Aug. 11—The start of the 2026 high school football season is less than two weeks away, and several teams are gearing up for big seasons and possibly to make deep playoff runs.
Here’s a power ranking of the top eight local teams heading into the season:
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No. 8 Brewer Patriots
Last season: 4-6
The skinny: If there’s a team that’s flying under the radar heading into 2026, it might be the Brewer Patriots.
Not a lot of eyes are usually on a program that has just one winning season since 2000, but the Patriots quietly had a productive season last year. Head coach Jordan Miller posted the best record by a first-year head coach at Brewer since 1993, but even more impressive was how Brewer did it, winning three of their last five games including an upset win over Scottsboro, which went on to reach the Class 5A semifinals.
With a quarterback who threw for nearly 2,000 yards last year as a sophomore in Cole Drinkard, four starters back on the offensive line and a talented linebacker group, the Patriots could push for a winning season and possibly a playoff berth in 2026.
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No. 7 Athens Golden Eagles
Last season: 6-5, advanced to the Class 6A playoffs
The skinny: There are a lot of questions surrounding Athens this year as it has new faces at nearly every position including quarterback and running back. The Golden Eagles also play in one of the toughest regions with Austin, Hartselle, Muscle Shoals, Florence and Decatur.
The good news is they do have a few key seniors to rely on this year such as Austin Campbell, a three-year starter at linebacker, and Aidan Lovell, a college prospect who will play running back, receiver and tight end. The Golden Eagles are also a perennial playoff team.
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No. 6 Falkville Blue Devils
Last season: 8-3, advanced to the Class 2A playoffs
The skinny: There’s a lot of similarities between the Blue Devils and Athens. Both are teams you can usually expect in the postseason that are replacing several key starters this season.
Falkville has a little more working in its favor this season though with a returning quarterback in junior Reed Dillard and a much less daunting region in Class 2A, Region 7.
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No. 5 Hatton Hornets
Last season: 7-4, advanced to the Class 4A playoffs
The skinny: Head coach Nikita Stover had a productive first season at Hatton last year, earning a third place finish in Class 4A, Region 7 behind West Morgan and Deshler and nearly upsetting Madison Academy on the road in the playoffs.
The Hornets are poised for an even better year two under Stover as they drop to Class 3A and return several impact starters such as Daniel Taylor Jr., who was an All-State player last year.
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No. 4 Priceville Bulldogs
Last season: 8-4, advanced to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs
The skinny: Priceville jumped from 2-8 in 2024 to 8-4 last year with an upset road win over Guntersville in the playoffs. Seth Parker, who was the head coach for both of those teams, is now at Bob Jones and the Bulldogs have promoted defensive coordinator Austin Burke to lead the team in his place.
The familiarity with Burke should allow Priceville to continue its momentum as it drops to Class 4A and returns key starters in All-State defensive back Jack Eubanks and receiver Urijah Burnham, who caught 42 passes for 719 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.
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No. 3 Hartselle Tigers
Last season: 10-2, advanced to the second round of the Class 6A playoffs
The skinny: Like several other teams on this list, Hartselle has a lot of new faces as the Tigers are replacing nearly 30 seniors.
Head coach Bert Newton, who is entering his third season with a 19-5 record and two second-round playoff appearances, said it’s next man up, though, as the Tigers look for their sixth consecutive season of nine or more wins.
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No. 2 Austin Black Bears
Last season: 6-5, advanced to the Class 7A playoffs
The skinny: After eight seasons in Class 7A, Austin picked a good time to move back down to the second largest classification.
The Black Bears return an experienced roster with 15 returning starters, including a 1,000 rusher in rising senior Aidan Davis. They were one of two local teams ranked in the Alabama Sportswriters Association’s preseason football poll, coming in at No. 8 in Class 5A.
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No. 1 West Morgan Rebels
Last season: 11-1, won the Class 4A, Region 7 championship and advanced to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
The skinny: Few teams have had more success around here in recent years than the Rebels with a 46-5 record over the last four seasons and three consecutive region championships.
They also hold the state’s longest winning streak of regular season games with 34 dating back to October of 2022 and were the highest ranked local team at No. 4 in Class 4A.
They will have to replace last year’s Decatur Daily Player of the Year in MaCarri Johnson, but do return five starters along the offensive line and their leading tackler on defense in Ben Johnston.
— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2
