Spartans blank Chelsea
CHELSEA -- Mountain Brook High School coach Chris Yeager got just what he wanted Friday night as his Spartans blanked Chelsea 25-0 in a Class 6A, Region 5 matchup.
“We played fast. I feel like we played hard. We played focused,” he said of his No. 3-ranked team. “We just made some mistakes. We made enough mistakes to have to clean things up. I’m proud of how hard our kids played.”
Junior Cole Gamble was the workhorse for the victors, rushing 23 times for 184 yards and an 85-yard touchdown. He had runs that he nearly broke before sealing the victory in the fourth quarter.
“We had to make some adjustments up front at halftime,” he said. “It was a little clogged up front in the first half. We made the adjustments and finally busted one.”
Yeager said Gamble is a gifted player who is getting better every game.
“He’s got breakaway speed we’re not used to having at Mountain Brook,” he said with a laugh. “That’s exciting. He’s growing every day. Will Waldrop, too. Both of them ran the ball very well. And the offensive line; I felt they got a hat on a hat and I felt like we got better up front, too. And the defense was just incredible. I was really proud of them, too.”
The Spartans coach said maintaining focus is challenging at this time of the season.
“The biggest challenge is to get 1% better every day,” he said. “Then you become a better player and a part of the team.
“The hardest thing is to continue to trend upward when you’ve locked a spot into the playoffs,” the coach continued. “Everybody just wants it to get here but there’s a lot of work to be done before the playoffs get here.”
Gamble said visiting the Hornets on Senior Night provided plenty of motivation to take care of business.
“This game meant a lot for Chelsea so we knew we had to come out and fight hard,” he said. “They’re fighting for a playoff spot. It wasn’t hard not to lose focus. We had a good week of practice, just working on fundamentals and doing our stuff.”
Mountain Brook junior quarterback John Colvin was quick to note his shortcomings in the contest with areas he can “clean up” despite throwing three touchdown passes.
“It was mainly on my part,” he said. “I had a couple of overthrows and I had some easy check-downs I didn’t make. Overall, we played well. Our defense, I don’t really know how they can play any better than that. Offensively, there were a couple of (things) we could have cleaned up better.”
Despite being down 19-0 at intermission, the Hornets weren’t about to throw in the towel. As they headed to the locker room at halftime, senior Cade Turner was heard to say, “We’ve got 24 more minutes. Let’s go!”
That’s the spirit that encourages coach Dustin Goodwin.
“Our kids are very relentless,” he said. “They’re going to continue to fight. We made some mistakes but they’re going to battle until the final horn blows. That’s what we expect them to do. They did that so we’re proud of them.”
Chelsea’s offense was only able to gain 165 total yards against a stout Mountain Brook defense, which pitched its fourth shutout in nine games this fall. Hayden Garrison completed 10-of-19 passes for 106 yards. Cooper Griffin caught three of those passes for 35 yards, while EJ Hudnall hauled in three balls for 28 yards. Emerson Russell led the Hornets with 50 rushing yards on 14 carries.
Both teams wrap up the regular season next week. Mountain Brook hosts Austin on Thursday night, while Chelsea pays a visit to Calera on Friday.