High school football returned to Alabama Thursday night, and it delivered a little bit of everything — a marquee statewide showcase, a coastal rivalry decided in the final two minutes, weather delays that suspended multiple games, and a coaching change that landed just one day before kickoff.
The headline attraction was the AHSAA Kickoff Classic in Phenix City, where new coach Cody Flournoy’s Central-Phenix City Red Devils hosted reigning Class 7A state champion Thompson. On the Eastern Shore, rivals Daphne and Spanish Fort met for the 14th California Dreaming Bowl, while Parker traveled to face Vestavia Hills and Benjamin Russell was scheduled to meet Alabama quarterback commit Kingston Preyear and Mae Jemison in Huntsville.
Thompson Rolls Past Central-Phenix City in Kickoff Classic
Thompson dominated the second half of the AHSAA Kickoff Classic to beat Central-Phenix City 41-14, a rematch of last fall’s Class 7A state semifinal, which Thompson also won, 35-34.
The first half was tight. Central sophomore Braylen Averett hauled in a 43-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 14-14, and receiver Mike Bass made a highlight-reel catch to help set up another Red Devils score. But Thompson answered before halftime on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Trent Seaborn to CJ Cowley, taking a 21-14 lead into the break. At the half, Alabama commit Seaborn was 9-of-14 for 198 yards and three touchdowns, while Georgia State commit Bobby Coleman was 9-of-14 for 148 yards and a score for Central.
From there, it was all Thompson. The Warriors scored on their opening drive of the third quarter and kept adding to the lead, eventually holding Central to just 3:47 of possession time in the second half. Cowley added another touchdown run in the fourth quarter as Thompson pulled away for the 27-point win.
Spanish Fort Stuns Rival Daphne in California Dreaming Bowl
On the coast, Spanish Fort pulled off an upset over rival Daphne, winning 18-15 in the 14th edition of the California Dreaming Bowl and improving to 13-1 all-time in the series. The Toros outgained Daphne 354-188 in total yardage despite fielding a roster with just five seniors.
The game started slowly after a lightning delay pushed back kickoff. Spanish Fort led 3-0 at halftime on a 25-yard field goal from Zach Megie — the only points of a first half in which the Toros outgained Daphne 100-69. Spanish Fort coach Chase Smith, who returned to coaching after a health scare earlier this month, called the game from the press box.
Daphne, led by South Alabama commit Christian Segar, took its first lead of the night in the third quarter when Myles Hankins returned an interception for a touchdown, making it 9-3 after a missed extra point. Spanish Fort answered when JJ Thibodeaux capped a long drive with a short touchdown run, putting the Toros back on top 10-9. Daphne retook the lead 15-10 early in the fourth quarter on a Segar touchdown pass, though a two-point try failed.
Spanish Fort then drove the length of the field in the closing minutes, with Thibodeaux converting a fourth-down run to reach the Daphne 9-yard line. With 1:39 left, Thibodeaux scored on a 9-yard touchdown run and added the two-point conversion to put Spanish Fort up 18-15. Daphne got the ball back for one final chance, but Segar was intercepted on fourth down near midfield to seal the win for the Toros.
Vestavia Hills Handles Parker; Weather Wreaks Havoc Elsewhere
Vestavia Hills built an early lead behind multiple touchdowns from Charlie Taaffe and held off Parker for a 32-14 win.
Weather was the story in several other games. In Huntsville, the Benjamin Russell-Mae Jemison matchup at Alabama A&M was postponed after a transformer blew near the stadium, leaving it too dark to play; coaches hope to reschedule the game for a Week 10 open date for both teams. Nearby, North Jackson led Grissom 19-6 late in the first half when that game was suspended for the night amid repeated lightning delays; it is expected to resume in Week 11. Elsewhere around the state, East Limestone at Ardmore and Elkmont at Tanner were both postponed to Friday, and Lauderdale County at Lexington was delayed deep into the night before resuming the second half shortly after 10 p.m.
Other Opening Night Storylines
St. John Paul II opened its season against Whitesburg Christian just a day after coach Kevin Creehan resigned, saying the job was “no longer the right fit” for him. Whitesburg Christian went on to win big, leading 35-0 when that game was called.
Earlier in the day, the two-time defending national champion Central-Phenix City flag football team opened its season with a 38-0 win over Montgomery Catholic, extending its winning streak to 58 straight games.
In other statewide news that shaped the week leading into the opener, the AHSAA’s Central Board of Control voted Wednesday to lift restrictive probation from the Pell City football program, restoring the Panthers’ playoff eligibility.
