BY D. MARK MITCHELL
FOR THE OBSERVER
OPINION —
BASKETBALL
The OHS varsity Lady Bulldog basketball team dropped to 2-4 overall after losing to Park Crossing, Arab and Grissom over the break.
Park Crossing pulled away in fourth quarter to beat OHS 61-42. The game was close heading into the final quarter, despite the 19-point win. Opelika head coach Blake Smalley summed it up with one sentence: “We fell apart with six minutes left.” Mya Pearson led the Bulldogs with 10 points and five rebounds.
Arab beat OHS 66-33 in the Thanksgiving Tournament at OHS last week. Arab, the defending 5A state champs, handled OHS with ease. Naomi Whack scored 13 points to lead OHS.
The varsity girls host Talledega Friday night at 5:30 p.m.
Opelika’s varsity basketball team record is listed at 2-2 in dragonfly (AHSAA site for all schools to enter athletic scores). The Bulldogs beat Columbia 74-41 and Therrell high school 58-55. The two losses came to the hands of Russell County (63-43) and Clay-Chalkville (67-53). No details were provided by coach Button or on the official website of Opelika high athletics, opelikaathlet-ics.com.
HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
Opelika is still searching for a new head football coach. I informed you last week the position was posted on the state’s website.
OHS is the best high school football job that is open in Alabama. A proven head coach will be easy to hire if Opelika pools it’s resources and makes big changes. Yes, change is difficult for all of us, but sometimes it is needed.
The new football coach at Opelika High must be given the authority to manage the entire football program from the middle school to the varsity, including being able to make staff changes. The new coach must implement his ideas to the staff at OMS like his varsity staff. He must be a part of building the program from bottom to top and inside and outside.
Simply put, the hiring of the next head football coach is the most important decision Dr. Farrell Seymore has had to make as superintendent. Time will tell.
ON THE MARK-PRINT
I have written “On the Mark” column in The Observer since the first edition. I’ve tried to keep the main emphasis of “On the Mark” (in The Observer) on Opelika Athletics. There have been many changes over the years with staff changes at Opelika City Schools, including the addition of the Opelika website opelikaathletics.com.
I was president of the Opelika All-Sports Booster Club when coach Brian Blackmon (athletics director/head football coach) approached me about a website for athletics. Long story short, the ASBC agreed to pay the fee for website and the result is www.opelikaathletics.com.
The site has places for sponsorships and a place for every team to have its own page. The sad part is, the site is not updated on a regular basis. The front page is somewhat updated but there is very little information available. There are no schedules, rosters, updates or ways to keep up with timely information.
If you have info on any sport at OMS or OHS, please email me at foxonthemark@yahoo.com.
AHSAA SUPER 7
The Alabama High School Athletic Association will host this year’s Super 7 Football Championship at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa Dec. 8-10.
The 7A matchup sets four-time defending champion Thompson against Central on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.
Classes 1A through 6A are playing semifinal games Friday night, Dec. 1. The Reeltown Rebels host BB Comer for a trip to Super 7.
Fans can listen to all seven championship football games on WZMG FOX Sports the Game 910-1310 presented by the Orthopaedic Clinic.
D. Mark Mitchell is the sports director at iHeartMedia, host of “On the Mark” Fox Sports the Game 910-1319, co-chair of the Auburn-Opelika Sports Council, chairman of the Super 7 and Dixie Boys Baseball state director.
