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Hammer’s top-bins rocket leads AHS to 7A title
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Despite watching last year’s state championship slip away and dropping both regular season meetings to Oak Mountain High School, the Auburn High School girls soccer team entered this year’s 7A final brimming with confidence..
That self-belief was evident as the No. 3 Lady Tigers (17-3-2) put together a complete 1-0 victory over the No. 1 Lady Eagles (24-2-1) to claim the 7A girls soccer state championship at Huntsville’s John Hunt Park on May 9.
The win marked AHS’s second-ever girls soccer state title and the program’s second crown in three years.
Lulabelle Hammer scored the lone goal of the match on a strike from outside the 18-yard box that barely squeezed inside the upper right corner of the goal off an assist from Darby Ferguson.
Goalkeeper Kara Holden anchored a clean-sheet effort with five saves, repeatedly absorbing physical contact while collecting high balls against an OMHS side that came into the match ranked No. 3 in the nation by MaxPreps.
The championship marked the Lady Tigers’ fourth consecutive appearance in the 7A girls soccer state championship game, a run that includes the 2024 state title and last year’s loss to Vestavia Hills.
It also avenged a pair of one-goal regular-season setbacks to the Lady Eagles in matches that AHS head coach Bill Ferguson had said his side was superior in.
After guiding the Lady Tigers back to the top of the mountain, Ferguson said the win was a reflection of his program’s character.
“I’m incredibly proud of the girls. Anytime you face adversity, that reveals character, and their character showed up — it always has,” Ferguson said. “This group has meant a whole lot to our city and our program at large. This is their fourth consecutive final. They’ve competed in it, they’ve won. Nobody just gets there by chance. They do things intentionally and represent everyone around us with so much class. Today, they were just themselves. They showed up, worked hard, encouraged each other and believed.”
Ferguson also pointed to the defensive performance as a signature of the season, praising Holden’s work in goal and a back line that limited OMHS in the run of play.
“We were so fortunate to have two phenomenal goalkeepers that really could play for any team, and Kara has stood on her head,” Ferguson said. “She was absolutely incredible in the air. She got fouled multiple times today. Her bravery, courage and ability to go grab a ball that’s probably about four feet above the crossbar, it’s just nuts. Absolutely nuts. You don’t see that often in girls’ games. I think we’ve conceded four goals, maybe three, in the run of play all year. This team has consistently been defensively sound.”
The breakthrough at the other end belonged to Hammer. The forward scored the only goal of the match and was named the game’s most valuable player as a result.
After a first half in which the Lady Eagles pressured the Lady Tigers and limited their attacking opportunities, AHS came out flying after the break.
Seven minutes and 25 seconds into the second half, Hammer collected the ball off an assist from Darby Ferguson and fired a strike from outside the box that barely squeezed inside the upper right corner of the goal.
It was an instinctive finish that epitomized Hammer’s playing style and her role as a player who can create goals at any moment.
“In those kinds of situations, you don’t really get time to think,” Hammer said. “You just got to kind of do it. A lot of the goals I’ve had this season, I haven’t had time to think. You just have to trust your ability. Whenever my teammates put me in positions to score like that, there’s only one thing to do. And the assist that came from Darby was because she just fully out-worked the girl she was going against.”
For Hammer, who has been a fixture of AHS’s girls program since playing in the 2023 state title game as a seventh grader, the win was as much a product of the team’s bond off the field as anything that happened on it.
“We all knew we could win it. The main thing on our minds was being ourselves, because that’s all we know how to do, and we’ve had so much success this season doing that alone,” Hammer said. “A lot of our success comes from chemistry off the field. Each year is so unique and different, but every player truly brings something to the table when it comes to our team’s success as a whole.”
While Hammer provided the decisive moment going forward, Holden’s work between the sticks was just as critical.
The Lady Tigers’ goalkeeper recorded five saves and absorbed several heavy collisions while claiming high balls in her own box, including one late in the match that left her briefly winded.
“I was going up for it no matter what and I had to hold onto it because if it’s loose, the goal’s right behind me,” Holden said. “Even though I had my team behind me, you really don’t know in those situations where the ball is, so I went all out and was going to catch it no matter what. It did knock the wind out of me a little bit, but I knew getting up that the finish line was in sight. I had to finish it out, and it worked.”
While she was in uncharted territory playing in such a high-profile game, Holden said the final whistle brought a wave of emotion unlike anything she had experienced in her career thus far.
