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Approaching an Anniversary: We're closing in on March 12. Significance? Some. March 12 will mark the one-year anniversary of the shutdown of spring sports in Tallassee last year.

The Tallassee baseball team had a one-run win over Prattville Christian on that Thursday. That same day, the Tallassee girls had 10-run-ruled Dadeville for their 15th straight victory.

The girls' only loss of 2020 was to Prattville Christian in the season opener. They ended their season at No. 1 in the Class 5A poll.

Can you imagine if Alabama or Auburn were No. 1 in something and the season ended? What if college football had ended this past fall before the playoff?

Now we're back to spring again and hoping to finish what we started.

There were many sacrifices in the return to sports on all levels. On the high school level, I'm glad we're back.

As for those sacrifices, a couple of COVID safety measures hit our high school program. The biggest two games of the football season were counted as forfeit losses. It meant Tallassee would miss a playoff opportunity. It was the right thing to do but what a bummer.

The basketball and wrestling teams were also affected by the coronavirus.

The wrestling team got the short end of the stick in seeding at the state tournament due to a limited number of matches. The guys still had a 10-win streak in duals matches to round out the regular season.

The basketball team fought through a COVID shutdown too.

If the sports programs had opted out instead, we would've missed out on some amazing highlights.

In football, we got the renewal of the Reeltown/Tallassee rivalry. Jalyn Daniels emerged as a star having a breakout season. Daniels rushed for more than 1,000 yards in an abbreviated season and ran for 349 yards against rival Elmore County.

The boys hoops team claimed its third area title in four years with a fantastic comeback at Pike Road, winning eight straight during that stretch.

We saw one of the top players in America in Calhoun's JD Davison, but the best performance at Stumberg Gym was by Tallassee's own Jamicah Humphery, who scored 51 in a sub-regional playoff victory over Talladega.

Those are just a few of the standout performances.

Since COVID, we've had two state champions at Tallassee High. Woodrow Dean won the Class 5A cross country title. Macey Stewart added two more state championship medals in swimming in the 100- and 200-freestyle events.

There's been plenty of good right in our own backyard. We've changed the way we attend events. There is social distancing and masks.

Packed stadiums will hopefully return someday. In the meantime, we're dealing with the protocols. And I have no complaints.