On the Road with Olivia and Alexa Episode 9: Guntersville and Albertville

MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — Episode 9 of On the Road with Olivia and Alexa features two programs out in Marshall County: Guntersville and Albertville.

The Guntersville Wildcats are coming off a very successful season, walking away 2023 Class 5A Region 7 champions and making it all the way to the semi-final round of the playoffs.

Head coach Lance Reese enters his 15th year at the helm of the Wildcat program, and he knows that there is pressure to replicate the success he had last season.

“Anytime you come off a season like we had last year there’s always great expectation we lost a lot of great seniors when you make it to the semis there’s always going to be expectations but for us we just try to be the best team we can be we don’t set a certain number of goals to win one more or go undefeated,” said Coach Reese.

Reese coached many, many teams in his career, so what makes this 2024 Wildcat squad special?

“You know each group is different, we’ve had a number great running backs in the past but this year we feel like we’ve got running backs that need to be involved,” Coach Reese said. “We’ve got great skills guy. We’ve got a number of receivers that are 6’4 or better we’re not just going to try and go back out there and do what we did last year and make it to the semis, we’re going to try to change what we are doing and meet the talents of this group. Defensively we’re probably not as big as we have been in the past but we might have more speed so coach Thomas is going to have to take advantage of that athleticism and have the best defense we can have.”

The Albertville Aggies are hoping to make improvements from last season.

In 2024, the Aggies did not find the win column.

In head coach Bert Browne’s second season leading the red and black, he’s still trying to build his program.

“So I’ve always been somewhere or taken over a job where I’ve had some guys that I could put in spots they hadn’t been in before and be successful and of course last year our senior quarterback transferred somewhere else and when that happened the dominos kind of fell and we had a lot of seniors quit during the summer because they thought we couldn’t win,” coach Browne said. “Well how can you win if people don’t come out and that’s what I preach to these young guys you got to stick together don’t move don’t leave,”

Guntersville will start their season on the road at Southside Gadsden on August 23 and Albertville will host Arab on August 22.

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