The North Jefferson News is taking some time this summer to look back at the biggest moments of the 2016-17 high school sports season. Starting at No. 10 and ending at No. 1, a top-10 list of local highlights will unfold—one at a time—throughout the summer months.

The second part of our summer countdown sheds light on a dominant performance by a senior team captain.

Coming in at No. 9 in the NJN Top-10 Sports Moments of 2016-17 is Gardendale’s first-ever football win over a Class 7A opponent. The Class 6A Rockets beat Class 7A No. 2 James Clemens 26-13 on August 26, 2016, a day that started with a math test for Steven Crowder.

The 6-foot-2 linebacker woke up that Friday, stewing over the academic hurdles he had to clear.

“I actually woke up this morning and was concentrated on school work. I had a test today, so I was studying hard for that and I came to the locker room and just prayed to have a good game, came out here and God blessed me today,” said Crowder following his three-touchdown performance.

Crowder had dominated his math test and later dominated under the Driver Stadium lights.

He made his mark all over the field, scoring on a 30-yard strip and score as a linebacker, a 17-yard read-option keeper as a quarterback and a 13-yard pitch and catch as a receiver. His final score of the evening came on a critical 4th-and-8 in the closing minutes.

“That was a tremendous team effort led by our senior captain, Steven Crowder. I thought Steven was the best football player in the state of Alabama that night and I could not have been more proud of our coaching staff and entire team,” said Gardendale head coach Matt Plunkett on Friday.

Crowder also shined on the defensive side, collecting 22 total tackles to go with a pair of quarterback sacks in the early-season win. Fellow linebacker Andrew Freeman went for 16 tackles of his own.

The Rockets led 13-0 following a bizarre first quarter.

Jacob Wright scooped up a loose ball in the James Clemens’ backfield and rumbled 60 yards, giving the home team a 7-0 lead with 0:36 left in the first frame. On the Jets’ next offensive snap, Crowder cradled another loose ball and ran to a 13-0 advantage through one quarter of play.

That fast start set the tone for an upset heard round the state.

“That was a great night filled with all kinds of emotions. Our players rose to the occasion and answered the bell,” said Plunkett last week. “The crazy behind-the-scenes story of the night was Adrian Gooch getting cleared and playing for the first time since spring training after being out for 10 weeks with a sports hernia. Adrian displayed unreal toughness and blocked LaBryan Ray [an Alabama signee] all night and held him to one sack.”

Gardendale would climb into the Alabama Sports Writers Association top-10 poll and occupied the top spot of the JoxPreps high school football poll for multiple weeks, but injuries eventually limited a promising season.

The Rockets lost in the second round of the state playoffs at Muscle Shoals, closing the season at 8-4 overall.

NJN Top-10 standings

#9 Crowder shines in Gardendale’s first-ever 7A win

#10 Peters’ last-second jumper woke a “natural rivalry”

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.