Sports

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
BRILLIANT —  The Hamilton Aggies had a good night spoiled after losing to the Cordova Blue Devils in their Homecoming game.
The community in Hamilton was out in full force for the big occasion, but the festivities didn’t last long after Hamilton struggled yet again defensively as they continued their winless run in the beginning of the season.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
GUIN — The Marion County High School Red Raiders defeated the Holy Spirit Catholic High School Saints 52-0 on Thursday night, Sept. 8.
The Raiders kicked off the game and quickly regained possession of the ball within their own 30-yard line. A long reception from Dee Lipsey took the Raiders all the way down to the Saints’ 18-yard line.

By P.J. Gossett
General Manager
CHEROKEE — The Cherokee Indians went bear hunting Friday night, Sept. 9, according to one of the signs on the field, but the tribe failed to overtake the Phillips Bears, ending the game 50-14 in favor of Phillips.
Phillips won the coin toss but deferred to the second half and started off with a fumble on their second first down on the night, but the Indians couldn’t find a way to Phillips’ end zone and turned the downs back over to Phillips.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
GARDENDALE — The Hamilton Aggies suffered their third consecutive loss of the season, falling away from home to Oak Grove in Gardendale on Thursday, Sept. 8.
The game was originally set to be played in Bessemer, but due to work being done to the field at Oak Grove, the game was moved to Gardendale.
The Aggies lost by a score line of 27-14 in Hamilton’s first Thursday night game of the season.

By Shelly Hess
Courtesy of the
Northwest Alabamian
ADDISON — The Hackleburg Panthers came into Addison Thursday, Sept. 8, determined to spoil the Bulldogs’ perfect record in the region, and the way things were looking in the third quarter, it looked like they were going to accomplish their goal. However, the Dawgs rallied on defense, stopped the Panthers’ successful pass plays and came out with a 26-14 win.

FLORENCE — The Phillips Bears (2-0, 1-0) took a trip to Florence Friday, Sept. 2, and came away with a 41-6 victory over the Flame at Shoals Christian.
Due to this week’s early deadline, the story will be in next week’s edition.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
BRILLIANT — The Marion County Red Raiders shut down the Brilliant Tigers 62-0 on Thursday night, Sept. 1.
The Tigers kicked off, and within the opening 25 seconds of the game, the Raiders were ahead 6-0 with a touchdown run by Cade Atkins and a blocked extra point kick.

By Derek Trimm
Winfield Correspondent
GORDO — Class 3A’s second ranked Winfield Pirates fell in a shootout thriller to the Gordo Greenwave 49-42 on Friday, Sept. 2 at Gordo.
In what looked like a heavyweight boxing match the Greenwave landed the early blows going ahead 13-0, before the Pirates countered with two scores to take a 14-13 lead. Both teams traded scores until the Greenwave landed the knockout blow with just 48 seconds left in the game to steal the victory.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON — The Hamilton Aggies struggled heavily on the defensive end as the Corner Yellow Jackets spoiled the Aggies’ first home game of the season. The Yellow Jackets won 52-14, in a game that left Hamilton players dejected on the sidelines.
Corner found it all too easy to rush the ball, with their running back finding an easy route on the outside and brushing off tackles from almost every play.

By Melica Allen
Courtesy of the Northwest Alabamian
HALEYVILLE — It was a 3-to-1 match victory for the Haleyville Lady Lions volleyball team Monday, Aug. 29, against the Winfield Lady Pirates.
The match was played at the Haleyville Middle School gym, with HHS taking the first and second sets, 25-17, 25-16. The Lady Pirates won 25-21 in the third, and the Lady Lions closed it out in the fourth 25-19.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
REFORM — The Brilliant Tigers struggled to gain defensive shape this past Friday as they lost to Pickens County by a large margin.
The Pickens County Tornadoes won the game 52-0 against the Tigers on the night.
Brilliant’s main problem defensively was stopping the Tornadoes from rushing past their defenses.
The opposition scored five rushing touchdowns, running 197 yards total in the game.
Three of the touchdowns came from Pickens County senior Elijah Merriweather.

By Shelly Hess
Courtesy of
Northwest Alabamian
BEAR CREEK — Phillips High School kicked off their 2022 football season Friday night, Aug. 26, against Tharptown, ultimately taming the Wildcats 37-22, even after a late rally by the visitors.

