Bucs dash Oak Mountain's historic hopes, stay perfect
HOOVER — The Oak Mountain High School football team arrived at the Hoover Met hoping to make more history. The 2020 Eagles had already become the first Oak Mountain team to start a season 4-0, and on Friday night they were aiming to become the first to defeat Hoover.
The Bucs didn’t let those hopes linger.
Quarterback Josh Lundy threw for five touchdowns and the Hoover defense never buckled in a 42-7 victory over its Class 7A, Region 3 foe. The Bucs improved to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the region with the win.
“It’s just a great bunch of young kids. They’re working their tails off,” Hoover head coach Josh Niblett said. “They’re focused amidst all the things that we’re going through.”
Lundy completed 18-of-27 passes for 352 yards and wasted no time in setting the tone. On Hoover’s first play from scrimmage, he connected with RJ Hamilton for a 66-yard score.
Hamilton quickly emerged as Lundy’s favorite target and finished the night with six receptions for 152 yards and two touchdowns. His second TD reception gave the Bucs a 14-7 lead in the second quarter. After hitting Hamilton early, Lundy found Malik Thomas for his next three touchdowns on passes of 33, 15 and 22 yards.
“He continues to get better week in and week out,” Niblett said of Lundy.
Thomas’ first two TD receptions gave Hoover a 28-7 halftime lead, and his third extended the Bucs’ edge to 35-7 in the third quarter. Thomas hauled in five receptions for 92 yards on the night, while Dylan Pauley led Hoover's ground attack with 55 yards on 14 carries.
Pauley finalized Hoover’s scoring with a 10-yard rushing touchdown late in the third quarter. The Bucs tallied 500 yards of total offense in the decisive victory.
“I think the biggest thing we did is we just lost our composure,” Oak Mountain head coach Cris Bell said. “I don’t think I did a real good job of getting us ready for the atmosphere that we came to play in. That’s a good football team, a lot of speed over there.”
Oak Mountain (4-1, 2-1) scored its only points on a 60-yard run from quarterback Evan Smith in the first quarter. That drive began after an interception by defensive back Jimmy Harris.
Smith finished with 67 yards on nine carries and completed 3-of-11 passes for 40 yards, all to Noah Young. Judah Tait paced the Eagles backfield with 124 yards on 23 carries. After a promising first quarter, Oak Mountain struggled to get much going offensively. The Eagles recorded 268 yards of total offense.
“Things that we had trusted in the first four weeks of the season, and particularly offensively, we just didn’t trust in them tonight,” Bell said. “You come out playing an opponent of this caliber and you can’t expect for things to be easy. You can’t expect to have 400 yards of offense.”
Hoover’s defense forced two turnovers in its stout showing. Jay Avery intercepted Smith and Corey Warren recovered a fumble.
“I thought we played with great speed. I thought we played physical,” Niblett said. “The key in that offense is you’ve got to stop the fullback and you’ve got to contain the quarterback. You’ve got to make him pitch it. We were able to do that tonight.”
Hoover will look to maintain its unblemished record when it hosts Prattville next Friday in a non-region contest. Oak Mountain has an off week.
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