Loachapoka High School Loachapoka, AL Click to visit website

May 2010

What’s Happening At Loachapoka?
by Damian Sinclair • photography by Damian Sinclair

Loachapoka High’s athletic department has been extremely busy this year.  After an area championship in football, along with a historical trip to the Class 1-A state semifinals in the same sport, LHS was off to a great start to the 2009-2010 athletic season.  What sparked the flame, you ask?  How about the 2009 state championship in basketball from the previous semester? Or maybe it was the hard work put in during the offseason.  Whatever it was that sparked the Indians to raise their level of competition, it worked!

Chantal Hall Signs With Northwest Shoals CC To Play Basketball
by Damian Sinclair • photography by Damian Sinclair

After an illustrious career at LHS and a few broken school records, Chantal Hall will continue her dream of playing basketball at Norwest Shoals Community College in the fall.  Chantal finished her high school playing career with over 2,000 points scored.  She has also reached high career levels in assists and rebounds.  Hall stated that she has always wanted to be the best.  She owes a lot of her success to her mother, grandfather and her coach, Anthony Edwards.  Edwards recalls a moment when Hall was in the eighth grade, and he put her in a varsity game.  What he did not realize, until she took over the game, was that she was ready for the next level.

Tuskegee University Signs Three LHS Football Players To Scholarships
by Damian Sinclair • photography by Damian Sinclair

Three LHS football players have signed to play with Tuskegee University following their graduation in May.

Wide receiver Quindravious Richardson, a 6’3”, 196, was named an All-State Honorable Mention, Opelika-Auburn News first team for football and basketball, an Alabama/Georgia Indoor All-Star Offensive Player of the Game, and was also selected to participate in the Alabama North/South All-Star Football Game in Huntsville, Alabama, this summer.

Quarterback Patrick Moore, 6’, 185, was named first team All-State, Opelika-Auburn News first team, and an Alabama/Georgia Indoor All-Star player.
Offensive lineman Terrence Tolbert, 6’4”, 285, was also named First Team by the Opelika-Auburn News and an Alabama/Georgia Indoor All-Star player.

Loachapoka Baseball Captures First Area Championship
by Damian Sinclair • photography by Damian Sinclair

After a rough first game against the Reeltown Rebels, the Indians (10-4) were still focused on making their mark in baseball this season.  The team finished 5-1 in Area 7 and moved into a first-place tie with the Wadley Bulldogs. With a better percentage of non-area wins, Loachapoka was named Area Champion.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Indians faced Donoho School at home.  The best-of-three series ended the first night with the Indians beating the Falcons 18-8 in the first game and 21-4 in the second.

With three homeruns from Tracy Brooks Jr., a grand slam from Patrick Moore and further dominant performances at the plate from Travis Echols, Marquarious Mitchell and Jamal Beavers, the Indians moved into the second round of the playoffs to play Area 8 champions, the Fayetteville Wolves.

November 2009

Playing for the “L”
by Damian Sinclair

Before the senior football players were able to say “Mama,” they were playing football together in the small community of Loachapoka.  Many of the players have family connections and others have created their own version of family.  The family atmosphere is what makes playing for the “L” so intriguing. 

Playing for the “L” means going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure you are doing everything humanly possible to represent Loachapoka High School in the classroom, on the playing field, and in the community.  These players, when they were still in diapers, had fathers, brothers, cousins, uncles and friends play for Loachapoka.   Seniors Quindravious Richardson and Cory North consider themselves brothers.  They do everything together − from working out to shooting basketball − and even cracking jokes on each other.  Quarterback Patrick Moore is protected by his cousin, Ladarius Willis, and threw many touchdown passes to another cousin last year. 

