Opelika Takes No. 2 Central-Phenix City to the Final Minutes, Falls 31-24

September 13, 2026 — Opelika, AL

Opelika spent most of Friday night trading punches with the highest-ranked team it will see this season, and came up a possession short.

Central-Phenix City won 31-24 at Bulldog Stadium in a Class 6A Region 2 game between two ranked teams. Opelika had the game tied at 24-24 with 4:59 to play before Central scored the go-ahead points, according to AL.com’s live updates from Week 4.

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The Bulldogs fall to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the region under first-year head coach Jonathan Chandler. Their three opponents so far — Hoover, Enterprise and Central-Phenix City — have a combined record of 19-16.

Opelika is back at Bulldog Stadium on Friday, Sept. 18 against J.A.G., then has an open date before traveling to crosstown rival Auburn on Oct. 2.

Result confirmed against AHSFHS.org and statewide final-score lists from Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press.

Author: Jerry Katz

Jerry Katz is the creator of Opelika Daily News. A former broadcaster, he has been writing about Opelika for more than twenty years — first as a blogger, now as the one-person newsroom behind this site. He curates the region's local news daily, writes the Katz Ramblings column and the weekly From the Archives look-back, and maintains an archive of more than 3,200 posts reaching back to 2002. He lives in Opelika. Reach him at jerry@opelikadailynews.com. View all posts by Jerry Katz