By Derek Trimm
Winfield Correspondent
WINFIELD —  Winfield’s Aidan Quinn threw for a career high 304 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Pirates to a 28-19 victory over the Haleyville Lions on Friday, Aug. 26.
Quinn, a senior, completed touchdown passes of 5, 19, 54 and 19 yards.
Winfield pulled ahead early in the second quarter to a 13-0 lead, and Haleyville fought back to cut the lead to 13-6 but was unable to go ahead late in the game as the Pirates cruised to victory.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers lost their second home game this season as the Meek Tigers came away with a 34-14 victory in Hackleburg.
The Tigers began the scoring in the first quarter through Blake Miller, who scored a 16 yard touchdown reception from quarterback Bradigan Farmer. Cameron Deaver was successful from the two point conversion.

By P.J. Gossett
General Manager
GUIN — Marion County’s hopes were dashed for a season opening win Friday night, Aug. 26. The visiting Lynn Bears took those hopes away when the final seconds ticked down to a score of 31-14.
The Marion County Red Raiders kicked off to Lynn for the season start. After a run through of downs each, Lynn took the ball in for the first touchdown on the night. The honors went to Cole Kelly after a 52-yard drive. The PAT was good, with a score of 7-0, Lynn.

By Derek Trimm
Winfield Correspondent
DORA — The Winfield Pirates held off a late fourth quarter rally by the Dora Bulldogs to win 28-22 in their season opener on Thursday, Aug. 18, in Dora.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
WATERLOO — The Brilliant Tigers will want to move on as quickly as possible after Friday night’s 53-8 defeat against the Waterloo Cougars in Waterloo.
Waterloo started the scoring in the first quarter, scoring three touchdowns.
The Cougars scored from a field goal attempt in the second quarter, making their lead 21-0 at the end of the first half of play.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
RED BAY — The Hamilton Aggies nearly got off to a perfect start in Red Bay, but were unable to hold off their opponents in the final seconds of the game, losing 22-20.
Hamilton’s secondary quarterback, Mason Holloway, played the full length of the game with starting quarterback Seth Ables still carrying an injury from pre-season.
Hamilton started the scoring through Kenly Cochran, who scored the team’s first touchdown of the regular season in the second quarter.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers lost their first game of the season to the Phil Campbell Bobcats 36-8 at home on Friday night, Aug. 19.
The Panthers took an early lead but couldn’t hold off the Bobcats, despite numerous unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the visiting team throughout the game.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON — Football season officially kicks off this week, and the Journal Record is ready to cover all of the action!
Football teams across the county have been practicing all summer with the goal of becoming state champions this season.

Every week, we will feature football games from all over the county in our sports section where you will be able to read stories from the games and view our young players from each school in action.

By P.J. Gossett
General Manager
WINFIELD — The Dixie Youth 8U boys team at Winfield left last Wednesday, July 27, headed for the James Oates Park in Dothan for the Dixie Youth World Series, where they will compete against 12 other states. The team won the 2022 state championship against Fayette on July 11, giving them a record of 18-1.

By Louis Mellini and Luke Brantley
Staff writers
HAMILTON — The Marion County Sports Hall of Fame will induct its 29th class during a ceremony at the Bevill Center in Hamilton on Saturday, Aug. 6, at 6 p.m. The 2022 class consists of 31 members.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
MARION COUNTY — Several Marion County athletes were selected by their schools to compete for the Bryant Jordan scholarship. Two students were chosen for the Bryan Jordan Scholar Athlete scholarship.
Winfield’s Anna Ary and Marion County High School’s Riley Pyron both won their respective regions and went on to the banquet to compete for the state-wide final round, but neither won. Still, each received a $3,000 scholarship.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
MARION COUNTY — Seven Marion County baseball players were honored in the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s top baseball awards this year.
The ASWA released its 2022 Baseball All-State team, selecting a player from each position in each of the seven Alabama High School Athletic Association classifications in the state.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
The Hackleburg Lady Panthers were crowned the Area 14 Class 1A champions on Tuesday, May 3, following wins against the Belgreen Bulldogs.
The Panthers won their first game of the championship series 12-7, and won the second game 12-8, securing the title and moving onto the North Regional softball playoffs in Florence.
The Panthers also defeated Phillips 19-1 and Vina 8-1 during their run to the championship.

The Lady Panthers will go up against Athens Bible on Thursday, May 12, at 9 a.m.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
The Hamilton Lady Aggies softball team finished as runners up in the Area 12 Class 4A playoffs after two wins and two losses on Tuesday, May 3.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
Teams and individuals from schools in Marion County competed in the 2022 AHSAA state track meet from Thursday, May 5 to Saturday, May 7. Marion County was represented well in the 1A-3A meet hosted in Cullman and the 4A-7A meet hosted in Gulf Shores.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
WINFIELD — Winfield hosted three track meets at once on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30. Teams from the surrounding area traveled to Winfield to compete in the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s 1A section 3, 3A section 4 and 4A section 3 track meets.

