Supporters of football at Pelham
High School were no doubt disappointed by the team’s 3-7 finish in the 2014
season. Yet that record has an historical connection; the school’s very first
team also finished 3-7.
Pelham High School opened in September 1974
and fielded its first football team two years later. The first game was played
at Shelby County on Saturday, August 28. The schedule that year included
several teams each from divisions 3A, 2A and 1A. Pelham’s three wins all came
against 1A opponents: Maplesville, Thorsby and Verbena. The losses included a
35-6 one to a 1A team, Isabella. Pelham’s other lopsided losses that season
were all to 3A teams: Shelby County, Childersburg and B.B. Comer.
David Bailey was the head coach of
that first team, and he coached three more seasons. His 1979 team finished 5-5,
thus becoming Pelham High’s first team with a non-losing season. In his one
year in 1980, head coach Steve Rivers’ team also went 5-5. Pelham did not have
a winning season until a 6-4 campaign in 1986 in Billy Tohill’s fourth season
as head coach.
The school’s most successful coach
has been Rick Rhoades from the 1996 through the 2000 seasons. He posted a 41-19
record and playoff appearances each year.
Details of all Pelham High School
football teams and many others around the state can be found on the Alabama
High School Football Historical Society web site . A history of Pelham football through the 2022 season by David Parker is available on Amazon.
UPDATE December 12, 2017: Pelham High School football team finished the 2017 regular season 5-5 and lost 49-14 to Spanish Fort in the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoff. Nevertheless, the team improved greatly in coach Tim Causey's third year. In 2015 the team went 1-9 and 2-8 in 2016. Pelham football's all-time record through 2017 is 203-239-0.
UPDATE December 4, 2018: Improvement continued this season as the team finished the regular season 7-3. The Panthers did lose to Hartselle 35-7 in the first round of the playoffs. The season was the first winning one since 2013 and their first seven win season since 2013.
UPDATE August 30, 2019: At a game against Bibb County Pelham honored 1988 graduate and head football coach at Clemson Dabo Swinney.
UPDATE November 1, 2019: Pelham finished the season at 3-7, but managed to win three of its last four games.
UPDATE December 12, 2017: Pelham High School football team finished the 2017 regular season 5-5 and lost 49-14 to Spanish Fort in the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoff. Nevertheless, the team improved greatly in coach Tim Causey's third year. In 2015 the team went 1-9 and 2-8 in 2016. Pelham football's all-time record through 2017 is 203-239-0.
UPDATE December 4, 2018: Improvement continued this season as the team finished the regular season 7-3. The Panthers did lose to Hartselle 35-7 in the first round of the playoffs. The season was the first winning one since 2013 and their first seven win season since 2013.
UPDATE August 30, 2019: At a game against Bibb County Pelham honored 1988 graduate and head football coach at Clemson Dabo Swinney.
UPDATE November 1, 2019: Pelham finished the season at 3-7, but managed to win three of its last four games.
UPDATE November 12, 2020: Pelham finished the season with a final record of 8-3. The season ended with the team at 8-2 with losses to Oak Mountain by seven points and Homewood by two points. The team was 6-0 in region play and won the region title for the first time since 2006 and only the third in school history. In the first round of the state playoffs Pelham lost 23-21 to Lee-Montgomery. In the final regular season standings Pelham was ranked #11, just six points behind Eufaula.
UPDATE November 8, 2021: Pelham finished the regular season with a 7-3 record, which included a final game win over Homewood 10-7. Pelham won it's last four games, and that last win on October 28 was the first one over Homewood in eight years. Pelham lost in the first round of the state playoffs, 20-6 to McGill-Toolen.
UPDATE February 20, 2022: On February 11 Head Coach Tom Causey, who had coached the Panthers for seven seasons and was a head coach in Alabama since 2000, announced his retirement. Details are here.
UPDATE February 20, 2023: Pelham made the 6A playoffs in the 2022 season and won its first round game over Northridge 44-14. That was Pelham's first playoff win since 2006. The team lost in the second round to St. Pauls, 38-7. Pelham had finished the regular season with a 5-5 record under first year coach Mike Vickery.
UPDATE 2 November 2024: Pelham finished the season with a 1-9 record.
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