WEEK 9 PREVIEWS: Region implications in NSM-Pisgah rivalry
North Jackson, Section play region games with playoff implications; Woodville hosts Gaylesville for Homecoming
Story By Jason Bowen
Region play concludes for four Jackson County teams this week, which also includes the county’s most played rivalry.
North Sand Mountain hosts Pisgah in the 55th meeting between the schools, and this year’s matchup has major implications in the Class 2A Region 7 championship race. Meanwhile, North Jackson and Randolph play for the No. 3 seed in Class 4A Region 8 while Woodville hosts Gaylesville for Homecoming and Section hosts state-ranked Pleasant Valley. Scottsboro, fresh off a region-championship clinching win over Arab, is on a bye in Week 9.
Here is a look at the four games this week involving Jackson County teams (Section is off this week). All series records are courtesy of the Alabama High School Football Historical Society (ahsfhs.org):
PISGAH at NORTH SAND MOUNTAIN
The stakes are always high when archrivals North Sand Mountain and Pisgah square off on the football field. But their 2025 meeting perhaps boosts an all-time high stakes moment, with potential regional championship possibilities for the winner.
The 55th all-time meeting between the schools — they have played every season since 1975 — is set for Friday at 7 p.m. at NSM’s Lloyd Dobbins Field in Higdon. Pisgah leads the all-time series 37-17 and has won the last four meetings after NSM won four straight in the series from 2017-20.
No. 5-ranked Pisgah (6-2, 5-0) can clinch a second consecutive Class 2A Region 7 championship with a win this week. Meanwhile, No. 10 NSM (7-1, 4-1) can keep its region title hopes alive with a victory. An NSM win and a Pleasant Valley loss at Section would give the Bison the region championship. A NSM win and Pleasant Valley win however, would force a three-way tie for the top spot in the region between NSM, Pisgah and Pleasant Valley, meaning AHSAA tiebreakers would be used to determine the region champion and top-three playoff seeds at the conclusion of Week 10.
“It’s always a big game when Pisgah and North Sand Mountain play, so but a little more two it. It’s a region championship game. Our guys are excited about it. We want to control our own destiny and keep the (region) crown,” said first-year Pisgah head Gilbert, a PHS alum who was NSM’s head coach from 2010-13 and joins Shawn Peek as the only head coaches two serve in that role at both schools.
“North Sand Mountain and (then principal) Chris Davis gave me a chance when nobody else would. It’s a special place to me. Still got a lot of friends there. But to no one, none of that matters Friday night. It’s Pisgah and NSM and that’s always big no matter what.”
Pisgah is coming off a 48-6 win over Gaston and has won four straight since a loss at undefeated Class 4A No. 7-ranked Plainview. Gilbert is “happy where” the Eagles are entering the showdown with their rival.
“The last few weeks we’ve changed up how we practice and have just been focusing on Pisgah and I think it’s really paid off,” he said.
Meanwhile, NSM is coming off its first loss of the season, a 42-27 region setback at No. 6 Pleasant Valley. NSM head coach Jay Lipscomb said the Bison spent the offseason working on their “mental toughness” and now is the time to put that on display.
“You’re going to face adversity at some point — it’s all about how you respond,” said Lipscomb, who has led NSM to its best start in program history.
Lipscomb said the Bison’s defense, which has surrendered just 62 points this season, must contain Pisgah’s speed and maintain offensive possessions to keep Pisgah’s offense of the field.
“They’ve got a lot of fast guys that can make plays,” he said. “We’ve got to keep them contained. We’ve got to sustain drives on offense, get first downs and win the time of possession battle. It’s (a big game), but we’ve got to do the little things right that win all games.”
Gilbert said the Bison have been impressive this season.
“They’re scoring a lot of points and stopping people, and probably the biggest thing that sticks out is their confidence,” he said. “Hats off to their coaches for getting them to play with the confidence, because we as coaches always want our teams to play with confidence. Coach Lipscomb and his coaches have their guys playing well, so we know we’ll have to play well.”
