After an overwhelming response from the community, we revealed the cover for the first-ever Valley Times-News football preview magazine this week.

Standing from left to right in full Friday night uniforms are Lanett football player Trikweze Bridges, LaFayette cheerleader Chardae Swanson and Valley band member Chloe Barnes.

Still within my first couple of months as the new sports editor, organizing the photo shoot appeared to be a tall task that I was unsure of pulling off when assigned to do so. We needed to make sure a group of 16 teenagers from six different schools were all in one central location at the same time ready to take photos. The sun and temperatures began to rise outside, but the shoot was still a success with all six groups leaving the field within an hour of starting.

I hoped the experience would run as calm as possible for everyone involved, and it’s satisfying to know that it appeared to be the case. LaGrange Daily News Managing Editor Daniel Evans did an outstanding job of taking and editing the cover photos, his design looked great and the choices were ready to hit Facebook for voting.

The Greater Valley Area showed its true love for the students and each cover was voted on by the hundreds. The contest showed the community coming together and showing their pride for the program representatives who picked by their directors and coaches.

Like anything, there were disagreements from some members of the community about how picking the cover went but we will continue to improve the process in future editions.

For now, congratulations to Bridges, Swanson and Barnes. Bridges is one of the top seniors in the state of Alabama this season and he’s set to announce his decision of signing with a major university soon. Swanson and Barnes were two of the most popular candidates out of all six cover choices. Swanson was the first representative to make it to the field for the shoot and still kept a positive attitude the entire time. Barnes was a true sport as well, stepping in as the band representative in two of the cover choices and remaining cool in between group shots.

The full magazine will be inserted into our Aug. 10 edition and we hope that it’s up to the standard that the cover has set.

Rashad Milligan is the Sports Editor for The Valley Times-News. He can be reached by email at rashad.milligan@valleytimes-news.com.