Region reset: A quick look at every local football team's new region

Earlier this year the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) announced its decision—some may consider it a controversial one—to change its classification system, separating public and private schools for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.

That change obviously shook up the regional and area alignments for many schools, including the public schools in Franklin County.

So, with the high school football season just about six weeks away, let’s look at the region competition for each of the six local teams that will be competing on the gridiron this fall.

We’ll begin with the two schools for which this decision did not have an effect, at least not for the next two seasons, Tharptown and Vina.

Tharptown, which played its varsity football in Class 2A last year and will be Class 2A again in its other varsity sports, opted to play a “junior varsity” schedule for the next two seasons. (The Wildcats will be playing against varsity opponents but the AHSAA does not count any of these results.) This means that THS will not be in a region for the next two years, but the Wildcats do have a nine-game schedule and will face off against some familiar opponents like Vina, Decatur Heritage, Cherokee and Shoals Christian.

Vina’s situation is a bit different.

Due to an AHSAA rule, Vina, which forfeited its region game against Addison last season, cannot compete in a region and is not eligible for championship play until the next classification period.

The Red Devils currently have seven games scheduled for the 2026 season, but unlike Tharptown, the results will count as varsity results.

The remaining four schools—Belgreen, Phil Campbell, Red Bay and Russellville—all saw some significant changes from last year but all are eligible for postseason play.

For Belgreen, which dropped down from Class 2A to Class 1A, this will be its first year eligible for postseason competition after playing two years in the transition phase.

The Bulldogs, slotted into Region 7, will be region-mates with seven others including Addison, Cherokee, Hackleburg, Meek, Phillips, Red Bay and Waterloo. BHS will be familiar with Cherokee (which it played in both of its first two years and beat last season 28-14); but the Bulldogs haven’t faced any of its other new region foes previously.

Addison, Hackleburg and Meek were all playoff teams in this same classification and region last season. Red Bay (more in a moment) was a playoff team in Class 2A last year, as well, giving the Bulldogs a formidable region slate in their first full year of competitive varsity football.

The Tigers of Red Bay slot into Class 1A Region 7 coming off a 2025 campaign that saw them win the 2A Region 8 title and reach the second round of the playoffs with a final 9-3 record, the most wins for the program in five years.

Although Red Bay did lose several key players to graduation and will be playing against, as mentioned previously, traditionally competitive 1A schools in this new region, the Tigers do have a good core of returners and will likely be favored given their success last campaign. RBHS has also played six of its new region opponents in the past, the most recent being Hackleburg in 2023, and holds a combined 90-53 record against them all-time.

Phil Campbell is another team that made the drop with the new classifications, going from Class 3A to 2A. 

In 2025 PCHS reached the Class 3A playoffs and finished with a final 6-5 record after finishing fourth in Region 5. 

The Bobcats enter 2A Region 7 this season with Colbert County, Falkville, J.B. Pennington, Lexington, Sheffield, Tanner and Winston County. Historically, Phil Campbell, which has played all seven of its new region-mates in the past, has not fared well against these opponents with a combined 31-62 record against. However, the Bobcats do have key players returning at key positions and are coming off the 2025 season in which the team set new program records for points in a season.

Rounding out this regional review is Russellville, which is one team that did not drop down a classification and remains in Class 5A, albeit as one of the smallest schools in that classification now.

The Golden Tigers, coming off a 7-5 season that ended in the second round of the playoffs, will remain in Region 7.

Fans will also be very familiar with Russellville’s new region opponents which include Athens, Austin, Decatur, East Limestone, Florence, Hartselle and Muscle Shoals. 

East Limestone is the only other holdover from 5A Region 7 last year. Muscle Shoals was, of course, a heated rival of the Golden Tigers for many years before the AHSAA introduced the seven classification system. And RHS has great history with Athens and Hartselle, as well, teams the Golden Tigers faced in many high-stakes region games in the 2000s and early 2010s.

With the exception of Russellville and East Limestone, all the teams in the new 5A Region 7 have dropped down from 6A or 7A and have had tremendous success.

In addition to non-region opponents Deshler, Mars Hill and Coosa Christian, Russellville’s region schedule will provide new head coach Darrell Higgins and his Golden Tigers a formidable challenge this upcoming campaign.

The realignment and reclassification has shaken up high school football in Alabama, but whether you’re for or against the public-private split, there’s no doubt there will be plenty of interesting storylines to follow in the first season of this new era.