Spartans seniors go out on top
It was the best way for a senior class to end a tough season. For the Mountain Brook seniors it really was the only way.
Four Spartans seniors had a hand in five second-half turnovers in Mountain Brook’s 17-0 season-ending Homecoming victory over visiting Huffman on Friday night. The win was just the third of the season for the injury-plagued Spartans (3-7), but that made it that much more special.
“It feels great,” said senior linebacker Fuller Neil, who had an interception and a fumble recovery. “It’s been wild, but all the guys, we’ve just never given up the whole year. They just clawed back and clawed back.
“We were just getting hyped tonight, making big plays, doing everything we can to win.”
The shutout was the first since the Spartans posted back-to-back blankings of Carver-Birmingham (58-0) and Hewitt-Trussville (24-0) in October of 2012.
“It is extra special but it’s also bittersweet to go out with a win, because the thing that I’ve been working so hard for since third grade is over,” added fellow senior linebacker Joe Donald, who had an interception.
Mountain Brook held the Vikings (4-6) to just 147 total yards in the game, and 74 of those came on a runs of 49 and 25 yards in the first half. Take those two plays out and the Spartans defense gave up just 1.5 yards per play.
It was that resiliency to the very end that most impressed Spartans coach Chris Yeager, whose team at one point this season had 20 injured players.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned from them is that we can be bigger than our circumstances,” Yeager said. “Our seniors held it together and they held our whole team together, and they showed that you can be bigger than your circumstances, and they were.
“I tell you the best thing, too. You talk about the seniors leaving a legacy, and they left those guys a mental toughness and playing for one another, and I think the most important thing. That torch has been passed to those younger players.”
Interceptions by Neil and Ford Alexander led to 10 third-quarter points. Neil picked off Vikings quarterback Kelvin Rodgers with 8:28 left in the quarter, which led to a 34-yard field goal by Mason Dillard.
On Huffman’s next drive Alexander picked off a pass at the Vikings 27 and returned it to the 3. Three plays later sophomore quarterback Hamp Sisson connect with sophomore running back Owen Conzelman for a 6-yard touchdown pass.
Junior Joey Keating notched the last interception with 24.6 left in the game as Huffman, which plays Muscle Shoals in the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A playoffs next week, scrambled to put points on the board.
Senior McKee Brown scored on a 4-yard run with 8:08 left in the first half and led the Spartans with 56 yards on 17 carries.