High school football streak comes to an end in 2018
The 2018 high school football season saw the end of a remarkable streak. The city of Hoover had been represented in the high school state championship game every year this millennium until this past fall.
Hoover advanced to the state championship in 16 of the previous 18 years, winning the state’s highest classification 10 times. The only two years the Bucs didn’t advance to the title game, 2007 and 2015, Spain Park made it to the final game.
The Jags put together a 4-6 mark this season, while Hoover finished 9-4 and succumbed to Thompson in a thrilling semifinal game. The Warriors took the 31-28 win thanks to a game-winning drive in the final two minutes, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 21 seconds remaining.
The Bucs were aiming for their third consecutive state championship, but Thompson avenged a loss in the 2017 semifinals. For Hoover, it is the first time since 1999 that the Bucs have not won at least 10 games on the field.
“This is going to hurt for awhile, but hopefully for a little while, they can gain composure a little bit to be able to look back and hopefully there was parts of this year they were able to learn from and parts of this year they were able to enjoy,” Hoover head coach Josh Niblett said about the Bucs senior class following the Thompson loss.
“I could speak all night on them and what they’ve meant to our program. How many great football players there are, but also how many great men there are, too.”
The lack of double-digit wins for Hoover is more of a product of a brutal schedule than it is a dip in quality. Two of the Bucs’ three regular season losses came to out-of-state powerhouses St. John’s College (D.C.) and IMG Academy (Fla.).
After Hewitt-Trussville pulled off the upset win over Hoover on Sept. 14 — sending the Bucs to a 2-2 record at the time — Hoover pulled off five straight dominant victories before the regular season finale against IMG Academy.
Hoover was able to get by Bob Jones in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs before rolling past Mountain Brook in the second round. In the semifinals, Thompson jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, but Hoover turned that to a 28-17 lead by the end of the third quarter. Thompson scored twice in the final period to take the win and advance to its first state championship game since 1982.
Spain Park got sidetracked after an encouraging season-opening win over Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. The Jags lost six straight games before righting the ship and coming back to win their final three games, with wins over Oak Mountain, Tuscaloosa County and Shades Valley.
“That’s what this is all about. I know wins and losses are important, but there are so many life lessons you can learn from what we went through. To me that’s what this country needs, that’s what these kids need, and that’s what they got,” Spain Park head coach Shawn Raney said following the season finale. “Our kids kept showing up on Sundays [during the losing streak] and worked. And as a coach, that’s the most I’ve been proud of a team.”