This is an opinion piece.

Week 1 of the 2023 high school football season was eventful to say the least.

Rush Propst is back and apparently as passionate as ever.

ESPN came to Saraland, and the reigning 6A champs responded with a dramatic win over Lipscomb Academy. (By the way, Ryan Williams is still Ryan Williams).

However, in my mind, everything statewide – every great game, every upset, every great individual performance – was unfortunately overshadowed by disruptive incidents in at least four games from Mobile to Harvest.

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A teen managed to get a gun into the Ramsay vs. Hueytown game at Hueytown. Fortunately, there were no shots, but the game was halted for a time before eventually finishing.

The Hazel Green game at Sparkman was stopped at halftime with Sparkman winning 31-0 after a “major disruption.” Officials have said this week that the disruption was caused by “Individuals who wanted to strike fear into the crowd.”

Fairview’s 46-6 win over Columbia also included several incidents, including a punch being thrown by a player, a fight in the stands leading to an injury and a player ejected for language aimed at an official. It should be noted that this was the only one of the four incidents that involved actual players.

Then, to finish off the weekend, visiting fans at the Blount vs. Vigor game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium began to run after what officials later said was a fight in the bathroom that led to panic in the stands. Players from both teams hit the ground. The game was delayed approximately 25 minutes until calm could be restored. The game was eventually finished with Vigor winning 26-6.

I was at Ladd on Saturday night along with more than 10,000 other people. I was certainly thankful there wasn’t a serious threat, and that law enforcement officers and MCPSS officials handled the matter swiftly and as efficiently as possible.

After the game, I spoke with both coaches – Blount’s Ray Nelson and Vigor’s Markus Cook – about how calmly their players handled the commotion. They said their student-athletes did just as they have been taught to do in certain situations, which is lay down on the field and not face the stands.

Think about that for a minute.

How horrible is it this day and age that we have to teach our young people what to do in the event a terrible situation breaks out at a high school football game or any other social gathering?

Certainly, I’m glad we do teach them how to be prepared in such a situation. I just wish it wasn’t a necessity. At my company, we’ve been trained on how to handle an active shooter situation as I’m sure many other companies have done as well. Again, good to be prepared, terrible that this is what it has come to in our world.

What’s the answer? I’m not sure there is one other than prayer. It seemed like officials handled each situation as well as they could. AHSAA executive director Alvin Briggs released a statement earlier this week noting that his group was aware of the situations and monitoring them and thankful for the way everyone responded.

I don’t know this, but I would guess the AHSAA is also reminding schools to practice security plans and working with them to prevent any future incidents. It’s heartbreaking for me to know what these student-athletes and coaches go through year-around to play only 10 games a year (a maximum of 15 if you make a state title game).

To have even one of those games ruined by these senseless acts is despicable.

Week 2 started Thursday night with a handful of games and no disturbances reported. It swings into full gear tonight with games around the state.

Let’s hope all the action remains on the field.

Thought for the week

“I’ve still got joy in chaos

I’ve got peace that makes no sense

So, I won’t be going under

I’m not held by my own strength.”

— Firm Foundation, Cody Carnes

Ben Thomas is the high school sportswriter at AL.com. He has been named one of the 50 legends of the Alabama Sports Writers Association. Follow him on twitter at @BenThomasPreps or email him at [email protected]. He can be heard weekly on “Inside High School Sports” on SportsTalk 99.5 FM in Mobile or on the free IHeart Radio App at 2 p.m. Wednesdays.