Spartans can't quite pull off upset of Bucs
Mountain Brook didn’t show up at Spartan Stadium on Friday night hoping to keep it close against Hoover. The Spartans showed up to win and they darn near did that, pushing the Bucs to the limit before dropping a 21-14 Class 7A, Region 3 decision in front of a full house.
Afterward, following handshakes and hugs with the Hoover players and coaches, Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager took his team inside to talk about the game. Hoover head coach Josh Niblett stayed on the field, finally letting out a sigh of relief in a game that could have gone either way.
“Championship teams find a way to win when they’re not playing their best,” Niblett said.
There wasn’t a whole lot of difference in the two teams. Hoover hurt itself offensively with drive-altering penalties and three lost fumbles. But the Mountain Brook defense also had something to do with the problems. Both of Hoover’s second half turnovers came after Mountain Brook linebacker Joe Donald separated the football from the running back. The second one was scooped up by junior defensive back Zachary Carroll, who carried the ball 13 yards into the end zone to tie the game at 14 with 3:43 left in the third quarter.
But it was Hoover (3-0 overall, 1-0 region) which made the biggest plays down the stretch.
Cornerback P.J. Hall stepped in front of a Mountain Brook receiver to intercept a pass thrown by Spartan quarterback Connor Adair with just under five minutes left in game that was tied at 14 at the time. Three C.J. Sturdivant runs netted the 35 yards needed for the go-ahead score with the touchdown run covering 9 yards. Barret Pickering added the extra point to give the Bucs a 21-14 advantage with 4:18 left.
“That was the catalyst,” Niblett said of Hall’s interception. “We expect guys like that to go make plays for us. He played the ball, matched the route (and) made a great pick. He almost kept his feet to score. Making that play kind of gives you the shot in the arm, now, to go ahead and do what you do.”
“We rely on defense a lot,” Sturdivant said. “They came out and made the plays. We needed them.”
Early on it looked like Hoover might be headed toward a comfortable win. The defense established itself early, allowing just one first down on the first four Mountain Brook possessions, and the offense moved the ball crisply.
The Bucs did make a big mistake on the opening offensive possession when Christopher Vacarella’s pass toward the sideline was ruled a lateral and Mountain Brook recovered. But Vacarella recovered quickly – hitting 12 of his first 13 passes – to lead the Bucs to two scores. His 20-yard pass to Cortez Hall gave Hoover a 7-0 lead with 4:29 gone in the first quarter and the next Hoover possession ended with an 8-yard touchdown run by Vonte Brackett.
Mountain Brook (1-1, 0-1) crawled back to within a touchdown late in the first half on a 52-yard drive that included a 26-yard pass from Adair to running back Harrison Pyburn and culminated with those two teaming up for a 4-yard touchdown pass.
The Spartans were hampered in the second half by the prolonged absence of Pyburn, who was cramping. Pyburn had 52 yards on 18 carries but most of it came in the first half. But the defense was able to come up with the big play to tie the game.
It stayed that way until Hall’s big play on defense and then it was up to the Hoover offense to win the game on the ground. The Hoover defense then made one more stop before Sturdivant’s 14-yard run on 4th-and-3 from the Spartans 33-yard line allowed the Bucs to run out the clock.
Afterward, Niblett tipped his cap to Mountain Brook.
“They do a lot of stuff and they do a lot of good stuff,” Niblett said. “The way they coach their players up and the way they play the game (makes it tough.)”