Just as it was last year, our first to put together such a package, compiling the 2008-09 All-Sports Award rankings was an interesting task.

The formula used was the same save a couple of tweaks, but the outcomes were remarkably different. Last year’s champion, Maplesville, dropped all the way to fifth. Without a dominant football squad like the 2007 version to take up the slack, the Red Devils simply didn’t field enough teams to compete with the likes of Chilton County High, this year’s champ, Isabella, Jemison and Thorsby.

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1. Chilton Co. (No. 3 last year)

2. Isabella (5)

3. (tie) Jemison (2)

3. (tie) Thorsby (4)

5. Maplesville (1)

6. Verbena (6)

And that could be a point of contention. Schools are awarded points for just fielding a team in a sport—the team doesn’t even have to win a game to contribute toward the total. So, CCHS, with 12 sports, has a decided advantage over Maplesville and Verbena, with five sports each. Of course, CCHS is a much bigger school than most of the others in the county.

But it’s not all about size. If that were the case, then Class 1A Maplesville wouldn’t have had a chance to win last year’s award, and Class 2A Isabella wouldn’t have finished ahead of Class 4A Jemison this year. It’s not all about football, either. Though it did make the playoffs, CCHS, had a losing record in the sport.

A more thorough explanation of the formula used to determine the rankings can be found in the story to the right of this column.

The rankings are a good indicator of athletic success in Chilton County but should not be taken too seriously. It’s all in good fun and an effort to present something a little different, and the order will surely change as much next year as it did this time.