Spartans looking to finish strong after early surge

One minor tweak set the stage for a blistering early-season run for the Spartans.

In the Mountain Brook High School boys soccer team’s second game of the season, the Spartans fell to Spain Park 2-0.

In the month and a half that followed, Mountain Brook was nearly unstoppable.

“We tweaked our formation just a touch after the Spain Park game and it took awhile to get the handle of what we were doing, but once we did, oh my gosh, it has worked really well,” Mountain Brook head coach Joe Webb said.

Mountain Brook kept clean sheets in each of its next four games, outscoring opponents a combined 18-0. All told, the Spartans won 13 straight contests through the middle of March, never allowing more than a lone goal in any of those.

“After that [Spain Park] game, we got in a groove and started playing how we usually do,” said Joe Armstrong, a junior center midfielder for the Spartans.

During that stretch, Mountain Brook earned a blowout 8-1 win over a Chelsea team that is always strong and is having a solid 2021 season. The Spartans also picked up two wins over Oak Mountain, which is always an impressive feat.

Mountain Brook managed to make the playoffs as one of the top two teams in an area featuring Chelsea, Homewood and Briarwood as well. At one point early in the season, all four teams were ranked in the top five of Class 6A.

Aside from the minor tactical adjustments, Webb said the key to the team’s early success has been the team’s camaraderie.

“Everyone is getting along, in practices and in games,” he said. “You can have teams that are successful that don’t get along, that’s fine. But this is fun. That’s one of the things that we stress in practice and game, that this is a game and games should be fun. Every day, we just can’t wait to be here.”

That collective enjoyment of being around each other on a daily basis translates onto the field as well, according to Webb.

“We’re giving up the ball, we’re passing, we don’t have one guy trying to do everything by himself,” he said. “We’re looking to find the teammate and lay it out there.”

The Spartans have just four seniors, with Patrick Neil, Louis Brown, Jack Cole and John Henley playing their final seasons at Mountain Brook. Neil is a left wing and striker who was named to the AHSAA North-South All-Star Team last year, despite the game not being played in the summer due to COVID-19.

“There’s always only been three or four in my class that played soccer at the high school,” Neil said. “The juniors and sophomores this year are doing very well. It’s kind of evened out despite how many seniors we have.”

Neil lauded the team’s midfield as one of the team’s strength, while Armstrong believes the team’s speed and fitness level gives it an edge.

“We’re all pretty fit,” Armstrong said. “We can really control the pace of the game and we know how to keep the ball really well.”

As the season winds down, Armstrong hammered home the point of remaining humble, continuing to focus on doing the little things right and finishing strong.

“We have to step up to every game like it’s the hardest game of the year,” Neil added.

**This story appeared in the May edition of Village Living. The Spartans advanced to the Class 6A quarterfinals, where they fell to top-ranked in a penalty shootout.