Marbury soccer coach Brent Sowell named Autauga County Coach of the Year

Brent Sowell’s Marbury girls soccer team turned a breakthrough spring into countywide recognition. After the Bulldogs finished 18-3-3, won the Class 5A Area 5 championship, reached the Sweet 16 and beat Class 7A Foley for the first time in program history, Sowell was named Autauga County Soccer Coach of the Year.

The honor lands after a season that made Marbury hard to ignore across Alabama high school soccer. The Bulldogs spent much of 2026 in the Class 5A Top 10, won their division at the Lakeshore Tournament in Birmingham in February and went 2-1 at a tournament in Foley in March. Their 2-0 victory over Foley stood out most, because it marked the program’s first win over a Class 7A school.

Marbury’s run also showed up in the area standings. The Bulldogs clinched the Class 5A Area 5 title for the second straight season by beating Demopolis and Booker T. Washington Magnet in home-and-away games by a combined 21-0. That kind of margin, paired with the team’s postseason push, helped move Marbury from a promising program to one that finished with a clear résumé: wins, hardware and a place among the state’s more consistent small-school contenders.

Sowell said he was thankful for the recognition. “I am very grateful to be named the Coach of the Year for Autauga County,” he said.

The Bulldogs’ playoff run added another layer to the season. In AHSAA coverage, Sowell said the group used the motto “one more round” all year, and Marbury delivered by winning a first-round playoff game on penalty kicks before advancing to the next round. A later player-commitment story said Marbury went 29-4-2 over the last two seasons, underscoring that this year’s success was part of a longer climb rather than a single hot streak.

That rise also reflects the work Sowell has put into the program at Marbury High School. School bio information says he is a Millbrook native, a graduate of Stanhope Elmore High School and an Auburn University at Montgomery alumnus. It also says he was in his 10th year teaching at Marbury High School and his 13th year teaching overall, a steady presence during the program’s move onto the county sports map.