Jimmy J. Mitchell
Mountain Brooks AJ Gates (7) during a game between Oak Mountain and Mountain Brook on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017, at Spartan Stadium in Mountain Brook.
As far as the playoffs go, Friday night’s game between the Mountain Brook High School football team and Huffman doesn’t mean much.
The Spartans locked up the No. 3 seed from Class 7A, Region 3 last week with a wild 31-28 win over Oak Mountain.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to play for.
Mountain Brook (6-2, 4-2 in region) hasn’t advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2012, and the Spartans would no doubt like to reset that count. In order to do that, they will need to be at the top of their game heading into the postseason.
The Spartans will look to extend their winning streak to four games on Friday night when they take their road trip to Huffman. On the contrary, Huffman has lost each of its last three games and has been eliminated from playoff consideration.
Last season’s contest between the two teams was a tight game, as Mountain Brook scored a pair of touchdowns in the final five minutes to tie the game and subsequently take the lead in a 24-17 victory.
In last week’s game against Oak Mountain, Mountain Brook jumped out to a 21-0 lead, Oak Mountain scored 28 unanswered, and the Spartans scored the final 10 points in a back-and-forth affair.
Joe Bird recovered a fumble in the end zone in the waning minutes of the game to keep the Spartans’ three-point lead intact.
Even with the recovery, Oak Mountain had one last gasp, but the last-second pass was batted down by Collin Bussman to send the Spartans home with a victory.
It didn’t look like the game would be that close, as Mountain Brook jumped out to 21-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the contest. On the first drive of the game, Hamp Sisson’s 37-yard pass to Hamp Greene set up AJ Gates’ 2-yard run.
Sisson scored on his own later in the first quarter, as the Spartans went ahead 14-0 after Colton Yeager came down with a pick to set them up with great field position.
Sisson and Greene connected once again early in the second quarter, as a crossing route turned into a 23-yard touchdown to make it 21-0. Sisson gained 69 rushing yards and 74 passing yards — 63 of those to Greene — in a steady performance.
After Oak Mountain took the lead, Mountain Brook scored 10 consecutive points in the fourth to regain it, as Aidan Hood’s 28-yard field goal was followed by an eye-popping 53-yard touchdown run by Gates, who made a move at the line of scrimmage and left the defense in the dust.
Gates was impressive in the feature back role for the Spartans, as he racked up 131 yards and a pair of scores on 15 carries. Harold Joiner was sidelined with an arm injury that isn’t believed to be serious.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Huffman High School’s Viking Stadium.
