Spartans set school record with 5th shutout
MOUNTAIN BROOK – The Mountain Brook High School defense thwarted and frustrated yet another foe on Thursday night.
The Spartans yielded next to nothing, pitching their fifth shutout of the season in a 34-0 defeat of Austin at Spartan Stadium in the regular season finale.
“The defense, they’re just playing unbelievable right now,” Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager said following the game. “They keep improving and keep ascending. When you’re playing good defense and the kind of defense our guys are playing right now, you’re going to have a chance every single week.”
The shutout set a program record for shutouts in a season, eclipsing the mark of four set by Spartans units of 2018, 2002 and 1984.
Mountain Brook (9-1) allowed Austin (4-6) just 134 total yards of offense. Several Spartans notched sacks on the night, including Tompkins Richardson, John McMillan, Vaughn Frost, Quinn Thomas, Gray Doster and Edward Barze.
“Our team is young and we’ve improved throughout the season, so I’m proud of the improvements we’ve made,” Austin head coach Jeremy Perkins said. “We didn’t play very well tonight and part of that is due to we played a very good team in Mountain Brook.”
Mountain Brook led from the get-go, as Jackson Beatty returned the game’s opening kickoff 86 yards untouched to give his team an early 7-0 edge.
“We had this feeling. I heard all the guys on the sideline talking about running it back. They felt like it was going to happen for whatever reason,” Yeager said.
After a quick three-and-out, the Spartans held the ball for much of the opening quarter, eventually scoring on a back-shoulder pass from John Colvin to Sims Brown for an 8-yard score to make it 14-0.
It was one of two scoring tosses from Colvin on the night. He threw a quick 4-yarder to Beatty early in the fourth quarter on a drive that also included a 34-yard reception by Jake Thompson. Colvin completed 8-of-14 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns on the night.
“John threw the ball well and the receivers made big plays,” Yeager said.
Mountain Brook took a 20-0 lead into halftime after Will Waldrop’s 59-yard touchdown run. He led the team with 98 yards on 12 carries. Cole Gamble wrapped up the evening’s scoring with a 1-yard plunge on a time-consuming drive in the final quarter. Gamble carried it 14 times for 62 yards.
Austin crossed midfield just once, on the opening drive of the third quarter. Quarterback Douglas Young made a few big plays, hitting Tyler Cooper for gains of 18 and 15 yards and throwing a 22-yard strike Maurice Jones. It proved to be the Black Bears’ only real scoring opportunity of the evening, but a missed 33-yard field goal gave the ball back to the Spartans.
Young finished the night 7-of-9 for 73 yards. Cooper led the team with 28 rushing yards on 11 carries and caught three passes for 35 yards. Jones hauled in two balls for 34 yards.
Austin’s season ends with a loss and without a playoff berth, snapping a six-year postseason streak. But the Black Bears played well down the stretch, including notching a win over playoff team Bob Jones last Friday.
“I’m very encouraged. We won three out of the last four and we’ve got a lot of guys coming back. There’s talent here and we’ve got to have a good offseason, keep developing and keep going in the right direction,” Perkins said.
Mountain Brook hosts Southside-Gadsden in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs next Friday.
“This season is over with and now they say it’s a new season. To me, it’s a one-week season now. It’s your last week every week now and you play for the chance to continue to play,” Yeager said.