MONTGOMERY — Monday, July 17, marked the start of the 27th annual AHSAA North-South All-Star Week as boys’ and girls’ golf teams teed off at Arrowhead Golf Club and baseball teams squared off in a doubleheader at Riverwalk Stadium.

Golf teams reported on Sunday for practice rounds before the 9 a.m. tee time on Monday. Baseball teams reported to the home of the Southern League’s Montgomery Biscuits on Monday for the doubleheader that was scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

Five girls’ golfers and four baseball players from Baldwin County were on hand to help kick off the summer all-star competition.

The girls’ golf competition included Fairhope’s, Addison Spears, Callie Henderson and Teal Gardner, Daphne’s Samiya Bodalia and Bayside Academy’s Causey Thompson. The South All-Star baseball team, coached by Gulf Shores’ Chris Jacks, featured Nolan Phillips from Fairhope, Jack Holley from Spanish Fort as well as Mac Anderson and Connor Gehr from Gulf Shores.

The rest of the week’s schedule included cross country races, tennis matches and basketball games on Tuesday, softball and soccer contests on Wednesday and a volleyball match to close things on Thursday. The football game was played in December where the South set a scoring record in its 42-7 win.

This year’s annual AHSAA Summer Conference and All-Star Week expects more than 4,000 coaches, administrators, contest officials and all-stars to attend the Coaches School, all-star games and three banquets said Brandon Dean, Director of the Alabama High School Athletic Directors & Coaches Association (AHSADCA), which hosts All-Star Week and Summer Conference Coaching School. Assistant Directors Devin Booth and J.T. Lawrence will be assisting Dean along with the rest of the AHSAA staff.

The 2023 Summer Conference will also be the third under the tutelage of AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs, who is beginning his third year at the helm.

All-Star competition featuring many of the state’s outstanding student-athletes in the Class of 2024 will be held in eight sports during the week. The North-South girls’ and boys’ basketball all-star games will get underway Tuesday at the Cramton Bowl MultiPlex where the girls’ contest is set to tip off at 5 p.m., with the boys’ game following at 6:45 p.m.

The boys’ and girls’ tennis matches will be played on Tuesday at Lagoon Park Tennis Complex at 5 p.m. The North-South boys’ and girls’ cross-country event will open Tuesday’s all-star events at 8 a.m., with the girls’ race, followed at 8:30 a.m. with the boys’ race. Both races will be at Gateway Park. Wednesday’s North-South All-Star schedule features the softball doubleheader at 4 p.m. at Lagoon Park. The girls’ and boys’ soccer matches will be at 5 and 7 p.m. at Emory Folmar YMCA Soccer Complex.

The 27th annual North-South All-Star volleyball competition closes out the all-star events on Thursday with a 2 p.m. start at the Cramton Bowl MultiPlex.

Except for golf, all other all-star teams will report the day of the competition. The North-South All-Star football game, which was first held in 1948, moved to December in 2020. The 65th game will be played Friday, Dec. 15 at the University of South Alabama’s Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile. The South won last year’s game 42-7 and holds a 35-27-2 edge in the series.

Once again, most of the all-star competitions will be live-streamed over the NFHS Network with Central-Phenix City High School’s NFHS Network School Broadcast Program producing the contests. Tim Loreman is the executive producer and Central students will manage the technical production along with other NFHS Network contributors.

Managing the play-by-play for the baseball, basketball and softball all-star events will be long-time radio personality Jerry Young. He will be assisted by noted radio broadcaster Doug Applin at the baseball all-star games.

Former University of Alabama standout and 1995 Mr. Basketball Brian Williams, who prepped at Montgomery’s Jeff Davis High School, will provide color for the basketball all-star games. Veteran radio personality and Montgomery talk show host Graham Dunn will manage the play-by-play for volleyball. Cornerstone coach Cody Wood will assist as the color commentator.

