By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

Feb. 8

Spain Park boys throttle Pelham 7-0 in season opener

Davis Osborne, Liam Condone, Cole Starr and Cameron Sumpter all scored goals in the first half of the season for Spain Park in a home game against Pelham. Parker Sturm, Dico Bradley scored in the second half and Sumpter added his second goal of the game in the second as well to give the Jaguars the easy, 7-0 season-opening win.

 

Briarwood, Indian Springs boys tie

1A-3A Indian Springs traveled to 6A Briarwood for a season-opening game. After 80 minutes of action, the Lions and Springs walked away with a 2-2 tie. Both teams moved to 0-0-1 with the tie.

 

Westminster boys drop first game

The defending 1A-3A boys’ state champions dropped the first game of the 2016 season to Hewitt-Trussville by a final score of 3-0. The Knights lost reigning Shelby County Player of the Year Jack Stine off of last season’s team as well as Michael Stanford.

Feb. 9

Oak Mountain boys beat Vestavia in thriller

The preseason 7A No. 1 Oak Mountain Eagles played host to Vestavia on Tuesday night. Vestavia is widely considered to be the top challenger to keeping Oak Mountain from repeating as 7A champs, and this game gave an early preview of things to come this season. After 79 minutes of goalless soccer, Kennedy Davis found the back of the net on a cross from Levi Long to give the Eagles the 1-0 victory.

 

Lady Eagles handle Hewitt-Trussville

Oak Mountain has ended each of the last two years hoisting a state championship plaque. The Lady Eagles have established a bona fide dynasty at this point, and started the 2016 season out just as they ended the 2015 season, with a win. Julia Pack scored via a penalty kick and Nealy Martin found the back of the net as well in the opening half of the season for the Lady Eagles as they took a 2-0 lead over Hewitt-Trussville. Hewitt scored off two penalty kicks in the second half, but Hailey Whitaker and Alexandra Dunn added second half goals as well to ensure a 4-2 win for Oak Mountain.

 

Chelsea boys get easy win

Eli Alexander and LaQuarious Belyeu both had a hat trick in the first half of the Hornets season opener against McAdory, and Tony Nettuno added a first half goal as well as Chelsea pulled ahead 7-0 at the end of the first half. Miles Sharp added the games only goal of the second half as Chelsea moved to 1-0-0 with an easy 8-0 win.

 

Chelsea girls win big

The Lady Hornets from Chelsea ran up a 10-0 win in their first game of the season against visiting Gardendale. MyKenzie Haley scored the first goal of the game, freshman Haley Green added three goals, freshmen Lexie Duca and Carson Reeves added two goals as well while Maddison Martin and Sophie Wilson each added a goal as well as Chelsea moved to 1-0-0

 

Thompson boys beat Prattville

Diego Gutierrez and Kenny Rodriguez found the back of the net in the Warriors’ season opening half against Prattville, giving Thompson an early 2-0 lead. Gavin Owens added a goal in the second while Rodriguez scored his second goal of the game to give Thompson a 4-1 win over Prattville. Alex Gamble was credited with six saves in goal for the Warriors as well.