By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

The Eagles from both Oak Mountain and Calera checked in to the top 10 of their respective classifications in the ASWA preseason rankings. The Alabama Sports Writers Association, made up of sports writers all over the state, over the last two months have discussed which teams should head into the season ranked, and voted in the last two weeks to make those calls.

Oak Mountain returns quarterback Warren Shader to lead head coach Cris Bell’s option-style offense, which Shader executed seamlessly most of last season on the way to a surprising 10-2 finish. Returning All-State center Justus Hammond is back up front, but will be the only familiar face across a front line tasked with running an efficient option-style attack. Hoover retains the top-seed in class 7A, and was one of the two teams to beat Oak Mountain last season, as the Bucs shelled the Eagles 35-0 in the third week of the season. The rematch is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11, and will be played at Oak Mountain this year.

Calera squeaks into the 5A poll at the No. 10 slot. Head coach Wiley McKeller lost do-everything running back Shakeith Tyes from last season, but returns quarterback Ty Evans to lead an offense that averaged just under 43 points per game last season. Also, Kyle Harrell and Charles White are a pair of senior running backs who will make the loss of Tyes much easier to handle. Both Demopolis and Greenville, the only two teams to beat the Eagles last season, received votes but did not make the preseason top 10.

Spain Park was the only other Shelby County team to receive votes in the poll. The Jaguars were the top 7A team to receive votes that did not make the top 10 with 22, one more than Buckhorn but 27 less than 10^th ranked James Clemens. Last season, head coach Shawn Raney and his Spain Park squad started out the season in the top five of class 7A before falling out of the rankings completely by week seven as they missed the playoffs. This season, Raney will need to rely more on the defense and athletic freak Perry Young to get the job done.