Despite the fact that region play in the Alabama High School Athletic Association started last week, James Clemens head football coach Chad McGehee said he believes this week’s game against Class 7A foe Huntsville is “a very critical game for both squads.”

“Everybody is fighting for those (four) spots to get to the playoff dance,” McGehee said.

McGehee’s Jets are 2-1 overall and 1-0 in Region 4 play after beating Madison rival Bob Jones 40-13 last week, rebounding from an 18-13 loss to Mountain Brook.

Mark Fleetwood’s Panthers are 1-1 with a 36-0 region win over Grissom last week.

The teams will meet at Madison City Schools Stadium at 7 p.m. Friday.

Last season, James Clemens took a 27-23 win on the road in dramatic fashion to take a 7-2 series lead – its fifth in a row. The year before, the Jets won 43-40.

“It went down to the wire last year,” McGehee said. “They were driving in and we stripped them and recovered the fumble. It was a wild game.”

Fleetwood agreed. “Deep down inside,” he said, “I felt we probably should have won the last two years and they found a way to beat us. Hat’s off to them. We fumbled the ball late in the game and couldn’t get it back. We were in great shape there.

“I just hope our kids are hungry on the back end of what happened. We’re going in and probably playing the best team we’ve played yet. Oxford (a 35-6 winner in the season-opener) was really good and I think they are right up there with them.”

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James Clemens is coming off a 4-6 finish in 2022, all four wins coming in region play. The Jets finished out of the playoffs due to the tiebreaker.

“(Huntsville) made the playoffs last year,” McGehee said. “Us, them and Bob Jones were in a three-way tie for a No. 4 seed and we lost on a tiebreaker.”

McGehee said last season’s results were hard to swallow due to a year-long struggle with injuries. “It was hard to build any continuity,” he said. “We had 27 injuries that were either permanent or two weeks, a week. At some point, it was an ACL or a high ankle sprain keeping a kid out two weeks.

“If we can have the same guys plugging away every week, then we can start peaking when we get to midseason or the latter part of the season.”

Ty Doughty, who was a 2022 second-team All-State pick as a sophomore, has had a productive start in the Jets’ offense that is averaging 26.3 points a game. The 5-foot-8, 165-pounder has 14 catches for 250 yards, 17.9 per reception, with two touchdowns. He also has 60 yards on kick returns and 92 on punt returns.

“Ty has had a tremendous year for us,” McGehee said. “Friday night, he rushed for a touchdown, had a reception for a touchdown and a punt return touchdown. He had two punt return touchdowns against Mountain Brook as well.”

Quarterback Ty Marsh has completed 24-of-54 passes for 580 yards with five TDs. Devin Cooper has caught nine passes for 201 yards with a pair of touchdowns. Running back DJ Williams is averaging 4.0 yards a carry.

Defensively, James Clemens has allowed 17.3 points a game. “We’re doing a lot better job this year. We were hard-pressed to get any sacks last season. We have two defensive ends, one who is committed to Missouri and one to South Alabama, and they have been playing elite ball.

“Jaylen Brown (a 6-6, 235-pounder bound for Missouri) had two big sacks against Bob Jones,” McGehee said. “He also hit the quarterback as he was releasing the ball that led to us getting an interception that led to us scoring before the half.

“Nate Jennings (South Alabama) is a two-year starter and this is the first year for Nate to start. He’s always had the tools. He’s 6-6, about 240, and he’s just had a light really come on for him. I think he can play for a really long time if he wants to. He’s that talented.”

Jennings has 20 total tackles and 4 tackles for a loss. Brown has 19 total stops with three sacks and one blocked field goal.

The Jets have a veteran secondary with two-year starter Marc Woods (6-3, 175), who has notched 8.3 tackles per game, and three-year starter Brody Stinson (5-10, 165) leading the way. “They understand what we’re doing coverage-wise. You can’t replace experience,” McGehee said.

Huntsville also had a second-team All-State performer catching passes as a junior in 2022. Huck Hensley, a 5-11, 170-pounder, has caught eight passes for 83 yards thus far. Senior Ashton Caldwell has caught seven passes for 76 yards and scored twice.

Quarterback Jacks McClung is 29-for-44 with three TDs for 299 yards and no interceptions. “Jacks is a returning starter and he’s one of our better players,” Fleetwood said. “He was 18-for-22 last week. He threw the ball really well and has made good decisions with it.

“We’ve got a running back, Marlin Jones, who has some explosive nature to him. He probably has the best speed in the backfield since I’ve been here and he can catch.”

McClung is working behind some experience on the offensive front in center Gary Cochran (6-0, 250), right tackle Tucker Schwartz (6-2, 280) and tight end Alex Moore (6-5, 230).

“Alex may have a bigger impact than anybody this year,” Fleetwood said. “He can catch and he knows what to do with it when he does.”

Returning starter at end Tyric Hinton (6-3, 270) and linebackers Jordan Wiimberly and Christon Gilgious anchor the defense. Fleetwood also praised returning starters in the secondary in safety Alec Huskey and cornerback Ramon White.

“Two other people who can play a big part for us this year are our long snapper John Connelly and our kicker/punter Sims Bowman,” Fleetwood said. “Sims has kicked six out of seven kickoffs in or out of the end zone this year.”

The coach said James Clemens has looked good on film this season. “They don’t have any glaring weaknesses,” he said. “Defensively, they’ve got some bigger kids up front and on offense they seem to be getting the ball to the right people. They are not trying to be fancy, just being smart and taking care of the football.”