Two Baldwin County programs turned Friday night upsets into top-10 rankings, as Gulf Shores and Orange Beach both climbed into the Alabama Sports Writers Association prep football polls this week.
Gulf Shores Ends a 41-Game Streak
Gulf Shores defeated Saraland 34-24, ending a 41-game home winning streak by the Spartans, who had been ranked No. 1 in Class 5A the previous week.
The win moved the Dolphins from receiving votes to No. 7 in this week’s 5A poll. They enter this week’s home game against Blount at 3-0. Saraland fell to No. 3.
A 41-game home winning streak is the kind of number that takes the better part of a decade to build and one night to end. For a Gulf Shores program that has been developing steadily, it is the sort of result that changes how opponents prepare for them.
Orange Beach Knocks Off Vigor
Orange Beach moved to 3-0 with a 21-19 win over previously No. 2-ranked Vigor, earning the Makos a No. 9 ranking in this week’s Class 4A poll. They play at LeFlore this week.
The two-point margin makes it the kind of win that turns on a single play — a conversion, a stop, a kick. Vigor dropped to No. 4 in the 5A poll.
The Region 1 Logjam
Both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach sit at 3-0 overall and 1-0 in Region 1 play, sharing first place with No. 1-ranked Williamson (2-0), also 1-0 in region play.
That three-way tie at the top is the situation worth watching over the coming weeks. Region records determine playoff qualification and seeding in Alabama, and a region containing the state’s No. 1-ranked 4A team plus two ranked programs is going to produce a tight finish.
Where Area Teams Stand
Williamson in Class 4A and Bayside Academy in Private Class A are the only area teams currently holding No. 1 rankings. McGill-Toolen in Private Class AA is the area’s only No. 2.
Joining Williamson, Vigor and Gulf Shores in the Class 5A rankings is Citronelle at No. 10, with LeFlore receiving votes but outside the top 10. Daphne is ranked No. 10 in Class 7A.
Private School Polls
Because the private classifications include fewer schools, those polls list only a top five along with others receiving votes.
Mobile Christian is No. 5 in Private Class A, with Cottage Hill receiving votes. In Private Class AA, UMS-Wright is ranked No. 5 and St. Michael received votes.
This Week’s No. 1 Teams by Classification
- 6A: Thompson
- 5A: Clay-Chalkville
- 4A: Williamson
- 3A: Plainview
- 2A: Fyffe
- 1A: Maplesville
- Private A: Bayside Academy
- Private AA: Briarwood Christian
- AISA: Patrician Academy
What the Rankings Actually Are
The ASWA poll is a media poll, voted on by sportswriters across Alabama, and it carries no formal weight in determining playoff qualification or seeding. Those are decided by region records under AHSAA rules.
What the rankings do provide is a weekly measure of how programs are regarded statewide, and they matter to players, to recruiting attention and to how a season is remembered. A team that spends a season ranked receives coverage a team that does not will never get.
The polls also move quickly. Gulf Shores went from receiving votes to No. 7 on the strength of one Friday night. Saraland dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 for the same reason.
A Strong Week for Coastal Alabama
Having two Baldwin County beach-community programs enter the top 10 in the same week is not a common occurrence.
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are among the state’s newer high school football programs relative to the established powers in Mobile County, and both serve communities whose year-round populations are smaller than those of the programs they beat.
Beating a No. 1-ranked team on its own field, where it had not lost in 41 games, and beating a No. 2-ranked team by two points, in the same night, represents a genuine shift in the regional competitive picture.
This Week
- Gulf Shores (3-0) hosts Blount
- Orange Beach (3-0) travels to LeFlore
Both games carry region implications in a Region 1 race that currently has three teams tied at the top.