2016-17 Year in Review
For anyone who keeps tabs on sports at any level — but particularly at the high school stage — it’s very easy to transition from one season to the next without batting an eye.
Football, volleyball and cross-country season in the fall quickly transitions to basketball, indoor track and wrestling in the winter, and before you can blink, spring sports roar into action.
With everything that goes on throughout the school year, there’s often no time for reflection. Well, take a moment to do that now. The high school athletic teams at Hewitt-Trussville, Clay-Chalkville and Pinson Valley put together a year filled with lasting memories and note-worthy performances.
In the fall, all three football teams made the playoffs, continuing a string of success for each of the three programs. Hewitt-Trussville put together a record-setting season, running through the regular season unbeaten with an electrifying offense and opportunistic defense. The Huskies handled Oak Mountain in the first round before dropping a heartbreaker to Gadsden City in the second round.
Clay-Chalkville entered rebuilding mode after losing a large crop of players who made the past few years so successful. The Cougars fought tooth and nail to not only qualify for the playoffs, but to also give decided favorite and eventual state champion Ramsay a run for its money in the first round of the playoffs.
Pinson Valley rebounded from a 1-2 start to notch its first victory over Clay-Chalkville and rode that momentum to win six of its last seven regular season games and advance to the second round of the playoffs.
This fall promises to be interesting in its own right. The Cougars and Indians welcome in new coaches, while the Huskies have new blood at the quarterback position. Drew Gilmer takes over at Clay-Chalkville after Jerry Hood’s resignation, and Pinson Valley hired Patrick Nix to lead the Indians after a successful run in Scottsboro. Paul Tyson transferred to Hewitt and is battling to be the Huskies’ new signal-caller.
The Cougar volleyball team made some noise, winning the Class 6A, Area 12 tournament for the second consecutive season and coming one match shy at regionals of a state tournament berth.
In the winter, Mike Dutton Gymnasium gained new life with the entrance of boys basketball coach Cedric Lane, who led the Indians to regionals in his first season. Still fresh in many minds are some great performances from Colby Jones, Orion Morris and others, especially Jones’ tip-in at the buzzer to knock off Ramsay and send Pinson to that regional berth.
Sara Halasz took over the Pinson girls basketball program and began the process of building the program back to a level of legitimate competitiveness. If early summer returns are any indication, her second year will show great progress.
Both Clay-Chalkville basketball programs nearly pulled off upsets in the sub-regional round, as the girls battled Ramsay and the boys fell at the final horn to Parker. Both opponents were clear favorites, and Parker went all the way to the state championship game. It was the second consecutive year the Lady Cougars have been so close to pulling off a dramatic victory in sub-regionals, and the third straight year the boys team has had victory snatched from it in the final moments in the same round.
The Hewitt-Trussville girls basketball team was unable to duplicate its regional appearance, but the Lady Huskies return a solid team this season and should be a force to be reckoned with.
At the state wrestling tournament, Pinson Valley continued its strong tradition with a third-place finish in Class 6A, while Clay-Chalkville came home seventh. Hewitt-Trussville placed fourth in 7A.
In the spring, Hewitt-Trussville’s Noah Igbinoghene won both the long jump and the triple jump at the state outdoor track and field meet, blowing away the state record in the triple jump. Clay-Chalkville’s Adrienne Lewis also came home a state champ, winning the crown in triple jump as well.
On the softball field, Laurin Watts led the Indians to their best season in school history and was one win shy from the program’s first state tournament berth. Hewitt-Trussville suffered the same fate, battling in regionals but ultimately falling one game short of the state tournament.
A pair of local golfers, Pinson Valley’s Caleb O’Toole and Reed Love from Hewitt-Trussville, qualified for the state tournament, with O’Toole finishing tied for third, shooting even par over two days.
The Hewitt-Trussville girls soccer team picked up one of its greatest victories in recent memory by knocking off then-No. 1 Vestavia Hills on March 14 by a score of 1-0. The Hewitt girls tennis team also made waves, advancing to the state tournament and finishing fifth.
So take a minute to remember what those student-athletes accomplished in the 2016-17 school year, because before you know it, football, volleyball and cross-country will begin again.