The 2022 season begins this week with a partial schedule of games. Here are a few tidbits entering the season.

   *  We are back with for our sixteenth season of covering high school football in Alabama. Once again we will be releasing a weekly 'Tidbits and Records' article. We do ask that if you see something wrong on the website pertaining to a game score please let us know and it will be corrected. Thanks to all the fans who constantly work to assist me with this project throughout the year.

   *  There are some of amazing matchups to open the 2022 football season. Buford GA will be visiting Thompson in a key game with national implications. Buford has long been a powerhouse in Georgia and this year is no exception. High School Football America national preseason high school football rankings have Buford ranked as the No. 3 team in the USA. Thompson comes in at No. 17. It will be a tall task for the Warriors to defeat Buford. Thompson actually plays three teams this season who won state titles last year. In week two they take on defending Tennessee champions Lipscomb Academy coached by former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer. Then later in the season they play 6A champion Clay-Chalkville.

   *  The preseason polls are out and we have a few notes. Gulf Shores, the No. 8 team in 5A, is ranked for the first time in school history. Spring Garden enters the season as the #2 team in 1A and that is the highest the school has ever been ranked in any classification. St. James is the #6 team in 3A and that is the highest they have been ranked since the 1985 football season.

   *  Hoover has been ranked by the ASWA for an amazing 249 consecutive polls dating back to the 2000 season. The Bucs open the 2022 season as the #5 team in 7A and face an excellent team in Auburn at the AHSAA Kickoff Classic in Montgomery.

   *  Fyffe saw their string of fifty-one consecutive victories halted last season against Geraldine. This year the Clay-Chalkville Cougars will kickoff the 2022 football season with the state's longest winning streak having won fifteen straight games. Pike Road and Sweet Water are just behind them with 14 game streaks.

   *   Barbour County ended their sixty-six game losing streak without playing a game in 2021. The Jaguars received a forfeit from Stewart County GA in the first game of the season. Columbia now holds onto the longest losing streak at 62 straight contests. They could surpass the state's longest losing streak in history held by R.C. Hatch at 68 losses in a row.

   *   Lanett has a streak of 33 consecutive region wins. The Panthers open region play in a couple of weeks. American Christian (28), Mars Hill (26) and Spring Garden (26) are the next three schools with long region winning streaks.

   *   Brindlee Mountain has lost 56 consecutive region games but do not begin region play for a couple of weeks. Barbour County has lost 51 straight region contests.

   *  The Pike Road Patriots have won 29 straight regular season games. The Brantley Bulldogs are just behind with a string of 24 consecutive regular season wins.

   *   Mars Hill enters the 2022 season with a string of 34 consecutive home wins.

   *   Guntersville holds onto the longest road winning streak having won 12 consecutive road games.

   *   Maplesville has the longest current streak of season opening victories with a string of 17 consecutive wins. Jackson has won their last 14 season openers.

   *   Gordo will try to extend their streak of 29 straight winning seasons. Gordo has won at least nine games in the last eight seasons so they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The Green Wave last suffered through a losing season way back in 1992 when they finished with a 4-6 record. Oneonta owns the longest streak all-time when they won more games than they lost every year between 1956-1994. Demopolis (27) and Opelika (26) are not far behind.

   *   Fyffe tied an obscure record by winning ten games last year. They broke a tie for second place with Hazlewood (1987-96) and Hoover (2008-17) with ten consecutive seasons with at least ten wins. They have an opportunity to set a new record by surpassing Russellville (2000-10) for the most ten win seasons in a row.

   *   Fyffe hopes to avoid the dreaded shutout and extend their streak of consecutive games scoring. They are currently sitting on a string of 291 games without being shutout. T.R. Miller sits atop this list with a string of 354 games.

   *   The Luverne Tigers will be working hard to extend their string of qualifying for the playoffs to 40 consecutive seasons with third year coach Jason Rowell. He is the eighth different coach during the streak. The last time they did not qualify for the playoffs was way back in 1982.

   *   Vina has suffered through thirty-one consecutive losing seasons. The Red Devils finished last year with a 0-10 record. That is the second longest in history behind only R.C. Hatch with a string of 36 straight losing seasons.

   *   No less than eight different coaches will be in search of their 100th win as a head football coach once the season opens. All have over 90 victories during their careers.

Team approaching the 500 win club
  497  -  Clarke County  (497-465-55)
  493  -  Southern Choctaw  (493-363-24)
  492  -  Dora  (492-443-29)
  492  -  Greensboro  (492-424-37)

Coaches approaching the 100 win club
  99  -  Ryan Lolley (Northridge)  (99-18)
  99  -  Jack French (Faith Academy)  (92-48) - Also won 195 games in Mississippi
  99  -  Bobby Parrish (Cottage Hill Christian)  (99-63)
  98  -  Lance Reese (Guntersville)  (98-37)
  96  -  Lee Ozmint (Arab)  (96-50)
  93  -  Jonathan Miller (Saks)  (93-28)
  93  -  Patrick Plott (Carroll)  (93-41)
  92  -  Steven Kilcrease (Ariton)  (92-38)