Hammon: Section ‘accomplished’ its spring practice goals

Hammon said Section’s recent spring practices helped with that goal.

Section had 27 players that will be seniors, juniors and sophomores during the 2022-23 school year participate in its spring practices. Another 26 players participated in spring drills for players that will be in grades 7-9.

“Those are some good numbers,” Hammon said. “We’ve also got a good group of seniors (10). All of them have played for me since ninth grade so they know what to expect. We need them to be good leaders.”

Section played a pair of two-quarter scrimmages against Thorsby and rival North Sand Mountain during the Coosa Christian Spring Jamboree back on May 12 in Gadsden. Section fell 34-6 to Thorsby and 28-14 to NSM, but Hammon wasn’t concerned with the outcome on the scoreboard and urged his players to follow his lead.

“I thought we played pretty well. We took the first drive against Thorsby and went 65 yards for a touchdown,” Hammon said. “We subbed a lot, got a lot of new guys out there to get some reps because we’ve got a lot of new guys that can help us. We just played base defense, and that caught us a few times, and we had new guys making some mistakes, correctable stuff. That’s why you play these spring games. We’ve got an idea of who can play where, what we need to work on and what we need to do. We wanted to get better before going into the summer and the fall and feel like we accomplished that.”

Dylan Pope had the touchdown run for Section against Thorsby while Cam Summerford and Corey Dempsey found the end zone against NSM. Hammon said Pope had several long runs during the jamboree and also lauded the work of Jacob Stringer, a converted lineman getting a look at H-back and at fullback as the Lions played without returning starter Jr. Walker, who missed the game while visiting his brother who was about to enter basic training in the military.

“We know what we’re going to get from Jr., so it was good to see what (Stringer) could do there and he did a really nice job,” Hammon said. “Dylan Pope, Cam, they had some really good runs.”

Even with Stringer’s position change, the Lions feature an experienced offensive line. Though not the prototypical size — Hammon said the Lions’ offensive line’s average is around 200 pounds — he said their strength gains in the offseason were evident.

“I think that’ll be a strong suit for us,” Hammon said. “We’re not real big, but we’ve gotten stronger. We’ve got a lot of experience up there.”

Pope and Josh Varner rotated series at quarterback for the Lions during the jamboree.

“Both of them have their advantages,” Hammon said.

Section is coming off a 6-4 campaign, the Lions’ first winning season since 2007. The Lions just missed a second straight playoff spot in a competitive Class 2A Region 7, a region that will continue to feature Section, NSM, Ider, Whitesburg Christian and defending region champion Pisgah while adding Sand Rock from Region 6 and two teams back after two-year stints in 3A, Collinsville and Fyffe, which has won five state championships since 2014. 

Section kicks off the 2022 season with a Week 0 non-region matchup at home against Decatur Heritage on Aug. 19.