In rematch, it's too much Bucs
Vestavia Hills quarterback Brett Jones was assisted off the field in the final seconds of the Rebels 24-0 loss to host Hoover Friday night.
After throwing his second interception of the game, he injured a shoulder after trying to make a tackle as he tried to rally the Rebels to a score and a semblance of redemption.
But just like the rest of the game, Vestavia Hills was shut down.
A dominant Hoover defense that gave up nothing was too much for Vestavia Hills to overcome in the second round of the AHSAA Class 7A playoffs. The sixth-ranked Rebels (9-3) were held to just 138 total yards and nine first downs. The fifth-ranked Bucs (10-2) forced five three-and-out drives and eight punts.
Hoover advanced to face top-ranked Spain Park next week in the third rounds. Just like the Rebels, which defeated the Bucs 20-13 in October, Spain Park posted a 21-0 win over Hoover this regular season.
“I thought they played a lot better but we just shot ourselves in the foot a lot, didn’t give ourselves a lot of chances,” said Rebels running back Walker Minor. “We just didn’t do enough to in, that’s all.”
Minor led Vestavia in rushing all season, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and had a team-high 10 touchdowns. In this game all he could muster was 22 yards on 17 carries. The Rebels as a whole had just 40 rushing yards.
Jones completed 12 of 31 passes for 98 yards to go with two interceptions.
“We made mistakes,” Vestavia Hill coach Buddy Anderson said. “You can’t make mistakes and we made mistakes.
“They did a good job, they’re a good football team. They are a good defensive football team. They have some players over there and our kids battled and we just came up short. We were not able to run the ball like we wanted to, and they had a lot to do with that.”
And the effort was truly a team wide for Hoover. No Buc had more than six tackles (Temarcus Bryant and Kholbe Coleman led with six each), and Will Singleton and Jayden Jordan snagged the interceptions.
It wasn’t that the Hoover offense was so hot either. The Bucs had just 178 yards and nine first downs, but when the opportunities to score came, Hoover pounced.
Running back C.J. Sturdivant had 77 yards on 14 carries and scored twice, and quarterback Christopher Vacarella threw a touchdown pass.
“I just want to thank the defense,” Sturdivant said. “They just did a heck of a job tonight.”
The Bucs finally took advantage of the battle for field position in the middle of the second quarter for the only two scores of the first half.
After the Rebels quick-kicked to give the Bucs the ball at Vestavia 33, Hoover got a 35-yard field goal from Barrett Pickering with 8:57 left in the half.
Vestavia went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and a 15-yard punt set up the Bucs at the Rebels 17. Four plays later Sturdivant rumbled in from 5 yards out with 5:28 left in the half to give Hoover a 10-0 lead.
The Rebels got nothing going offensively all half and put up just 44 yards in the first two quarters. Hoover was not much better, with just 89 total yards.
Sturdivant scored again on a 7-yard run with 7:34 left in the third quarter for a 17-0 lead, and Javan Jackson caught Vacarella’s 36-pass over the middle in traffic for a score with 3:29 left in the quarter to complete the scoring.