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January 2012 |
Village Living
Village Sports Basketball season tips off By WIll HIGHTOWER The 2011 Mountain Brook boys and girls basketball teams are hard to label. The best word to describe them? Different. The boys have a noticeable lack of seniors, and the seniors that are on the team have taken odd paths to get there, two of them coming from other countries. That’s not to say that it is slowing down this team. After some early season struggles, the Spartans were 7-3 in midDecember. Matthi Sigurdarson, who moved from Iceland this year to play, and Mario Stramaglia, who moved from Puerto
Rico four years ago, are leading the team in scoring. The coaches call sophomore Patrick Keim the “vocal leader” of the team, and sophomore Sean Eaton is the Spartans’ big man. “I’d be surprised if by the end of the year this team doesn’t make something happen in the playoffs,” head coach Bucky McMillan said. The girls team also is composed oddly; only one senior is on the team. But just like the boys, the girls are not letting that get in the way. The Lady Spartans have been
annihilating opponents so far this year. In their seven wins as of mid-December, the girls have averaged a margin of victory of over 40 points. Losses to Hoover and Shades Valley made the Spartans’ record 7-2. Sophomore Mary Katherine Pinson has been leading the girls in scoring. The youth of this team makes the future bright. Outside of Hoover, the girls look to be one of the better teams in the area and will most likely keep that title for years to come.
VLACHOS
center nationally, and he was named 6A All-State. Then came the issue with Saban. Vlachos had gone to camps across the country and was “whipping five-star defensive linemen,” as Yeager put it. Yet Saban still wasn’t a fan. The pivotal moment came in a Marriott in Tallahassee. “So William and I go down to Florida State, who had offered him,” Yeager said. “We were at the Marriott the day before we were going to talk with Coach Bowden, and he asked me what he should do. And I told him that I didn’t think they wanted him at Alabama. And he said back, ‘I’m going to make them want me.’” However difficult the recruiting
process was, Vlachos ended up in Tuscaloosa in 2008, ready for his first season of college football. Although he was redshirted freshman year, he went on to start the next three, including playing in Pasadena at the 2009 National Championship. This season has been his coming-out party, though. He earned preseason allSEC first team honors, and was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week twice for the wins over Florida and Auburn. He was later named all-SEC first team and a finalist for the prestigious Rimington Trophy. Yeager acknowledged that the general opinion on Vlachos is that he is the best center in the country next to Ben Jones of
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school, Vlachos worked tirelessly at improving his technique, knowing that he would have to overcome his stature if he wanted to achieve his goals. “When he was in seventh grade, I gave him some foot drills to do,” Yeager said. “It didn’t matter if it was raining outside, snowing, lightning, he was out there doing those drills in seventh and eighth grade. He was extremely focused.” Vlachos’ senior year at Mountain Brook saw the center attain high honors. Rivals.com ranked him as the number nine
Junior Reagan Alexander goes for the block in the 63-58 victory over Thompson.
Georgia. That means the NFL is waiting. “I’ve had a few guys that I’ve coached elsewhere that have gone to the NFL, and the traffic we are getting is very similar,” Yeager said. “This is exceptional traffic. The Colts seem to line up well to pick him, and the Seahawks, Raiders, and Redskins have all called.” The consensus on Vlachos is that he will be picked anywhere from the third to fifth round in the draft in April. As a threeyear SEC starter, going up daily in practice against Marcell Dareus and Terrence Cody, Vlachos seems like a safe pick to succeed if teams can get over his height. But for now, his focus is on a certain date in early January.
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