Bucs, Jags to finish regular season in October

The Hoover and Spain Park high school football teams will finish the regular season stretch with several games in the month of October, ideally leading into a November playoff run.

Hoover begins play Oct. 2 with a highly anticipated matchup at Hewitt-Trussville, which was ranked as one of the top teams in Class 7A throughout the first half of the season. The Bucs’ game against the Huskies will likely have playoff seeding implications. Last fall, Hoover knocked off Hewitt 28-14, recovering after a 56-28 defeat to the Huskies in 2018. However, Hoover has dominated the series, winning 17 of the 21 contests between the two foes.

Hoover follows up that critical game with another game that always means a great deal to the school system, as the Bucs travel to Spain Park for the city rivalry game. Despite not making the playoffs last year, Spain Park made Hoover earn every bit of a 42-35 win. The two teams have played every year since 2002, including three meetings in the state playoffs, and the Bucs have won 17 of the 19 contests. Spain Park’s only two wins both came in 2015, when the Jags made a run to the state title game.

On Oct. 16, Hoover hosts Tuscaloosa County in another region game. The Bucs have had no trouble with the Wildcats in recent years, allowing no more than seven points in each of the last five meetings. Hoover is 16-3 all-time against Tuscaloosa County.

Hoover concludes the regular season Oct. 23 with a showdown at Thompson. The game has decided the Region 3 crown multiple times in recent years, and the teams have met in the 7A semifinals each of the last three seasons. Last fall, Thompson earned the better end of both games en route to a state championship.

Spain Park plays out the string with four straight region games and a non-region contest in October. The Jags begin the month Oct. 2 at Oak Mountain, a program that showed improvement from last fall in the early weeks of the 2020 season. Last fall, the Jags outlasted the Eagles 35-28 in double overtime. Spain Park holds a 14-4 edge in the series.

The Jags then host Hoover, as they hope to spring an upset for the first time since that magical 2015 season. On Oct. 16, the Jags will play their final home game of the season, as they host Vestavia Hills, with Buddy Anderson in his 43rd and final season as the Rebels’ head coach. Last fall’s result was a disappointing one, as Spain Park fell flat in a 45-7 loss to Vestavia.

On Oct. 23, Spain Park wraps up region play with a trip to Tuscaloosa County. The Jags were disappointed with a 42-21 loss to the Wildcats last fall but have won six of the eight meetings between the schools.

Spain Park concludes the regular season Oct. 29 at Hueytown in a non-region matchup. The two teams have played four times, with the Jags emerging victorious in each contest. The Jags and Golden Gophers last played in 2015, when Spain Park won 31-0.