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Mountain Brook vs Northridge
Daniel Wilbanks makes a carry during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Spartan cheerleaders cheer during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Pierce Rodrigues gets tackled during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Atkins Roberts kicks a field goal during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Mountain Brook band and dancers performed during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Mountain Brook band and dancers performed during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Layton Dudley
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The Mountain Brook band and dancers performed during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Mountain Brook band and dancers performed during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Daniel Wilbanks runs the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Aidan Hood kicks the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Alex Washington makes a tackle during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs runs the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs runs the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Grant Griffin makes a tackle during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Collin Bussman makes a tackle during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs carries teh ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Mountain Brook defeated Northridge during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Hamp Greene narrowly misses a touchdown during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Spartan sideline watches during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Crawford Golden watches Quadre Williams during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Spartan cheerleaders cheer during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Cade Holmes makes a tackle during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs scores a touchdown during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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AJ Gates carries the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Mountain Brook band and dancers performed during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs runs the ball during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs hands off the ball to Daniel Wilbanks during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs makes a pass during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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Strother Gibbs makes a pass during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Spartans take the field during a game between Mountain Brook and Northridge on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northridge High School in Tuscaloosa.
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AJ Gates runs the ball during a game between Moutain Brook and Northride on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northride High School in Tuscaloosa.
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The Spartans make a tackle during a game between Moutain Brook and Northride on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018 at Northride High School in Tuscaloosa.
TUSCALOOSA — So what does a football team that’s already short on experience in the offense do when they lose their starting running back to an injury in the first half of their season-opening game, and then his replacement comes up gimpy as well?
Next man up. Or maybe two men.
That’s where Sam Higgins climbed up the Mountain Brook High School offensive depth chart, and quarterback Strother Gibbs turned into more of a running back as well. Both helped the Spartans overcome a one-point halftime deficit and shut out host Northridge after the break, rolling to a 30-14 road victory to start their 2018 football season.
Gibbs had a hand in three of his team’s four touchdowns, running for two and passing for the third. When starting running back A.J. Gates came up limping from a big hit with 4:28 left in the first half, Gibbs, a sophomore, took up the slack and ran 18 yards for the Spartans’ second touchdown of the night. Gibbs had already gotten off to an auspicious beginning earlier in his first starting assignment, finding receiver Hamp Greene on a 56-yard pass down to the Jaguar 1-yard line. Daniel Wilbanks scored on the next play.
Still, Mountain Brook struggled a bit in the early going, as Northridge nudged ahead on a pair touchdown passes from Markie Buettner to Tra Miller — the first a 56-yard bomb five minutes into the game, and the other 35.6 seconds before intermission from 20 yards out. A blocked Spartan extra-point kick gave the Jags the slim lead.
But that was as far as Northridge got, as Atkins Roberts put Mountain Brook ahead for good with a 36-yard field goal in the third quarter.
Then with Gates on the sidelines, Wilbanks was the next man up at running back. Then Greene was hurt not long after the field goal, so the Spartan air assault was grounded, as Gibbs threw only two more times for the rest of the night. Higgins, a junior running back, came in and rattled off three straight runs deep in Northridge territory, setting up Gibbs for a 6-yard touchdown run.
Gibbs later applied the finishing touch on his last pass when he found receiver Pierce Rodrigues standing wide open near the goal line in the fourth quarter.
Gibbs finished with 11 completions in 13 attempts for 150 yards. Higgins ran for 77 yards on 10 carries, all in the second half.
While Spartan coach Chris Yeager had concerns about his inexperienced offense in the preseason, he was more confident about a defense that returned a host of starters, and they proved their mettle by holding the Jags to just one first down in the second half.
“It was a level of readiness that tested our depth and stretched our depth,” Yeager said. “We felt like if we could stretch their depth with our depth in the fourth quarter, we’d have a great advantage.”
Mountain Brook (1-0) hosts Center Point next week.
To purchase photos from the game, click here.
