By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



The Alabama and Auburn football teams close out the regular season by stagging their bitter in-state rivalry. Now, two bitter high school rivals will be following the lead of the Crimson Tide and Tigers.

Beginning with the 2008 football season, the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils and the Gardendale Rockets will renew their bitter in-county rivalry to close out both club’s regular season slates.

In 2008, the two clubs will square off on Oct. 31 at Driver Stadium in Gardendale.

The change, for a game that is normally played in the opening weeks on the season, was necessitated by the AHSAA realignment that will send the Rockets to Class 6A beginning next year.

The Blue Devil’s clash with Gardendale will be one of only two non-region games Mortimer Jordan will play next fall, the other will be a week six meeting with 5A Moody.

Moving from an eight-team region (5A, Region 6) to a nine-team region, the Blue Devils will play eight region games in both 2008 and 2009, an increase of one region matchup over the seven region contests Mortimer Jordan has played in the past.

The Blue Devils will open their 2008 slate with a home game against Curry.

The following Friday, Mortimer Jordan will take to the road for the first time in the season, as they’ll travel to Brewer to take on new region foe—the Patriots.

The Blue Devils will return home for the third week of the season when they host Erwin. Then, they begin a two-game road trip, first to Springville and then to Cullman, before returning home to host Moody.

The Blue Devils will return to region play the following week when the host the Hayden Wildcats.

The next week, they’ll head back out on the road, traveling to Jasper to meet Walker High School.

On the season’s ninth week, they’ll close out their regular season home schedule when they play host to the Pleasant Grove Spartans. Finally, they’ll meet their old rival Gardendale to close out their regular season.

The Blue Devils failed to make the playoffs in 2007 after reaching the postseason in both 2005 and 2006.