Loaded fields for county tournament

By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
The celebration to honor the University of Alabama’s recent national football championship will be held Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Exiled baseball star Mark McGwire finally admitted this week that he did indeed use performance enhancing drugs during his career.
Pete Carroll has bolted from the University of Southern California for the big lights of the National Football League.
But hey, it is time to move on in the sports world. We’ve got a few Morgan County basketball championships to decide next week..
The 2010 Morgan County Basketball Tournament opens Monday at Falkville High School with six schools battling for five county championships - varsity boys, varsity girls, B-team boys, B-team girls and freshman boys.
Brewer is the defending champion in both varsity divisions, but expect the Patriots to face some big challenges in a balanced field this season.
In the girls’ varsity division, Brewer has split its two games with Hartselle and the second-ranked Lady Patriots will have a long road to the finals.
Danville and West Morgan, both Class 3A powers, come into the tournament ranked second and third respectively in the latest rankings by the Alabama Sports Writers Association.
Priceville and Hartselle have both received strong consideration in the polls and could challenge for the girls’ championship.
Unfortunately, seedings for the tournament are done by overall records since all of the schools do not face each other. That could mean some colossal matchups early in the tournament.
The boys’ varsity field is also pretty balanced with several teams coming out of the holiday breaks with winning records, including Hartselle and Priceville.
Hartselle has fared well against county schools this season, beating both Brewer and Priceville twice. But the Tigers suffered a 43-33 loss to West Morgan in December.
West Morgan has been a little inconsistent this year, splitting with both Priceville and Danville.
The win over Hartselle shows, however, that the Rebels are capable of reaching the tournament championship game with a good defensive outing.
Sports editor Todd Thompson can be reached at 773-6566 or at todd.thompson@hartselleenquirer.com