42-20 victory at home against Gaston as Gaylesville transfer Kuper Bradley completed 12 of 14 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns — his top target was Dylan McDaniel for 133 yards and two scores on five receptions — while running back Kadein Tracy rushed for 114 yards and three scores on 11 carries, according to a report from Weisradio.com

“The quarterback makes them go and they’ve got some really good running backs. Cedar Bluff scores on a lot of big plays. We can’t let them make big plays, but we’ve got be physical in the box too because we can’t let them just consistently get four and five yards either,” Lipscomb said.

The Bison offense accounted for 428 total yards in last week’s win and Lipscomb said NSM must make plays “running and throwing” against the Cedar Bluff defense.

DOUGLAS at SCOTTSBORO

Scottsboro returns to Trammel Stadium Friday (7 p.m.) for a Class 5A Region 8 clash with high-scoring Douglas.

It’s the sixth all-time matchup between the teams in a series Scottsboro leads 5-0, including a 45-13 victory at DHS last season on its way to winning the region championship.

Douglas (2-0, 0-0) comes into the game averaging 52 points per game following a 41-16 win over Susan Moore and a 62-34 victory over fellow 5A non-region opponent Hayden. Conversely, Scottsboro’s defense enters the contest allowing just 9.3 points per game.

“Something’s got to give this week,” said Scottsboro head coach Tyler Vann.

Douglas plays two quarterbacks, junior Krish Petal and sophomore Baker Lyles, who is the son of head coach Brandon Lyles. Patel is 7-of-9 passing for 157 yards and two touchdowns while Baker Lyles is more a of a dual-threat option having throwing for 40 yards on 2 of 4 attempts and a touchdown and rushing for 196 yards and six touchdowns on 10 carries.

“It’s not a completely different type of offense when (depending on the quarterback) that’s in,” Vann said. “They do similar things.”

Sophomore running back Keilan Green has rushed for 333 yards and five touchdowns on 21 carries for the Eagles while sophomore Treiy Crenshaw has seven receptions for 174 yards and three scores.

“They’ve got some spread on defense. We’ve got to keep them hemmed up. They’re young at the skill positions but they make plays. They’re offensive line lost some guys put they’ve been really good. Defensively, I’m excited about this defensive group. We’re playing fast, physical and flying to the ball. The weight room has much such a difference on that side of the ball and I think our guys are realizing that.”

Meanwhile, Scottsboro (2-1, 1-0) opened region play last Friday with a 41-7 victory over previously unbeaten Boaz. 

Along with the Wildcats’ strong defensive effort, Scottsboro got another big performance in the rushing game from Jacobi Edmondson (227 yards) and Jayden Gilbert (65) while sophomore quarterback Colton Harding had his best passing performance of the season, going 8-of-10 for 115 with two touchdown passes to Edmondson (four catches for 70 yards).

“Colton hit some swing passes and some throws down field — that’s going to help loosen up the front we see,” Vann said. “He’s getting better every week.”

PLEASANT VALLEY at PISGAH

Pisgah’s Sam Kenimer Stadium will be the site for a Class 2A Top-5 showdown Friday night (7 p.m.) when the third-ranked Eagles host No. 5 Pleasant Valley in a Region 7 matchup.

It’s the just the third all-time meeting between the teams, all of which have come in the past three seasons. Pisgah defeated the Raiders 44-20 in a Class 2A first-round playoff game in 2023 and the Eagles also won last season’s region game 52-6 on the way to winning the region championship.

Pisgah rebounded from its season-opening 60-28 loss to Class 3A No. 5-ranked Fyffe with a 52-6 region win over county rival Section. 

Pisgah head coach Adam Gilbert was proud of the Eagles’ response to their season-opening defeat. 

“That’s what we expect out of these kids,” said Gilbert, who picked up his first win as the head coach at his alma mater with last week’s victory. “They’re winners, they work hard and they came out and played hard. I like where we’re at. I like how we responded.”

Meanwhile, Pleasant Valley is off to a 3-0 start after posting non-region wins over West End 33-0, Class 1A No. 10 Spring Garden 40-7 and Donoho 55-0, tying the program record for largest margin of victory history.

