Eagles fall to Mountain Brook on homecoming night
BIRMINGHAM -- Oak Mountain ran out of gas.
The No. 12 Eagles made big plays in the first half but eventually fell 41-27 to No. 10 Mountain Brook on Friday night at Heardmont Park. The Spartans move to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Class 7A, Region 3, while the Eagles fall to 3-5 and 3-3 in the region.
“We couldn’t stop them,” said Oak Mountain head coach Cris Bell. “In the fourth quarter we just forgot how to tackle.”
The fourth quarter was difficult for the Eagles. Mountain Brook rushed the ball 18 times for 127 yards in the final frame to put the game away. Mountain Brook led 21-19 at halftime and pushed its lead to 27-19 when quarterback Hamp Sisson rushed nine yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter. The point-after attempt failed.
Oak Mountain responded with :59 left in the quarter when quarterback Jackson Kimbrell threaded a pass across the middle to Carson Bobo for a 20-yard touchdown. Luke Percer’s 2-yard run for the two-point conversion tied the game at 27 entering the fourth quarter.
Mountain Brook saved its best for the final quarter. The Spartan defense stood tall, holding Oak Mountain to just 13 yards in the final quarter. After Harold Joiner’s go-ahead 1-yard touchdown run with 7:14 left, Kimbrell was intercepted by Mountain Brook’s Reid Hogue with 6:24 to play.
“Reid Hogue is a big-play kind of guy,” said Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager.
Mountain Brook put the game away eight plays later when Sam Everette found the end zone from six yards out.
“We had to play a pretty perfect game tonight, and we were far from it,” Bell said. “They had more bullets in the gun than we did.”
The first half featured several big plays. Oak Mountain marched down the field and scored on the game’s opening drive, capped by Connor Wilson’s 13-yard run. Sisson scampered 17 yards to tie the game with 1:32 left in the first quarter. On the final play of the first frame, Sisson bolted 58 yards for a Spartan touchdown.
On the next play from scrimmage, Kimbrell hit Ethan Duncan for a 50-yard touchdown. The point-after attempt was blocked, allowing Mountain Brook to maintain a 14-13 lead. Oak Mountain took the lead with 4:46 until halftime when Kimbrell connected with Nathan Jones for a 42-yard score. The two-point conversion attempt failed. The Spartans took a 21-19 lead into halftime on a 1-yard touchdown run by Everette.
For Oak Mountain, Kimbrell completed 10-of-19 passes for 156 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He rushed 11 times for 85 yards. Duncan caught five passes for 66 yards and a touchdown. Wilson finished with 39 yards on five carries.
“At the end of the day, it just came down to they made stops and we didn’t,” Bell said.
Oak Mountain hosts Spain Park next week in an even bigger matchup relative to Class 7A playoff implications.
“We need to win,” Bell said. “That’s what it comes down to. You don’t want to back in, you want to play yourself in. We need to win to get in.”
Bell is glad that game is at home.
“It’ll be very big,” he said.