Moody’s Blue Devils lost to graduation many of the players who helped take the team to the first round of the Class 5A playoffs last year, but that doesn’t mean this year’s team isn’t seasoned.

“We have nine seniors this year, so we do have some experience coming back,” head coach Jay Brown said.  “We just don’t have a whole lot of them.”

The team will get its first test at 7 p.m. Friday when it hosts Hamilton, a team that boasts on its roster the fourth-ranked running back in the nation.

“They’re going to come in here Friday having won nine out last year’s 10 regular season games,” Brown said.  “So it’s going to be a good challenge for us to go up against this new team with such a highly-ranked player right off the bat.”

The current AHSAA alignment places Moody in Class 5A’s Region 4, along with Alexandria, Anniston, Hayden, Lincoln, Mortimer Jordan, St. Clair County, and Springville.

“We’re going for three winning seasons in a row now,” Brown said.  “I don’t know if that’s been done here before, bu that’s what you want when you’re building up a program —