Editor’s note: This is an opinion column.
By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
The AHSAA Class 7A baseball finals wrapped up my first academic year covering sports in The Tribune’s coverage area, and I have been incredibly impressed by the talent and character shown by so many of the kids I cover.
Hewitt-Trussville’s Omari Kelly at bat against Southside-Gadsden during the Huskies’ 13-3 victory on Tuesday, February 22, 2022. (Photo by Bobby Mathews)
To that end, I want to specifically talk about some of the seniors, the new grads — the class of 2022.
What a remarkable group of young people, across schools. One of the most remarkable, to me, is Omari Kelly. An incredibly talented wide receiver, Kelly could act like a star if he wanted. Instead, he joined the Hewitt-Trussville baseball squad this year in pursuit of a state championship.
Instead of being a star on the gridiron, Kelly saw limited action as a baserunner for most of the season. It says a great deal about his character that a star player like Kelly embraced a place as a role-player. It confirms something I saw in him during football season, when he stepped up and played both ways during the playoffs for the Huskies’ football season. An unselfish team player, Kelly is going to do great things at Auburn. (And I will continue to tease him unmercifully about playing for the Tigers.)
Derek Moore in Springville signed with Delta State to play basketball, taking the next step in an incredible journey to play college ball. Moore suffered a pretty catastrophic knee injury early in his junior year, but came back to lead the Tigers in scoring. He was a force on the low blocks and had a feathery touch from outside. But he really embraced Jeremy Monceaux’s defense-first mentality and grew as a player and person during his senior year.
Moody’s Hollie Graham impressed me with her mental toughness in the circle for the Blue Devils softball team. This is a team that showed a ton of grit to come from a tough loss to Springville in the St. Clair County Tournament, battling the Tigers and brutally cold early Spring weather to win the championship. They also beat 5A state finalist Alexandria twice to claim an area championship. On a team full of tough kids, Graham might be the toughest.
And as long as we’re talking about tough kids: Leeds’ Zoie Galloway is the comeback player of the year. After suffering two broken ankles in a car wreck on her way to a friend’s house in the spring of 2021, Galloway rehabbed and came back to play three sports during her senior year. I first met her on the volleyball court, and one of the first things she told me was “Nobody really knows how competitive I am.” She proved that on the volleyball and basketball courts, as well as the softball field.
Pinson Valley’s Cameron Ambrose, who was an impact player on the offensive line and a heck of a smart kid in the classroom, too, was a great quote and a tough, tough player on the Indians’ squad. When you see guys like Mike Sharpe and Jaylen Taylor piling up yards, guys like Ambrose are the ones opening those holes. Ambrose will join Sharpe at Arkansas State to play in college, and I wish them both the best — except for when they play my alma mater (and Sun Belt rival), Troy.
Clay-Chalkville’s Ed Osley stood out to me over the course of the Cougars’ undefeated, 6A state championship football season. Osley was the workhorse of that team, a running back who people said wasn’t quite fast enough. The people who said that weren’t paying attention to the quick first move or his ability to fool tacklers and make them miss, or his ability to kick into another gear and run away from people. While Clay-Chalkville had a great passing game, it was Osley and the offensive line ahead of him that was instrumental in so many of the moments that led to the 6A state title.
Center Point’s Deraiven Crawford was a bad, bad man on the Eagles’ line. On a team that had a bunch of underclassmen, he was a guy who could show leadership and be a rock for Center Point. He was tough, strong, and was exactly the kind of guy you want in the trenches, where a team’s fortunes are so often won or lost. Deraiven’s legacy is a team that went unranked all season until it was time for the 5A playoffs … and then the Eagles went all the way to the quarterfinals before running up against state finalist Pleasant Grove. Center Point finished the season 9-4, and gutsy, gritty players like Crawford are one reason why.
Those are just a few of the kids I could mention in the senior class of 2022. They were — and are — a great group of kids, and it was my privilege to cover them. I look forward to seeing what their futures hold.
Bobby Mathews is sports editor at The Tribune. He is also the author of the novels Living the Gimmick and the forthcoming Magic City Blues. Reach him at bobby.mathews@trussvilletribune.com or @bobbymathews on Twitter.
