Sports Editor

Nov. 14, 2000 10 PM

The Alabama Independent School Association’s "Triple Championship" will be held this Friday at Richard M. Scrushy Field in Memorial Stadium and with six schools from three different classifications playing at various times during day, there’s sure to be enough football excitement for everyone.

Troy beat out Selma in the summer for the right to host the championship games.

"I used a very objective system in presenting the case between the two sites," said AISA executive director John Faircloth. "Troy was a solid favorite over Selma mainly because of the different features Troy and Troy State University offers at an event like this."

The AISA has three classifications.

The AISA decided this season to go to a format similar to the one used by the public school system and the Alabama High School Athletic Association. The final two teams from Class 1A to Class 6A will meet in Birmingham on Dec. 7-9 to determine a champion.

In Class 1A, South Montgomery County Academy (11-1) will play Clarke Prep School (11-1) for the title. That game will begin at noon.

The Class 2A contest will feature the Macon-East Knights (11-1) of Montgomery against Chambers Academy (9-3) scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

The battle for the 3A title will be between Fort Dale Academy (9-3) of Greenville and Morgan Academy (12-0) and will start at 8 p.m.

Troy’s economy should see a significant boost on Friday, what with fans from six different cities descending on the county. Macon-East, Fort Dale, Morgan (Selma) and SMCA (Ramer) are all within an hour or two of Troy, while Chambers and Clarke Prep (Grove Hill) are a little further away.

"The main reason that they are attracted to Troy and Troy State University is because the city of Troy went out on a limb and gave TSU $4 million to improve their facilities," said TSU Chapter Development Coordinator for Alumni Affairs Mike Amos. "Without these improvements they wouldn’t be coming here. Now it’s all starting to pay dividends. We’re getting a huge payday by bringing somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 15, 000 football fans, representing six of the top AISA schools in the state."

Which means 10-15,000 football fans that are hungry, need gas or a hotel to stay in should set the cash registers to ringing on Thursday night and throughout the three games on Friday.

Tickets for the "Triple Championship" is $8, which includes all three title games. Concessions will be available and also the "Sound of the South" will perform at sometime during the event.