Each week, the St. Clair News Aegis features a team of the week. This week’s team is The Ragland Purple Devils.

Last week, Ragland stepped out of region play and took on Randolph County from class 3A. It was a tough night for the Purple Devils as the Tigers doubled up Ragland 48-24.

This week, Ragland gets back into region play with a home game against The Wadley Bulldogs. The series between these two regional rivals goes all the way back to 1956 when they met for the first time. Ragland won that first meeting 32-13. In fact Ragland won the first three meetings in the series before Wadley ripped off nine straight.

This will be the 19th meeting, with Wadley holding a 13-5 lead in the series. The two schools have split the last two meetings. The Bulldogs blew out the Purple Devils in Wadley 55-14 last season. Ragland last won 35-8 on Oct. 9, 2020.

Ragland plays in Class 1A region 6 with Donoho, Spring Garden, Talladega Central, rival Victory Christian, Wadley, and Winterboro. Ragland has only played one region game so far and that was a 46-14 on the road at Donoho. In fact, Ragland’s first four games of the season were on the road. Wadley will be the home opener for The Purple Devils.

Joan Ford Stadium in Ragland will be rocking as the Purple Devils try to climb to the top of a jumbled up Class 1A region 6. Kickoff for Friday night’s game will be at 7 p.m.