Knighton signs with Central Alabama

Walker’s Knighton signs with Central Alabama

by Johnathan Bentley

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Since he was a sophomore John Michael Knighton knew he wanted to play baseball at the collegiate level.

Now, entering his senior season with the Walker Vikings, Knighton has made that a reality. He signed a letter-of-intent with Central Alabama Community College on Tuesday. He will pitch for the Trojans beginning next season.

“This is a big weight off my shoulders,” Knighton said. “Now I can focus on my senior season.”

Knighton said a conversation with Walker assistant coach Ryan Hall during his sophomore season helped forge his path to Central Alabama, which is located in Alexander City.

“During practice, coach Hall noticed a little part of my pitching motion. He said if I could repeat that motion and build on it, I could become a college baseball player and maybe play Division I some day,” Knighton said. “As soon as he told me that, I’ve set myself on that goal.”

Knighton has been part of head coach Pat Ware’s varsity team at Walker for the last two years.

“John Michael’s meant a lot to our team, not only in ability, but with his character,” Ware said. “We are really excited he’s being able to move on and further his career at Central Alabama. He’s going to be one of our top guys this year. We are going to put a lot on his shoulders. He will be throwing the big games for us. He’s been preparing himself since last year when Justin (Kamplain) graduated. We’re going to throw him out there and see how he does.”

Kamplain signed with the University of Alabama after last season.

As a sophomore, Knighton made his mark for the Vikings, earning a second-round playoff win against Cullman.

“He came in and shut the door against them. He’s just a strike-throwing machine. He throws all three of his pitches for strikes. He had a goal to play college baseball and now he’s achieving that goal through his hard work,” Ware added.

Knighton has been talking with Central Alabama coaches since August. After a few months of waiting out other offers, he choose the Trojans.

“I was just weighing my options a little bit,” he said. “I went on a visit to Central and they showed me around the facilities and I got to meet the players. Alexander City is not a big town. I realized when I went there that these guys are playing the game because they love it. You aren’t going to go there because it’s a big city. I love the game and that’s why I decided to go there.”

At Central Alabama, Knighton will play for coach Wynn Fletcher and assistant Hunter Vick.

Knighton (6-foot-2, 170 pounds) has won 10 games in his Walker career. As a junior, he put together a 6-5 record. In 64 1/3 innings, he struck out 62 batters and posted an earned run average (ERA) of 3.59. During his sophomore season, Knighton was 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA and struck out 35 batters in 40 innings.

Knighton is one of seven seniors on this year’s squad. The others are: Dexter Jenkins, Wesley Killingsworth, Joseph Kimbrell, Chad Pritchell, Nic Woodley and Eric Vinson.

Walker’s season opens Feb. 20.

Read more: Daily Mountain Eagle – Walker s Knighton signs with Central Alabama

Indoor Track on the road to State

This past weekend on January 27 and 28, Walker’s track team competed in the Last Chance Invitational in Birmingham. The team finished 12^th out of 95 teams. Andrew Harris finished 1^st in the 800, and 3^rd in the 1600. Hunter Hawkins finished 4^th in the 800, and 13^th in the 400, with over 200 runners in each event. Bradford Lepik finished 36^th out of 113 in the 3200. Davis Hutchinson finished 39^th out of 67in the 60m hurdles and 18^th out of 31 in the high jump. The team now has more momentum going to compete in the state meet February 3^rd and 4^th, where Andrew Harris hopes to keep his title as number one in the state and defend his two time state title.

by Mason

Good Hands Award

On January 18 Jonathan Holladay awarded the Allstate Good Hands Award to six athletes. This award is given to athletes who showed outstanding perfromances in the sports this week. This week’s winners were: Michael Bridges, Sidney Cooper, Shania Reed, Alex Villa, and Austin Stephens. Congratulations to the student athletes.

