Montgomery Academy's Skyler Stovall repeats as CCC Player of the Year

The 6-foot-4 senior not only had the vision to predict Montgomery Academy’s run to the 3A state championship this season, but he also had the dedication to get his teammates more involved in the Eagles’ postseason run.

“I think the biggest thing is his willingness to play and allow guys like Braden (Gordon) to do their thing at the same time,” Montgomery Academy coach Jeremy Arant said. “He’s become an unselfish player over last three years and that’s something that has allowed our team to be a much better team.

“He was our guy, defensively, that we would put on the other team’s best perimeter player and that’s a challenge that he kind of took on himself. That’s something that he bought into, that this can help our team win.”

Capital City Conference coaches agreed, selecting Stovall as the player of the year and Arant as the coach of the year after the Eagles dominated 3A competition this season after nearing their potential a year ago.

“This past summer, we had a really good summer and won 22 games, beat some 6A teams, beat some 7A teams,” Arant said, “so we knew coming into it we’d be pretty good but we’d have a target on our back. The credit goes to our kids. There’s not one time this year that, even with the success we were having, that they didn’t come out ready to play in a game.

“We played some teams two or three times and had beaten them bad (in earlier games) and it’s really easy for kids to relax and have a letdown. I don’t remember our kids, all year, having a letdown against anybody. They were focused, they wanted to win and they were willing to do whatever it took to win. We’ve got guys who started last year who wanted to play more of a role this year, just unselfishness from all 15 guys.”

Montgomery Academy was rarely challenged in a 34-2 run -- its losses were road games at 7A Auburn and 7A Huntsville -- but Arant recalled a regional semifinal matchup against Hale County where the Eagles’ focus on post player Gage Mayfield allowed guard Zamarion Johnson to get free on some perimeter shots in the first half.

“They had a guy who was hurting us pretty bad in the first half,” Arant said. “(Assistant) coach (Reggie) Mantooth and I were like, we’ve got to challenge Skyler and put him on him and you’ve got to shut him down in the second half. He was able to do that in the second half. He’s kind of done that all year for us. He leads our team in steals.”

Stovall played less time this season because of lopsided finishes that left him on the bench for more than half of the second half, but managed to average 17.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.1 steals per game. He was first on the team in points and steals and second in rebounds.

“A lot of times (the starters’) minutes were diminished from a year ago,” Arant noted, “but he was committed to making the right decision every time he had the ball.”

Stovall is making his third consecutive appearance on the all-CCC first team, while Trinity forward John Morris is on the first team for the second consecutive year. Stovall’s teammate, DJ Vinson, made the all-CCC team for the third consecutive year, either on the first team or the second team.