Thursday’s Final Scores
- Thompson 41, Central-Phenix City 14
- Spanish Fort 18, Daphne 15
- Vestavia Hills 32, Parker 14
- American Christian 28, Northridge 14
- Carroll-Ozark 31, Rehobeth 24
- Childersburg 35, B.B. Comer 6
- Cleburne Co. 21, Etowah 0
- Cleveland 37, Susan Moore 0
- Cordova 48, Oakman 7
- Gaston 36, Spring Garden 12
- Greenville 44, Hillcrest-Evergreen 20
- Hope-Oxford 48, Donoho 7
- Huffman 41, Hazel Green 3
- Ider 34, Valley Head 0
- Lincoln 36, Talladega 29
- Ramsay 35, Jackson-Olin 13
- Randolph 47, Pisgah 0
- St. Clair Co. 34, Gardendale 7
- Thorsby 46, Jemison 20
- Trinity 26, Bibb Co. 16
- Wadley 46, Horseshoe Bend 13
- Whitesburg Chr. 35, St. John Paul 0
Postponed or suspended: Benjamin Russell at Mae Jemison (postponed, date to be announced); East Limestone at Ardmore and Elkmont at Tanner (both postponed to Friday); North Jackson at Grissom (suspended, to resume Week 11); and Lauderdale Co. at Lexington, which resumed its second half at 10:10 p.m. after a weather delay.
The California Dreaming Bowl rivalry
The 14th California Dreaming Bowl Between Daphne and Spanish Fort is one of the Eastern Shore’s most reliable football traditions, a crosstown-rivalry game that draws a crowd regardless of either team’s record because the communities are close enough that the bragging rights land at work and at church the next day. Spanish Fort’s 13-1 all-time series lead is a measure of the Toros’ recent program strength, and the 18-15 upset — decided on a fourth-down conversion and a two-point play in the final 1:39 — is the kind of finish that defines a rivalry for a school year. That the Toros did it with a roster of just five seniors makes the result look less like an off-night for Daphne and more like a program that is ahead of its age.
Why the Kickoff Classic matters
The AHSAA Kickoff Classic in Phenix City is the state’s marquee season-opening showcase, pairing ranked programs in a neutral-site spectacle that doubles as a barometer for the year. Thompson, the reigning Class 7A champion, using the Classic to dispatch Central-Phenix City 41-14 — a rematch of a 35-34 semifinal — is a statement that the defending champs intend to stay on top, and the Warriors’ second-half domination (holding Central to 3:47 of possession) is the stat that should worry the rest of 7A. For Alabama fans, the quarterback line — Thompson’s Trent Seaborn, an Alabama commit, throwing for 198 yards and three scores in a half — is the recruiting subplot that travels beyond the scoreboard.
Weather and the opening-week chaos
The lightning delays and transformer failure that scrambled openers across the state are a familiar Alabama August hazard: heat, humidity and pop-up storms that do not respect a kickoff. Benjamin Russell-Mae Jemison postponed after a transformer blew near the stadium; North Jackson-Grissom suspended in the first half; several games pushed to Friday or deep into the night. For coaches and athletic directors, the first week is as much a logistics test as a football one, and the postponed and suspended games — some resuming in Week 10 or 11 — mean the opening “week” stretches well past seven days. The chaos is part of the sport’s rhythm in a state where thunderstorms own the late afternoon.
The storylines beyond the scoreboard
Thursday’s opener carried human-interest notes that had nothing to do with X’s and O’s: a coaching change at St. John Paul II one day before kickoff, a 58-game flag-football winning streak at Central-Phenix City, and the AHSAA board lifting Pell City’s playoff probation. Those threads are the connective tissue of a season preview — the programs on the rise, the sanctions lifted, the staffs in flux — and they give readers a sense of the year before it actually starts. The final-scores list, with its 30-plus results, is the raw evidence that Alabama high school football, in week one, is already in full swing across every corner of the state.
The recruiting ripple effect
Beyond the scoreboard, opening night is when Alabama’s football-crazy fan base takes the measure of next year’s college prospects, and the Kickoff Classic is the brightest stage for that. Thompson’s Trent Seaborn, an Alabama commit, and Central-Phenix City’s Bobby Coleman, a Georgia State commit, are exactly the names recruit-watchers track, and their opening-night stat lines feed the year-round evaluation cycle. For the Eastern Shore, the Daphne-Spanish Fort game may lack that national spotlight, but it matters just as much locally, where a rivalry win can define a senior class and a coaching staff. The state’s football economy — recruits, rankings, regional pride — starts turning on nights like this one.
