Three Tennessee Valley Teams Prepare for State Championship Games

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - It’s the goal for every High School Football team across the country — winning a State Championship.

After a season unlike any other due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three teams from the Tennessee Valley have reached the final game of their respective classifications.

The Fyffe Red Devils will play in the Class 3A Super 7 Championships at Bryant-Denny Stadium on the campus of The University of Alabama against Montgomery Christian.

The Red Devils are the most dominant program in north Alabama over the last seven seasons.

Back to back State Champions in Class 2A, the Red Devils made the move to Class 3A due to the competitive advantage rule by the Alabama High School Athletic Association.

In the last seven seasons, Fyffe has reached four State Championships, five Super 7 appearances during that span.

The Red Devils enter into Thursday’s game on a 44 game winning streak. They posted six shutouts this season and have scored at least 21 points in every game but one this season, which was last week’s 14-6 win over Piedmont.

Two other teams from the Tennessee Valley will compete Friday.

The Panthers of Mars Hill Bible will play in the Class 2A Super 7 Championship against Abbeville.

The Panthers program began in 2013, reaching the playoffs for the first time in 2017. In 2018, the Panthers won a State Championship, with a State runner up finish in 2019.

“It’s just been a lot of hard work,” Mars Hill Bible Head Coach Darrell Higgins said. “It’s a total team effort a group effort. It starts with the school administration, and there’s just so many people involved.”

The Panthers success has come at the Class 1A level.

This season the program made the jump to Class 2A. They didn’t lose to any 2A team this season, beating Cullman who plays in Class 6A. Their two losses against Jasper from Class 6A and a forfeit game against American Christian who plays in Class 4A.

“We wanted to play the best people possible, to get our guys ready and prepared,” Darrell Higgins added. “That’s what we were looking for. We’ve seen good athletes, we’ve seen big people with a lot of numbers so when we go out and play somebody like Abbeville that has an outstanding football team, we’ve already went against those type of people.”

The Tigers of Fayetteville will face South Pittsburg for a TSAAA Class 1A Championship in the BlueCross Bowl. Second Year head Coach Kenny Morson is in his second season with the Tigers. Morson landed the Fayetteville position for his first Head Coaching job after being an assistant for 27 years.

“It’s a family atmosphere,” Kenny Morson said. “Made the transition easy. It’s been real special to have my son beside me, my other son is back from college with us, he’s there for every minute of it. My wife is right beside us. It’s been special, 27 years of coaching, finally to get an opportunity as a Head Coach and in our second season, having a chance to win a state championship, it’s surreal, it’s hard to put it into words.”

Copyright 2020 WAFF. All rights reserved.