“It only took me 43 years to get one,” St. James coach Jimmy Perry said about winning his first state football title as a head coach.
The 64-year-old’s winding football life had taken him from Montgomery’s Trinity Presbyterian to Auburn, back home and back again to the Plains, eventually settling at St. James in 2012. On Thursday, 159 head coaching victories and one Hall of Fame enshrinement later, Perry was once again in Jordan-Hare Stadium, this time celebrating the one win he’d yet to achieve in Alabama high school athletics by embracing his wife.
The Trojans rallied at halftime against AHSAA Class 3A powerhouse Piedmont, beating the Bulldogs 45-28 for the program’sJunior quarterback KJ Jackson threw for five touchdowns, Clint Houser totaled 194 receiving yards and Ziggy Holloway caught a score and broke up five deep passes. Perry tried to defer credit to the players, but they quickly swarmed their coach as he carried a blue map back to them. Perry, flashing a full grin, later called it the “sweetest” title in his career.
“It was special,” Perry who’s won three as an assistant, said postgame. “I mean it was poetic justice that we were able to get it here after all these years.Perry reached the summit once before, but couldn’t clear it. In 1999 with Lee-Montgomery, he led the Generals to an overtime loss against Clay-Chalkville. Before his current high school run, Perry was the director of high school recruiting for then-Tigers head coach Tommy Tuberville from 2000-2004.
It was fitting then that, due to the yearly rotation of Super 7 sites and St. James’ seeding as the South region representative, Perry held court with friends, family and team officials in the Auburn locker room. Perry said the infrastructure of the Tigers’ program was “night and day” compared to his tenure.Not only had the sport itself changed, but about 10 yards from his pregame meeting was Auburn’s $91.1 million football center.
“I think everything is on the upside,” Perry said of Auburn’s future. “I don’t know Coach Freeze that well, but I do know the Auburn people. I’m an Auburn Man, always have been, and always will be. The Auburn family will come together and back him, players will play hard for him and that’s what Auburn is about.”
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