Smith runs wild, Eagles run away from Spain Park
HOOVER – After the game, Tyler Crane divulged that every play in the playbook leads to an Evan Smith touchdown.
He said he was joking. But one could be convinced by watching Thursday night’s game that there is some truth to his comment.
Smith, the star Oak Mountain High School quarterback, accounted for all five Eagles touchdowns in a 35-7 win over Spain Park at Jaguar Stadium in a Class 7A, Region 3 contest.
Four of those touchdowns were on the ground, some of them designed runs and some on plays Smith escaped the pocket and made his own magic. He scored on bursts of 10, 59, 19 and 39 yards. The first two of those came in the first quarter, as Oak Mountain (5-1, 3-1 in region) opened up a 14-0 edge. The last two came in the third quarter as the Eagles put the game away.
“He’s doing a great job of taking the reins and taking ownership of the offense,” said Crane, Oak Mountain’s first-year head coach. “He’s done a really good job.”
Smith scored once every four times he ran the ball, as he amassed 184 yards on 16 carries. He also completed 8-of-11 passes for 94 yards and a score. That was a 4-yard pass to CJ Branson in the second quarter to make it 21-0 at halftime.
“He did a great job tonight, but we also had a lot of guys step up. Ethan Hammett had a great catch, Joe Regan had a great catch. Cade George, he played phenomenal. Offensively, we got better tonight being able to get more people involved,” Crane said.
Spain Park head coach Shawn Raney lamented the fact he’s had to face Smith for four consecutive seasons now. The Jags won the first two of those meetings, but Oak Mountain has had a clear upper hand the last two seasons.
“We just could not get anything going. [We had a] heartbreaking loss two weeks ago and I was concerned about this. I thought we needed to get off to a good start and we did not,” Raney said.
The opposite quarterback in the game, Spain Park’s Evan Smallwood, suffered a scary injury late in the third quarter. Toward the end of a run, Smallwood was hit at an odd angle and remained on the turf for several minutes before being carted off. He was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, according to Raney. Mitchell Nutter played quarterback for the remainder of the contest.
“I told the kids we’d figure out what was going on but I think he’s OK. He was talking and he was moving everything,” Raney said.
Oak Mountain’s defense was stellar much of the game as well, limiting Spain Park to just 62 yards through the air. Corbitt Grundhoefer was all over the place in the secondary, picking off a pass in each of the first three quarters.
“Hat trick, right? He got him three,” Crane said.
Crane said Grundhoefer should have even had a fourth interception. He thwarted a promising Spain Park drive in the first quarter by outjumping a Jags receiver on a trick play in which Spain Park’s Pierson Cole threw a double pass. He stepped in front of a pair of Smallwood passes in the second and third frames.
“I thought he did a great job,” Crane said. “Defense, we gave up the one at the start of the second half, which is what we don’t want to do, but they battled back and we made the plays when we needed to make them.”
Spain Park (1-5, 0-4) had a brief jolt of energy to start the second half. The Jags took the opening kickoff and marched down the field in less than two minutes. Zamir Farris broke a 43-yard run and two plays later, Smallwood hit John Michael Lee, who beat everyone to the pylon for a 19-yard touchdown.
At the time, the Jags cut the deficit to 21-7, but back-to-back Smith touchdowns made it a moot point.
“We’ve got some games down the line and we’ve just got to continue to work and be fighters and fight through some of this. We’ve had a lot of adversity and that’s life,” Raney said.
Smallwood completed 5-of-11 passes for 62 yards in the game. Farris rushed for 72 yards on 14 carries to lead the Jags on the ground. Branson added 35 yards on 11 carries for the Eagles as well. Both teams racked up more than 200 rushing yards and passed for fewer than 100.
Next week, Oak Mountain hosts Tuscaloosa County in another region contest. Spain Park stays at home to entertain crosstown rival Hoover.