Scott Nickerson
Elmore Autauga News
In his 3rd season as the Head Football Coach, Hunter Adams led the Stanhope Elmore Mustangs to a 7-3 regular season record and a return to the Class 6A playoffs for the first time in five years. It was the most wins the program has had in a season since 2019. The season also featured a record breaking year from SEHS running back Dee Barnes, who rushed for over 2000 yards and set the school’s record for touchdowns in a season. As a result of the successful season, the Elmore Autauga News has named Coach Hunter Adams as the Elmore County Football Coach of the Year.
“Truly blessed,” said Coach Adams. “When you coach at Stanhope Elmore, you work hard to make sure you’re upholding the standards of the great coaches that have come before you. We had a phenomenal group of senior players this season that led our team to have a season they could be proud of.”
Stanhope Elmore finished as the #3 seed in Class 6A Region 2 with a 4-2 region record, to include a 35-28 win at Wetumpka. Two of those losses were against teams ranked in the top 10 of Class 6A, and came without starting quarterback Davis Foshee, who missed three games due to injury. In the post-season, the Mustangs traveled to Mobile for the 1st Round of the Class 6A playoffs against Theodore, a team featuring multiple players committed to SEC teams.
“It felt great to play in the post-season, it was a re-establishment of where SEHS is supposed to be. Outside of a bad 4 minute stretch to end the first half and start the second, we played a really good football game against a super talented team on the road that had multiple SEC commitments. That said, the pursuit now becomes winning in the playoffs.”
The Mustangs featured an impressive senior class that led by example with a strong work ethic, a feature of the team that Adams was most proud of.
“This group of kids clocked in for work day in and day out. Having to replace a legendary player like Arthur McQueen, and then having the offense come together and help Dee Barnes have a record breaking season. Davis Foshee stepping up and becoming QB1 with only two days of spring practice, battling through injuries, and with a group of all sophomore receivers becoming very multi-faceted offense as the season went on. Jay Stone was a leader and coach on the field for 3 years. Macin James started 40 games on the OL and excelled in all of them. Jessie Chriestenson working his way from JV linebacker to a tackling machine, the list goes on. When we got the mid-season report card, this team had 37 players on the honor roll. Can’t say enough about them!”
Coach Adams has reason to believe next season could be another successful season for the Mustangs. They will return several skill players on offense, to include quarterback, running back, and wide receiver.
“We should have a really effective and dynamic skill group coming back. The offense should be multi-dimensional and more explosive than we’ve been in a while. We have to replace some key cogs on the OL, but we do bring back four players with starting experience there. The same can be said defensively, as a lot of players will return. The group was very good at limiting drives and not letting teams sustain offensively, but we have to get better at limiting explosive plays and work to generate more pass rush. This group is excited and is already hard at work!”
