COVINGTON, Ga.- To win a region championship, it takes contributions from players on both sides of the ball. Alcovy, who are the reigning Region 3-AAAAAA champions, is no exception. 

All of the region coaches took notice of the Tigers’ run this year when voting for All-Region team. After all votes were cast, 29 Tigers earned All-Region honors. 

Three of the players earned special honors. 

Ashton Evans, Alcovy’s quarterback, was voted as Offensive Player of the Year. Evans, completing 56% of his passes, threw 1,781 yards as well as 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. On the ground, Evans added four rushing touchdowns. 

Region Athlete of the Year went to Jamel Johnson who seemed to be everywhere on the field. 

As a wideout, Johnson averaged 32.9 yards per reception and collected three touchdowns. He also had 42 tackles, one sack, two interceptions and five pass deflections on defense. On punt returns, Johnson averaged 22.3 yards per return and 20.6 yards per kickoff return. 

Johnson wasn’t the only player recognized for his impact on special teams. 

Braxton Crawford was recognized as the region’s Kicker of the Year. 

Crawford went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts in 2021 with a long of 32 yards. He converted 23-of-27 extra point attempts, too. Serving as the team’s punter, Crawford pinned opponents inside their own 20, 10 times and had two touchbacks on kickoffs. 

Thirteen other players were also recognized from both sides of the ball. 

Defensively, Raymir Brown, AJ Woods, Justin Buchanan, Armani Russ, Damani Duss and Christian Lewis earned First Team honors. 

Brown, as a defensive back, recorded 48 tackles and one tackle for loss. Linebackers Woods and Buchanan tallied 25 and 47 tackles, respectively. Woods added to his resume with two tackles for loss while Buchanan had four such tackles and one interception. 

Russ led the way from the linebacking core with 53 tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks. 

From the defensive line, Dumas and Lewis put together quite the season. 

Dumas had 27 tackles, seven of which were tackles for loss, and added two sacks. Lewis contributed with 29 total tackles as well as an interception. 

Alcovy’s offense wasn’t outdone, though. 

Mathias Height, Bobby Smith, Tristan Mayweather, MJ Stroud, Levi Adcox, Desmond Page and Isaiah Kairy earned First Team honors as well. 

Height compiled 816 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Smith, a fellow receiver, had 329 yards receiving and two touchdowns. 

Alcovy’s leading rusher, Mayweather, rushed for 761 yards on the ground and scored nine touchdowns in 2021. He also had three games where he rushed for over 100 yards. 

Tight end Stroud had 138 receiving yards and a touchdown. 

Adcox was voted on as an H-Back while Page and Kairy were voted as offensive lineman. 

Five more players made appearances on the Second Team. 

Malik Kirkland, Reggie Boyd, BJ Johnson, Alex Mitchell and Duvall Hill Jr., were each recognized. 

Kirkland, as a defensive back, had eight tackles and one sack while Boyd had 12 tackles. 

Duvall earned Second Team recognition as an offensive lineman. 

As two of the Tigers’ receivers, Mitchell tallied 74 yards receiving and a touchdown while Johnson had 119 receiving yards. 

But that didn’t end the Tigers’ recognition. Eight more players received Honorable Mention from Region 3-AAAAAA. 

Brian Cox, Parker Gassman and Yahir Coronado made it for their play as offensive lineman. 

Bryson Virgil, who backed up Mayweather as a running back, compiled 206 yards and scored a touchdown. 

The remaining players honored came from defense. 

As a defensive lineman, Cameron Newton had 16 tackles. Jalen Pierce had seven tackles from his linebacker position while fellow linebacker Brandon Farmer recorded two tackles. 

Ricky Stone was the last player listed as a defensive back. He had six tackles. 

All of these honorees were led by head coach Jason Dukes who received Region Coach of the Year for 2021, too. 

Dukes took over three years ago as head coach. A year before his arrival, the Tigers went 0-5 in region play. This year, they went 5-0 and won the program’s first ever region championship to top it all off.