Charlie Taaffe accounted for four touchdowns, including three rushing scores, to lead Vestavia Hills over No. 3-ranked Mary G. Montgomery 42-21 in the first round of the 7A playoffs Thursday night at ES Grider field.
Taaffe scored on runs of 1, 2 and 18 yards.
Read MoreSusan Moore twice trailed by 13 points in the first half and by six at halftime but prevailed 34-27 over Class 2A No. 8 and Region 6 top seed Decatur Heritage in Thursday’s first-round playoff matchup.
The Bulldogs (6-5) picked up their first playoff win since 2019 in a season where they persevered through a four-game mid-season losing streak to reach the postseason.
Read MoreHoover’s offense was effective all night while the defense pitched a second-half shutout as the Bucs took down Fairhope 35-10 in Thursday’s first round playoff action at the Hoover Met.
Class 7A second-ranked Hoover (9-2) improved to 108-26 in the playoffs and advanced beyond the first round for the 25th consecutive season.
Read MoreHuntsville has moved a step closer to demolishing its old City Hall – and the price tag will be much less than the city expected.
City Councilors approved a bid from Britt Demolition and Recycling Inc. to bring down the building at 308 Fountain Circle, adjacent to the new City Hall that opened in May. The $1.2 million contract is for 240 days, and when completed, the space will become an extension of Big Spring Park.
The city had earlier estimated the cost at $2.4 million. The former City Hall operated from 1965 until earlier this year.
Read MoreAfter an offensive explosion unlike anything seen this season, UAB finally got their first win since August vs Tulsa. Now, the challenge is to get their second straight, something they haven’t done since Trent Dilfer took over as head coach in 2023.
The task is a difficult one. They face a UConn Huskies squad led by Jim Mora that’s gone 6-3 this year after only winning three games the entire year prior.
The Huskies have gone against all expectations this season, and the credit needs to go to a fresh duo of coordinators who’ve completely helped turn this football team around.
Gordon Sammis served as the team’s offensive line coordinator for two seasons and was promoted to offensive play-caller prior to this season.
He’s been a revelation, and UConn’s offense hasn’t produced like it is now in years. They rank 54th in the country in total offense (406.3 ypg.) and 38th in scoring (32 ppg.).
UConn’s rushing attack is the strength of not just their offense but of their entire team, ranking top 25 nationally in rushing yards per game with 201.6 yards a contest. A three-man backfield of Durrell Robinson, Mel Brown and Cam Edwards have combined for almost 1500 yards and 12 touchdowns.
This directly correlates with UAB’s greatest weakness, its rushing defense, which ranks fifth worst in the entire FBS. In prior games against top rushing attacks in Arkansas, Navy and Army it’s been a glaring issue and the main reason they lost all three of those games.
If this Blazer defensive line can slow the Huskies’ run game down, the pendulum swings, however. UAB’s secondary has played well all season when tested, especially the safety duo of Adrian Maddox and Sirad Bryant.
They’ll have their hands full trying to contain Husky receiver Skylar Bell, whose 20.0 yards per reception ranks 12th nationally. He has 30 catches for 601 yards so far in 2024.
Switching gears, UConn’s defense has also seen increased success this season, much due to the hiring of former Mississippi State defensive coordinator Matt Brock.
They rank in the top 40 in both yards per game allowed (330.9) and in scoring allowed (21 points per game). Brock runs a 4-2-5 defensive scheme that traditionally focuses on stopping the passing attack, but his is extremely balanced statistically.
They, again, rank top 40 nationally in passing and rushing yards allowed, producing a steep challenge for UAB’s offense that has averaged over 500 yards per game over the last two weeks.
Every week he’s played, Blazer quarterback Jalen Kitna has continued to show more of why he was a once sought after recruit at Florida.
He took far better care of the football last week against Tulsa and put up one of the best quarterbacking performances in school history, throwing for over 400 yards and six touchdowns, one shy of an FBS school record.
It was a national and conference honor-earning performance for the redshirt junior, but he wasn’t the only Blazer to earn them, as receiver Kam Shanks did as well after a 311 yard and four touchdown all-purpose performance made up of a punt return touchdown and three receiving touchdowns on five receptions.
Shanks now leads the FBS in punt return yardage with 25.6 yards per return and is the only player in the FBS with two touchdowns on punt returns.
He‘s been an obvious key to this offense’s success since week one, and he’ll be vital again this weekend on offense certainly, though we’ll have to see if any special teams’ units dare to even put the ball in his hands again this season.
The game kicks off at Protective Stadium at 1:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Read MoreAt least two Alabama cities had record high temperatures on Thursday.
The National Weather Service reported that Birmingham and Huntsville both added to the record books for Nov. 7.
Birmingham’s high temperature of 86 degrees broke the record of 85 degrees set in 2022. It was also 18 degrees higher than the average temperature for Nov. 7.
Huntsville had a high temperature of 84 degrees and broke the record of 82 degrees also set in 2022. It was 17 degrees above average for the date.
