By Steve Spiewak
MaxPreps.com
California has the ocean, the weather, and a host of attractive cities and tourist hot spots. Texas has the Cowboys, the spurs and the Spurs, and the rodeo. Florida has the coast, the clubs, and the chic.
Alabama.well, Alabama has football.
"You've got Friday night football on Friday, Saturday football with Auburn and Alabama, and you go to church on Sunday to talk about what happened Friday night and Saturday night," said Stanhope Elmore head coach Jeff Foshee, only half joking
For a state without a single major professional team, Alabamians sure treat their football with religious dedication, especially in the Elmore County area, where "Go Lions!" and "Go Mustangs!" signs adorn local businesses supporting Prattville or Stanhope Elmore.
"Football is to Prattville what baseball is to Boston," said Jimmy White, a writer for the Prattville Progress who first started covering the Lions in 1954.
Despite such a cult like following, Alabama high school football has not developed the reputation of being a bastion for top high school football. Even in the South, states like Florida and Georgia are mentioned long before Alabama in discussions of the best states for quality high school football.
Both schools seem to be aware of this. Rather than an ambivalence toward the media characteristic of many schools, both coach Foshee and Prattville head coach Bill Clark are genuinely appreciative of the attention.
It's probably clear to them that the recognition lags far behind the dedication of the players and teams, coaches and communities, that has made football in Alabama so important and so impressive.
"I don't know why that is," said coach Clark, referring to the disparity in reputation between Alabama and states with calling cards as traditional football powerhouses. Clark's Lions opened the season with a thumping of North Gwinnett, one of the top teams in Georgia, that has since gone undefeated.
"I can't speak for other states, but I can speak for the state of Alabama. And if there's other states out there that have football like the state of Alabama does, than there's a lot of good football out there," said Coach Foshee. "It's think it's probably going to grow and get better."
That gap, every bit real as it is intangible, is starting to narrow. The top players in Alabama often find themselves among the top ranked players in the country. Foley wide receiver Julio Jones is widely thought to be the best player in the country at his position. Quarterback A.J. McCarron, a junior on St. Paul's, is a top recruit in the class of 2009.
Furthermore, several teams from class 6A have started to surface on the national radar of top teams, most notably Prattville and Hoover. Hoover was featured on cable television. MTV was so enthralled by the school's love of football, it created the show Two-A-Days, which tracked the team on and off the field for two seasons.
It follows that the Prattville/Stanhope Elmore game, in eye of the media storm both locally and nationally, is as much a celebration of the blossoming respect for Alabama high school football as it is a brawl between neighborhood rivals.
"I'm glad," said Jimmy White, referring to the newfound media attention for Friday`s game. "It's long overdue."
The two schools, separated by interstate 65, represent a cross section of Alabama, particularly on Friday nights. Each school has a loyal fan base that will pack the stadium. Each team has worked hard all week in preparation for the game. Each program believes it can win.
Whether it be Prattville quarterback Casey Weston, or running back Justin Albert, Stanhope Elmore running back Trey Lewis or defensive end Brye French, Friday night's showdown between the two undefeated teams will almost certainly allow for the emergence of a hero.
Come Saturday afternoon during the college football games, folks around Elmore County will talk about the hero of Friday night, just like they do every Saturday. Come Sunday afternoon after church, they'll continue to talk about Friday night, and might look toward next Friday, just like they do everywhere else in the state.
Come Monday morning, those local heroes may creep their way into the scope of greater Alabama, the greater Southeast, and the greater United States, not that that will change anything at Prattville or Stanhope Elmore.
No matter who notices or what states they're compared to, Alabamians here and all over the state will embrace their one constant, football.community supported, passion infused, well coached football.
They wouldn't have it any other way.