Bucs outlast Jags in city rivalry
HOOVER — This town is definitely big enough for the both of them.
Hoover and Spain Park high schools combined for 1,068 yards of offense — that’s more than half a mile — but it was the second-ranked Bucs that came away with a 47-34 win over the Jags on Thursday at the Hoover Met.
“You can always throw the records out of the book,” said Hoover head coach Josh Niblett. “It’s one of those deals where both teams are going to play extremely hard. This game means a lot to them and this game means a lot to us. It means a lot to the people in the community. I didn’t expect anything less than to get their best effort.”
With the win, Hoover moved to 8-0 and 5-0 in Class 7A, Region 3. Spain Park fell to 2-5 overall and 0-5 in region play.
“I was proud of how our kids fought,” said Spain Park head coach Shawn Raney. “We’ve got to make plays. We’ve got to make extra plays when you’re playing a team like that, which is almost every week in our region.”
Quarterback Josh Lundy tallied 317 yards on 23-of-37 passing. He threw touchdowns of 12 yards and 35 yards to Jabari Gaines and Malik Thomas. Hoover got 100-yard ground games from both Jaylen Taylor and Ahamari Williams. Taylor went for 121 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries, while Williams rushed nine times for 100 yards and a score. R.J. Hamilton led the Bucs receivers with seven catches for 102 yards. Thomas grabbed five passes for 80 yards and a score, while Gaines caught three for 51 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterback Bennett Meredith was masterful through the air for Spain Park, completing 32-of-41 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns. Half those touchdowns went to Cooper Kelley on scores of 70 and 4 yards. Kelley led all receivers with seven catches for 132 yards. Justin Pegues scored the first points of the game on an 8-yard reception from Meredith. Meredith found Jaylen Ward on a 9-yard score early in the fourth quarter for his fourth passing TD. Ward finished with 10 catches for 99 yards.
After Spain Park quickly went up 7-0, Hoover tied the game on Williams’ 1-yard run. Joseph Buffett scored late in the first quarter on a 24-yard run to give the Bucs a lead they never relinquished. Sandwiched around Kelley’s 70-yard touchdown were field goals of 34 and 38 yards by Hoover’s Constantine Hontzas. The Bucs led 27-14 at halftime.
“We didn’t play very well early tonight,” Niblett said. “I didn’t think we played with great energy. That’s something that we always try to do. We kind of challenged each other at halftime a little bit. We weren’t playing up to the standard that we needed to play.”
Hoover marched down the field on the opening drive of the quarter and scored on an 11-yard Taylor run that put Hoover up 34-14. Spain Park cut the deficit to 34-21 on Meredith’s 4-yard TD to Kelley. Hoover answered on Thomas’ 35-yard TD from Lundy and the Jags answered right back to make it a 40-28 game. Hoover scored on Taylor’s second rushing score of the night with 6:30 to play, extending the lead to 47-28. Meredith plunged forward for a 1-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Raney said his team responded well after a 48-17 loss at Oak Mountain last week.
“So, the next step is going to be if we can continue (competing),” Raney said. “I think that’s the challenge I just laid in front of our team. Every week in this region is a tough game. And even if you’re getting better that doesn’t guarantee a win.”
Niblett said despite his team not playing as well early as he’d have liked, players must keep fighting.
“You’ve got to just keep playing through it, keep playing through it,” he said. “And if you’re not playing as well as you want to then you’ve got to find a way to fight through that. We were able to do that a few times tonight.”
Spain Park hosts Vestavia Hills next week, while Hoover plays host to Tuscaloosa County.
“Just what I told the team,” Raney said of how to keep his team competing moving forward. “That’s what it feels like to compete. Last week I did not feel that. We’ve got a chance these next three games to win these games if that team will show up. It’s our job as coaches to get them to perform this week and get that team back, and see what happens. Vestavia is another good team, so we will see what happens.”
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