Open a field house door, and it’s clear that football season is over.

Another season has come to a close in Shelby County, this time without a state championship contender, but with plenty to celebrate and look back on.

Just like any season, this year shared a number of surprises and spectacular plays.

For the second-straight year, I chose to pick a Week One Class 5A upset over a 6A opponent, as one of the few around to give Shelby County any hope over Pell City. While the Wildcats were jumping all over the Panthers, Briarwood was pulling off another season-opening surprise with back-to-back upsets over Vestavia.

Those two wins set the stage for one of the biggest upsets of the season, a 26-3 pounding of the Lions by the Shelby County run game.

It was during that game that the case began to build for this year’s Player of the Year. Darion Sutton’s ability to move behind the Wildcats’ strong offensive line for 4 or 5 yards per carry, left fans on both sides of the field in awe, as the Wildcats ate up the clock for the win. Sutton closed his case with his powerful running at Chelsea and his strong defense late in the season.

In addition to Sutton, I also saw a number of athletic plays that stick out, such as Kevin Callender’s 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game for Montevallo to open the season. Another one that drew a “Oh, wow” from my mouth while filming highlights was Thompson’s Jordan Chism hurdling a defender after a catch against Oak Mountain, and then snagging a game winning catch when he couldn’t see the ball through the fog, not to mention David Bria playing most of that game with only one contact.

All of our players on the All-County team and those that are honorable mention have been a part of special plays and memories this year.

A number of those plays, especially some runs from Sutton, can be found on a special episode of Game Night, viewable at www.shelbycountyreporter.com/videos.