Mountain Brook boys’ soccer coach Joe Webb, a 2021 Making a Difference Award recipient, will handle play-by-play for the boys’ and girls’ soccer competition. His color commentators will be Albertville coach Julie Smith (girls), and Florence coach Glenn Harscheid (boys).

Loreman’s talented students, Presley Holmes, Mia Bell and Mallory Parrish, will provide tape-delayed highlights of the other sports venues — tennis, golf, and cross country.

The AHSAA TV Network (WOTM TV) will also broadcast most of the all-star events either live or delayed each day with cross country, tennis and golf highlights planned to be shown on a delayed basis. Visit nfhsnetwork.com for information on how to subscribe to the NFHS Network.

All-star rosters, coaching staffs and team itineraries as well as other important details can be found at ahsaa.com/AHSADCA/2023-AHSAA-Summer-Conference.

The Summer Conference, which begins Tuesday with coaching schools for baseball, basketball, track & field, bowling and cheer, will also conduct clinics for football, soccer, softball, volleyball, track & field and wrestling during the week. Rules tests will also be administered onsite.

Among the outstanding list of clinicians kicking off the Coaching School on Tuesday are University of Alabama-Birmingham baseball coach Casey Dunn, Samford University baseball coach Tony David and Alabama State University baseball coach Jose Vazquez.

The conference concludes on Friday, July 21, with the mandatory Principals and Athletic Directors meeting, which will be divided into three mandatory general sessions that require administrators from each member high school to attend.

The annual AHSAA/AHSADCA Championship Coaches Awards Banquet will be held on Thursday, July 20, at 6 p.m., where each coach who directed a school team to an AHSAA state championship in the 2022-23 school year will be recognized.

The banquet will conclude by honoring the AHSAA’s seven ‘Making a Difference’ Award recipients for 2023, including Keith High School volleyball and basketball coach Towanna Flennory (1A); Red Bay High School assistant principal Dr. Jacqueline Parsons (2A); Saint James High School athletic director and girls’ basketball coach Katie Barton (3A); Brooks High School assistant principal and volleyball coach Ryan Roberson (4A); Leeds High School assistant football coach Curtis Coleman (5A); Central-Tuscaloosa administrator and girls’ flag football coach Dennis Conner (6A) and Opelika High School assistant football coach Adam Massey (7A).

The Montgomery Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center will also host the annual Vendor Exhibition during the week as well as three banquets. In addition to the Championship Coaches Banquet, 80 high schools that earned the Sportsmanship School status during 2022-23 by having no ejections or sportsmanship fines will be honored at the 16th annual AHSAA Sportsmanship School Luncheon Friday. Ten of those schools will receive a $1,000 Sportsmanship Grant provided by the AHSADCA.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon will be held on Thursday featuring keynote speaker Marcus Davis, wide receivers coach at Auburn University.

North-South all-time series records (Through 2022 All-Star Sports Week)

Girls’ Golf: North 47, South 25 – (North leads series 2-1)

Boys’ Golf: North 62.5, South 27.5 – (North leads series 3-0)

Baseball: South 5-2, North 0-2 – (North leads series 23-16-3)                

Girls’ Basketball: North 75, South 52 – (North leads series 22-3)

Boys’ Basketball: North 101, South 91 – (North leads series 50-29)

Girls’ Cross Country: North 19, South 38 – (North leads series 3-2)

Boys’ Cross Country: South 22, North 33 – (North leads series 3-2)

Girls’ Tennis: North 6, South 3 – (North leads series 3-0)

Boys’ Tennis: South 6, North 3 – (North leads series 2-1)

Softball: North 6-10, South 3-5 – (North leads 29-23-3)

Girls’ Soccer: North 5, South 0 – (North leads 17-3-1)

Boys’ Soccer: North 6, South 3 – (North leads 14-4-1)

Volleyball: North 3, South 2 – (North leads series 15-9)

Football: South 42, North 7 (December) – (South leads series 35-27-2)