It’d only been 11 years since Dallas County High School had reached a playoff game, but it probably felt like an eternity for Hornets’ fans going into the 2015 football season.

Behind the coaching of Marty Smith, the Hornets not only reached the postseason this year, but also posted their first winning football season since 2004. Due to all of his success and the overall impact he’s had on the Dallas County football program, Smith has been named the Times-Journal’s coach of the year.

“It’s an honor and a credit to my players and my assistant coaches,” Smith said. “The head coach gets the blame and gets the credit and a lot of time gets more of the blame and more of the credit than they actually should.”

After a 1-2 start, Dallas County defeated Sumter Central 20-0 to get back to .500 on the year. Smith said it was the next week’s game — a 27-7 victory over Bibb County — that showed the growth of the Hornets’ football program.

“I think the Bibb County game was huge for a lot of reasons,” Smith said. “Up until that time since I’ve been at Dallas County, we had not beaten a team with a winning record.”

He said that win gave his team the confidence it needed to go on the road and defeat Central Tuscaloosa, which was the victory that ultimately pushed Dallas County into the playoffs.

The Hornets won four straight games and five out of six before losing three of their last four to end the year, including a playoff game at Greenville.

Smith said his team’s losses late in the year to Calera, Demopolis and Greenville showed how much work Dallas County has left in front of it.

“We saw the importance of being disciplined and we saw the importance of getting bigger, stronger and faster,” Smith said.

“The teams we lost to in our region this year and in getting beat by Greenville in the playoffs, we were in those ball games until midway through the third quarter. We have to now understand that we’ve got to take that next step mentally and physically to beat the good, quality teams in 5A.”

Smith said a lot of credit also goes to his family, who drove from Birmingham and only missed one game the entire season.

Dallas County has gone a combined 9-12 over the last two seasons. Before Smith’s arrival, Dallas County won only seven games the previous four years combined.

Smith won the honor over the other two finalists — Keith head coach Harry Crum, who led the Bears to the playoffs, and Morgan Academy’s Jake Wingo, who led the Senators to their best record since 2011.