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Baynes

Baynes among "Spotlight" performers

Staff Report

Tallassee quarterback Casey Baynes was listed as one of the state's top performers last weekend. Baynes made his first start at QB for the Tigers in a 25-0 win at Russell County on Friday.

The junior completed 7-of-8 passes for 180 yards including a 27-yard TD pass to Logan Goodman. Baynes also rushed for 90 yards on 13 carries with a a 31-yard scoring run.

Bob Jones High School senior running back Brad Anderson was the AHSAA's top performer in the "Prep Spotlight" with two 99-yard touchdown runs in a 35-14 win over Dorman, S.C., at Madison City Stadium. The senior finished with 310 yards on 17 attempts and three TDs.

Anderson's feat was a first. No player in AHSAA history has had two touchdown runs of 99 yards in the same game.

The first week’s action was highlighted with special commemorations at Prattville and Foley high schools that honored two of the state’s all-time favorite high school football standouts.

At Foley, the high school jersey number (12) of recent NFL Hall of Fame inductee, the late Kenny Stabler, became the first number in school history to be retired. The ceremony took place prior to the Lions’ 41-14 season-opening win over Robertsdale on Aug. 19.

Stabler, Foley’s quarterback from 1961 through 1963 when the Lions rolled to a 29-1 record and a 23-game winning streak, went on to a standout career at Alabama and in the NFL. He succumbed to colon cancer in 2015. Several members of his family attended Friday night's ceremony, which in addition to the number retirement, included a Hometown Hall of Fame program presented by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Ford Motor Company.

Prior to Prattville’s season-opening 55-53 setback to Wetumpka at Stanley-Jensen Stadium Friday night, Prattville High School named the field in honor of former Lions’ standout Kevin Turner. And in what is believed to be a “first,” PHS also named the sideline in front of the Prattville team in honor of longtime local sportswriter, team statistician and PHS historian Jimmy White, 82 who died earlier this year. White wrote a sports column locally for many years for the Prattville Progress and covered all PHS sports events for more than 60 years. , The City of Prattville honored Mr. White by painting his name along with the logo of his beloved Boston Red Sox on the spot where he followed his Lions for over six decades.

Turner, whose life has been documented by HBO, attended Prattville High School where he played on the 1984 Class 6A state championship team. He went on to play at Alabama and in the NFL from 1992-99. Turner, diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2010, and died last March. The Kevin Turner Foundation now offers education and support for other ALS victims.

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