Bucs open football season Saturday in Tennessee

Hoover opens its 2015 football season Saturday night on the road.

The Buccaneers travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to face Oakland High’s Patriots at 7 p.m. at Middle Tennessee State’s Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium. The game is part of a doubleheader called the Middle Tennessee Football Classic. Clay-Chalkville takes on Blackman at 4 p.m. Tickets, good for both games, will be $15 at the gate.

There is no television coverage for these games. All Bucs games are, however, set to be streamed by the Buccaneer Broadcasting Network through the National Federation of High Schools Network at www.bucsbroadcasting.com.

One chartered bus for students will make the trip. The cost is $20 for the bus and $15 for a game ticket. Students will need to complete the field trip form and return it to the Athletic Office by noon on Friday. The bus will leave from the school at noon on Saturday.

This will be the first meeting between Hoover and Oakland.

Oakland went 12-2 last season, losing to eventual state champion Maryville in the Class 6A semifinals. The Patriots have a new head coach in Kevin Creasy, who arrives from Trousdale County, Tennessee. The 40-year-old Creasy won three state championships at Trousdale and made the playoffs each of his seven seasons at that school, which competed in Class 1A and 2A.

The Patriots have won state championships in 1984, 1998 and 2008.

Among Oakland’s standouts are junior athlete JaCoby Stevens and defensive tackle Ty Nix, a three-year starter, who is the son of MTSU co-defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix, the native of Attalla who starred as a linebacker at Southern Mississippi.

Hoover, the preseason No. 1 team in Class 7A, returns Nick Eldridge to anchor the offensive line, and Quincy Cox is back at tight end. But there will be new starters in the backfield, starting with quarterback Christopher Vacarella, who is a senior with experience, and running backs Galien Richardson and CJ Sturdivant.

The defense is led by Florida commitment Jeremiah Moon at linebacker and cornerback PJ Hall.

Coach Josh Niblett enters his eighth season at Hoover, where he is 96-8 and has led the Bucs to three consecutive state championships.

Hoover is 1-0 in games vs. teams from Tennessee. The Bucs beat Blackman, Clay-Chalkville’s opponent Saturday, in 2014’s regular-season finale 35-20.