SPORTS

Breaking Through Talented Lady Rebels setting sights on state basketball tournament. Page 26

Chip on Their Shoulders Oak Mountain boys basketball team out to prove naysayers wrong. Page 26

Thursday, January 13, 2022 ❖ OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL

Last year, Vestavia’s Zach Flurry became only the third Rebels wrestler to finish undefeated, posting a 21-0 record while capturing the Class 7A 113pound title. Flurry has been wrestling for 10 years, starting when he was 8 years old because a neighborhood buddy was a wrestler.

TITLE QUEST

Vestavia Hills’ Flurry Seeking Second State Wrestling Championship

By RuBin E. GRant

Vestavia Hills senior Zach Flurry was hoping to have another unbeaten season on the wrestling mat.

Last year, he became only the third Rebels wrestler to finish undefeated, posting a 21-0 record while capturing the Class 7A 113pound title. He joined James Edwards, who was 32-0 when he won the 220-pound title in 2017, and Jeff Segars, who was an undefeated state champion in 1986 at 185 pounds.

Flurry won his first 13 matches this season, stretching his streak of consecutive wins to 34, but his dreams of another unbeaten season were dashed when he lost to a wrestler from Louisiana in the 126-pound championship match in the Trey Culotta Invitational Dec. 21 in New Orleans.

The loss was disappointing, but Flurry still can become a two-time state champion.

“I wanted to have another undefeated season, but that won’t happen now, so I want to win state again,” Flurry said.

Flurry suffered his second loss of the season

last Saturday, falling to Hewitt-Trussville’s Dalton Zimmerman in the 126-pound match as the Rebels dropped a 34-32 decision to the Huskies to finish second in Class 7A, Region 3.

Flurry wasn’t at full strength. He had missed Vestavia Hills’ dual match victory against Spain Park two days earlier because of a cold.

“I was still coming back from being sick,” he said.

Flurry expects to be completely healthy when the Rebels visit Huntsville in the quarterfinals of the Alabama High School Athletic Association Wrestling Duals Tournament this weekend. The Duals semifinals are scheduled for Jan. 18 and the finals set for Jan. 21 at Bill Harris Arena at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The Rebels were Class 7A runners-up in the Duals to Thompson in 2020 and 2021. They won the Duals in 2017, the first year they were held.

Following the Duals, Flurry (21-2) is not sure if he will continue to wrestle at 126 pounds or move up to compete in the 132-pound weight class as he gets ready for the AHSAA sectional and state tournaments. The super section tourna-

‘Technique is the thing for me. I’m not the biggest guy by any stretch and I’m not the strongest or the quickest, but my technique has taken me pretty far.’

Coaching Changes

Calhoun Leaves As Rebels’ Head Football Coach After One Season; Niblett Leaving Hoover After 14 Seasons, 6 State Championships

By RuBin E. GRant

Sean Calhoun wasn’t planning to leave Vestavia Hills just a year after replacing Rebels legendary football coach Buddy Anderson, that is unless something special happened.

Well, something special did happen. Colquitt County, Georgia, called and asked Calhoun to become its head coach.

And last week, Calhoun accepted their offer and will return to a school where he had been the Packers’ offensive coordinator under Rush Propst in 2014 and 2015.

“It was not a situation where I was just going to stay a year and leave,” Calhoun said. “We’re trying to follow the Lord. There are not many places I would leave to go to, but Colquitt County, this is a special Georgia, called and place. They called asked Calhoun to and I listened, then become its head coach. I prayed about it. It’s amazing how it happened it so fast.

“I was there for two years. There are some good people there who love the Packers and love the sport of football. The whole community is tightknit. It’s one I felt I wanted to go be a part of and continue Niblett said during a to grow in coaching news conference at the and grow my fami- Hoover Met, above, his ly.” decision to leave was

Calhoun’s resig- ‘bitter sweet’. nation from Vestavia Hills will become effective Feb. 1. He guided the Rebels to a 4-6 record in 2021 in his only season at the helm.

A native of Lawrenceville, Georgia, Calhoun came to Vestavia Hills from Carrollton, Georgia, where he won three region titles, made five quarterfinal playoff appearances and compiled a 51-12 record in five seasons as head coach.

Calhoun had an emotional meeting with the Rebels’ players and assistant coaches Jan. 5 to inform them of his decision.

“It’s never easy to leave a place, especially