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By Jim Wieners

Spencer Davis had a special year at Hazelwood Central High School as he led the Hawks to State Championships in Class Six Football and Class Four Boys Track & Field.

Davis returned a 78-yard punt in the Class Six Football Show-Me Bowl, Nov. 27, 2009, to help Hazelwood Central defeat Blue Springs, 35-24, and won their second straight state title, their fifth overall including a 1972 co-championship (as Hazelwood High) with Kansas City-Southwest. It was the first time Hazelwood Central has won back-to-back titles, the first repeat winner in Class Six and the first Suburban North Conference team to win back-to-back since McCluer won Class 4A in 1968-1969. On Nov.21, 2009 Davis opened the Class Six Semifinal win over Oakville, 38-8, with a 96-yard return of an Oakville kickoff.

It was the 18th State title in all sports for the Hawks, 15th as Hazelwood Central

Davis, on May 29, anchored the Boys 4×200-Meter Relay Team to a state title and helped the Hawks win their second state title, the first since winning Class 4A in 1987. Davis took second in the 200-Meter Dash, third in the 100-Meter Dash and helped the 4×100-Meter Relay to a sixth-place finish.

Meanwhile Hazelwood Central head football coach Rich Nixon became the first Hawk head football coach to win more than one state title. Nixon is the second head coach in the Hazelwood School District to win two football titles joining Rick Gorzynski who coached Hazelwood East to undefeated Class 5A State titles in 1989 and 1995. Hazelwood Central assistant coach Norm Ryan assisted Nixon to two titles, assisted John Hotfelder to an undefeated Class 5A championship in 1985 and won the 1996 Class 5A title as a head coach.

INCARNATE WORD ACADEMY won the Class Five Girls State Basketball championship, their third in that sport, their 23rd in all sports. Incarnate was 30-1 overall losing only to Chicago-Whitney Young, 52-49, Jan. 18 at North County Technical.

IWA has won a Missouri State High School Activities Association record 11 Girls Volleyball titles but has not won since 2005 and took third in Class Four in Nov. 2009. IWA also has an MSHSAA record nine Girls Soccer titles including 2008 Class Two and 2009 Class Three but their three-peat hopes ended in a Class Three Quarterfinal loss, 1-0 in overtime, to Third-Place finisher Cor Jesu Academy.

NORTH COUNTY CHRISTIAN won their third straight Missouri Christian State Athletic Association Girls Soccer Championship May 1. Unlike the previous two seasons in which they went undefeated NCCS finished 16-1 losing only to Highland , Ill. 5-1 on March 23. At the MCSAA Girls State Championships in Joplin NCCS defeated two TRCAA rivals — Tower Grove Christian, 3-2 on penalty kicks on April 29, and Christian Academy of Greater St. Louis, 2-0 on May 1 — to win the Christian State title. NCCS started the season with only 15 players but ended the season with only 12, just one substitute.

In their inaugural year of Track & Field NCCS won the MCSAA Girls State title and was second in MCSAA Boys. Girls Volleyball and Boys Soccer in Oct. 2009 as well as Boys and Girls Basketball last February each took second in MCSAA State.

HAZELWOOD EAST took fourth in Class Four Girls State Track and Field May 29. Sophomore Tianna Valentine led the Spartan Ladies by winning the 100-Meter dash and helped the 4×100-Meter Relay team win state while helping the 4×200-Meter relay team to a third-place finish. Valentine was seventh in the 200-Meter Dash.

TRINITY CATHOLIC did manage to take home another state trophy as the Girls Soccer team took second to Springfield Catholic in Class One. It was the second consecutive Girls Class One runner up trophy as they rebounded from a 4-12-1 start to a 13-14-2 finish. The only silver lining to a cloudy finish is the fact that the Titans will only lose seniors Kelli Costello and Katie Arnet to graduation.

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