Media days offer first look at Chambers County football season
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT, THE LAFAYETTE SUN
CHAMBERS COUNTY — As the summer heat ramped up, Chambers County’s high school football teams took to the podium at the Fox Sports The Game High School Football Media Days in Opelika on July 28.
The annual event, now held at Opelika First Baptist Church, signifies that the upcoming season is right around the corner, and this year’s edition featured several compelling storylines.
Chambers Academy is coming off a 12-2 season that saw the Rebels three-peat. Now, they’re looking to win their fourth consecutive AISA state championship and fight off any complacency.
To do that, Chambers head coach Jason Allen has conducted his summer workouts under the mantra of S.T.P., which stands for “something to prove.”
“We’ve got some really good football players who have had to wait their turn behind one of the most successful classes in the history of our school,” Allen said. “[At the college level], they don’t wait their turn. They just go somewhere else where they can play, and that’s starting to happen in high school. But that doesn’t happen at Chambers Academy because our kids believe in our school and our program. A lot of these guys have waited their turn, and it’s their time, and they feel like they’ve got something to prove. So I’m excited about this team.”
Down State Route 50, Lanett High School is also coming off a state championship appearance. However, unlike the Rebels, the Panthers must regroup after going 12-3 and losing 29-22 to Coosa Christian School in the AHSAA Class 2A state championship game.
“As a competitor, you want to win every game, and I think for me, I could have been better for my kids, so I think that's why it's so hard for me,” McDonald said. “[We gave our players] a few weeks off, and the next thing you know, they want to get in that weight room. So that's a good sign. And I think for us as a program, as I said earlier, we want to end where we were, but hoisting a different color trophy.”
Lanett’s bitter rivals, LaFayette High School, enter the season riding a surge of energy after alumnus Douglas Jones, Jr. was hired to take over the program. Despite the Bulldogs coming off a 4-6 season, Jones said fans shouldn’t consider this a rebuild as LaFayette looks to turn the page.
“We’re focused on not a rebuild,” Jones said, describing a group that is simply building toward the season ahead. “We’re just going to work on stacking days day after day; we’re trying to get better. If we can keep doing that, I think we can put the world on notice.”
Back near the Chattahoochee River, Valley High School and Springwood School face somewhat similar situations. Both schools return established coaching staffs, and both head coaches said they fell short of internal expectations.
Valley head coach Adam Hunter said the Rams, which finished 7-4 and lost 26-23 at home to Shelby County High School in the first round of the 5A playoffs, are optimistic about their chances in 2026.
“It’s probably been one of the times I’ve been most excited about a season,” Hunter said. “These guys have really gelled well together. There’s no egos in there. They’re all ‘we’ guys. They’re not ‘me’ guys.”
Springwood head coach Joey Burch said the memory of last year’s difficult season has ensured his players have shown up ready to work this offseason.
“I think we’ve established that we have a special group this year,” Burch said. “We had a struggling season last year, and kind of fell apart. Some of these guys up here held it together, and we competed. We finished the year, and they still have that memory of it, which wasn’t fun. I think we went 3-8 or something like that, and we’d been playing for championships. So I think it was a good life lesson.”
The LaFayette Sun will provide comprehensive coverage of each team in a special sports section included in our Aug. 12 edition.
