Nicholas Powell and Albany Collins are South Side’s male and female athletes of the year, and Cooper Moss is the recipient of the Van and Louise Thompson Scholarship Award. They will be recognized March 28 at the 37^th annual Jackson-Madison County Sports Hall of Fame banquet.

NICHOLAS POWELL, South Side’s male athlete of the year, plays football and soccer for the Hawks. A senior with a 3.1 GPA, he is a member of the Beta Club, Leadership University, theater, and choir. He attends Open Faith Ministries, where he is a member of the praise team.

He plays football and soccer at South Side.

In football, he was a four-year starter, team captain, two-time Region 6-4A defensive MVP and West Tennessee All-Star game MVP. Offensively, he had 95 carries for 563 yards and eight touchdowns. Defensively, he had 78 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, five sacks, three caused fumbles and an interception.

In soccer, he was last season’s district defensive MVP and an All-West Tennessee All-Star.

Other accomplishments include the Sports Plus Athlete of the Week, 101.5 radio MVP, 2022 winner of the Madison County Commissioner’s Cup and game MVP, and Tennessee National Guard MVP.

Powell plans to attend college on a football scholarship.

ALBANY COLLINS, South Side’s female athlete of the year, plays basketball for the Lady Hawks. A senior with a 3.6 GPA, she is ranked 31 out of 173 students and is an honor student with more than 50 community service hours. She attends Salem Baptist Church, where she sings in the choir.

She has played basketball for four years and is a two-year starter and team captain. She has helped the Lady Hawks to two state tournament appearances, including last year’s Class 3A state runner-up. She has also helped the team to district, regional and sectional championships the last two years. The Lady Hawks are currently No. 1 in the state and competing at the state tournament.

As a senior in games played through February 9, she averaged 15 points, two and half rebounds, two assists and three steals per game. She has 1,110 career points while shooting 47 percent from the field, 42 percent from the 3-point arch and 80 percent from the free-throw line.

Other accomplishments include the All-District Team, All-Academic Team, All-Region Team, Sports Plus Player of the Week, BCAT Player of the Week and BCAT All-Star. She is considered one of the best 3-point shooters to ever play at South Side.

Collins plans to attend college on a basketball scholarship.

COOPER MOSS, the recipient of the Van and Louise Thompson Scholarship Award, plays golf and baseball for the Hawks. The senior has a GPA of 3.89 and is ranked 11 out of 173 students.

Moss has been a Miss SSHS escort, Junior Rotarian, member of the Beta Club, and a Wendy’s High School Heisman school winner. He owns his own landscaping and lawncare company.

The Van and Louise Thompson Scholarship honors the memory of Van and Louise Thompson. Van is a Hall of Fame inductee and former Jackson High School multi-athlete star. He played tailback on two National Championship football teams at the University of Tennessee in the late 1930s and early 1940s when the Volunteers went to the Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls. Louise was also a UT graduate and taught school in Jackson for more than 25 years.

Playing in just its third game this season, South Side’s boys’ soccer team beat visiting Dyer County 10-2 on Tuesday evening at Malesus Baptist Church.

Victor Sosa scored four goals and Mekhi Uqdah added two goals with four assists as the Hawks improved their record to 2-1 overall.

“I think the guys played well last night,” South Side coach Jake Stoffregen said. “They were connecting and working together to move the ball down the field. They were able to get ahead early with a PK in the first 10 minutes that Mekhi tucked away nicely. I think that gave them a morale boost to come out and play even harder.”

Trace Richardson added two goals for the Hawks. Kenneth Pineda and Cole Coffman had one goal apiece.

“A win always feels good but seeing how the guys adapted and learned from their previous games was the real win last night,” Stoffregen said.

It’s now the fourth week of the spring sports season, and South Side had only played three games. Two previously scheduled games were cancelled or postponed for inclement weather.

“Starting Week 4 of play with only two games under our belt has been a hard start,” Stoffregen said. “Our other games were mixed results.”

The Hawks opened the season March 15 with a 10-1 win at St. Augustine. The Hawks lost 5-1 at Crockett County on March 29.

“We had several areas that we struggled with maintaining possession and Crockett got the best of us,” Stoffregen said.

The Hawks are coming off their best season in program history.

“We keep looking ahead,” Stoffregen said. “We have a goal of going farther than we did last year in the postseason and we have to work to get there. Even with all the cancellations, we have to look towards the next match and prepare by fixing our previous mistakes and improving all around. I think this team is extremely capable. We have a lot of talent, but we also have our eyes on getting to state, which requires not only talent, but hard work. If we focus on improving and taking it match by match, we’re capable of going the distance.”

[COVER PHOTO: Pictured during a previous game this season are (from left) Victor Sosa and Mekhi Uqdah.]

Six South Side soccer players from the 2021 team had impressive outings Saturday at the Rising Stars and All-Star games at Milan’s Johnnie Hale Stadium.

Representing the Hawks were graduated seniors Tybre Oswalt, Gavynn Jones and JD Comer and rising juniors Mekhi Uqdah, Trace Richardson and Westleigh Newson.

Skills competitions were held prior to the games, and South Side won both of them.

First, South Side’s team of Oswalt, Comer, Uqdah, Richardson and Newson beat all other schools in a penalty kick shootout skills competition.

Second, South Side’s team of Uqdah and Newson beat all other two-person teams in an accuracy shootout skills competition. 

