Photos by Barry Stephenson
2020 Hoover Football
Hoover Safety Paul Thompson(26) takes the field before a game between Oak Mountain and Hoover on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, at the Hoover Met.
Over the course of the year, the Hoover Sun will keep you up to date on the various Hoover and Spain Park high school athletic teams. For previous weekly updates, click here.
FOOTBALL
The Hoover football team put forth a strong showing in a 42-7 win over Class 7A, Region 3 opponent Oak Mountain last Friday. Click here for a recap of the contest. The Bucs are back in action this week, hosting non-region foe Prattville on Friday.
Spain Park did not have the same fate, as the Jags fell to Gadsden City 31-17 last Friday. Click here for a synopsis of that contest. The Jags take an open date this week.
VOLLEYBALL
The Hoover volleyball team rolled to a straight sets victory over Jasper, the defending Class 5A champion, last Tuesday night (25-20, 26-24, 25-10). Sydney Melton, Rya McKinnon and Kayla Jemison had strong performances for the Bucs. With a .412 hitting percentage, Melton dug 19 balls, had three blocks, eight kills and three aces. McKinnon had 18 kills and six digs and Jemison hit .500 with four blocks.
Hoover took down another defending state champion on Wednesday, as the Bucs defeated last year’s 7A champ Mountain Brook in four sets on Wednesday (25-19, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22). McKinnon had 26 kills and Gabrielle Essix closely followed with 14 kills. Jemison had the highest hitting percentage at .462, while Aly Durban had 58 assists. Hoover had an impressive defensive night as well. Sydney Melton finished with 16 digs, Eva Guenster had 14 and Kendal Youngblood had 11. Essix contributed four blocks and Melton had three.
The Bucs are now 21-1 overall on the season. This week, they host Spain Park on Tuesday and play in Spain Park’s HeffStrong Tournament over the weekend.
Spain Park split a pair of matches last week. The Jags swept Vestavia Hills in three sets on Tuesday before suffering a loss to Oak Mountain on Thursday evening, falling to the Eagles in four sets (15-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-21). Against Vestavia Hills, Audrey Rothman had 20 kills and 11 digs, Emily Breazeale had eight kills, Bella Halyard had seven kills, Abby Byrd finished with 11 assists and 12 digs and Katelyn Walsh contributed 12 digs.
In the Oak Mountain loss, Rothman and Halyard led the offense with 17 and 11 kills, respectively, Walsh and Brooklyn Allison had 11 and 10 digs, and Breazeale finished with seven kills.
This week, the Jags head to Hoover on Tuesday and play at Gardendale on Thursday before hosting the HeffStrong Tournament over the weekend.
CROSS-COUNTRY
Hoover ran in the Oak Mountain Invitational at Heardmont Park on Saturday, with the boys finishing second and the girls placing third in the event. Kyle Epperson (third) was the top boys runner, followed by Owen Marquardt (ninth), Elijah Joseph (11th), Sam Kilgore (15th) and Matthew Harden (17th).
Lauren Wallace placed second in the girls race. Also scoring points for the team were Ashley Girouard (14th), Abigail Batchelor (18th), Alyssa Halcomb (20th) and Reagan Hendricks (26th).
— What else would you like to see mentioned? For any suggestions, feel free to email sports editor Kyle Parmley at kparmley@starnespublishing.com.
