Photo courtesy of Alex Chaney
The 2024 All-Etowah County Football Schools football team was released earlier this week by the system’s six head football coaches.
Selected as Overall MVP was Hokes Bluff junior quarterback Bryce Whitaker (pictured below at left), who finished the season with 2,056 combined yards passing and rushing while scoring 24 touchdowns.
P
icked for Offensive Player of the Year honors was Southside senior and Duke University signee Jamin Brown, who while playing at offensive tackle graded out at 93 percent and ended up with 71 pancake blocks.
Sardis junior linebacker Levi Martin, the team’s Defensive Player of the Year, recorded 128 tackles (including 19 for a loss), three sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. Also starting halfback, he wound up with 1,026 rushing yards and nine touchdowns.
Coach of the Year honors went to Hokes Bluff’s Mike Robertson and Southside’s Ben Stewart. Robertson helped the Eagles to their first winning record in five years at 8-3 and the program’s second straight berth in the state playoffs. In his first year as a head coach, Stewart guided the Panthers to a 6-4 regular season record following a 1-3 start and led the program to its fifth straight berth in the state playoffs.
All-Etowah County Football Schools first offense
Quarterback
Brian Chapman, senior, Sardis
Running back
Blain Barron, senior, Hokes Bluff; Koal Garrett, senior, Southside; Keller Skaggs, senior, Gaston
Receiver
Anderson Morgan, senior, Hokes Bluff; Josh Peoples, junior, Southside; Alex Hudson, freshman, Glencoe
Tight end
Josh Hopper, senior, Sardis
Line
Jayden Dumas, senior, West End; Preston Reaves, senior, Glencoe; Leon Chen, senior, Hokes Bluff; Conner Wellingham, junior, Hokes Bluff; Rance Brown, sophomore, Southside; Evan McDonald, senior, Southside
Athlete
Alex Carter, senior, Hokes Bluff
Kicker: Cooper Yancey, sophomore, Southside
All-Etowah County Football Schools first defense
Line
Daylon Reeves, senior, Hokes Bluff; Clayton Helms, senior, Hokes Bluff; Nate Oliver, senor, Gaston; Drake McDevitt, senior, West End; McCade Wright, senior, Southside
Linebacker
Colton Shields, senior, Hokes Bluff; Cooper Gomez, Glencoe; Fysher Patterson, junior, West End; Grant Coe, junior, Sardis; Bronner McMurray, sophomore, Glencoe
Defensive back
Adrian Alberghina, junior, Southside; Drew McCarver, junior, Hokes Bluff, Jake Boggs, senior, Glencoe; Jacob Payne, junior, Sardis; Jaxon Hamby, junior, West End
Punter
Seth Cooper, senior, Sardis
Athlete
Brayden Bowers, senior, Southside
All-Etowah County Football Schools honorable mention
Gaston: Devon Green, Trey Johnson
Glencoe: Joe Coleman, Jalen Hunter, Aiden Johnson
Hokes Bluff: Brodie Brogdon, Bray Davis, Connor Ford, Blake Green, Brayden Howard, Caden Howard, Logan Wiemann
Sardis: Jordan Garrett, Hudson McDaniel, Canyon McGee, Russell Pruett, Tony Sims, Kaden Walters, Lucas Wilson
West End: Dawson Allen, Michael Deleon, Brooks Golden, Jackson Mayo, Eli Williams