Next up was the Rising Stars game, which pitted teammates against each other. Uqdah and Richardson played on one team, while Comer and Newson played for the other. Uqdah scored two goals to lead his team to a 4-3 win.

Finally, in the All-Star game, the team with Oswalt and Jones won 3-0.

South Side’s soccer season ended Monday night with a 5-0 loss to South Gibson in a Region 7-AA semifinal game at USJ. The Hawks, champions of District 13-AA, end the season with an overall record of 12-2.

Needing a sixth shooter for a sudden death shootout, South Side coach Jake Stoffregen selected sophomore Westleigh Newson.

After Chester County’s shot went over the crossbar, Newson made his shot to lift the Hawks to a 5-4 victory Thursday night in the District 13-AA championship game at Chester County.

“I felt redeemed,” Newson said. “I had to do it for the team.”

South Side (12-1 overall) will play host to South Gibson in a Region 7-AA semifinal next week.

“I was relieved. It was such an intense game,” Stoffregen said. “Everybody was extremely happy. There was a lot of positive energy happening. For me it was a culmination of the last several years of work and building the program. It was nice to see them succeed.”

The game was tied 0-0 at the end of regulation. South Side played the last 10 minutes of regulation and both overtime periods with just 10 players. The Hawks were down a man after a player received a red card for falling on the Chester County keeper.

The game was tied 0-0 at the end of two 10-minute overtime periods.

“They really stepped up to it,” Stoffregen said. “Honestly, you couldn’t even tell that we were playing a man down because we were covering so much ground. It was impressive.”

Gary Salinas and Kenneth Pineda made the first two penalty kicks, as did Chester County’s first two kickers. 

South Side goalkeeper JD Comer made a save  — his 13th of the night — on Chester County’s third shot, but the Hawks’ third player missed, too. The game was still tied, 2-2.

Mekhi Uqdah and Brayan Salomon both made shots for South Side, which Chester County matched as the shootout ended in a 4-4 tie. 

The game went to the 1-1 sudden death shootout as Stoffregen called on Newson.

The Hawks had worked extensively on penalty kicks since the regular season loss to Chester County. Newson has a strong leg and looked good in practice.

“And I wanted to give him a shot at redemption,” Stoffregen said. “When we lost to Chester County last time, his PK was the last one to get blocked.”

The Hawks won by forfeit Monday afternoon (May 10) in the opening round of the District 13-AA soccer tournament at South Side.

Liberty forfeited the game about 30 minutes before the scheduled 5:30 p.m. start time.

The Hawks (10-1 overall) advance to play against Lexington in a semifinal game at Chester County on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Hawks beat Lexington 2-1 in the regular season.

“They are a tough team,” South Side coach Jake Stoffregen said of Lexington. “We’re going to have to be ready, focused, sharp and play together. If we play our best game, I feel like we will come out with the win.”

The Hawks made the most of Senior Night in a 9-0 win against visiting Liberty on Thursday (April 22).

The eight seniors are Gary Salinas, Josias Rodriguez, JD Comer, Brayan Salomon, Tybre Oswalt, Levi Corcuera, Gavynn Jones and Desean Pope.

“I’ve known most of these guys since they were freshmen,” South Side coach Jake Stoffregen said. “I’ve loved every minute of watching them develop their skills over the years. They have been a big part of helping build our program here and will be missed. I will miss this group, but can’t wait to see what they can do next.”

The Hawks are 8-1 overall and 5-1 in District 13-AA. They’re the top-ranked team in the Jackson Sun’s most recent area rankings. 

Salinas scored two goals. Rodriguez, Comer, Salomon, Oswalt, Corcuera and Jones all each scored a goal. Comer, Oswalt and Jones each had an assist.

Hold the phone and stop the press. There’s a new No. 1 in the Jackson area soccer rankings.

According to the Jackson Sun’s latest rankings posted earlier this afternoon (April 17), South Side is the top boys’ team.

“It’s a great feeling to be recognized like that, but we can’t let it go to our heads,” Hawks coach Jake Stoffregen said. “We want to keep pushing boundaries and make history for South Side soccer this year. We are just focusing on one game at a time and being the best we can.”

The Hawks (7-0 overall, 4-0 in District 23-AA) had been No. 2 behind Madison the last couple weeks.

Complete rankings are available on the Sun’s website for subscribers only.

Four different players scored goals Thursday (April 15) in South Side’s 6-0 victory at Hardin County.

Kenneth Pineda and Mekhi Uqdah scored two goals apiece. Victor Sosa and Westleigh Newson added one goal each.

Josias Rodriguez has three assists. Gary Salinas and Newson had one each. 

South Side improved to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in District 13-AA. 

“This is officially the best season South Side has ever had and we aren’t finished yet,” coach Jake Stoffregen said. “We have a tough district opponent Monday that will push us. We’ve got to keep working on our game and stay focused on being the best we can.”

Two years ago, the Hawks started the season 6-0 before losing their first game. That team was regarded as the most successful team in South Side athletics memory.

Victor Sosa had three goals and two assists as the Hawks cruised to a 9-0 win at Middleton on Tuesday (April 13).

Trace Richardson added two goals for South Side, which improves to 6-0 overall and is No. 2 in the Jackson Sun’s latest area rankings.

Angel Noyola had a goal and two assists.

Also scoring were Tybre Oswalt, Levi Corcuera and Kenneth Pineda.

Brayan Salomon and Mekhi Uqdah each had an assist.