Senior Spartans leading the way
As the Mountain Brook varsity football team prepares for its 2013 season, talk around the program is optimistic. Most key positions return experience with the exception of the offensive line, the team boasts two proven quarterbacks, and senior leadership is uniquely strong.
“We have great leadership on this team, and they are very tight-knit,” head coach Chris Yeager said. “It’s very obvious who our leaders are, and that’s always a great feeling.”
Seniors Buddy Pell, Ken Thompson, Christian Anderson, Austin Chapman, Will Brewster and Hunter Branch were named by Yeager as the group of leaders on this year’s team.
“When they’re on the way to practice or lifting weights, that group of senior guys is always laughing and cutting up with each other,” Yeager said. “They have a ton of energy, and they can focus that energy when they need to on getting better and leading the team. I love their approach to the game.”
The coaches have an unusual quarterback quandary coming off last year’s 11-2 season. However, it’s a problem that all coaches would love to have. There are two quarterbacks who played well last season and return this year.
Brewster, now a senior, injured his hand in the middle of last season, and current junior Jacob Carroll stepped in and won six games. Both are still competing for the starting job, although Brewster seems to have the upper hand.
“We have two quarterbacks that have both functioned at a high level in big games,” Yeager said. “Will has great intangibles – leadership, sacrifice, selflessness – he’s the kind of guy you want as a coach. But we’re letting them both develop, and we will make a decision before the first game.”
Joining Brewster and Carroll in the backfield is senior running back Gene Bromberg, who is coming off a breakthrough 2012 season. The durable back was the workhorse of the offense. In the 14-13 playoff win over Bob Jones, Bromberg carried 39 times for 118 yards.
Protecting all the returning starters in the backfield might be more of a challenge, as everyone on last year’s offensive line graduated, including the tight ends.
On the other side of the ball, Pell and Chapman lead a strong linebacker unit, and Anderson and Thompson anchor the defensive line.
Thompson has committed to play football at Samford University, though Yeager said bigger schools are still looking at him. He plays defensive line for the Spartans, but Thompson has some experience at center and could play somewhere on the offensive line in college.
The schedule sets up a little differently this year than most, as Mountain Brook starts with two tough games. The first game at Tuscaloosa County will be a test for the Spartans, as will the 2013 Region 6 dark horse Shades Valley. The Mounties boast several highly recruited players and look to be much improved this season.
“Shades Valley has Alabama’s number one prospect in the class of 2015, so that’s going to be an unbelievable challenge,” Yeager said. “They make me really nervous. Outside of them, Tuscaloosa County will be tough, and Vestavia and us will always be a dogfight.”
If the team can get through the first two games, it will probably be favored in every game until the Oct. 25 home matchup with rival Vestavia Hills. Since the region changes moved other dominant teams like Hoover and Spain Park out of Region 6, the game between the Spartans and the Rebels has become the biggest region game of the year.
In the last three years, Mountain Brook has gone 11-3, 12-1 and 11-2. Can a team loaded with returning starters replicate that standard of excellence? Much remains to be seen as the 2013 Spartans head into the season, but one thing is certain: under the leadership of a strong senior class, this team is tight-knit and has lofty expectations.
“To win a championship, you have to build champions first, and everyone is trying to do that,” Yeager said. “That’s our whole goal, and to do that in this state would be an incredible accomplishment.”
2012 Results: After a 9-1 regular season, the Spartans advanced through the first two rounds of the playoffs, including an away win at Bob Jones, and ended the season with a 30-9 third round loss to Clay-Chalkville.
Head Coach: Chris Yeager (62-24 in eight years as Spartan head coach).
Key Losses: TE Reagan Alexander, LB Jordan Donald, DL Adam Harvey, DB Coley Holtkamp, WR Patrick Sullivan, OT John Grady Welden, DB Sam Centeno, C Will Howell.
Key Players: LB Buddy Pell, DL Ken Thompson, RB Gene Bromberg, DL Christian Anderson, LB Austin Chapman, QB Will Brewster, WR Hunter Branch.