A weekly look at high school sports in the state of Alabama from the past week, a preview of what’s on the horizon, and a little 80s motivation. This is an opinion piece.
News broke this week that a well-known Louisville sports reporter has filed a lawsuit against a Kentucky high school after sustaining a knee injury while beating a soccer game.
During high school football games, reporters often patrol the sidelines, especially when trying to capture video footage of game action.
Fred Cowgill, WLKY-TV’s sports director, apparently did so during a game at Trinity High School on Friday, August 20, 2021. Cowgill’s lawsuit alleges he suffered a knee injury when several players hit him while he was shooting footage of the match.
The suit blames the school for failing to prevent sideline overcrowding and warns him of potential injury risks. He is demanding, among other things, a jury trial, damages and court costs.
I don’t know this reporter. I’m definitely sorry he got injured. I’m also sorry if this frivolous lawsuit results in a National Federation rule that prevents reporters from accessing the field during a game.
High school athletics isn’t just the last form of pure sport.
It is perhaps the purest form of sports journalism.
High school reporters roam the sidelines, keeping their own stats, and often shooting their own photos or videos. We are able to get to know the coaches and the players in a way that the rules in college or professional sports no longer allow.
It can and certainly has been a training ground for many young journalists.
It’s also a comfortable landing place for middle-aged writers like me, who have been blessed to cover college football, the World Series, the Masters, and other major events, but have returned to a place high school coaches are almost always happy to see. you come and, for the most part, you don’t have to fight through SIDs or PR people to interview a creditable athlete.
That said, I can only assume Mr Cowgill had been on the sidelines of high school before…probably many times. No one should have told him there was an inherent risk of injury if a play came his way. GET OUT OF THE WAY, DUDE. Give up that game and get the next touchdown.
There aren’t many things I enjoy more about my job than being on the sidelines of high school on a Friday night. You can get an idea of what the coaches are thinking and the emotions of the players. It is something that is not available in the higher levels of the game.
In fact, a year ago — in the first high school coaching game for 17-year-old NFL quarterback Philip Rivers — I walked past him on the sidelines of St. Michael, and he looked up jokingly and said, “Hey, you can just walk through the coaching box down here?”
We had a good laugh. His team won. Everything was good.
I may not have been in the coach’s box, but I prefer to beat a game from the sidelines, especially since most high school “press” boxes aren’t big enough to hold the ‘press’ hold.
There are other vantage points at each high school stadium. Shoot from the end zone, behind the fence, from the stands or 1,000 other seats if you don’t feel comfortable on the sidelines.
But blaming a school for a hit you made during a game seems unreasonable.
Still waiting
We’re now officially less than a week away from kicking off the 2022 high school football season, and we still don’t have a full schedule for Mobile County Public Schools.
We know who the teams play and in which week they play. But in many cases we do not know on which day or where.
The problem is, the five new on-campus stadiums being built for BC Rain, LeFlore, Vigor, Davidson and Williamson aren’t ready yet. Most likely it won’t be at any point this season. Also, there is no known plan for a home stadium for Murphy.
MCPSS officials said last fall, after a shooting in the closing minutes of the Vigor vs. Williamson that the schools would no longer play games at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The rest of the year they didn’t.
But it is said that several schools will indeed return to Ladd for home games this year. Those schools will likely include Williamson, Murphy and LeFlore. Vigor will play home games at rival Blount, Davidson at Baker (like last year) and BC Rain at Alma Bryant.
MCPSS officials released the schedule for all Week 1 games, but none of those games would have been held in Ladd in any way. In the meantime, we’ll wait and see what weeks 2-11 and the late season can bring.
Here’s the Week 1 schedule for MCPSS teams: Baker at Theodore, Vigor at Blount, Citronelle at Millry, Davidson at Baldwin County, LeFlore at Chickasaw, Williamson at Mary G. Montgomery and BC Rain at Excel. Murphy is not playing. All those matches are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.
Ben’s Bantering
Former Spanish fortress QB Tyler Johnston III and former Clay-Chalkville QB Ty Pigrome are playing their seventh and final college season together at Towson State. Both are university graduates. They faced each other in the 2015 Class 6A title game, won in a Johnston and the Toros classic. Johnston was named Mr. State football. Pigrome was the Gatorade Player of the Year.
Another former Spanish Fort footballer, Hayden Pittman, recently earned a WWE development contract after a tryout in Nashville. He will report to WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando at the end of this month. He will be accompanied there by Rickssen Opont, a former South Alabama racer who coached high school football at Baker last season. Both Pittman and Opont were personally offered contracts by WWE Head of Talent Relations Paul “Triple H” Levesque. Evaluations of 50 potential recruits were conducted over three days in Nashville. A total of 14 contracts were offered.
I told my wife that tonight (Aug 12) we had to do something special as a family. It marks the last Friday without high school football (real games, no jamborees) for 16 weeks. The Super 7 is scheduled for November 30 – December. 2 at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium. There will be a break on Friday, December 9 for the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game in South Alabama on Saturday, December 10. The North-South competition will be held the following week on Friday, December 16. So maybe a free Friday in the next 18 weeks. Then it’s Christmas! I’m not complaining. It’s a blessing to be able to do what I do, but looking ahead can be a little daunting.
Recruitment news
The big news this week in the state was the release of Central-Phenix City’s 4-star defensive lineman Tomarrion Parker from Penn State. Florida might be a team to look forward to for Parker, No. 11 on Al.com’s A-list.
Another top in-state defensive lineman is slated to commit Saturday. Gardendale’s Kelby Collins will probably choose between Florida and Alabama. Collins is No. 8 on the A-list.
Loachapoka DB JC Hart has scheduled his engagement for 5 p.m. today. Hart will choose between Auburn, Mississippi State, UCF and Vandy with Auburn as the apparent favorite.
game week
Next week is officially high school football game week, and our AL.com staff will begin our regular weekly functions.
You can search for the Power 25 of the preseason on Monday, 5 Games to Watch in Mobile, Huntsville and Birmingham with full schedules for each market on Tuesday, predictions of key games on Thursday and much more throughout the week.
We also plan to post our popular Football High Live update every Friday night. Next week we’ll also have Football High Live on Thursdays with coverage and updates on games across the state.
Thought of the day
“It’s never wrong to do the right thing.”
80s quote of the week
“I’ll be back.” – The Terminator (1984)
Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s 50 Legends. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at bthomas@al.com. His weekly column is posted every Friday at AL.com. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio app at 2pm on Wednesdays.
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