Spain Park visits Rebels to open region play
Vestavia Hills High School head football coach Buddy Anderson speaks often of the gauntlet that is Class 7A, Region 3.
The region has proven to be one of the toughest to navigate, with reigning state champion Hoover sitting at the top, and normally about six of the seven other teams battling for the three remaining playoff spots.
If Vestavia wants to claim one of the four available playoff spots, that road through the region begins tonight at 7 p.m., as the Rebels host Spain Park at Thompson Reynolds Stadium.
The Rebels will be looking for a change of fate from the previous week and the previous year (in this matchup). Last week, Vestavia saw its 10-game winning streak over crosstown rival Homewood snapped in a 6-0 loss. Last year, the Rebels fell 28-14 to the Jags.
In last week’s season opener, Vestavia Hills was without starting quarterback Coleman Petway and faced a Homewood team hungry to get the figurative monkey off its back.
“They just outplayed us,” Anderson said. “They did a great job. Hats off to them and Coach (Ben) Berguson. They’ve got some players and they did a good job. They did what they needed to do to win and they did a good job of it.”
A pair of field goals is all Homewood could muster in a stout defensive effort from the Rebels. There were moments where the Rebel defense bent, but it never broke, even when Homewood threatened to put the game out of reach late in the game.
Holding a 3-0 lead, Homewood took the ball early in the fourth quarter and drained nearly six minutes off the clock to move deep into Vestavia territory. The Patriots drove to the 10-yard line, but the Rebels forced them to settle for a field goal to make it 6-0. Most importantly, they gave the offense one last chance, even though that effort came up short.
“We bent a lot, they took a lot of time off the clock, but that’s part of it,” Anderson said. “A lot of room for us to improve. We’re going to go to work.”
Sean Smyth directed the offense for the Rebels on the night, and running backs William Schaffeld and Reed Stockton combined for 149 yards on the ground.
As for last season’s matchup against Spain Park, the Jags jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Mitchell Langley’s impressive touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone cut that lead in half, making it 14-7 at halftime.
The teams exchanged touchdown drives in the third quarter, before a final Spain Park score put the game out of reach. Petway rushed for 95 yards, with Schaffeld toting the rock 17 times for 57 yards.
Spain Park has won its first two games of the season. The Jags kicked off the year with a 31-19 win over Gadsden City, before steamrolling Muscle Shoals, 40-7, last week.
The Jags are led on offense by quarterback Braxton Barker and running back tandem D’Arie Johnson and Jalen Henderson. Defensive lineman Cedric Tooson leads a young defensive unit.
Next week, the Rebels host Oak Mountain in another Region 3 matchup.
Sam Chandler contributed to this report.