By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

The first big boys’ soccer weekend of the spring happened from Feb. 12-13 at the Lakeshore Shootout, and six teams from Shelby County took part. A total of 24 teams came from all over the state to take part in the tournament, which saw action at Helena High School, Pelham High School, Thompson High School and Sports Blast Shelby County. The tournament was split into four divisions: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze, and Shelby County had representatives in three of the four divisions.

The tournament was scored on the 10-point scoring system. This system allots six points to the winner of an individual game, three points for a tie, one point for a shutout, and one point per goal scored up to a maximum of three goals, allowing a team to score a maximum of 10 points per game. At the end of a tournament scored under this format, whichever team has accrued the most points over the course of the tournament is the winner, and there is no champion declared in an elimination setting.

Oak Mountain was the only Shelby County team to compete in the Platinum division. The defending 7A state champs beat Smiths Station 3-2, beat Prattville 2-0 and tied Cullman 1-1 through the first three games of the Platinum division tournament to give the Eagles 22 points. The final game of the tournament for the Eagles came against Hoover, which had 26 points through its first three games, meaning Oak Mountain had to beat Hoover straight up to win the Platinum division. After taking a 1-0 lead into the half, the Bucs snuck a goal past Oak Mountain in the second, and the teams tied 1-1, giving Hoover 30 points to Oak Mountain’s 26 as the Bucs walked away with the Platinum title.

Of the six teams that played in the Gold division, four were from Shelby County. Defending 1A-3A state champion Westminster at Oak Mountain, Indian Springs, Chelsea and Pelham were joined by Trinity and Sparkman in the Gold division. Springs ran the table in the Gold division, beating Westminster 5-1, Chelsea 4-3, Pelham 2-1 and Trinity 6-0 for a total of 36 points. However, the one team Springs did not play, Sparkman, also went undefeated in the tournament and finished with 36 points as well, as the two tied for first place in the Gold division.

Helena was the only Shelby County team to compete in the Silver division, and went undefeated in the tournament. The Huskies beat Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP) 5-2, Guntersville 2-0 and Shades Valley 10-1 to finish the tournament with 27 points to secure the win.