Spartans pick up 'signature win' over Ramsay
Spartan head coach Chris Yeager called it a “signature win.”
The Mountain Brook High School football team defeated Ramsay, 19-13, on Thursday night at Spartan Stadium in a defensive struggle. Despite being a Class 6A foe, the Rams gave the Spartans all they could handle.
“This game, the kids played unbelievable,” said Yeager. “They’ve got a very good football team and explosive players, well-coached. To me, this was a signature win for us. That’s one of the best teams that we’ve played all year long.”
After Ramsay pulled to within six with 2:18 to go, Mountain Brook began to milk the clock behind the legs of running back Harold Joiner and quarterback Hamp Sisson.
Almost a minute later, facing fourth-and-2 from the Ramsay 32-yard line, Mountain Brook called a timeout to mull its options.
The Spartans decided to go for it.
Sisson faked the handoff and kept to his right, weaving in and out before lunging forward and landing right on the 30-yard line.
The chain gang came out for an official measurement, and gave the Spartans a first down that allowed the home team to presume the victory formation and seal the win.
Ramsay made that last Mountain Brook drive critical, as the Rams drove 92 yards on 11 plays to make it a single-possession game late in the fourth quarter. On that drive, athletic quarterback Baniko Harley scrambled for 48 yards to put the Rams in scoring position.
After a pair of screen passes put the Rams at the 1-yard line, Thomas Hrabowski plunged into the end zone, to make the score 19-13.
The Rams may have had more time, but on the prior possession early in the final period, Harley threw wildly across his body and was picked off by Conner Bussman.
“Saw the quarterback scrambling and I saw his eyes and I read it. I saw him throw it and I just broke on it,” Bussman said.
That was not the only play Bussman made in the game, though. He gave the Spartans a 12-0 lead early in the third quarter on a tackle that resulted in a safety.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans were driving towards the end zone when a hush fell upon Spartan Stadium. Sisson scrambled and was hit hard as he neared the goal line. He stayed down for a short period of time before jogging off the field under his own power.
Mountain Brook was assessed a holding penalty on the play, backing the Spartans up to the 19-yard line. Paul Tyson relieved Sisson for a single play, but that was all that was required, as AJ Gates scampered 19 yards to give the Spartans a 19-6 lead.
Harley finished the night with 210 total yards, 123 on the ground and 87 through the air on 14-of-20 passing. 30 of those yards came on a fake punt in the first quarter. The Rams faced a fourth-and-32, and Harley nearly came up with the first down, but was ultimately two yards short of the line to gain.
The Spartan offense totaled just 242 yards in the contest. Joiner finished the night with 74 yards on 21 carries. Sisson went 11-of-19 passing for 109 yards. Receiver Wilson Higgins picked up 58 yards on six grabs.
Ramsay muffed a pair of punts in the first half, both recovered by Mountain Brook. The Spartans only got to keep the ball on one of them, as the first one was ruled dead due to an inadvertent whistle and the down was replayed. The one the Spartans officially recovered led to a 4-yard Sisson run for the first points of the game.
Mason Dillard booted a 41-yard field goal as the halftime horn sounded to give Mountain Brook a 10-0 edge.
Now the Spartans await their playoff opponent, who will visit Spartan Stadium next Friday in the first round of the state playoffs.
“It’s time to peak now, which means we’ve got to get to the pinnacle of our performance individually and as a team,” Yeager said.