By Lee Davis
Journal Sports Writer
For the Hoover Bucs, the 2010 football season was almost perfect. Coach Josh Niblett’s squad won its first 14 games, mostly by lopsided margins, and reached the Class 6A championship game at Auburn University’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The Hoover Express was derailed by Daphne in a close 7-6 verdict, but that hardly diminished the Bucs’ accomplishments.
Their domination was apparent by the fact that 12 Hoover players, (see photo page 23) qualified for the 2010 All-Over the Mountain football team, which is conducted by an exclusive Over the Mountain Journal poll of the head football coaches of the eight schools that participate in Class 6A or Class 5A competition.
In addition, Buccaneer wide receiver Jaylon Denson was named the 2010 Over the Mountain Player of the Year. Denson caught 63 passes for 1,059 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has already verbally committed to play college football at Auburn University.
The coaches chose Spain Park’s Benjamin Berguson as the 2010 Coach of the Year. After Jaguar coach David Shores was put on administrative leave because of an alleged incident involving a player just prior to the season, Berguson was named interim head coach.
Under his leadership, Spain Park rallied from an 0-2 start to finish 6-6 and earn a spot in the Class 6A playoffs. Along the way, the Jaguars scored impressive upsets of Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Tuscaloosa County. Despite the strong showing, Berguson was not named Spain Park’s permanent coach for 2011.
Hoover’s Ryan Carter was chosen as the All-Over the Mountain team’s quarterback. He is joined in the backfield by running backs Justin McArthur of Hoover, Ameer Abdullah of Homewood, Georgie Salem of Vestavia Hills and Bradley Bostick of Oak Mountain.
Joining Denson in the talented wide receiver corps are John McCrary of Mountain Brook, Zak Michael of Spain Park and Aaron Ernest of Homewood.
No team can succeed without a great offensive line, and this year’s crop may be one of the best yet. The six linemen who qualified for the team are Blake Burks and Brandon Morgan of Hoover, Adam Trant of Mountain Brook, Nick Maxey of Briarwood, Justin Ivory of Vestavia Hills and Ben Tamburello of Spain Park.
Ryan Raspino of Vestavia was named as the placekicker. Raspino successfully converted on all 40 of his extra point attempts and connected on 11 field goals in 14 tries. Matthew Futuro of Briarwood won a spot on the team for his overall versatility.
On defense, no less than eight linemen earned their way onto the squad. Chosen were Tyler Roberts and Michael Nysewander of Hoover, Jeffrey Milner and Maricuz Harper of Vestavia Hills, Emmanuel Cooper of Spain Park, Caleb Ward of Briarwood, Harrison Wright of Mountain Brook and Kameron Wood, John Carroll Catholic.
The linebacker corps, as always, is outstanding. It includes Terreynce Glaze and Connor Eagan of Hoover, Miller Williams and Mel Wilcox of Mountain Brook, Alex Payne of Spain Park and Andy Whitcomb of Oak Mountain.
Fielding a great secondary is a long-time Over the Mountain tradition, and this season is no exception. Earning spots in the defensive backfield are Montez Carlton, Preston Sanford and Brett Bowden of Hoover, Devin Bowman of Briarwood, Michael Cowan of John Carroll Catholic and Justin Carter of Spain Park.
The punter is Michael Latham of John Carroll.