Jimmy Mitchell
Vestavia Hills vs. Hoover Football
Action from a game between Vestavia Hills and Hoover on Friday, October 14, 2016, at the Hoover Met in Hoover, Alabama.
“We’ll fight another day.”
That’s what Vestavia Hills head football coach Buddy Anderson told his team following a 38-7 loss to Hoover last Friday, Oct. 14, at the Hoover Met in a game featured by the Great American Rivalry Series.
With two games remaining on the regular season docket, the loss to the Buccaneers significantly hindered the Rebels’ (4-4, 2-4 Class 7A, Region 3) state playoff hopes.
The Bucs had their way with Vestavia Hills from the opening kickoff, and things never got better. The Rebels’ only source of momentum came in the first quarter, as Tucker Queen recovered a Hoover fumble. Unfortunately, they fumbled it right back to Hoover a few plays later.
Spencer Lawson intercepted a pass with the Bucs on the doorstep early in the third quarter. Vestavia Hills notched its only score of the game when quarterback Coleman Petway scrambled to buy time on a fourth down play and floated the ball across his body to an open Joseph Travis.
Toliver Chatwood and William Schaffeld led the Rebels on the ground, rushing for 57 and 51 yards, respectively.
Friday's game against Tuscaloosa County is the final home game of the season and the final home game of the seniors’ careers at Vestavia Hills.
That is likely reason enough to prepare with the same intensity as usual. After all, Vestavia has pulled itself off the mat time and again this season. Following tough losses to Spain Park and Oak Mountain in September, the Rebels won back-to-back contests against Huffman and Helena.
A questionable touchdown call gave Thompson the eventual game-winning margin on Sept. 30, although the Rebels admitted they failed to capitalize on their opportunities. But they followed that up with a gutsy overtime win over rival Mountain Brook the following week.
If the Rebels can defeat Tuscaloosa County tonight and Shades Valley next week, they will secure the 32nd winning season in 39 total for Anderson as the head coach at Vestavia Hills.
Anderson has already eclipsed 324 wins at Vestavia, making him the all-time winningest coach at any level of football in the state of Alabama, surpassing Paul “Bear” Bryant’s 323 collegiate wins, many of them coming at the University of Alabama.
The task is to beat a Tuscaloosa County team that has lost each of its last seven games after winning the first two under new head coach Bart Sessions. The Wildcats fell to Spain Park 35-0 last week.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Thompson Reynolds Stadium.
