Who’s No. 1? (part deux)
By David Morrison
High School Sports Reporter
Published: November 4, 2009
Not so fast, Jackie O’Neal.
Your Reeltown Rebels are now the No. 1 team in Class 2A for the first time since 1993. Reeltown was also No. 1 in 2002, but that was in the 1A poll.
The Rebels jumped from No. 4 to No. 1 in the final ASWA poll with a little help from Leroy, Pickens County and Clay County, which all lost in the final week of the regular season.
So as we head into the playoffs, this little slice of coverage area now had two top teams in the state - Auburn High in 6A and Reeltown. Not too shabby.
I wonder who would win if the two played each other…
Oh, yeah. Auburn.
As if back-to-back region championships and a trip to the state semifinals last year wasn’t enough motivation for Reeltown’s opponents, here’s something else to pile on.
The Rebels are the No. 1 team in Class 2A.
With a 47-0 win over Notasulga and losses by Leroy, Pickens County and Clay County, Reeltown jumped all the way from No. 4 to the top of the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association poll, released today.
This marks the first time since the 2002 preseason poll — when the Rebels were 1A — that they’ve been No. 1 and the first time since 1993 they’ve topped the 2A poll.
But it wasn’t unanimous. Reeltown’s 295 points outpaced Leroy by a margin of 20, and it is sharing first-place votes (11) with Leroy (8), Elba (7), Pickens County (4) and Lamar County (2).
Reeltown’s stellar season, one that included six shutouts over the final seven games, has been rewarded with a first-round matchup against 7-3 Vincent, which just capped off its regular season by beating 3A playoff-bound Montevallo.
“We’ve got the best system in the US as far as the playoffs are concerned,” Rebels coach Jackie O’Neal said. “It’s just sometimes unfair that you have to match up against a region with a lot of good teams. But from all this chaos comes a true champion. It’s not like in the past where you had to go through playing some teams that were 2-8 or 1-9. You get to play teams that deserve to be there.”
The other area movers were Central, which jumped up a spot to sixth in 6A and Loachapoka, which jumped up a spot to fifth in 1A.
Auburn High stayed atop 6A, Dadeville held steady at eighth in 3A, and Tallassee (5A), Lee-Scott and Springwood (AISA) all received votes.