“It was just so exhilarating and unreal, because this is my first time actually playing in a state final,” Holden said. “The feeling is indescribable. Just knowing that you’re playing for your school and with this incredible team that we have, it’s just an amazing feeling.”
The title win came after AHS blasted Dothan High School 6-1 in the semifinals on May 7.
In that game, Hammer led all scorers with three goals, while Allison Cobb and Camilla Bosman added two goals and one goal, respectively. Abigail Counts and Ferguson tallied an assist apiece.
Heisler’s header claims
7A title for AHS
BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — After watching back-to-back seasons end at the hands of eventual state champions, the Auburn High School boys soccer team believed it had unfinished business and a clear sense that its time had finally come.
The No. 5 Tigers (19-4-2) made good on that conviction, defeating No. 6 Bob Jones High School (17-5-1) 1-0 to claim the 7A state championship at Huntsville’s John Hunt Park on May 9.
The win marked AHS’s first boys soccer state title since 2018.
While the Patriots outshot the Tigers 12-7 overall, AHS held the edge by registering six shots on goal to BJHS’s four. Senior goalkeeper Brody Cobine also recorded four saves in his third clean sheet of the playoffs.
Jackson Heisler scored the lone goal of the match on a towering header off a long ball from Ryan Nichols.
The championship capped a multi-year climb for an AHS program that had fallen to Oak Mountain in the 2024 state championship game before being knocked out at home by 2025 7A state champions Montgomery Academy in last year’s quarterfinals.
After guiding the Tigers to their third-ever state championship, head coach Bill Ferguson said this year’s group felt different from the very first practice.
“Two years in a row, we get beat by what would be the state champs, and we knew it was our time,” Ferguson said. “We could tell as a staff right off the bat, they’re just different. These guys want to play. They want to be around each other. They’re encouraging, they’re asking how to improve. We have to kick them off the field at night, literally. Some of our staff work 14-15 hour days, and these guys are just hungry. That’s just when you know you got something special.”
That hunger was perhaps best embodied by Cobine, who delivered a point-blank save in the first half to keep the match scoreless and refused to allow Bob Jones a clean look the rest of the way.
“Performance-wise, incredible. Character-wise, that’s what we expected,” Ferguson said. “He is an ultimate leader. You should see guys just surround him because he attracts people. He’s the kind of guy you want to run through the fire with. He had a big save first half that was point-blank. Could have been down one-nil early. That’s just Brody. When we do our job defensively, we know we’ve got the best goalkeeper in the state behind us.”
For Cobine, who had been on varsity all four years of his high school career and lived through each of the program’s recent near-misses, the title was the perfect ending to a long journey.
“This feels incredible. I got knocked out my freshman year second round, lost in the state final my sophomore year and then junior year losing at home to MA,” Cobine said. “It’s been a roller coaster of emotions. All the hard work, all the extra hours, all these coaches believing in me and pouring so much time into me. It feels incredible.”
Reflecting on his time in the program, the senior keeper said Auburn shaped him as much off the field as on it.
“These have been the best four years of my life, genuinely, because the coaches mean so much to me, and they’ve invested so much in me,” Cobine said. “They’ve shaped me into the person I am. They’ve helped me develop as a person, not just as a soccer player. They’ve made me a better human being. I couldn’t be more thankful to be part of this team. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
While Cobine held the line at the back, the breakthrough at the other end came off Jackson Heisler’s forehead.
After a tightly contested first half saw both teams unable to find a way through, the deadlock finally broke six minutes and 17 seconds into the second half.
Ryan Nichols launched a long ball into the box, and Heisler climbed above the BJHS back line to bury a towering header into the back of the net for the match’s only goal.
“I just felt excited. I knew once we got that lead, our defense wasn’t going to allow another goal,” Heisler said. “We had a chance to win state after that.”
Now a state champion as a junior and a member of the program that came up short in the 2024 final, Heisler said the belief that this Tigers team could finish the job was there from day one.
“I felt like after the first week of practice, I knew we had a special team and we could do great things,” Heisler said. “We were unselfish and played so well together. I knew we had a chance to win it.”
The Tigers’ championship victory was made possible by a dominant 4-1 win over Fairhope High School in the semifinals.
In that game, Heisler led the way with two goals, while Clifton Pace and Daniel Gamet added a goal apiece. Nichols tallied two assists, and William Ballard notched an assist of his own.
