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Martin and Robertson Lead Creekbank and Bluff Back to Glory Days
Jon Holder
Ohatchee, Alabama-population 1,170. Ohatchee High Schoolenrollment-244. Of the seven classes in the Alabama High School Athletic Association, Ohatchee is number 50 in Class 3A. The Indians in the past have even been classified smaller-2A and even 1A back in the 1970s. Water and football are the main interests and diversions in this small town in Calhoun County. The Coosa River / Lake Neely Henry and the Indian pigskin squad are the headliners in the west end of the county. High school football is important in Ohatchee. It is woven into the framework of the community. And the local team has been very successful through the years. OHS began playing football in 1925 and have won more than they have lost over the last 90 plus years. The decade of the 1970s was the high point of Indian football, as the local team won 93 games and lost just 19 in 10 years. The crowning moment came in the 1977 season when Ohatchee won the school’ s first and only state football championship. That team will return to“ The Creekbank” this fall to be honored on the 40th anniversary of that season.
Just across the county line about 25 miles
to the northeast is a similar community. Hokes Bluff, Alabama-population 4,286. Hokes Bluff High School-enrollment-320. Hokes Bluff is number 43 in Class 4A of the seven classes in Alabama. Water and football are big attractions in Hokes Bluff as well. The Coosa River also meanders throughout this eastern Etowah County community and Eagle football is the main event on fall Friday nights. High school football is of the utmost importance to the people in and around the Bluff. Hokes Bluff High School football, like Ohatchee, has been very successful in East Alabama prep history. The school has fielded a team every year since 1937 and the vast majority of those years have resulted in a winning season. HBHS reached the pinnacle of high school football in 2001 winning the Class 3A State Championship, the school’ s first and only football title.
Current Ohatchee Head Coach Scott Martin is an outsider. He is from Louisiana, played college football at LA-Monroe, and coached the majority of his 32 year career in the Bayou state. He has only coached in Alabama since 2008. Three years ago, Martin was totally unfamiliar with the community he now calls home.“ When I applied for this job I didn’ t know where Ohatchee was. I will be honest, I had never even heard of Ohatchee,” stated Martin. His description of Ohatchee is spot on.“ It is a prideful, rural community. There is not a main street. It is not really built around a town. But it is very community oriented. The community is very tight knit. People from Ohatchee are proud to be from Ohatchee no matter where they may live now,” says the coach.
Hokes Bluff Head Coach Mike Robertson on the other hand is Hokes Bluff through and through. He grew up in the town, graduated from the high school, played for the Eagles, was a long-time assistant, his son was the quarterback of the Eagles, and he has been the Head Coach since 1996. No one knows Hokes Bluff-the town and the football program-better than Coach Rob.“ Hokes Bluff is a small, hometown community. Generations of families have been here. We have fourth and fifth generations that live here. We love our schools. Schools are the main focus of the community. The schools here have not changed much through the years. We are conservative and religious and sports are the backbone of this
26 | 2017 Pigskin Roundup the Magazine