Eagles continue strong start

OAK MOUNTAIN – Oak Mountain High School opened Class 7A, Region 3 play Friday night with a runaway 31-0 victory over Huffman High School at Heardmont Park.

The Eagles are now 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in region play, while the Vikings fell to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in Region 3.

Oak Mountain got off to a sloppy start on offense. On the second play of the opening drive for the Eagles they fumbled on their own 16-yard line. With the Vikings in prime field position, the Oak Mountain defense came up with a big stop and forced a turnover on downs after Huffman was unable to gain positive yards.

After early mistakes, the Eagles offense started to find its rhythm, but it was the defense that came up big to get Oak Mountain on the board first. After a 63-yard punt pinned the Vikings inside their 10-yard line, Oak Mountain linebacker Jackson Murphy chased down Huffman’s Anthony Wiggins and drove him out of bounds for a safety that gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead.

The offense took over from there and scored a touchdown on the next drive. The 10-play drive took over five minutes and ended when Webb kept the ball and ran in from four yards. After a successful two-point conversion, the Eagles led 10-0.

Webb scored again with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. This time it was a one-yard quarterback keeper that resulted in the touchdown.

Oak Mountain took a 17-0 lead into halftime.

It was all Oak Mountain in the second half as the Eagles continued to pound the ball and scored a touchdown in the third as well as one in the fourth to put the game away. The Eagles ended the game with a 31-0 victory.

Offensively the Eagles piled up 302 total yards with 223 of them coming on the ground. Luke Percer led the ground attack with 97 yards on 14 carries in the game, with 77 of those yards coming in the second half.  

Webb led the Eagles in rushing in the first half with 36 yards and ended the night with a total of 50 yards on 13 carries. Webb was also 7-of-14 for 79 yards in tonight’s game.

Ethan Duncan also rushed for 35 yards on 13 carries to round out the three-pronged rushing attack for the Eagles.

Oak Mountain head coach Cris Bell said he was pleased with the way his rushing attack controlled most of the game.

“We have three guys back there that can make it happen and it’s just a matter of whoever happens to get hot,’” Bell said. “Connor, I thought in the first half he missed some reads and made some poor decisions.  I think he was composed and he didn’t let it get to him and he kept pounding the ball one play at a time. Luke is the kind of guy that is just going to find ways to make plays.”

The Oak Mountain defense held Huffman to just 126 total yards in today’s game. The defense also caused four turnovers tonight, including two fumbles and two interceptions.

Bell spoke highly of the way the defense played and the way Murphy made his presence felt on the field.

Bell said, “Jackson has a knack for making plays. He is just a great leader from the sense of what you want in a linebacker. We are a lot better than we were a year ago. To have been where we were last year on defense to where we are right now I am really tickled with how we are playing on defense.”

Murphy led the way on defense and had four tackles for loss, including one for a safety, as well as an interception and a fumble recovery.

Bell was pleased with the overall play of the team and the way they performed in tonight’s game. He credits their success to the way the team was prepared and how focused they were to face Huffman.

“It is just one of those deals where there really is no night that you can relax and as soon as you do some one will jump up and really beat your pants off," Bell said. "The key for us is to realize that we are pleased with where we are but we haven’t done anything yet and we need to continue to build and continue to get better so that we can maximize the team we think we can be.”

Oak Mountain will take the field again next Friday night when they face Vestavia Hills on the road.