Other cities didn’t break records but were 4-15 degrees above normal for highs. Here are a few high temperatures from Thursday:
* Anniston: 81 degrees, 13 degrees above average
* Dothan: 78 degrees, 4 degrees above average
* Mobile: 80 degrees, 7 degrees above average
* Montgomery: 81 degrees, 8 degrees above average
* Muscle Shoals: 80 degrees, 13 degrees above average
* Troy: 79 degrees, 8 degrees above average
* Tuscaloosa: 83 degrees, 15 degrees above average
It’s also been very warm at night, and low temperatures in many places in the state would be the normal high temperatures, according to the weather service:
Lows Thursday night into Friday morning are expected to range from the low to mid-60s in north and central Alabama to the low 70s in south Alabama:
A very mild night is in the forecast for Alabama for tonight into Friday morning.NWS
More warm temperatures are expected through the weekend, but possibly not as warm as Thursday’s because of higher rain chances for some areas and an expected cold front this weekend.
However, a longer-range outlook points to a good probability of more above-average temperatures into next week. Below is the six- to 10-day temperature outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center:
Above-average temperatures are favored for Alabama next week.Climate Prediction Center
The CPC is forecasting a 60-70 percent probability of above-average temperatures through Nov. 17.
Read MoreA Montgomery woman was killed and a man was injured after the vehicle they were in left the road and struck a tree early Thursday morning, authorities said.
Carol W. Lowe, 63, was a passenger in a 2007 Honda Pilot traveling on Highway 80 near Montgomery when the single-vehicle wreck occurred, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Lt. Jeremy Burkett.
Lower was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 63-year-old man who was driving the Pilot was taken to Baptist Medical South in Montgomery for undisclosed injuries.
The crash occurred near the 122-mile marker, about three miles west of Montgomery.
Further information was unavailable as state troopers continued to investigate the fatal wreck.
Read MoreAlabama’s newest Congressman-elect was praised by MSNBC’s Joy Reid Thursday who, at the end of her show called Shomari Figures likely to be one of the “big stars” of the freshman class in 2025.
Figures, 39, a Mobile Democrat, was elected on Tuesday to serve the 2nd congressional district by defeating Republican Caroleene Dobson. He won a seat redefined last year through court-ordered redistricting and flipping a congressional seat that had been in Republican hands for the past 14 years.
Figures was interviewed by Reid during her nightly “Reid Out” show.
He touched on a couple issues, including raising concerns about hospital closures that have occurred throughout rural Alabama over the past couple of years. Figures made health care and rural hospital closures a top policy concern during the campaign.
The Figures win is crucial to the Democratic Party’s hopes to flip the U.S. House. Going into the election, the House was at a razor-thin Republican majority of four seats.
As of Thursday night, there were 26 seats that still needed to be called, according to The Associated Press. Republicans held onto a 210-199 advantage, with 218 seats needed to claim the majority.
The Figures win was also historic for Alabama.
For the first time, the Figures win coupled with Birmingham Democrat U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell’s victory in the 7th district, means Alabama — for the first time since at least Reconstruction — will have two Black members of Congress serving at the same time.
Figures is the first Black person to be elected to Congress from Alabama outside the 7th district. About 27% of Alabama residents are Black, according to census data reported last year.
Figures is also the first Black man elected to Congress from Mobile.
The district, once reliably red, was redrawn by three federal judges last October after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a shocking 5-4 decision in Allen v. Milligan, agreed with a lower court’s determination that Alabama should have at least another congressional district in which Black voters were a majority or were close to it.
The Supreme Court’s verdict also suggested that Alabama Republicans violated the Voting Rights of Act 1965 when they approved the original congressional map.
In short, the Supreme Court agreed that Alabama’s Legislature had diluted the influence of Black voters when drawing congressional lines, tossing the final decision for the congressional lines to the three-judge panel.
The congressional map was redrawn to give Black voters an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing within the 2nd district.
According to the latest Associated Press figures, 56 U.S. House seats remain undecided on Wednesday. Republicans hold a 199-180 advantage. It takes 218 seats to claim a House majority. Republicans entered Tuesday’s election with a four-seat advantage.
Read MoreA girl is fighting for her life in Children’s Hospital after she was hit by a vehicle early Tuesday evening in Montevallo.
Community members have come together to raise money to help pay the medical bills for Ember Poe’s family.
Montevallo police and fire units were called to traffic accident in the 300 block of Spring Creek Road around 5:13 p.m. Tuesday, police said.
At the scene, authorities found a juvenile with life-threatening injuries. The juvenile was taken to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham.
The Shelby County Traffic Homicide Task Force has been called to help investigate the incident.
Police did not publicly identify the victim, but Montevallo resident Michele Mickwee, who created the GoFundMe, said the fundraising effort was “for Ember Poe and her family.
“Ember was in a terrible accident involving a vehicle striking her. She is in critical condition at Children’s Hospital,” the GoFundMe stated. “The funds from this fundraiser will go towards bills and medical expenses. Please donate whatever you feel like you can. Thank you for supporting this precious family.”
As of Thursday evening, more than $6,600 has been raised for the Ember’s medical bills.
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