The Marion County Red Raiders easily dispatched Vina 11-4 on Tuesday, April 19.
Marion County got things moving in the first inning, when Zach Lamoureux doubled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring one run.
Marion County scored four runs in the sixth inning. Marion County's big bats in the inning were led by a single by Lamoureux, a sac fly by Cade Adkins and an error on a ball put in play by Caleb Knight.

The Winfield Pirates were victorious over Sumiton Christian, 6-2 Tuesday, April 19.
Brady May earned the win for Winfield. May lasted two innings, allowing two hits and zero runs while striking out one and walking one. John David Ray, Jarett Hosch and Spencer Haney all put in work in relief out of the bullpen, steering their team towards the victory.
Braden Woodard took the loss for Sumiton Christian. The pitcher surrendered two runs on four hits over one and two-thirds innings, walking one.
Tyler Ingle started the game for Sumiton Christian.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON —  The Hamilton Aggies fought their way to the third round of the AHSAA baseball playoffs after wins against the St. John Paul II Falcons and the Oneonta Redskins in the first two rounds of playoff baseball.
Hamilton began their run with two big wins against the Falcons on Friday, April 22, in Hamilton.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
TUSCUMBIA — The Hackleburg Panthers bowed out in the second round of the playoffs this past week after two defeats to Covenant Christian on Thursday, April 28.
Hackleburg got a big win in the first game of the first round of playoffs against Coosa Christian of Gadsden.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates’ 2022 season drew to a close on Friday night, April 22 after back-to-back losses against the Elkmont Red Devils.
Elkmont batted first, and scored two runs. After shutting down the Pirates in the bottom of the first inning, the Red Devils scored one more point in the top of the second that also went unanswered.
The game entered a scoreless stalemate from the third to fifth inning, before the Red Devils scored two more points in the top of the sixth.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
Hamilton vs.
Marion County
The Hamilton Lady Aggies defeated the Marion County Lady Red Raiders in a game that lasted just five innings on Thursday, April 14 in Hamilton.
Hamilton won the game 11-0, keeping the Lady Red Raiders off of the scoreboard and keeping them to very few hits.
Hamilton scored just one run in the first two innings of the game, but in the bottom of the third inning, they began to let fly from the plate.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
WINFIELD — The Winfield Pirates and the Hamilton Lady Aggies won the 2022 Marion County track and field championship on Wednesday, April 20. Marion County High School’s girls’ team and Hamilton’s boys’ team were the runners-up.

The Hamilton Aggies blew out St. John Paul II 10-4 on Friday, April 22.
Hamilton fired up the offense in the first inning. Eli Jackson hit a solo homer.
Hamilton scored four runs in the fifth inning. The big inning was thanks to a single by Joseph Aycock and an error on a ball put in play by Jackson.
Jackson was credited with the victory for Hamilton. Jackson surrendered four runs on eight hits over seven innings, striking out four.
El Shelton took the loss for St. John Paul II. The bulldog allowed nine hits and ten runs over five innings, striking out six.

The Winfield Pirates weathered a scare by Haleyville in the seventh inning where Winfield coughed up three runs, but the Pirates  still won 8-5 on Saturday, April 9. The big inning for Haleyville came thanks to a triple by Bo Mitchell, a single by Grant Wakefield, and a double by Brody Gravitt.
Winfield got things moving in the first inning, when Hunter Busha reached on a dropped third strike.
Winfield notched three runs in the third inning. Tyler Mays and Davis Bowen all moved runners across the plate with RBIs in the inning.

Marion County Red Raiders watched the game slip away early and couldn't recover in a 6-3 loss to Hackleburg on Monday, April 18. Hackleburg scored on an error, a fielder's choice by Trett Irvin, and a single by Tucker Vickery in the second inning.
Hackleburg opened up scoring in the second inning, when an error scored one run for Hackleburg.
Irvin led Hackleburg to victory on the hill. Irvin surrendered two runs on one hit over three innings, striking out seven. Jaxon Fincher and Vickery entered the game out of the bullpen and helped to close out the game in relief.

