Alabama
5 Takeways from Week 3 of Alabama high school football
“Oh, what a night!”
That lyric from the great Four Seasons tune referred to a special night in December, 1963, but it applies nicely to Alabama high school football on an early September night in 2024.
McKenzie and Elba set the AHSAA state record for the most points in a game, as McKenzie prevailed, 80-78, as McKenzie proved itself as a legitmate state championship contender.
Here are our 5 Takeaways from Friday’s high school football schedule in Alabama.
James Clemens had a tough task on Friday night. It hosted Bob Jones which had started the season red hot with an explosive offense. James Clemens, which has won 7A Region 4 four out of the last six years, had its hands full. What followed was an excellent football game with James Clemens winning, 34-31.
The Jets had a back and forth contest with the Patriots, but it all boiled down to a 44-yard field goal attempt for the Patriots to send the game to overtime. The Jets had different plans and blocked the field goal. The Jets have once again put themselves in the driver seat for another region title.
The Rebels from Reeltown started the season on statewide television on WOTM with their matchup drawing the TR Miller Tigers. Multiple turnovers and special teams lapses later the Rebels fell 28-7 in a game that made many people wonder how good Reeltown could be. Last week they showed everyone that it was just a bad night as they played #2 Trinity in 3A and won 20-3. Then this week in a region matchup they rolled Horseshoe Bend 61-0. Reeltown will have another region test next week with Ranburne coming in, who they have not played since 2019. With a win, Reeltown will put themselves firmly in the conversation for another region title.
Auburn had its first real test of the 2024 season with its arch-rival the Opelika Bulldogs. Opelika had already had a test and passed with a victory over Benjamin Russell in Week 1. One of the biggest rivalries in the state took place for the 99th time, at Auburn and the two teams battled throughout the whole night.
Anytime one team would score, the other team would respond. It truly was back-and-forth until Auburn finally got a stop and got the victory. These two have had some very close battles, but the Tigers have gotten the best of Opelika these last few years. The last time Opelika beat Auburn was in 2019 in a 21-13 victory in Opelika. Auburn now leads the all-time series 49-47-3. Opelika will likely have to wait till next year for another chance at their rival.
Auburn holds off Opelica, wins 99th meeting between Alabama rivals
Piedmont had a rare down season last year. After a lot of injuries and a new coach in 2023, a lot of people around the state wondered if this would be the year the Bulldogs would return to their title winning ways. While there is still a long way to go before the state title game, Piedmont has shown they have returned to being a 3A powerhouse, beating Cherokee County, a 4A power in their own right, on Friday night.
Piedmont has dominated its first two region games and, with one look at its schedule, it is very likely Piedmont rolls into the postseason with a 10-0 record. The Bulldogs will be a force come playoff time this season.
McKenzie had flew under the radar for even some of the most well researched fans and media members before the season. It started the season off with two comfortable wins over of pair 3A teams, Wilcox Central,and Prattville Christian, but it was still hard to determine if McKenzie was that good, or if their competition was just lackluster.
That changed Friday night, going on the road to face the third-ranked in Class 1A, Elba, in a big region match-up. Elba had not lost on its home field against another 1A opponent since the 2022 AHSAA playoffs.
McKenzie proved all of the doubters wrong going on the road and playing in what is now the highest scoring game in AHSAA history with a 80-78 four overtime victory over Elba. McKenzie won’t be able to celebrate for long, as Georgiana will be coming into town next week, who finished second in the region last season and is highly respected in 1A squad. But McKenzie put the state on notice, as it certainly has the offense to play with anyone in the state.
Alabama
Husband, 19, fatally shot wife, 24, himself at Alabama hospital moments after welcoming their first child
A husband fatally shot his wife before turning the gun on himself at an Alabama hospital just moments after they welcomed their first child on Sunday.
Kynath Terry Jr., 19, gunned down 24-year-old Precious Johnson before fatally shooting himself inside the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night, WTVM 13 reported.
Johnson delivered a healthy baby just before she was murdered. It’s not immediately clear if the baby was present during the shooting, but police said that Terry and Johnson were the only ones injured.
Terry’s mother told the outlet that the couple were having some marital issues leading up to Johnson’s due date, but nothing that made her fear her son would become violent.
She told the outlet that Terry completed Army National Guard training before tying the knot with Johnson.
She noted that Johnson didn’t want Terry’s side of the family at the hospital for her child’s birth, but it’s unclear if anyone from the mother-to-be’s own family was there.
The hospital was plunged into a lockdown “out of an abundance of caution” while police investigated reports of a shooting. It wasn’t lifted until hours later when they determined there was “no active threat to patients, team members or the public,” the outlet reported.
The Homewood Police Department described the tragedy as “an apparent murder-suicide and is domestic in nature.”
Danne Howard, the president of the Alabama Hospital Association, told the outlet that the chilling attack “was an isolated incident” unlike anything she’d encountered during her three decades working in the state.
Howard said, in the wake of the tragedy, the Baptist Health Brookwood Hospital would undergo a security overhaul implementing “lessons learned” from a mandated after-action report.