Quarterback/linebacker Braxton Salster is the Raiders main threat. According to a report by The Anniston Star, the junior ran for 98 yards and three touchdowns on just four carries against Donoho while also completing 6 of 7 passes for 73 yards and a 24-yard touchdown to Hudson Sparks.

“The quarterback is a really good player,” Gilbert said. “They’ve got some good backs too. Schematically they’re a lot of like us. They give you a lot of different looks. They try to get your eyes looking in different places. 

“Defensively, they run a 4-3, but they’ve had a different defensive game plan both times they’ve played us (the last two seasons), so they force you to have to prepare for a lot of stuff.”

Both teams carry winning streaks in region play into the matchup. Pisgah has won eight consecutive region games dating back to Week 9 of the 2023 season — the Eagles have won 23 of their last 25 region games (both losses to eventual state champion Fyffe) dating back to the 2021 campaign — while Pleasant Valley has won five consecutive region games dating back to last season’s loss to Pisgah.

SECTION at SAND ROCK

A pair of Collinsville alums will lead their teams into battle at Sand Rock — a long-time Collinsville rival — Friday night in a Class 2A Region 7 matchup.

“That sounds odd,” joked Section head coach Riley Edwards.

The game is Friday at 7 p.m. at Sand Rock’s Russell Jacoway Stadium. It’s the 25 meeting between the teams in a series Sand Rock leads 19-3-2. The Wildcats have won the last four meetings, including a 35-6 win a year ago.

While Edwards is entering his third season at Section, Sand Rock is in its first season under the direction of Tanner Nelson, a former Collinsville assistant who was the head coach at Sylvania last season before accepting the job at Sand Rock in May.

Edwards, a former teacher/coach at Collinsville, coached Nelson in both football and baseball. He said both teams run a lot of “Collinsville concepts” in different ways.

“We’re stronger in some areas and they’re stronger in some areas, so it comes down to who can use their strengths best.”

Sand Rock (0-3, 0-1) opened its season with non-region losses to Class 1A No. 10 Spring Garden 44-28 and West End 33-14 before losing its region opener at home last Friday 41-0 to North Sand Mountain. 

Meanwhile, Section (0-3, 0-1) is looking to rebound after falling 52-6 to Class 2A No. 3-ranked Pisgah.

“I felt like the first two weeks we made progress, but that didn’t happen (last Friday,” Edwards said. “We’ve got to get our mistakes fixed, but I think we’ve got kids that will accept (the coaching) and respond the right way and keep growing.”

SPRING GARDEN at WOODVILLE

A pair of Class 1A Region 8 co-leaders will face off Friday at 7 p.m. when Woodville hosts  No. 10-ranked Spring Garden at Frazier Field 

It’s the 14th all-time meeting between the teams in a series Spring Garden leads 13-0, including a 48-0 victory a year ago on its way to wining the region championship during Spring Garden’s 11-1, region-title winning season.

Woodville (2-1, 1-0) opened the region play with a 43-7 victory over host Ider, a second straight convincing win for the Panthers after losing its season opener at undefeated Class 2A NSM.

Woodville head coach Joel Poole said he is “proud of how they responded” following that season-opening setback.

“We tweaked a few things but mostly they’ve just came together and been playing well as a unit,” he said. “I’m proud of the strides we’ve made.”

Meanwhile, Spring Garden (2-1, 1-0) opened its season with a 44-28 win over Sand Rock and a 40-7 loss to Class 2A No. 6 Pleasant Valley before topping visiting Ragland 52-33 in both team’s region opener last Friday. Per a report from Weisradio.com, Spring Garden quarterback Brady Ruark rushed for 176 yards and two scores on 18 carries and was 6-of-7 passing for 89 yards and two scores during the victory while Ben Baker ran for 129 yards and three scores on 13 carries while also catching two touchdown passes.

“The quarterback, I was really impressed with him,” Poole said of Spring Garden’s Ruark. “He’s not real big, but he’s fast and quick. They have design runs for him, but he’s also really good at ad-libbing on plays. They’ve got three or four backs that can go the distance on you. Their offensive line is really solid, fundamentally sound. Same way on defense. Just a well-coached football team. It’ll be a major challenge for us. I’m looking forward to seeing how the kids respond to it.”