Last weekend, the Daily News released its annual Athletes of the Year, honoring the top male and female players in Beaufort County. For Male Athlete of the Year, selecting one of the nation’s top high school basketball players was an easy, unavoidable and unquestioned selection. Because in terms of athletic ability, Edrice “Bam” Adebayo’s skillset reigns supreme.

That being said, Adebayo’s presence in the Daily News sports coverage overshadows a collection of other athletes more than deserving of recognition, athletes that may have graced the sports section on Sunday if not for a once-in-a-generation kind of talent.

If you were rank the county’s top athletes outside of Adebayo, Southside’s Lawrence Brown would be right at the top. Despite being 13 inches shorter than Northside’s big man, the Seahawks’ rising senior was the most successful four-sport athlete this season, piecing together a fantastic athletic (and not to mention academic) resume.

Brown was coach Jeff Carrow’s leading rusher on the gridiron, coach Andrea Quinerly’s most consistent runner on the track and coach Kevin McRoy’s leading hitter.

As the Seahawks’ running back, Brown tallied 1,083 yards rushing (third best in conference) and 18 total touchdowns on 151 carries in a multi-back, wing offense. If Brown received as many carries as, say, Northside’s Rockne Butler, his numbers would have been some of the best in the county.

In baseball, Brown was equally as impressive, sporting a team-high .432 average, along with 19 stolen bases and 18 runs. He was also a member of Southside’s 4-by-200-meter state championship relay, an integral part in the team’s third-place finish at the meet.

Tyriek Gaskins, the anchor for that championship relay team, also took home another ring in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.65.

Another speedster, Washington football’s Markel Spencer deserves some recognition for what he did on the gridiron last fall, rushing for over 2,000 yards and leading the Pam Pack to the title game.

That 2-A state runner-up football team also produced this year’s Daily News Coach of the Year in Sport Sawyer, a title much deserved, but another football coach also had a season worth honoring.

In just two seasons as head coach, running the same DeWayne Kellum-style wing offense that team has been running for a decade, Southside’s Carrow transformed a 3-9 team into a 10-4 regional competitor. After winning just one conference game in 2013, the Seahawks finished second in the Coastal Plains Conference last year behind Pamlico County, which finished 10-3.

With the start of the 2015-2016 academic year just two months away, players like Adebayo, Brown, Terra Ceia’s Austin Roscoe are only destined to improve.