Michael Wade
Vestavia Hills Football
Vestavia Hills High School students during the Class 7A Region 3 game between Thompson High School and Vestavia Hills High School. Thompson defeated Vestavia by the score of 45-14 at Buddy Anderson Field at Thompson Reynolds Stadium in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. (Wade Event Photography)
It will be tough to match the emotions of last year’s matchup between these two teams.
The Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook high school football teams meet again on Friday night in a Class 7A, Region 3 matchup at Spartan Stadium.
Last fall, the Rebels pulled off an upset and downed the Spartans in double overtime, 17-14, on Manraj Singh’s 18-yard field goal.
Tied 7-7 at the end of regulation, neither team struggled to score in the first overtime. Vestavia Hills scored on its second play of the first overtime when Toliver Chatwood darted for a 4-yard score. Mountain Brook answered one play later when quarterback Hamp Sisson found paydirt from 10 yards out.
Mountain Brook had the ball first for the second overtime, and Vestavia’s Earl Bradberry intercepted Sisson on third-and-goal from the 13-yard line. Chatwood then churned out nine yards to the 1-yard line before Singh kicked the game-winner.
This time around, both teams are in the midst of a three-way tie in Region 3, making the game paramount in terms of potential playoff berths and seeding.
Mountain Brook is coming off a 31-7 win over Tuscaloosa County.
Quarterback Hamp Sisson went 10-for-13 passing with 129 yards. Harold Joiner and AJ Gates each had 13 carries and a touchdown. Joiner finished with 62 yards, while Gates collected 58 yards of his own.
The play of the night came from junior defensive back, Collin Bussman, with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter. On a Tuscaloosa County second-and-12 back in its own territory, Wildcats quarterback Brylan Jackson stepped back to throw, but Bussman stepped in front of his man and picked off the ball and returned it 27 yards to the end zone to put the Spartans up 21-0.
On the other hand, Thompson’s offense proved too much for Vestavia Hills last Friday in a 45-14 victory.
The Warriors amassed 454 yards of offense with Taulia Tagovailoa doing much of the damage. The junior quarterback was 18-of-38 for 318 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also rushed the ball three times for 20 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
“They got good players,” said Vestavia Hills head coach Buddy Anderson, whose team had a three-game winning streak snapped. “We hurt ourselves but they’re good. There is no doubt about that, they’ve got a good football team.”
Vestavia Hills gained 199 yards on 57 offensive snaps. Coleman Petway was 5-of-10 for 52 yards through the air. Matthew Paugh had 54 yards on five carries, Reed Stockton carried the ball 10 times for 34 yards, and William Schaffeld had 20 yards on 14 carries.
- Gary Lloyd, William Galloway and Steve Irvine contributed to this report.
