Football

By Derek Trimm
Special to the JR
WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates began the 2023 season on a hot and steamy night in Winfield, and used their defense, turnovers and big plays to hold off the Dora Bulldogs 23-20, on Thursday, Aug. 24.
The Pirates turned a fumble by Dora into a score and used big plays and later held off the Bulldogs’ comeback efforts to secure their first victory of the season.

By Derek Trimm
Winfield Correspondent
FAYETTE — The Winfield Pirates won the 600th game in school history with a 25-13 come from behind win over the Fayette County Tigers on Friday, Oct. 14 in Fayette.
The win improved Winfield to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in Class 3A, Region 5, and also clinched a playoff berth.
Winfield trailed 13-0 going into the second quarter when the Pirates rolled off 25 unanswered points and held the Tigers out of the end zone the rest of the night to secure the region win.

By P.J. Gossett
General Manager
GUIN — Marion County’s hopes were dashed for a season opening win Friday night, Aug. 26. The visiting Lynn Bears took those hopes away when the final seconds ticked down to a score of 31-14.
The Marion County Red Raiders kicked off to Lynn for the season start. After a run through of downs each, Lynn took the ball in for the first touchdown on the night. The honors went to Cole Kelly after a 52-yard drive. The PAT was good, with a score of 7-0, Lynn.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
RED BAY — The Hamilton Aggies nearly got off to a perfect start in Red Bay, but were unable to hold off their opponents in the final seconds of the game, losing 22-20.
Hamilton’s secondary quarterback, Mason Holloway, played the full length of the game with starting quarterback Seth Ables still carrying an injury from pre-season.
Hamilton started the scoring through Kenly Cochran, who scored the team’s first touchdown of the regular season in the second quarter.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON — Football season officially kicks off this week, and the Journal Record is ready to cover all of the action!
Football teams across the county have been practicing all summer with the goal of becoming state champions this season.

Every week, we will feature football games from all over the county in our sports section where you will be able to read stories from the games and view our young players from each school in action.

Four Marion County schools will host home football games this Friday, Aug. 27.
Brilliant and Hackleburg will go head-to-head in an in-county rivalry.
This week all games continue to be non-regional match-ups. Region play will begin next week.
I’ve never made predictions before, but I’m happy I was able to follow these teams the first week before jumping into prognosticating.