Jags outlast Oak Mountain in double overtime
HOOVER -- Spain Park High School players and cheerleaders celebrated on the field as though they had won a playoff game. And as far as they were concerned, they had.
“That was a playoff game,” said coach Shawn Raney after his Jaguars outlasted Oak Mountain 35-28 in double overtime at Jaguar Stadium. “We started our playoffs this past week.”
Last week, Spain Park lost 42-35 to Hoover. This week, the Jags (3-5) would not be denied as they stopped the visitors on fourth-and-2 in the second overtime to win the game.
“We continue to get better and win games,” Raney said. “Watching this team grow up, these young kids we’re playing. These seniors continue to be leaders and fight. When you put in as much time and work as they do, it don’t matter what game it is. It’s a win and I’m proud of them.”
Across the way, Oak Mountain players trudged to the visiting locker room, knowing that their slim chance at making the playoffs had slipped away. The Eagles had to win and Vestavia Hills had to lose to Hoover.
The Bucs did their part, downing the Rebels 34-28.
“We played a good first half and did what we needed to do on both sides of the ball, really,” Eagles coach Cris Bell said. “I did a poor job getting ready to come out of the locker room in the second half.”
Each team displayed moments of brilliance in the first half. But Spain Park couldn’t cash in as three drives ended in turnovers – a fumble and a pair of Harrison Barker interceptions.
“They shut us down in the first half,” Raney said. “Our defense, I was proud of how they played. It’s assignment football (against Oak Mountain’s option attack) and we haven’t been real good at that but we continue to get better.
“Tonight, the defense kept us in the game, especially early.”
The Eagles led 14-0 at intermission. Both offenses found pay dirt in the fourth quarter. Spain Park got a 64-yard Barker-to-Michael Ogletree TD toss in the third. Jaylen Ward scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns – one on a pass from Barker – that were sandwiched between an Eagles’ TD run by Judah Tait.
Evan Smith put Oak Mountain ahead to open the first overtime as he scored from 4 yards out. Barker knotted the score at 28-all on his 5-yard toss to Cooper Kelley.
The same combination put Spain Park ahead to begin the second OT, this time from 13 yards out. The Eagles got to the 2-yard line on their next possession; they called time out and then the Jaguars made the stop.
Senior Jake Horton said the Spain Park coaches had prepared the Jags for that moment.
“We were thinking they were going dive,” Horton said of the final Eagles play. “It was short yardage and we were all waiting on it. The coaches told us that’s what it would probably be. We sat there and we trusted our coaches.”
Tait’s run up the middle came up a yard short.
“The kids played hard,” said Bell, whose team fell to 3-5. “It wasn’t for a lack of effort. I’d like to have a couple of calls back in the second half. We got away from what we needed to be doing.”
Spain Park travels to Tuscaloosa County next Friday, while Oak Mountain is at Vestavia Hills.
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