Gardendale knocks off Spartans in final minute
MOUNTAIN BROOK – Gardendale High School led for only 19 seconds on Friday night.
But that was all the Rockets needed to secure the Class 6A, Region 5 title, as they left Spartan Stadium with a dramatic 29-28 win over Mountain Brook.
Gardendale quarterback Tyler Nelson drove his team 79 yards over 12 plays in the final minutes, scoring on a 1-yard sneak and a short run for the 2-point conversion to give his team a 29-28 lead with 19 seconds to play.
That score capped off a huge night for the signal caller, who rushed it 24 times, piling up a whopping 295 yards and four touchdowns.
Gardendale clinched the Region 5 title with the win, improving to 6-0 in the region and 7-2 overall. It’s the Rockets’ first region title since 2006 and the first in head coach Chad Eads’ five-year tenure.
Mountain Brook fell to 8-1 and 5-1 in the region with the loss. Despite the setback, Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager believes facing a quarterback the caliber of Nelson will help prepare his team for the postseason.
“As good as that quarterback is, we needed to see that,” Yeager said following the game. “We’ve seen some good quarterbacks, but we’ve not seen anything like that. We knew that coming in. He was everything we thought he would be.”
Each team punted twice in the fourth quarter before the Rockets put their long drive together to notch the winning score.
It looked as if Mountain Brook was close to putting the game away early in the third quarter, as the Spartans went up 28-14 on Mac Palmer’s 26-yard interception return. Palmer’s score was the second pick-six of the night for Mountain Brook. Vaughn Frost scooted 23 yards down the sideline in the first quarter to score the game’s first points.
But each time Mountain Brook nosed ahead, Nelson and the Rockets responded. He scored on a 52-yard dash to tie the game at 7-7, then scored on a 74-yard run to make it 14-14 moments after John Colvin hit Jackson Beatty in stride for a 77-yard Mountain Brook score.
Cole Gamble, who led the Spartans with 90 yards on 23 rushes, scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter to give Mountain Brook a 21-14 halftime lead. Nelson also scored on a 68-yard run in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 28-21.
The loss snapped a 17-game region winning streak for Mountain Brook, which was aiming for its third straight perfect slate and region crown.
“if you look at it from the big picture, two of the best teams in the state played tonight,” Yeager said. “We got beat by one point. We’ll probably see each other again [in the playoffs]. We’ll learn from it and grow and that’s all you can do.”
Mountain Brook moved the ball pretty successfully in the first half, but punted on its first five second-half possessions, as the Rockets defense avoided surrendering the big play.
“We had some opportunities, we just missed them,” Yeager said.
In addition to his running exploits, Nelson completed 12-of-19 passes for 109 yards. His top target was Adyn Cupps, who caught four balls for 50 yards.
Colvin finished 7-of-19 passing for 135 yards. Beatty finished with three grabs for 91 yards, while Rob Gillespie had two catches for 28 yards. Will Waldrop also added 26 yards on five carries.
Next week, Mountain Brook will travel to Baker to wrap up the regular season. Gardendale will host Hueytown next week. Both teams will have home playoff games in two weeks.