Spartans head to Hoover Met

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Mountain Brook is riding a wave of confidence that has eluded them in recent years, after starting out 2-0.

Coming off consecutive 3-7 seasons, Chris Yeager’s crew has a 50-point win under its belt and a 21-14 win over Helena last week, as Reid Hogue’s interception sealed the deal late.

The Spartans go into Hoover Metropolitan Stadium Friday, September 2, riding high, but the Bucs will present a challenge they have not seen in the first two games, as Class 7A, Region 3 play begins for both squads.

Hoover’s offense has yet to reach its potential, while the defense has the pieces to be a dominant unit. The atmosphere will be top-notch, with the home fans waiting out long road trips over the first two weeks to see the Bucs at the Met.

If the Bucs have recovered from their trip to Texas, the game will not lack entertainment.

Last week was a good battle for the Spartans. Helena got their attention right off the bat. The Huskies reached into the bag of tricks and ran a pass off a double reverse on the first play, resulting in an 80-yard touchdown.

But the Spartans responded quickly with two scores by running back Harold Joiner. The first came on an 11-yard charge up the middle with 10:11 left in the first quarter to cap a four-play drive. Joiner did the same at the end of another short drive three minutes later, taking advantage of a Conner Bussman interception that put the hosts in business in the red zone.

Mountain Brook dug into their own bag of tricks in the second quarter when they ran a double reverse of their own, as Sisson handed off to Joiner, who then gave it to Sean Elmore for a 29-yard touchdown just past the midway point of the period.

Joiner finished the night with 131 yards on 20 carries. Sam Everette ran for 33 yards on 10 rushes. Sisson was 9-for-15 in passing with 63 yards and one interception.

Hoover did something not many teams get the opportunity to last week. The Bucs traveled to Allen, Texas, to take on Allen High School in the Tom Landry Classic.

However, the Bucs fell to the Eagles, 25-7, in a game where they scored on their opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead, as Garrett Farquhar hit Kam Ford on a slip screen that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown.

After that, though, the offense failed to score again and hardly threatened. Allen took a 10-7 lead into the break, but the Eagles broke through for consecutive big plays late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 20-7.

 “We just didn’t put any pressure on them,” Niblett said following the game. “The only pressure we put on them is when we went (up) 7-0. You have to make plays. I thought our defense played well enough to win the game. When you play in games like this, everybody’s got to play their A-game, and we didn’t tonight.”

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.