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The best of the best in Alabama High
School Football over the past 100 seasons.
Most Region Championships
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Which coach has won the most football region championships? Most fans would struggle to come up with the correct answer to this question. In 1974 the AHSAA began what we now know as regional alignment. The schools were divided into four classifications with roughly about ninety teams in each classification. The highest classification was 4A which was divided into ten regions. The remaining classifications were divided into 16 areas. The AHSAA jumped back and forth between region and area play over the years making it difficult to keep them separated. So, to simplify things we will refer to both as regions. Over the years the AHSAA has changed the alignments and expanded to six classifications in 1984. One thing that has remained consistent is that winning a region championship assured a team of a spot in the state playoffs following the season. In the early years only the region champion would qualify for a playoff spot making it that much more important to win the region. Today the top four teams in each region will continue play in the first round of the playoffs. So, back to the topic at hand. Which coach led their team to the most football region championships? The answer is Spence McCracken of Lee Montgomery and Opelika fame. But did you know the hall of fame coach won four consecutive region championships at 1A Montgomery Academy between 1980 and 1983? He then moved over to the Lee Generals and won ten of the next eleven region championships. In 1995 Coach McCracken took his coaching skills to Opelika where he won an additional seven championships over the next fourteen years. Overall his teams won twenty-one region championships giving him more than any other coach in state history. During his football coaching career he amassed a region record of 108-15. In second place is Robert Higginbotham another hall of fame coach from Mountain Brook, Shades Valley and Tuscaloosa County. Coach Higginbotham won a total of nineteen region championships between 1973 and 2008 his last season at Tuscaloosa County. His overall region record is a stellar 110-26. Among active coaches Buddy Anderson leads the pack with a total of fifteen region championships at Vestavia Hills since 1978. While researching this article I could not find any other coach that has won more region games than Coach Anderson who has an overall region record of 122-45. Recently retired Coach David Lowery of Brantley won 92 of 95 region games during his career at Elba and Brantley. He also won fourteen championships during his short sixteen year career. Below is a list of the coaches with at least twelve region championships. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NEXT: Which coaches have qualified for the playoffs the most times during their career?
David Parker
AHSFHS.org
dparker@ahsfhs.org
Great Moments in Alabama High School Football History
The Prattville Lions won 56 consecutive regular season games between 2001 and 2007.
The Prattville Lions won 56 consecutive regular season games between 2001 and 2007.
