Sports

HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers got a narrow win against Addison on Friday night at home.
The Panthers, who came in to the game with a 1-1 record on the season, were looking to give themselves a positive record.
The scoring started early in the game as Addison scored a 70-yard touchdown with just about a minute played in the first quarter.
The Panthers responded a few minutes later after a 14-yard touchdown from Jaquan Reeder.

TUSCALOOSA — The Marion County High School Red Raiders traveled to Tuscaloosa to take on the Holy Spirit Catholic School Saints on Friday night, Sept. 15, and won 30-20.
The Raiders scored right out of the gate when Tye Madison ran the opening kickoff all the way to the Saints’ end zone. The Raiders added an extra two points to take a very early 8-0 lead.
The Saints also scored early. After the kickoff, they were able to keep the chains moving and entered Raider territory. With 5:41 left in the first quarter, the Saints scored on a rushing play.

HAMILTON — The Oak Grove Tigers came to Hamilton on Friday, Sept. 15, and went back home winners of the game 39-36, the result of a field goal in the fourth quarter.
The Hamilton Aggies led a strong game up to a tie of 36, also in the fourth quarter. The clock ran out as a Hamilton player was tackled within yards of the end zone.

BEAR CREEK — The Phillips Bears are still looking for their first win of the season after being defeated by Cherokee High School  62-20 Friday night, Sept. 15.

LYNN — The Marion County Lady Red Raiders are the 2023 North Alabama Conference (NAC) tournament champions.
The NAC tournament began on Thursday, Sept. 7, and continued on Saturday, Sept. 9, at Lynn High School.
Six teams from Marion, Winston and Fayette counties competed in the tournament, which included Lynn, Hackleburg, Hubbertville, Phillips, Brilliant, Berry and Marion County.
Hackleburg defeated Hubbertville in the opening game, but fell to Lynn in the following game.

GUIN — The Marion County High School Red Raiders hosted the Brilliant High School Tigers on Friday night, Sept. 8. The Raiders defeated the Tigers 44-12.
The Raiders were the first to score when Joe Aldridge completed a pass to Donaven Moss. With the extra point, the Raiders were up 7-0.
The Tigers were unable to get the first down with their first possession of the game, and the Raiders started first and 10 at their own 25 after the punt.

WARRIOR — The Hamilton Aggies had a rough away day as they were beaten by The Corner Yellow Jackets on Friday night, Sept. 8.
Hamilton started to lose ground early on in the game with Corner scoring early in the first quarter of the game.
Corner added to their lead with only a couple of minutes left in the first quarter, leaving Hamilton with a lot to do after a few mistakes.
The home side again scored two touchdowns in the second quarter of the game, but Hamilton was able to score a touchdown of their own through quarterback Mason Holloway.

WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates’ late rally came up short as the Pirates fell to the Gordo Greenwave in a Class 3A, Region 5 game, 25-18 on Friday, Sept. 8, at Estes Hudson Stadium in Winfield.
Trailing 18-3 to begin the fourth quarter, the Pirates were able to score a touchdown and got a 2 point conversion to cut lead to 18-11 and scored one more time late, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit.

BEAR CREEK — The Flame from Shoals Christian rolled into town Friday night, Sept. 8, and came away with a near shut out on Phillips High School with a score of 52-7.
On opening play, it was noticed the scoreboard was malfunctioning, and the time was “kept on the field,” according to the announcer. Phillips received the kick off and began a drive on their 32-yard line, but on second down, the ball was fumbled, and the Flame was there for the recovery.

BRILLIANT — The Brilliant Tigers shut out the Waterloo Cougars 64-0 in their first regular season game on Friday night, Aug. 25.
The victory marks the Tigers’ first regular season win after last year’s 0-10 season, which set the record for losses in a single season.
Brilliant’s number three, Brooks McLemore, was the first Tiger to score with a successful end zone run with 8:41 left in the first quarter.
Ahead 6-0 after a missed kick, the Tigers maintained a relentless pace, rarely stepping foot on their own side of the 50 yard line.

By Derek Trimm
Special to the JR
WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates began the 2023 season on a hot and steamy night in Winfield, and used their defense, turnovers and big plays to hold off the Dora Bulldogs 23-20, on Thursday, Aug. 24.
The Pirates turned a fumble by Dora into a score and used big plays and later held off the Bulldogs’ comeback efforts to secure their first victory of the season.

HAMILTON — How far can a 10 year old throw a six pound metal ball? The answer is just over 23 feet, especially for young Eli Stidham of Hamilton, who participated in the Alabama State Games on Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Birmingham.
Stidham, who just graduated third grade at Hamilton Elementary School, was able to put 23 feet and five inches in the 9-10 year old boys shot put division, garnering him the number one slot in that division and the opportunity to attend the State Games of America in San Diego, Calif., next summer.

