GOOD HOPE, Ala. – The Good Hope Raiders are coming off a stellar 2024 season and they have high hopes once again in 2025. Good Hope recorded 10 wins, a region championship and hosted a playoff game a season ago and as he prepares to kick off his 11th season with the Raiders, Head Coach Alan Scott reflected on last year’s team and what they accomplished.
“That was one of those seasons you didn’t want to end. Going into it there really were a lot more questions than there were answers,” Scott said. “But the way the team came together beating West Point early on and then Fultondale really kind of gave them a lot of confidence and we were able to run off nine in a row, host a playoff game and beat a really good Hatton team to make it to the second round. It was just a fantastic year, and I can’t say enough about that team.”
Good Hope lost some impact players to graduation in May, but the Raiders will still have plenty of game experience returning on both sides of the ball. Scott is happy to have experience and talent returning this field, but he’s been most impressed with the leadership and chemistry this team has already developed in the offseason.
“As far as returners go, I think we have about seven starters on either side of the football that are coming back. Obviously, you lose key guys each and every year but the ones we had back this summer have done a great job,” Scott said. “We’ve been lifting Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 6 a.m. – 8 a.m. and the guys have been very consistent in showing up and being a part of that. The strength for these guys is just the leadership. We had a minicamp a couple weeks ago and we’ve watched these guys push one another on the field and even off the field so that’s been good to see. With any good team the brotherhood that develops across the summer months is just critical to your success in the fall. So, as long as they have that love for one another things should go pretty well.”
An early injury derailed Good Hope’s plans for the quarterback position last season but with the starter coming back healthy this fall, Scott is excited to see the offense develop around him.
“Tyler (Cone) and the season that he had was just phenomenal. He really stepped into a role that we didn’t see him doing last fall and he did everything we asked him to. Parker (Johnson) going into the first game against West Point was the starter and unfortunately suffered an injury and wasn’t able to come back until week seven or eight, so he’s taken some snaps,” Scott said. “His dad was a quarterback at Good Hope for Coach (Alan) Dunkling and this season will hopefully be a good for chance him to prove himself in more than just two or three ball games.”
The Raiders will kick things off with a jamboree game at Pisgah before hosting a county matchup against West Point in week one and Scott is eager to see how his team responds to the early adversity.
“They’ve been fantastic in their classification, so they’ve established themselves as a great program. That’s going to be a great challenge for us to go up there. It’ll be nearly two hours one way on a bus, and I know everybody’s not real excited about that trip but it’s good because to me it kind of simulates a playoff type of ride on a bus and you get to see how your kids respond to that adversity,” Scott said. “It’s just a great litmus test. You get to see how your summer really went. Everyone always looks good in shorts, but West Point is always really big and really physical and have great tradition. That game has really gone back and forth the last few years and it seems like the road team has had the advantage, so we’d really like to break that tradition this year but at the same time we know if our guys go out there and play their tails off and do what we ask them to we’ll have a shot there at the end.”
2025 Good Hope Football Schedule (4A, Region 5)
Aug. 29 – West Point
Sept. 5 – at Fultondale*
Sept. 12 – Haleyville*
Sept. 19 – Cordova*
Sept. 26 – at Addison
Oct. 3 – Curry*
Oct. 10 – at Hamilton*
Oct. 17 – Fayette County*
Oct. 24 – at Dora*
Oct. 31 – at Fairview
*Region Game
