This week in HS Sports: Is Vigor vs. Catholic the most intriguing matchup tonight?

This is an opinion piece.

There are several good encounters in today’s state semi-finals.

Twelve of them, to be exact.

One of the more interesting games might be Vigor playing Montgomery Catholic in the 5A semifinals in Montgomery.

The Wolves are 12-1. Their only loss was a 10-9 decision to Class 7A quarterfinalist Baker in the final game of the regular season.

RELATED: AL.com semifinal predictions

Vigor’s defense — led by second-year Alabama signee Jabarrius Garror and Mobile Christian transfer Kentonio Kelly — has allowed just 62 points this season and held 10 opponents to fewer than 10 points.

The offense scored 480 points – even without starting quarterback Sammy Dunn, who has been injured since the start of the season. Three playoff victories were all achieved easily with 46:0, 41:0 and 41:10.

Catholic is 12-0, 27-0 over the last two seasons.

The Knights have outscored their opponents 544-71 this season. They won their first two playoff games by a combined score of 95-0 and then defeated previously undefeated Central-Clay County 21-9 last week.

Catholic has held nine opponents to single digits with five shutouts. No team scored more than 14 points against the Knights.

The coaching duel is also interesting. Catholic’s Kirk Johnson has a 53-2 record in his fourth season as head coach. Vigor’s John McKenzie has a 26-2 record in his last two seasons as head coach of the Wolves – this year’s run and the 2021 4A state title run (in between, he coached for a year with Murphy and a year with Paul Bryant).

The AL.com high school pick panel is split down the middle on who will win the game – three for Vigor, three for Catholic.

We’ll see it tonight.

Big decision next week?

The Alabama High School Athletic Association is expected to announce the future site of the Super 7 championships next week.

As we have written, the current rotating contract includes Birmingham as a site this year, 2027 and 2030. Auburn and Alabama’s decision to opt out of that contract due to the possibility of participation in the newly expanded College Football Playoff has left a question , where the event will take place in other years.

We know that general manager Heath Harmon and others toured Alabama State Stadium in Montgomery and South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile and were expected to also visit Troy Stadium.

It’s possible that the AHSAA could host the event in Birmingham every year, but I have a feeling it will and should rotate between Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile for the foreseeable future.

These stadiums – each of which can hold around 25,000 or slightly more – are all the perfect size for the event. As cool as it was for the participating teams to play at Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare, the large venues made most spectators feel relatively small.

Some will argue that Mobile’s location is inconvenient for northern Alabama teams, but I’m not sure geography is one of the most important considerations anymore. The state football championships are held in Huntsville every year. The state baseball title will be decided at Jacksonville State and the softball title will be decided at Oxford.

The goal of every team is to reach the Super 7. If they make it, I don’t think anyone will mind driving a few more hours to get to the game.

The amazing Mark Freeman

As I wrote in my newsletter column today, my friend Mark Freeman continues to surprise me.

Thompson’s coach already has 10 state titles on his resume (4 at Thompson, 2 at Spanish Fort and 4 more at Bessemer Academy in the AISA) and can add another when his team beats reigning champion Central in the Class 7A final on Wednesday -Phenix City defeats Nacht.

The Warriors’ regular-season record hasn’t been particularly eye-catching this year. In fact, they went a pedestrian 7-3 into the playoffs. They didn’t even win the region.

Doesn’t matter. The Warriors are in the title game for the seventh straight year despite significant changes to the 7A playoff format this season.

Freeman enters Wednesday’s game with 268 wins in 26 years and a playoff record of 60-12. Pretty great run.

News you can use

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Thought for the day

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Ben Thomas is the high school sports manager at AL.com. He was named one of the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s 50 Legends. Follow him on Twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected].