Spartans pitch 3rd straight shutout
MOUNTAIN BROOK -- Mountain Brook High School captured its third straight region win, and third straight shutout Friday night as the Spartans rolled over Jackson-Olin in convincing fashion, 49-0.
The Spartans improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in Class 6A, Region 5 action in a contest that was over by the time the Mountain Brook High School Marching Band finished the national anthem.
The Spartans offense found the end zone three times on its first six plays from scrimmage. Mountain Brook opened the scoring with a screen pass from quarterback John Cooper to wide receiver Clark Sanderson, who galloped 49 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown after only 45 seconds of play.
Following an interception by Clyde Beavers, the Spartans scored again less than two minutes later on a 24-yard run by running Cole Gamble. With fewer than four minutes of play, Mountain led Jackson-Olin, 14-0.
Cooper connected with Sanderson a second time on a beautiful 44-yard strike to extend the lead to 21-0 a few moments later. Cooper threw his third touchdown pass of the first quarter on a 20-yard strike receiver Hudson Young to make it 28-0.
In the second quarter, Mountain Brook put the ball in the hands of running backs. The Spartans scored twice in just over a minute of play on touchdown runs of 3 and 6 yards. Midway through the second quarter, Mountain Brook led 42-0.
Sophomore running back Stuart Andrews carried the load for the Spartans for the remainder of the game, scoring on a 1-yard run to make it 49-0 at halftime.
In the first half, Cooper was a perfect 6-of-6 with 122 yards and three touchdowns, with Sanderson being the Spartans’ leading receiver with 4 receptions for 94 yards. King was the leading rusher with 56 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns.
For the night, the Spartans offense racked up 325 yards of total offense, 122 passing and 203 rushing.
The Mountain Brook defense was spectacular, holding Jackson-Olin to 24 total yards. The Spartans also kept the Mustangs from crossing midfield or from converting a single first down.
Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager said the defense was an “incredible concern” coming into the season with 10 starters gone from the 2022 squad.
”They’ve just gotten better every single week. They’re playing faster, they’re playing more confident, and they’re attacking in packs which is what you want your defense to do,” he said.
The Spartans did commit several false start penalties early, the only blemish of an otherwise nearly perfect performance.
“I think that was the cleanest game that we’ve played all year long,” Yeager said. “We had two issues before the ball was snapped early, but after we settled down, we played really good, clean ball, and we didn’t have anything that was called after the whistle was blown.”
The Spartans will be on the road next week to face Hoover in a non-region game.