Walker Takes Down Curry

Walker takes down Curry

          by          Johnathan BentleyDaily  Mountain Eagle

Curry stayed within striking distance for  three quarters Friday night.
Once the fourth quarter started, Walker  found its groove and ended Curry’s chances.
Walker’s offense got going  over the final eight minutes, putting 24 points on the scoreboard in a 64-41  victory over the Yellow Jackets at Songer Gym.
“That was kind of the  plan,” Walker coach Scotty Ware said. “We wanted to keep putting pressure on  them and get to them in the fourth quarter.”
Curry cut Walker’s 14-point  halftime lead in half at 38-31 late in the third quarter after an Alex Odom  3-pointer.
Walker (7-12 overall, 4-2 in 5A, Area 11) took control of the  game early in the fourth, forcing turnovers and getting easy transition baskets.  The Vikings were led by Dashuan Kendrick, Drekas Key and Brandon Thursby in the  final period. The trio combined for 14 points in the quarter.
“We started  playing the way we are supposed to,” Ware added. “We battled for every loose  ball.  We were diving all over the court. We got a little dirty  tonight.”
Walker jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the opening quarter, but  Curry cut the gap to 14-12 going into the second quarter.
The Vikings  closed the first half with an 11-1 run. Thursby knocked down a 3-pointer to  start the spurt with 3:41 left in the half. Ryan Dill converted a steal into a  layup and added a free throw while a Shane Donaldson putback gave Walker a 30-16  halftime lead.
The Vikings led by as many as 13 points in the third  quarter after a Jonathan McCants 3-pointer, but Curry got a pair of putbacks  from Wesley Key and a 3-pointer by Alex Odom to cut the lead to 38-31 with 35  seconds left in the third quarter. Walker led 40-31 going into the fourth  quarter.
For the Vikings, Donaldson had 11 points and 12 rebounds, Ryan  Dill added 11 points and six steals, Austin Stephens had 10 points, McCants had  eight and  Thursby put in seven, Key and Kendrick each had six.
For  Curry, Odom and Spencer Fikes each had 12 points, Key added six and both Bradley  Loggins and Jacob O’Rear put in four.
Ware has been pleased with Walker’s  effort in its last two home games — area wins over Hayden and  Curry.
“Since this coaching staff has been together, we’ve been hard to  beat at home. Over the last two years we’ve kind of lost that. It’s been tougher  for us to defend our home court. We talked about taking that back. I thought we  did that against Hayden and tonight. We were out there taking charges and  attacking rebounds.
“We’ve got a few more home games. We’ll see if we can  finish strong at home.”
Walker will hit the road for its next two games.  The Vikings play a makeup game at Lawrence County on Tuesday and play at Fayette  County on Friday.
Curry opens play in the Walker County Tournament at  Parrish on Monday. The Yellow Jackets take on Cordova at 4:30 p.m.

VARSITY GIRLS
Walker 52, Curry 28
Walker’s Sidney Cooper  and Jazmine Lake combined for 27 points as the Walker Lady Vikings earned a  52-28 home win over Curry Friday night.
The game was close through the  first quarter, but Walker held Curry to just six points in the second quarter as  the Lady Vikings pulled away for a 28-15 halftime lead.
Walker pushed its  lead to 37-18 going into the fourth quarter.
Cooper paced the Lady  Vikings with 14 points, Lake had 13, Chloe Sudberry added nine, Shania Reed had  eight and Miranda Bruce put in five.
For Curry, Mary Beth Scott led the  way with nine points while Taylor Black added six and both Jessica Woodley and  Makenzie Hicks had five.

JV BOYS
Walker 37, Curry  27
Walker took a slim three-point lead into the final quarter, but pulled  away from there, beating Curry 37-27.
The teams were tied 9-9 after the  first quarter and Walker took a 17-16 lead into the half. The Vikings led 25-22  after three quarters and outscored Curry 12-5 in the final period to get the  10-point win.
For Walker, Denzell Daley and Trevon Chatman led a balanced  attack with eight points each.
Curry’s Hargrove had 13 points while  Santos added 11.

NINTH-GRADE BOYS
Walker 58, Curry  13
John Michael Reed had 27 points and five steals to lead the Walker  ninth-grade boys team to a 58-13 win over Curry.
The Vikings (10-4)  blanked Curry in the first quarter and led 16-0 going into the second quarter.  Walker opened up a 34-3 halftime lead and took a 37-6 advantage into the fourth  quarter.
For Walker, Isreal Johnson had nine points and seven rebounds  while Chris Evans, Jarrod Ollie and Marlon Oliver each had seven  points.
Walker’s ninth-grade boys host Corner on Monday with the JV girls  playing at 6 p.m. and the ninth-grade boys following at 7:15 p.m.

