The 2026 varsity football campaign came to a close for two Franklin County teams on the night of Friday, November 6. In the opening round of the 2026 AHSAA postseason, Phil Campbell High School, hosting Pleasant Valley High School, fell to the Raiders by a final score of 35-6. Meanwhile, in Alpine, the Red Bay High School Tigers were eliminated by the No. 3-ranked Winterboro High School Bulldogs 34-12.
At Parrish Stadium in Phil Campbell, the Bobcats were overrun by Pleasant Valley (9-2) in the second and third quarters on their way to elimination from the Class 2A playoffs.
After the visitors opened the scoring early on a 66-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback and Virginia Tech commit Braxton Salster, Phil Campbell responded with a three-yard touchdown rush by its senior quarterback, Hayston Scott, to cut the Raiders’ lead to 7-6. Unfortunately for the hosts, Scott’s short scoring scamper would account for the only points the Bobcats managed in the game.
Pleasant Valley scored again in the first quarter to make it a 14-6 ballgame before extending its lead to 15 points before halftime via an 18-yard touchdown pass by Salster.
Up 21-6 at the break, the Raiders added two more touchdowns in the third quarter to put Phil Campbell away. Both scores—one from six yards, the other from nine yards out—added to Salster’s rushing TD tally.
Despite having an equal number of possessions and more time of possession, Phil Campbell struggled to make its offensive drives count. The Bobcats finished the game 5-of-13 on third down and 1-of-6 on fourth down conversion attempts. Phil Campbell’s six points were the fewest it scored in a game all season.
Scott, who was out of action for a time in the game with an injury, finished his final game for PCHS with seven completions for 64 yards and 22 rushes for 79 yards, giving him 1,349 passing yards and 1,278 rushing yards on the season. Junior running back Braxton Downey led the Bobcats in rushing with 11 carries for 102 yards, while senior receiver Chandler Benford recorded a team-high three catches for 29 yards in the defeat.
Phil Campbell ended its 2026 campaign with a final 7-4 record.
Down in rural Talladega County, Phil Campbell’s county rival Red Bay was suffering a similar result at the hands of Winterboro, one of the state’s two undefeated squads in Class 1A.
Red Bay fell into a small hole early in the first quarter when Winterboro’s Carter Castleberry opened the scoring on a 27-yard touchdown run to make it 8-0. However, after trading punts and taking the game into the second quarter, the Tigers responded with a 20-yard touchdown rush by junior Davian Colburn to cut the hosts’ lead to 8-6.
Winterboro re-extended its lead again on its ensuing possession, driving 60 yards and capping it with an 18-yard touchdown pass from the 6-foot-2, 330 lb. quarterback Kavarris Duncan to Castleberry to put the Bulldogs up 14-6.
Colburn’s return on the next kickoff gave Red Bay good field position to try to reply again, but a penalty and good defense effort by Winterboro, followed by a miscue on the Tigers’ punt, flipped the field position. The Bulldogs took over inside Red Bay territory and capitalized with one more touchdown before the halftime break. Duncan, evading pressure and shuffling to his left in the pocket, looked to his right and fired over the head of a Tiger defender to find receiver Brayton Robinson in the corner of the endzone for a 22-yard touchdown.
Up 20-6, Winterboro went for and successfully recovered an onside kick to get the ball back, but that drive came to nothing, as did Red Bay’s final possession before halftime. A brilliant trick play by the Tiger offense completely fooled the Bulldog defense and resulted in RBHS reaching the redzone. However, a few plays later, sophomore quarterback Sawyer Humphries was picked off inside the 10 to stall the drive.
Receiving the ball to start the second half, Winterboro quickly tacked on six more points. Castleberry’s third touchdown of the evening was a 33-yard dash to put the home team up 26-6.
After a Red Bay punt on its next possession, Castleberry came back out again and created another explosive play. Taking the first down snap, Castleberry ran to his left, broke two tackles and then sprinted down the sideline for an 85-yard touchdown, his fourth of the night and Winterboro’s final points of the contest.
Down 34-6 in the fourth quarter, Red Bay cut back into the Bulldogs’ advantage on a 45-yard screen pass from Humphries to Colburn, but it was too little too late for the Tigers to make a full comeback attempt.
With the 34-12 loss, Red Bay ended its season at 7-4 overall.