A look back at the best sports stories this year

By DALTON MIDDLETON Sports Editor

When I was asked to pick out my five best stories from 2022, it took me a while to pick which ones I wanted to include in this. I went back and forth in my head about whether or not I wanted to include what I thought was my best written story, or what I thought was the best moment or game I covered.

I ultimately decided to do a little bit of everything. This list includes a few of my favorite stories I wrote this year. Some of these I liked due to being good stories, and some I thought were just really big sports moments that happened in our coverage area.

I also couldn’t limit myself to just five — so, I included a six.

Title In Program History

This was one of the biggest moments of the year. For the first time ever, the Edgewood Academy girls won the AISA basketball state championship. They beat Sparta Academy by 14 points in the championship and finished the year 23-6. There’s been a lot of championships won by Edgewood Academy, but this one was special. This game meant the world to then head coach Jason Fisher and his girls. They look to repeat this year as they’re currently undefeated entering 2023.

This was one of my favorite stories of the year for a multitude of reasons. One of those is because powerlifting really isn’t very big around here, but Schuyler still fell in love with the sport. He found the sport on YouTube and went down a rabbit hole watching videos of World Champions. That led to him diving into the sport, and in only two and a half years, he made the most of it by setting four state and national records in powerlifting in his weight class. I really enjoyed talking to Kurtis for the story simply because you could hear the passion he had for the sport when he talked about his “best day ever.”

I picked this one because of how good and how dominant of a series it was for Evan

After hitting a go-ahead grand slam in Game 1 to win the game and take a series lead, Duncan continued his tear at the plate in Game 2. He hit a solo home run to put the Mustangs up, 1-0, in the first inning before being intentionally walked in his next three at bats. But in the top of the ninth inning in extra innings, Gulf Shores made the mistake of pitching to him with a runner on second base. He crushed a double to right field to put the Mustangs up, then earned the win on the mound. He nearly single handedly eliminated Gulf

1,653 passing attempts. He finished his four-year career with a 98.5 efficiency rating per Pro Football Focus.

This season, Andrews was a first team All-Sun Belt selection in his first year of playing center. He played all but three snaps in Troy’s season and allowed only four sacks on 490 pas blocking situations.

He helped lead the Trojans to a 12-2 overall record, 11-game win streak, a Top 25 ranking in all major polls, and a Sun Belt conference championship. He was also called for only four penalties all season as he allowed only four hits and 11 hurries the entire year.

In 2021, Andrews played guard and allowed just one sack in 468 passing situations. Hallowed 12 pressures and just three hits on the quarterback while earning a No. 29 ranking nationally among all guards in pass protecting. He did not allow a sack in the final 10 games of the year.

Andrews will look to impress scouts at the NFL Combine with his strength. He is one of the strongest players across the country and posted maxes of 415 pounds on power clean, 600 pounds on squat, 450 pounds on bench press, and 585 pounds on deadlift.

Tournament

Continued from B1 again.

Just looking at the games, I think the girls side will be more exciting than the girls and will feature closer scores. But I’ve been wrong before, and I could be wrong again.

I think the most exciting matchups of the entire tournament are on the first night, and I think Wetumpka and

Stories

Continued from B1

DALTON MIDDLETON: A SIMPLE QUESTION WITH A TOUGH ANSWER

Stanhope Elmore will give everyone in Tallassee’s gym an entertaining night.

As the tournament moves on to the semifinals and championship, I expect a really close game in the championship of the boys bracket. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be there for all eight games. And like I promised, here’s the full schedule.

Thursday (G) Wetumpka vs. Stanhope Elmore, 5:30 p.m.

I debated putting a column on here, but I really, really liked this column and what it meant to me. I wrote it after Holtville baseball lost in the state championship. It started with a player asking me if I was biased towards their team, which I answered “no.” But I went on to explain it wasn’t as easy as a simple “no” because I cover these teams week in and week out.

I get to know the coaches and their families and the players and their parents. So, while I don’t necessarily root for the area teams, I want to see them succeed.

(B) Wetumpka vs. Stanhope Elmore, 7 p.m.

Friday (G) Elmore County vs. Wetumpka/ Stanhope Elmore winner, 3:30 p.m.

(B) Elmore County vs. Wetumpka/ Stanhope Elmore winner, 5 p.m.

(G) Tallassee vs. Holtville, 6:30 p.m.

(B) Tallassee vs. Holtville, 8 p.m.

Saturday (G) Championship, 2 p.m.

(B) Championship, 4 p.m.

She’s already committed to Troy and has two more years left in Wetumpka.

FOOTBALL COACH OF THE YEAR: ELMORE COUNTY’S CALDWELL BRINGS PANTHERS BACK TO PLAYOFFS

This is a story I was thinking about for a long time before I wrote it. As soon as Elmore County clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 11 years, I knew Caldwell was going to be our Coach of the Year. In his first season as head coach, he turned the Panthers from winless to 7-4 and nearly upset a No. 1 seed on the road in the playoffs. Caldwell is always great to talk and work with, and this story was no different. He talked to me about sitting down and approaching every boy in the school trying to build Elmore County’s program back up.

WETUMPKA’S MYA HOLT BREAKS SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUN RECORD

If you didn’t get to see Mya Holt play softball this past season, you really missed out on pure dominance. She was so good at both hitting and pitching, and that was why she was our Player of the Year. But one of the most impressive things she did was set the single-season home run record for Wetumpka. A lot of those home runs came during a two-week stretch where she hit eight home runs and seemingly couldn’t get out.

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