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Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews makes a touchdown catch as Southside’s Adriano Alberghina defends during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook quarterback Cayden Hofbauer tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s McCade Wright during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook quarterback Cayden Hofbauer is tackled by Southside’s Kolby Dodd and McCade Wright during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Connor Strunk during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Southside’s Koal Garrett tries to evade the tackle of Mountain Brook’s Henry Bell during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Adriano Alberghina during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews makes a touchdown catch as Southside’s Case Clough defends during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Southside’s Joshua Peoples tries to evade the tackle of Mountain Brook’s Henry Bell during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Adriano Alberghina during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Southside’s Jordan Bryan is tackled by Mountain Brook’s Henry Bell during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Mountain Brook’s Sam Smith makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
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Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Koal Garrett during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook quarterback Cayden Hofbauer tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Case Clough during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Case Clough during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Southside’s Joshua Peoples is tackled by Mountain Brook’s Billy Pharo during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook quarterback Cayden Hofbauer makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Stuart Andrews makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Anderson Roberts makes a field goal during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Sam Smith makes a run during high school football payoff action against Southside on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
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Photo by Dave Hyatt / Hyatt Media LLC
Mountain Brook’s Archie Andrews tries to evade the tackle of Southside’s Brayden Bowers during high school football payoff action on Nov. 8, 2024 in Gadsden, Ala.
SOUTHSIDE — The Mountain Brook Spartans used their most complete overall performance of the season to maul the Southside Gadsden Panthers 45-7 in the Class 6A first-round playoff matchup on Friday night.
The Spartans’ offense, led by 124 yards receiving and three touchdown catches by sophomore wide receiver Archie Andrews, rolled to almost 400 total yards while the defense limited the Panthers to 154 total yards and held them out of the end zone until there were only 18 seconds left in the game. And kicker Anderson Roberts and the Mountain Brook kick-coverage team did a great job pinning Southside deep in its own end on numerous kickoffs throughout the night.
The result was a trip to the second week of the playoffs for the fifth straight season and a very pleased Coach Chris Yeager.
“I thought it was one of our best jobs all year of each phase of the game complementing one another,” Yeager said. “A lot of times the best team doesn’t win, but the team that plays the best wins. Tonight we played a clean football game, and it felt like it was our best all-around performance of the year.”
While the Spartans put up most of their points via the pass, it was the running game that set the tone early as they took advantage of a 25-pound per man weight across the offensive front.
Junior running back Stuart Andrews rushed for 105 yards on 16 attempts in the first half, forcing Southside to pull its safeties into the box to try to stop the run, and when the Panthers did that, junior quarterback Cayden Hofbauer burned them for three scores through the air. Stuart Andrews finished the game with 18 carries for 125 yards, and Hofbauer finished 13-of-17 passing for 222 yards and four TDs.
Roberts opened the scoring with a 30-yard field goal at 7:47 of the first quarter to make it 3-0. On the Spartans’ next drive, Hofbauer and Archie Andrews hooked up for the first time on a beautiful 31-yard connection to convert a fourth-and-5 situation and make it 10-0 at 1:28 of the first quarter.
The two connected again on a 56-yarder at 8:26 in the second quarter, and Roberts added the second of his six extra points to make it 17-0.
Stuart Andrews got into the scoring column when he went in from five yards out with 3:35 left in the half that made it 24-0, and Hofbauer added a 24-yard strike to John Colvin with 43 seconds remaining that made it 31-0 at the half.
The Spartans stretched their lead early in the second half as Hofbauer found Archie Andrews from 12 yards out to make it 38-0, and reserve running back Lawson McKnight crashed up the middle from the 7 to make it 45-0.
The Mountain Brook defense almost got its third straight shutout, but literally came up one play short as Southside quarterback Jordan Bryan dove over from the 3 with 18 seconds left on the clock to round out the 45-7 final.
It continued almost 40 years of dominance for Mountain Brook in its all-time series with Southside-Gadsden. The Spartans now lead the series — which dates back to 1986 — 9-3 and have won the last five meetings by a 234-19 margin.
Next up for Mountain Brook will be a rematch with the No. 2-ranked Parker Thundering Herd (10-1), which crushed Cullman 35-0 in its first-round matchup. The two teams met in Week 2 with Parker taking a 30-16 win over the host Spartans.
“We all know what we’ve got next week,” Yeager said. “We need to continue to trend upward like we did tonight. We get an opportunity to show how much we’ve grown since the last time we played them, and we’re excited about it.”
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