Paint the county red
Published 11:00 pm Thursday, July 10, 2008
1. Isabella – 7 points in three major sports (basketball – 1 point, softball – 3.5, volleyball – 2.5)
2. Thorsby – 6.25 (basketball – 1.5, softball – 4.25, volleyball – 0.5)
3. Jemison (basketball – 0.33, softball – 0.5, volleyball – 3.88)
1. Maplesville – 12.5 points in three major sports (baseball – 3.5 points, basketball – 1, football – 8)
2. Chilton County High – 8.5 (baseball – 1.3, basketball – 2.53, football – 4.67)
3. Jemison – 6 (baseball – 1, basketball – 0.33, football – 4.67)
Riding a core of senior athletes that produced a football team that made the state playoff semifinals, a baseball team that made the second round of the state playoffs and a basketball team that came up just short of a county tournament title, Maplesville is the winner of the first All-Sports Award.
The Award competition is a way of measuring the cumulative success of all the sports at each school in Chilton County during the 2007-08 academic year.
The formula used was intended to reward squads for reaching certain milestones. A winning record, for example, gave a team a certain amount of points. A playoff appearance earned more points.
County tournament championships were rewarded with points. Because these tournaments featured Class 5A (Chilton County High) and Class 4A (Jemison) schools competing against Class 2A (Thorsby) and Class 1A schools (Isabella, Maplesville and Verbena), points were adjusted accordingly. The county softball tournament title earned Thorsby 0.75 points, for example, but it would have given CCHS only 0.3 points.
The logic was that winning a county tournament is a bigger accomplishment for one of the county’s smaller schools than it is for one of the county’s bigger schools.
Also, more points were available in more highly followed sports. A state championship in football, for example, would have given a school 12 points while a tennis state title would have only earned 3 points.
Schools received credit for each club they fielded, even if they were the only school with such a team.
Below are the rankings and summaries of how each school arrived at its score.
1. Maplesville (14 points)
Maplesville had a minimal contribution from boys basketball (1 point) and a somewhat larger contribution from baseball (3.5 points), but the breadwinner easily was football (8 points).
Maplesville took the prize despite fielding the second least amount of sports (six) of any school in the county. The girls teams also did not produce many points.
2. Jemison (12.38)
The Panthers were somewhat of a surprise at this spot. Jemison found itself so high because the Panthers featured the best balance between boys and girls sports of any school in the county.
Football (4.67 points) and volleyball (3.88) were the strongest sports, and boys tennis (1.17 points) made a strong contribution for a smaller sport.
3. Chilton County High (12.35)
A girls tennis team was the difference between CCHS at this spot and No. 2 Jemison. The Tigers could field such a team next year. That would add to the 12 sports the Tigers already participate in, easily the most in the county.
Football (4.67 points) and boys basketball (2.53 points) made the largest contributions.
4. Thorsby (12.09)
Much like Maplesville relied on two sports, football and baseball, the Rebels were led by softball (4.25 points) and baseball (3.5 points).
Girls basketball also pitched in 1.5 points, some of which came with the county tournament championship.
5. Isabella (9.34)
The Mustangs fielded the county’s best collection of girls teams – 3.5 points for the softball team, 2.5 points for the volleyball team and 1 point for the girls basketball team – but got little from the boys teams.
6. Verbena (2.33)
The Red Devils couldn’t muster anything but the minimum allotment of points for any of their five sports. That number didn’t help, either – it was the lowest of any county school.