Read more:  Daily Mountain Eagle – Walker takes down Curry

Big Wins for Indoor Track

January 7, 2012 was a good day for the Walker Indoor Track Team.  The team placed 9^th out of 27 teams with only 5 guys. The 4 by 800 meter relay started the Vikings off by taking 2^nd place to Mountain Brook and breaking the track record. The time put them in first place for the 5A rankings by almost 10 seconds. Austin Elliot had a good day in his events by placing 65^th out of 159 in the 60 meter dash and 18th out of 76 in the long jump, putting him in 5^th place for the 5A rankings. Andrew Harris and Hunter Hawkins did well in the 800 scoring a combined total of 11 points with Andrew winning the race and setting the new track record and Hunter placing 8^th. That puts Andrew at number one and Hunter at number four in the 5A rankings. Jeb Cowen placed 12^th and had a new personal best of 52.46 putting him at second place in the 5A. Bradford Lepik did well in the mile coming in 12^th and also had a new personal record; Bradford is also ranked well in the 5A state seeded at 4^th place. To end a great day, the 4 by 400 relay team composed of Harris, Hawkins, Cowen, and Lepik placed 2^nd to Hoover High School. This will put them in first place by over 10 seconds in 5A. Congrats to the Walker Indoor Track Team and Good Luck in your future meets.

By Andrew Harris

Key Win Over Hayden

Walker earns key area win over Hayden

by Johnathan Bentley and W. Brian Hale

 
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Walker stayed on track to host the area tournament with a home win over the Hayden Wildcats Friday night.

The Vikings opened the second quarter with a 10-3 run and never looked back, winning 53-38 at Songer Gym.

Walker (6-11 overall, 3-1 in 5A, Area 11) is now two area wins away from hosting the area tournament next month. The Vikings have a road game at Mortimer on Tuesday and host Curry on Friday to close out area play.

“We’ve got two left next week. If we win them, we host,” Walker coach Scotty Ware said.

Against Hayden (10-8), Walker led 11-8 after the first quarter. The Vikings opened up the second quarter with the hot hand.

Austin Stephens drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to open the scoring and Riley Graham followed with a long-range bomb of his own for a 17-8 lead.

After a pair of Hayden free throws, Michael Bridges hit a layup and Dre’kas Key turned a steal into an easy basket for a 21-11 lead at the 3:50 mark.

Walker held Hayden to just two baskets in the quarter and took a 27-17 lead into the half. Hayden cut the gap to nine points at 37-29 after three quarters, but was outscored 16-9 in the fourth quarter as the Vikings earned the win.

“I thought we did a good job tonight. We’ve been harping on not throwing the ball away. I thought we did that. We were patient on offense and took good shots,” Ware said.

“I talked with the team before the game. I wanted to keep them from getting down. We are still young and I wanted them to understand that we are growing and getting better. I want us to do three things every game: Play hard, play smart and have fun. We got three out of three today.”

For Walker, Brandon Thursby had 12 points on four 3-pointers, Bridges had 11 points and 10 rebounds, Key had nine points, Shane Donaldson put in six, DaShuan Kendrick and Graham each had five, Stephens had three and Ryan Dill had two.

For Hayden, Seth Aderhold had 17 points.

Walker held Brandon Echols, who had 30 points in the first meeting, to seven points.

The Vikings play at Mortimer Jordan on Tuesday.

VARSITY GIRLS

Hayden 45, Walker 26

Walker couldn’t stop Hayden’s Krista Stricklin Friday night.

Stricklin scored 21 points, including 14 in the first half, as the Lady Wildcats picked up the 45-26 area win on the road.

Walker kept things close for a quarter, trailing 11-9 going into the second period. Hayden (15-3) pulled away for a 23-14 halftime lead. The Lady Wildcats led 31-18 going into the final quarter.

Walker got a balanced scoring attack with Chloe Sudberry leading the way with six points. Both Sidney Cooper and Jasmine Lake had five points and Miranda Bruce and Raven Jones had four points each.

For Hayden, Grayson Taylor put in 11 points

JUNIOR VARSITY

Walker 60, Hayden 22

Denzell Dailey scored 20 points to lead the Walker JV team past Hayden 60-22 on Friday.

Walker took control in the first quarter, jumping out to a 13-4 lead. The Vikings (4-9) led 27-10 at the half and 45-18 after three quarters.

For the Vikings, Aaron Morris had 11 points, Treyvon Chapman had nine and Kenyatta Woods added eight.

Read more: Daily Mountain Eagle – Walker earns key area win over Hayden