Three ALAH football players earn first team all-area N-G honors
By Mike Monahan
CHAMPAIGN – Three members of the Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond football team earned first team honors in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette All-Area squad. The three are Jacob Tighe, Maddix Stirrett and Cash Hale.
The Knights, coached by Ryan Jefferson, finished 9-2 overall and 8-1 in the Lincoln Prairie Conference, good for second place. ALAH reached the Class 2A second round after posting a 54-32 win over North Mac and falling to Quincy Notre Dame 34-7.
Tighe, a senior, was named as an offensive lineman and helped the Knights gain 3,929 yards in the season, the most in a single season in ALAH history, while Stirrett was named as a linebacker. Stirrett, a senior, finished as the all-time leading tackler in Knights history with 335 as he had 136 during the 2024 season.
Cash, a junior, was named as a defensive back. He had an area-best nine interceptions and knocked down another six passes.
That is not all for the Knights as Easton Frederick, a junior linebacker was one of 26 players to earn second team honors. Payton Warrior, a junior running back/defensive back and Colin Smith, a senior offensive linemen/linebacker were two of 30 players to receive special mention.
Among the 104 players to earn honorable mention were seven from ALAH. The seven were Ryan Appleby, Mackenley Bowles, Brennan Hutson, Brayden Leech, Kaden Morfey, Alex Rexroad and Trey Strode for a total of 13 players to earn first, second, special mention or honorable mention status.
