As the school year draws to a close, those who have kept up with the athletics at Jacksonville High School have reflected on the remarkable year the Eagles have had.

In the fall, the Lady Eagles volleyball team pursued a “three peat” state championship. The Lady Eagles made it to the Elite Eight before losing to Guntersville in the championship game.

Jacksonville finished the season 45-8. Three Lady Eagles, Caroline Neisler, Taylor Palmer and Meagan Cabrer will all be playing at the college level next year.

Believing in their motto “We Believe” the football team made it to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

Along the way Jacksonville (7-4) beat the Alexandria Valley Cubs 22-21 in what had to be the game of the year.

The Eagles had not beat Alexandria in the “Valley” since 1989 and had their last win over the Cubs in 2001.

Jacksonville played Midfield in the first round of the playoffs, losing 28-19.

Three players have received scholarships to play football. Jake Smith will play for the University of Louisville, Knox Newell at JSU and Jackson Pearson at Birmingham Southern.

Second year head basketball coach Anthony Kingston had his team ready for the season and the Golden Eagles (23-8) won the area championship and went all the way to the Northeast Regional championship game where they lost a heartbreaker to Anniston 52-50.

Senior Tristan Garmon has signed to play at Spring Hill College and Ethan Maske will be playing for Barton College in North Carolina.

In adverse conditions, with the temperature in the 40’s and rain coming down, the boys’ track team won the Calhoun County Track Championship accumulating 142 points to beat out second place finishers Saks and Oxford which finished with 108 points.

At the state track meet, senior Stephen Waters had two third place finishes in the shot put and javelin.

Palmer took fourth place in the discus with Neisler taking seventh.

The baseball team had one of its best years finishing with a 23-7 record and were ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 4A in the final regular season poll.

The Eagles went undefeated in the area and made it to the second round of playoffs where they were defeated by Alexandria.

Will Thompson has received a scholarship to play at Calhoun College and Nick Quinn will play at Jefferson State.

Both boys’ and girls’ soccer teams were very impressive with both going undefeated in area play and both teams made it to the second round of playoffs.

The Lady Eagles were eliminated in a nail-biting affair with Mars Hill that saw Jacksonville losing 1-0 in a penalty kick shootout after two scoreless overtime periods.

The boys lost 1-0 to West Morgan in the second round after scoring a goal for the other team in the first six seconds of play.

Senior Tyler Cunningham has signed to play soccer for Itawamba Community College.