PREP FOOTBALL: AHS’ semifinal game biggest in school history

Chuck Furlow’s old school is going to put a severe crimp into his Iron Bowl tailgating plans today.

That’s because, about two hours after the Tide and the Tigers wrap up at Jordan-Hare, the former Auburn High athletic director has to show up an hour early and go through his pregame ritual at Duck Samford Stadium, where top-ranked Auburn High is hosting No. 2 Prattville for a spot in the Class 6A state football finals.

“I’m gonna have to keep (the tailgating) low-key,” Furlow said with a chuckle. “I have to get (to Duck Samford) like I normally do, an hour before the game, and greet all the coaches and players and everything. That’s kind of what I do now, and I don’t want to break routine.”

Why would he? After 11 years as the Tigers’ athletic director, Furlow has just been able to sit back and watch this year as Auburn reeled off 13 straight wins to reach its second semifinal in program history.

A semifinal that just might be the biggest game in the history of Auburn High football.

Not only is tonight’s game a shot for the Tigers to advance to their first state finals, but it’s against 6A behemoth Prattville, a team that has lost 11 games this decade and has been Auburn’s playoff cyanide as of late.

With two such evenly matched sides, this might be the Tigers’ best chance in a while to overpower the Lions.

“It’s as big a game as I’ve ever coached in,” said Auburn coach Tim Carter, who has been at Auburn since 2001.

“It’s two really good football teams, and it is an epic battle. No doubt about it.”

Kickoff is at 8 p.m., pushed back an hour to accommodate the Iron Bowl. Gates open at 6, with a limited number of tickets going on sale before they have to shut down the operation for fear of overcrowding.

Tigers athletic director Clay McCall said he is expecting the home and visitors’ stands, as well as both the hills on the visitors’ side used for overflow seating, to be chock-full.

And Auburn Police Department officers, who McCall said were instrumental in putting all the pieces together, will earn their paychecks running crowd control duty for the Iron Bowl along with the semifinal.

“I’m so proud of this ballgame for our community, for our coaches and players,” McCall said. “To be able to play a quality team like Prattville and do it on your own stage, I’m just proud to be a small part of it.“

While the preparations for this game started in motion about a week ago, the talk started even earlier. Right about when Auburn leapfrogged Prattville for No. 2 in the Oct. 13 Alabama Sports Writers Association poll, then moved into first the next week after a Hoover loss.

“It’s the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state,” senior quarterback Calvin Jenkins said. “And just knowing you have the chance to have the chance to play next week for the big ring. Having this opportunity is just great, really.”

All of this is pretty new to Auburn. Not so for Prattville, which is heading into its seventh semifinal berth.

But Carter said he’d like to think his players have been coached well enough to focus on the game alone.

It doesn’t hurt that they went through it in the quarterfinals last year, either. Even if it was a 42-0 loss.

“We’re a little better football team than we had a year ago,” Carter said. “And our kids aren’t going to have that first-time jitters. It just boils down to you’ve got to play a great 48 minutes to beat them.”

“And you don’t do that, your season’s over and you’re packing the helmets up on Monday.”

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