Just three months ago, in a town six miles outside of Homewood, a beloved sports reporter was fatally shot by her husband before taking his own life. Their 3-year-old son, who was unharmed, led his grandfather to his parents’ bodies.
Hegseth on Iran: ‘This is not Iraq. This is not endless.’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said operations on Iran won’t be “endless” like Iraq.
The United States and Israel-led attacks on Iran are having an impact in Central Alabama.
The military actions that began Saturday targets the military forces of Iran and the nation’s ability to build nuclear weapons.
In Montgomery, Maxwell Air Force Base and Gunter Annex have stepped up security so that all entry points will have a 100 percent ID check, the bases said on social media. The Trusted Traveler Program is suspended, which allowed Department of Defense identification holders to vouch for passengers.
Visitors without base access will have to go through the visitor center to get a pass.
Central Alabama residents react to the Iran attacks
For Travis Jackson of Montgomery, the attacks bring back memories, bad memories. He served one tour in Iraq from 2007-2008 with the U.S. Army. He attained the rank of sergeant before leaving the service and has worked the last 10 years as a community activist and diversity, equality and inclusion coordinator.
“I had a flashback of being overseas again,” he said when he first heard news of the attack. “The first thing I thought of was corporate greed. Of yet again seeing what has transpired throughout the years of any war overseas.”
He feels the attacks are a mistake.
“It’s going to be detrimental to the economy, notably with the increase in oil prices,” he said.
Removing the current regime in Iran and establishing a more western friendly country could improve hopes for a more stable Middle East, said Amy Stephens of Elmore County.
“I don’t know if there will ever be peace there,” Stephens said. “But Iran has been the causing trouble over there for almost 50 years.”
Ray Roberts of Prattville served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait. He served in an ordinance company with the Alabama Army National Guard. He was a sergeant when he left the service and now works as a draftsman at a Montgomery manufacturing plant.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” Roberts said of the attacks. “President Trump had said they were coming. When he says something like that, he means it. I am glad we are working with Israel so it’s not just the United States. I wonder if Europe and some of the other Gulf nations will join the attacks.”
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com. To support his work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was honored for her lifelong dedication to youth and community service during the 12th annual Black Warrior Council Boy Scouts of America Circle of Honor awards luncheon.
The ceremony, which was held Feb. 27 at the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Tuscaloosa, serves as a fundraiser for the council’s scouting program.
The Circle of Honor award is presented to people in west central Alabama whose livelihood and actions reflect the same values of the Black Warrior Boy Scouts. Recipients have also shown advocacy for youth and leadership in the community.
Past recipients of the award include Terry Saban, Nick Saban, former U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, scientist and philanthropist Thomas Joiner, pharmacist and retailer James I. Harrison Jr., civic leader Mary Ann Phelps and more.
Cathy Randall, a Tuscaloosa businesswoman, educator and philanthropist, presented Ivey with the award. Randall was inducted into the Circle of Honor in 2025 along with her late husband, Pettus.
Ivey said she was grateful to receive the honor by the Black Warrior Council and highlighted the importance of public service.
“I’m proud to have dedicated my life to public service, there’s no more noble calling than to uplift and empower lives,” said Ivey during the Feb. 27 ceremony.
Ivey thanked the scouting organizations, including the Black Warrior Council for its contributions to educational opportunities, economic development, and public safety.
“In particular, I’m proud of the work done by our Scouting organizations like the Black Warrior Council, who lay a foundation for successful future in both our young people and our state, thank you for all you do to build a stronger Alabama by changing lives and preparing our future leaders,” said Ivey, a native of Camden in Wilcox County.
Ivey is wrapping up her second term as governor after a long career spent primarily in government.
After graduating from Auburn University in 1967, Ivey worked as a high school teacher and a bank officer. She served as reading clerk for the Alabama House of Representatives under then-Speaker Joseph C. McCorquodale and she served as assistant director at the Alabama Development Office.
In 2002, Ivey was elected to the first of two terms as Alabama’s treasurer and in 2010, she was elected to the first of two terms as lieutenant governor. On April 10, 2017, Ivey was sworn in as Alabama’s 54th governor after the resignation of Robert Bentley. She filled out the rest of Bentley’s term before winning the gubernatorial election in 2018 and she was re-elected in 2022.
She will leave office at the end of this year.
She is the first Republican woman to serve as Alabama’s governor but she’s the second woman to hold the state’s top executive office. Tuscaloosa County native Lurleen B. Wallace, a Democrat, became Alabama’s first female governor in 1966.
Circle of Honor luncheon raises nearly $200,000
Also during the ceremony, retired DCH Health System administrator Sammy Watson, who served as the event’s emcee, announced that the council had raised $197,000 through the luncheon that day.
Proceeds from the lunch will be used to expand Boy Scouts programs, making them available to over 3,000 young people in west central Alabama.
The Boy Scouts of America is the nation’s leading outdoor education and character development program. The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@usatodayco.com. To support her work, please subscribe to The Tuscaloosa News.
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