HAMILTON — Kids surrounded the Marion County Lake this past Saturday, June 10, to enjoy the Hamilton Bassmasters’ 39th annual youth fishing contest. The registered number of kids was 58.
Kids enjoyed free hotdogs and chips during the weigh-in at 11 a.m. where nine winners were selected in three different categories. They also received free t-shirts and tackleboxes.
In the 5-7 age category, Andrew Beasley won first place with 4.63 pounds of fish, Dawson Colburn was second with 3.97 pounds and Jayden Hileman was third with 3.62 pounds.

FLORENCE — The Lady Panthers, Aggies, Raiders and Pirates might have weathered the storm physically, but they couldn’t weather it metaphorically in the 2023 AHSAA North Regional softball tournament in Florence last week.
Teams battled through wet conditions, weather delays, reschedulings and extra innings, but in the end, all teams were knocked out of the tournament with two losses, bringing softball season to an end for Marion County.
The Marion County High School Lady Red Raiders were the first to play, taking on the Meek Tigers on Tuesday, May 9.

ONEONTA — Hackleburg’s incredible playoff run has come to an end after two losses against the Appalachian Eagles on Tuesday, May 9.
In their first game of the series, the Panthers simply struggled to keep within arm’s reach of their opponents after letting up four runs in the bottom of the second inning.
After leaking a few runs in the second, their opponents added three more runs in the bottom of the third, making Hackleburg’s task look a lot tougher for the rest of the game.

CULLMAN — The Marion County Lady Red Raiders track and field team won the 2023 AHSAA 1A State Track Meet on Saturday, May 6.
The Lady Red Raiders won with a total of 91 points, defeating second place Winterboro (58 points) and third place Loachapoka (46 points).
Hackleburg’s girls’ team finished in 19th place with 10 points, and Brilliant placed 25th with five points.
Marion County’s boys placed seventh with 46.5 points. Ahead of them was Hackleburg’s boys, who placed fourth with 62 points. Phillips was 22nd with five points.
Marion County

Several Marion County softball teams are headed to regionals this week after advancing through their area tournaments last week.

HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers have been on a tear this year, and the post season has been yielding incredible results for the Panthers.
Hackleburg matched-up against Coosa Christian on Thursday, May 4, and the force was certainly on their side in their two game series.
In the first game of the series, Hackleburg shut out their opponents 13-0, in a game that saw pitcher Blaise Vickery dominate from the mound.
Hackleburg bats were hot as well as they scored all 13 runs in just four innings of baseball.

WAC
WINFIELD — The Winfield Lady Pirates won the West Alabama Conference Championship on Saturday, April 22.
The Lady Pirates shut out the Lamar County Lady Bulldogs 8-0 and went home early that night after the fifth inning.
The Lady Pirates played a solid defensive game, allowing zero runs from the Bulldogs. Pitcher Kennah Beth Lacy only allowed four hits and threw three strikeouts.
The Pirates scored their first run in the bottom of the second on an RBI by Lexie May.

By Shelly Hess
Courtesy of the Northwest Alabamian
HACKLEBURG — It was a defensive struggle all the way, but the Hackleburg Panthers came out on top in the second round of the high school baseball playoffs, defeating the Lynn Bears in two games at home.

HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers won their three game series against Ragland in the first round of the playoffs on April 20-21, in Hackleburg.
Their first of two games on Thursday against the visitors was a close one as Hackleburg had to fight back later on in the matchup to defeat the Purple Devils.
After three scoreless innings for both teams, Ragland took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning after hitting a two run homer out to center field.

WINFIELD — The Hamilton High School Aggies’ boys and girls’ track and field teams claimed the Marion County championship titles on Wednesday, April 19.
The boys’ team won with 253 points, and the girls team won with 221 points.
In the girls’ meet, Marion County placed second with 205 points, Winfield took third with 72 points, Phillips finished fourth with 48 points and Hackleburg placed fifth with 47 points, leaving Brilliant in sixth with 44 points.

HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers won an impressive two game series against Belgreen this past Friday which now crowns Hackleburg as area champions.
Hackleburg won the first game of the series 10-0 with their two pitchers, Blaise and Maddox Vickery, pitching a combined shutout.
The Panthers started their scoring right off the bat as Blaise Vickery drove in two runners off of a single.
From the mound, he allowed just four hits and no runs over four and two-thirds innings while striking out seven batters in the game.