Family is what it is all about in Coach Tate’s program.  The individual accolades will come just for a single outstanding performance, but wins in football are based on a team’s total “buy in” and respect for the program and its goals.  Richardson, senior wide receiver and free safety, said that he loves to get in the end zone like the next man, but he will take a team win any day of the week.  Terrence Tolbert recalls playing backyard football with seniors Cory North and Travis Echols when they were young boys.  Echols said, “It feels good to be playing football on this level with my childhood friends.”

Several of the players were asked how they felt about the season coming to an end and not playing football again with the fellow seniors.  A few still had hopes of playing together on the next level, but senior lineman Ladarius Willis said, “It feels like the season is not ending.  We still have a lot more football to go.”  Senior lineman Darius Poole said, “I can’t believe it!”  He said he never thought this time would ever come.  “It probably will not hit me until the final game.”  While senior linebacker Greg Moss said that he does not even want to think about it right now, North said that he will always remember the winning and having fun with his teammates.  He said, “We still have another season to play.” 

The other season that North is referring to is the 1A state playoffs that begin on November 6.  The Indians (7-1 overall, 6-0 region) will make their seventh consecutive appearance in the postseason by beating region opponents 252 – 19 with 3 shutout victories.  Loachapoka will wrap up their regular season as they travel to face region opponent Talladega Central County.  The Indians have an open week before the playoffs begin.

September 2009

Football

The Loachapoka Indians will try to bounce back from a disappointing quarterfinal exit from the 2008 1-A state playoffs.  The Indians suffered a 6-24 defeat at the hands of the Linden Patriots.  With nine returning starters on offense and six returning on defense, Loachapoka is poised to put together a great year.  A few key positions to fill will be the outstanding play of Vontrez Hutchinson, Tommy White, Jr. and LaDextric Jones.  These former players accounted for big plays on offense, defense and special teams.  Although many players have made individual contributions to the football program at Loachapoka, the team concept has always played a major role in the winning tradition that Coach Jerome Tate (107-59) has instilled in every player that has come through the LHS football program. Coach Tate, entering in his 15th season as the “Chief”, accomplished his 100th career victory with a 30 – 0 blowout of Winterboro last season.  This year Tate has the opportunity to record the most wins as a head coach for the Lee County school system − only four wins separate Tate from meeting this goal.  It is an accomplishment that Tate is humbled by and he knows that this feat will place him up with some of the great coaches in this area.

The Indians will open their season against the Lafayette Bulldogs on August 28.  Last year the Indians took a 20-13 win over the Bulldogs in a battle to the end.  This year both teams are ready for the season opener at Indian Stadium.  The following weeks the Indians will face area opponents Notasulga Blue Devils, Verbena Red Devils and Donoho Falcons, all of which the Indians shut out by a margin of 127 – 0 last year.  Arch-nemesis Reeltown will come into town the following week and the Indians are looking to rebound from a 14 -24 loss to the Rebels from last season.  Reeltown and Loachapoka have always played extremely tough; Reeltown enters the season as the No. 2 team in 2A while Loachapoka is the No. 4 team in 1A.  This will be the game to watch from the stands.

The Indians will finish off the regular season with area opponents Winterboro, Fayetteville, Wadley and Talladega County Central.  Loachapoka, Wadley and Talladega ended last season with a coin flip to decide the area’s top three teams entering the playoffs.  All three suffered one loss each in the area.  The final result placed Talladega County Central in the top spot followed by Wadley and Loachapoka.  Wadley saw an early exit, which set up another battle between the Indians and the Fighting Tigers of TCC.  The earlier regular season meeting between the two teams went into an impressive three overtimes, which many felt was the game of the week.  The Indians won the playoff matchup 15-7 to send them into the quarterfinal game against Linden.

The Loachapoka Indians will have a strong offense and an always-tough and physical defense. Leading the Indians will be returning starting seniors Cory North, Quindravious Richardson, Patrick Moore, Greg Moss, Darius Poole, Terrence Tolbert, Ladarius Willis, and Jerome Greer.   The team had a good offseason and ready for a record-breaking 2009 season.  GO INDIANS!