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Hoover High quarterback Christopher Vacarella didn’t have to flash back very far to consider what might happen when his Oak Mountain counterpart, Warren Shader, cut loose a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the teams’ Class 7A, Region 3 game on Friday night.
“It’s already happened in college football – you saw that BYU and Nebraska game,” Vacarella said. “It was kind of going through my mind right there.”
This one ended differently. This one settled into the hands of 6-foot-4 Hover outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon about 10 yards short of the end zone, allowing the Bucs a chance to finally breathe a sigh of relief and walk away with a 17-14 victory over the Eagles on a rainy night at Heardmont Park.
It was the second consecutive week that a region opponent went toe-to-toe with the Bucs (4-0 overall, 2-0 Region 3). The script was a bit different than last week’s 21-14 win at Mountain Brook but what was important for Hoover is the Bucs found a way to win both times.
“Tonight we just had some grit about us and everything worked out,” Moon said.
The truth is that both teams had plenty of grit on Friday. Oak Mountain looked more like the team that was ranked in the Class 7A rankings before the season than one that dropped to 0-3 on the season with two of those losses in region play. The Eagles’ physical running game piled up 244 yards with senior Coleman Reeves gaining 144 of those yards on 24 carries. They also didn’t make it easy for a Hoover offense that continued to hurt itself at times with penalties.
“A lot of credit goes to Oak Mountain,” said Hoover head coach Josh Niblett. “They did an unbelievable job.”
But, once again, it wasn’t enough to keep Hoover from extending its in-state winning streak to 42 games and extending the Bucs record to 13-0 against Oak Mountain.
“The thing about trying to be a championship program and the culture we try to build within the walls of our facility is we’ve got to be 1-0 after every rep,” Niblett said. “We’re looking to be 1-0 every week, whatever that may be. A lot of people wished it was a bigger margin or whatever, but I think you learn in these type of situations.”
Hoover actually started quickly, scoring on its first possession. The touchdown came when Vacarella weaved his way 65 yards into the end zone after not finding an open receiver. The only other Hoover points came with 15 seconds left in the first quarter on a 37-yard field goal by Barret Pickering.
Sandwiched in between those scores was an Oak Mountain drive that was sparked by a 55-yard run by Reeves and finished by the first of two 4-yard scoring runs by Reeves.
Neither team scored in the second quarter but Oak Mountain managed to claim a 14-10 lead with 6:25 left in the third quarter that featured a 24-yard third down run by Shader and a 22 connection from Shader to Reid Golson, who made the catch with one hand, on the following play. Reeves capped the drive with his second touchdown run.
Like championship teams do, though, Hoover had a response. The Bucs had good field position after a 55-yard kickoff return by William Hawkins and ran the ball 10 consecutive plays, including a five-yard scoring run by Vacarella, to regain the lead at 17-14.
That ended the scoring but didn’t end the action. Hoover continued to move the ball on the ground, gaining 252 yards overall, and made some huge plays defensively down the stretch. Oak Mountain’s final three possessions resulted in a pair of fumble recoveries by the Bucs and Moon’s final play interception.
“That’s a tough offense to get ready for in a week,” Niblett said. “I was proud of our defense. We tackled the ball well. We talked about getting takeaways. We got some takeaways at some critical points in the game that we needed. It’s just a blessing to watch those guys play.”