The Marion County Red Raiders had their playoff run ended after the first round following two defeats to Covenant Christian on Friday, April 22.
The Red Raiders fell behind early and couldn't come back in a 16-1 loss in their first game.
In the first inning, Covenant Christian got their offense started. They singled on a 1-0 count, scoring one run.
Covenant Christian then scored six runs in the fourth inning.
Red Raider Brodie Silas took the mound for Marion County. The pitcher allowed six hits and six runs over two innings, striking out two and walking one.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
OAKMAN — The Winfield Pirates defeated the Oakman Wildcats 12-5 on their own turf on Thursday, April 7 to win the 3A Area 10 championship.
It was the Pirates’ second victory over the Wildcats after beating them at home 16-6 the previous Tuesday, April 5.
In their first game, Brady May was the Pirates’ top scorer with three runs and one RBI, hitting two out of three. Layne Pollard scored two runs off of two hits.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
The Hamilton Aggies were crowned the area champions after winning their game against Fayette on Tuesday, April 12.
The Aggies played three times last week against Fayette County, starting with their game on Tuesday and finishing with a double-header on Thursday, April 14.
The Aggies won by a big scoreline 13-0, in their first game that lasted only five innings after scoring a ton of runs in the top of the ninth.
Hamilton kicked off the scoring at the top of the first inning, scoring two runs.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON — The Hamilton Lady Aggies got a massive win at home on Tuesday, April 12, against Fayette County.
The Lady Aggies won the game 13 runs to Fayette’s three in a game that saw Hamilton score nine runs in one inning, ending the game early.
Hamilton kicked off the scoring early in the game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning after holding Fayette to a scoreless top of the first.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
SULLIGENT — The Winfield Pirates’ softball team won the West Alabama Conference tournament on Saturday, April 16 with two wins against the Sulligent Blue Devils.
The Pirates started off their run in the tournament with a 8-4 victory over Lamar County on Friday night. The Pirates scored one point in the top of the second inning and three more in the top of the third, but the Bulldogs caught up and tied the game in the bottom of the third.

HAMILTON — The Hamilton High Aggies defeated the Fayette Tigers Thursday, April 14, winning with a score of 12-1. The first inning was slow with no scoring, but the Aggies ramped up in the second inning, earning seven runs.
Payton Purser was on the pitcher's mound for Hamilton. The pitcher surrendered zero runs on four hits over four innings, striking out two and walking zero.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HAMILTON — The Hamilton Aggies won their double header against the Haleyville Lions on Tuesday, March 31, in Hamilton.
Hamilton played their first of two games at 4:30 p.m. winning 8-1 after a tightly contested first two innings.
Hamilton’s Payton Purser hit a big  home run early in the game, and Hamilton didn’t let up after his contribution.
Aggies Joseph Aycock and Tanner Carter both had two hits from four at-bats during the game, while Mason Holloway had one hit from two at bats, scoring two runs.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
BEAR CREEK — The Hackleburg Panthers defeated the Phillips Bears in a huge win 15-1 on Tuesday, March 29, in Bear Creek.
Hackleburg started the scoring early on in the top of the first inning scoring five runs to Phillips’ one run.
Hackleburg didn’t score after that until the fourth inning, where they scored nine runs, before closing out the game early in the fifth inning, where they scored one run.

Brooks Junkin was an RBI machine on Friday, April 1, driving in four on one hits to lead the Marion County Red Raiders past Pickens County 19-5. Junkin drove in runs on a double in the third and a groundout in the third.
Marion County Red Raiders grabbed an early lead and scored on a home run by Brodie Silas, a walk by Caleb Knight and a walk by Preston Coniff in the first inning.
Marion County  tallied 11 runs in the third inning. Red Raiders batters contributing to the big inning included Knight, Sam Taylor, Cade Adkins, Junkin and Rilley Smith, who all drove in runs.

Davis Bowen had all the right stuff on Tuesday, March 29, for the Winfield Pirates, allowing zero runs and besting Carbon Hill by a score of 10-0.
Winfield scored four runs in the sixth inning. The offensive onslaught by the Pirates was led by Bowen and Walt Hennicke, who all drove in runs.
One bright spot for Carbon Hill was a single by Jesse Walker in the third inning.
Bowen pitched Winfield to victory. The righthander lasted six innings, allowing one hit and zero runs while striking out five and walking zero.

By Louis Mellini
Staff writer
HACKLEBURG — The Hackleburg Panthers defeated the Lynn Bears on Saturday, March 26, in Hackleburg with a 9-3 win.
The Panthers had a tough start to the game, struggling to get anything going against Lynn’s starting pitcher in the first two innings.
In the third inning, Hackleburg was finally able to get the bat to the ball, scoring five runs against Lynn and adding another run in the fourth inning.

The Marion County Red Raiders defeated Hubbertville 5-4 on Tuesday, March 22, thanks to a walk-off single. Marion County was down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Preston Coniff singled on a 2-2 count, scoring two runs.
Marion County got things started in the first inning when Riley Smith's sac fly scored one run for the Red Raiders.
Hubbertville knotted the game up at two in the top of the fifth inning. An error scored one run for Hubbertville.