By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – To give students extra time to travel to and from Auburn for the Class 7A state championship game, Alabaster City Schools is dismissing early on Dec. 5 and starting late on Dec. 6, school leaders announced on Nov. 27.

It has been 36 years since our Warriors played for a football state championship, and we could not be more excited for Coach Freeman and his staff, the Warrior Football Team, the Marching Southern Sounds, and our cheerleaders,” ACS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers wrote in a letter to students and parents. “Alabaster City Schools hopes to make this a community event and encourages everyone to attend the game and all activities associated with this exciting event.”

The Thompson Warriors are set to take on the Central-Phenix City Red Devils at 7 p.m. on Dec. 5 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the campus of Auburn University.

To allow students and parents to travel to the game, all ACS schools will dismiss at 11 a.m. on Dec. 5. Buses will run at 11 a.m., and no after-school care will be available.

On Dec. 6, all ACS schools will operate on a three-hour delay, breakfast will not be served, schools will operate on a normal schedule after students arrive and after-school care will operate as normal.

On Dec. 4, ACS is encouraging the community to join Thompson High School students, faculty and staff in holding a send-off event for the THS football team as it departs for Auburn at 10:30 a.m.

During the send-off, which is open to the public, attendees will line the walkway between the school and football stadium, and are encouraged to bring balloons, noisemakers, shakers and signs. Visitors should park in the baseball and softball parking lot.

After the players’ buses leave THS, they will pass Thompson Middle School, Thompson Intermediate School and Thompson Sixth Grade Center on their way to Auburn.

On Dec. 5, the players will disembark their buses for a Warrior Walk outside Jordan-Hare Stadium at the corner of Heisman Drive and South Donahue Drive. Tickets to the game are $15, and are available on Gofan.co. THS fans should sit on the west side of the stadium behind the home team bench, and are encouraged to enter via Gate 14. The stadium has a clear bag policy, and artificial noisemakers are not allowed.