Meredith, Williams lead Bucs past rival Jags
HOOVER -- The sign in front of Hoover High School's student section read “Thanks for QB1.”
It was referring to Bennett Meredith, the Hoover senior quarterback who transferred to Hoover after starting for Spain Park the last two seasons. Meredith and running back Ahamari Williams were stars in Friday’s 52-10 win over rival Spain Park on the road.
Meredith completed 10-of-16 passes for 140 yards with a touchdown to Williams and an interception for the Class 7A No. 2 Bucs (8-0, 5-0 in Region 3). Williams rushed for 126 yards on 11 carries with a score, playing just more than a half of action.
“It was a little weird coming in,” Meredith said. “The first couple of drives were definitely different. Having them cheer against you was different, but you forget about it once you get into the game.”
Meredith’s big play came with 8:23 left in the second quarter. The Bucs held a 7-3 lead. He took a 15-yard loss on a sack on first down, but got the Bucs back to a fourth and four at the Jags 47. After a timeout, the Bucs went for it and Meredith hit Williams with a quick pass to the right, and Williams took it all the way down the right sideline for a score.
“We had the right play call for what they had called and we executed it,” Meredith said. “It’s one where I take what they give me defensively. I saw they blitzed a backer, so they’d have a man chasing Ahamari and he just outran them.”
Spain Park head coach Shawn Raney took responsibility. Until that point, the Jags (1-6, 0-5) were in the game. They took a 3-0 lead on the first drive following Braxton Sumpter’s 37-yard field goal. They intercepted Meredith once and had chances to make more big plays, but could not.
“I called a run blitz,” Raney said. “The linebacker’s got a back on that and he kind of got picked. That’s a bad call on my part.”
Spain Park was without starting quarterback Evan Smallwood, who was injured last week against Oak Mountain. Sophomore Mitchell Nutter made his first varsity start and only threw two passes, completing one and it was on a shovel pass for five yards. Spain Park did get 160 yards on the ground, 98 coming on 16 carries from sophomore fullback Sam Lee. The Jags’ only touchdown came on a 1-yard fourth quarter run from Ethan Gutowski.
It was all Hoover otherwise. Kamal Amerson gave Hoover a 7-3 lead on his 12-yard touchdown run on the first drive, and he scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter.
Peyton Argent kicked a 26-yard field goal and Williams’ 15-yard scoring run gave the Bucs a 24-3 lead at halftime.
In the second half, along with Amerson’s score, Josh Giddens scored on runs of 7 and 11 yards. Jack Lamey had a 41-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown and Lamey would have had a second touchdown, but Hoover was flagged for having too many men on the field after the fumble recovery, but before Lamey crossed the goal line.
“We still haven’t played our best game,” Hoover head coach Josh Niblett said. “We don’t want to end the year not playing our best game. We’ve got to get some things cleaned up where we’re playing better in all three phases.
“In the third quarter, I thought we made a statement on the first two drives offensively and the first two drives defensively. When we’re able to do that, we’re able to dictate the game.”
The teams continue region play next week, as Hoover travels to Tuscaloosa County and Spain Park is at Vestavia Hills.