NORTH JACKSON at RANDOLPH
It’s another late-season showdown with big region implications for North Jackson and Randolph.
This season, the winner of Friday’s Class 4A Region 8 matchup locks up the region’s No. 3 playoff seed while the loser will be the region’s No. 4 seed.
The game is Friday at 7 p.m. at Randolph’s SportsMed Field in Huntsville. It’s the 12th meeting between the teams in a series North Jackson leads 7-4. The Chiefs won last year’s clash 28-26 to seal the region title.
North Jackson (5-3, 4-2) got back in the win column last week, defeating Westminster Christian 34-16 at home to officially clinch a playoff berth, its Jackson County-leading 33rd all-time since the Bridgeport and Stevenson high schools consolidated in 1988.
While the Chiefs were glad to get the win, head coach Joe Hollis Jr. said they weren’t happy with the performance.
“There were some things we were pleased with, but we kind of slept walked our way through it early a little bit, didn’t have the right energy and didn’t execute like we should. Proud to win but we’ve got to play to our standard. We don’t care about playoffs. We’re focused on going 1-0 everyday in practice and going 1-0 against Randolph Friday because that’s all that matters.”
Randolph (4-4, 4-2) has won four of its last five games, including a 38-14 triumph at Madison County last week to clinch a playoff spot. Hollis credited the Randolph coaching staff for navigating the Raiders through heavy roster losses from last season.
“Coach (David) Lloyd is a super smart football coach and he and his coaching staff do a great job,” Hollis said. “They’re balanced, but they’re more on the run side this year, playing physical. He does a good job adapting to his players, but in the end he’s going to try to get his best players in space and it’s our job to get them down. It’s going to be a physical war. This game is like most in our region, the offensive and defense lines that play the best probably wins.”
GAYLESVILLE at WOODVILLE
The Panthers will try to get back to their winning ways when they close out Class 1A Region 8 play this week.
The Panthers, who have already locked up the region’s No.2 seed and the right to host a first-round playoff game, host Gaylesville on Homecoming at Frazier Field Friday at 7 p.m.
It’s the 20th all-time meeting between the teams in a series Gaylesville leads 13-6. Gaylesville is one of two teams, Valley Head being the other, that Woodville has played every season since beginning its football program in 2006.
Woodville (6-2, 4-1) suffered a 62-7 loss at No. 8-ranked and undefeated Appalachian in the what essentially a region championship game between the teams. The loss ended Woodville’s program-record six-game winning steak.
“It was frustrating. Surprised by it. Made a bunch of mistakes, had three of four turnovers, and Appalachian is really good, so it made for a recipe for disaster,” said Woodville head coach Joel Poole. “We’ve got to get back to doing what we’ve been doing. Learn from this, put it in our back pocket and move on because we’ve still got games we can win and we get to host a playoff game. There’s still a whole lot left we can do.”
Gaylesville (3-5, 1-4) is coming off 41-20 loss to Ragland and have dropped four of their last five games. But Poole said the Trojans’ record is deceiving.
“Their record doesn’t indicate how good they hard,” he said. “They’re going to try to pound you. They run right at you and are physical. I’ve been impressed with how their line comes off the ball. You’ve got to be physical against them.”
PLEASANT VALLEY at SECTION
The Lions close out Class 2A Region 7 play by hosting No. 6-ranked Pleasant Valley.
The game is set Friday at 7 p.m. at Section Stadium. It’s the fourth all-time meeting between the teams in a series Pleasant Valley leads 3-0.
Section (2-6, 2-3) enters the contest still in contention for the region’s No. 4 playoff spot. In order to qualify for the Class 2A playoffs, the Lions must defeat Pleasant Valley and have Sand Rock lose to Gaston.
Friday’s game is also the regular-season finale for Pleasant Valley (8-1, 4-1), which could still have a shot at the region title depending on how the Pisgah-NSM game shakes out. The Raiders could set a school single-season record for wins with a victory on Friday, and they’ve won five straight games since losing 44-20 at Pisgah in Week 3. Pleasant Valley is coming off a 42-27 win over No. 7 NSM.
