With plenty of new faces, Southside football ready to continue momentum

SOUTHSIDE − It was already going to be an offseason of change for Southside football coming out of a record-setting 2023 season .

The Panthers broke through the region to take the crown and made a third straight playoff appearance, although they did fall again in the first round. They were going to lose their All-State running back and a quarterback that was their starter for three years, but who missed most of his senior year, along with the core group of seniors that got them to the level where they were. Add onto to all of that was an impending move to Class 6A football.

Then in mid-February the offseason of change turned into a complete overhaul as Miles Holcomb stepped down to take the Tuscaloosa County job. Slowly good news started rolling in for the Panthers, starting with Holcomb's suggested replacement getting the head-coaching job. Within a month, Ben Stewart was named the next head coach of the Southside football program, with a task to keep the momentum going and go for more in Class 6A.

Between Holcomb and his own father who lives on the banks of the Coosa River in Rainbow City, Stewart had an idea of what type of kids were in the program. It was a perfect match for the former offensive line coach, finding a group of fighters.

"I have always known that Southside is hard-nose kids that want to fight," Stewart said. "No matter what the score is or what the game is, they're going to fight, so that's one thing you look for when you take a coaching job, is kids who will go out and fight no matter what."

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Seniors trying to get over first round hump

The senior class this year have been crucial in the rebuild, especially up front with four returning starters on the offensive line being seniors this year. They paved the way for the region title last year and the fourth straight playoff appearance. There has been a common ending to each of those playoff trips, as they fall in the playoffs. The upperclassmen are tired of seeing their season end after the 11th game.

"It's terrible, we talk about it all the time. We're always so close and then we just magically let it go away. It like haunts us, we work thinking about that. We don't want that happening again," Jamin Brown said.

The first two years under Holcomb, the Panthers seasons ended in blowouts as they came into the playoffs going in the wrong direction. Outside of a late loss in the 2023 season, Southside looked to be peaking going into the playoffs but a first-round, low-scoring loss to Boaz, who they beat in overtime earlier in the year, saw the season end in the same way the last three had. While the Panthers seniors have bigger goals, the baseline is to finally see the season's 12th game.

"I want to win a state championship, I really do. I think we can do it, if we don't I'm fine with that. I just want to make it past the first round, that's the borderline expectation," Brown said.

Ready for the jump to Class 6A

Unlike the last time the Panthers were in Class 5A, they are making the move to 6A coming off a winning season and region title. It resembles when they made the jump in 2014, coming off a 13-1 season with a region crown, they then proceeded to take the region title the next year in Class 6A.

Even with losing major pieces on both sides of the ball, the Panthers are primed to enter Class 6A and continue their momentum with plenty of new faces. They also have a staff with experience at the highest level of Alabama high school football, with Stewart bringing Class 6A and 7A experience and offensive coordinator Andrew Owens coming from Oxford. They also add experience from the top level of college football getting defensive coordinator Branson Davis to move from an analyst at Arkansas to the high school ranks.

For the players, they know that there is a difference, mostly coming with the speed of the game, and some of the athletes. Through 7-on-7 this summer they have gotten a taste of some of what to expect..

"I think that the speed of the game is definitely faster but size I think its the same. Tougher teams, more athletes," McCade Wright said.

The good news is that on the field, much won't have to change for the Panthers as they can still be a ground-and-pound team, relying on the offensive line. It's what Stewart learned from his time at Hoover, one of the top teams in the state, and plans to use to win games, especially late in the season.

"That's how you're going to win. [Former Hoover football] Coach (Josh) Niblett told me a long time ago that's how you win football games in October, November and December is by running the football," Stewart said.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: With plenty of new faces, Southside football ready to continue momentum