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Aggies were left frustrated after two straight losses against the Central Wildcats on Saturday, April 15, in Hamilton.
In their first game, Hamilton lost 2-0, with Central’s runs coming early on in the game.
Despite early runs being scored, Pitcher Mason Holloway had a strong outing on the mound, surrendering two runs on four hits over four innings while striking out three batters.
Caden Foltz pitched the remainder of the game.

HALEYVILLE — It was a battle to the finish, but the Lady Lions of Haleyville were able to hold off a charge by the Hamilton Aggies to claim an 8-7 victory Wednesday, April 12.
Hamilton was the first team to cross home plate, with Tesney Peoples doing the honors in the top of the first inning. Haleyville came roaring back in the bottom of the inning, with Maddie Wilson getting a home run on a fly ball to left field, bringing Hope Swims and Abby Tidwell home with her and giving the Lady Lions a 3-1 lead.

WINFIELD — On Saturday, April 1, Winfield hosted the Mike Spann Invitational Meet.
Hamilton’s girls claimed third place with 84 points, and Winfield finished in fourth place with 46 points. Marion County finished in eighth place with 32, Phillips was one point lower with 31 and Hackleburg placed 17th with nine points.
In the boys’ meet, Hamilton won with 171.5 points. Hackleburg and Winfield tied for sixth place with 43 points each. Phillips finished 14th with 12 points and Marion County tied with Athens Bible School for 16th with eight points.

The Hamilton Lady Aggies won their home game against Cordova on senior night, April 4.
The Lady Aggies left it late as they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, winning 8-5 after being down 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth.
The Lady Aggies opened the scoring early in the first inning thanks to an Ella Kelly ground out that led to an RBI.
Emily Jones helped with the scoring, getting one run in from a double in the bottom of the third inning.

FAYETTE — The Winfield Pirates gave their traveling fans much to cheer about following their away game against the Fayette County Tigers on Tuesday, April 4, in Fayette County.
The Pirates, who came into the game with a record of 13-13, were looking to make sure they ended with a positive season record with the season coming to a close.
Brady May scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning after J.D. Ray grounded out to the pitcher.

HACKLEBURG — The Winfield Pirates battled through heavy winds on Saturday, April 1, to win the Marion County softball tournament over the Hamilton Lady Aggies.
The tournament began Friday night, with Brilliant and Hamilton facing off in the first game that afternoon, which Hamilton won.
The second game saw Hackleburg and Marion County play each other.
After the first games, Hamilton and Hackleburg stayed in the winner’s bracket, and Marion County and Brilliant dropped to the loser’s bracket.

WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates won the West Alabama Conference track meet on Wednesday, March 29.
Winfield hosted the meet, which also included teams from Fayette, Covenant Christian, Lamar County, South Lamar and Sulligent.
The boys’ meet was close, with Winfield and Fayette tied at 168 points after boys’ javelin.
Winfield’s 4x400 team, consisting of Dawson Klein, Wes Estes, Dylan Benton and Dacian Williams, won the relay with a time of 3:51.72 and secured victory for the Pirates.

Runners, throwers and jumpers are back on track this season as the 2022-2023 track and field season continues for Marion County teams.
Winfield hosted its 17th annual Ice Breaker Invitational meet on Saturday, Feb. 25, and several teams from the area showed up to compete.
The Hamilton Aggies’ boys claimed first place with 143 points, and the Lady Aggies finished second place with 136.5 points, behind Brooks’ girls who won with 147.5 points.

WEST POINT — After returning from their annual spring trip to play in the Gulf Coast Classic Tournament in Gulf Shores, the Winfield Pirates once again took to the road to take on the West Point Warriors in Cullman on Friday, March 24.
Winfield got out to an early lead by scoring 2 runs in the first on back-to-back singles by Hayden Ballard and Jarrett Hosch followed by a sacrifice fly by Tyler Mays.
West Point responded with 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning.

BEAR CREEK — The Hackleburg Panthers proved why they are tops in their region, walloping Phillips 17-1 Thursday, March 23.
Jaxon Fincher and Blaise Vickery shared pitching duties for the Panthers, with Fincher striking out 7 and allowing 4 hits for 1 run.  Vickery struck out 5 and allowed no hits.
Phillips’ Hunter Orman and Bo Green shared pitching duties, with Orman striking out 2 and allowing 9 hits for 15 runs.  Green struck out 3 and allowed 1 hit for 2 runs.

HAMILTON — Thursday night ended in disappointment for the Aggies at home as they lost to visitors Deshler.
Hamilton started well defensively giving up very little to Deshler for the first four innings of the game.
The Aggies, however, were not able to get going at the plate and went down looking a few times.
The last four innings of the game is where it all seemed to go wrong for the Aggies as several errors led to runs being scored for the visitors.
Four runs in total were let up in the top of the fifth and sixth innings.