Photo by Richard Force
Don’t ever let anyone tell you the “playoffs-or-bust” mentality has pervaded high school football.
In terms of standings and playoff pictures, the Hoover vs. Vestavia Hills game on Friday night had no effect. Hoover won the Class 7A, Region 3 title with its win over Thompson the week prior. Vestavia Hills was essentially locked into the No. 4 seed.
But don’t tell the two communities that the game didn’t matter. Because it did.
“It’s huge,” Hoover interim head coach Chip English said following Hoover’s 38-20 win over the Rebels. “I was made very clear by the community that this was the big rivalry, not necessarily last week [against Thompson]. Happy for our community, happy for the city of Hoover, coming out with a big win.”
The game carried special importance to the Hoover side, after Vestavia snapped an eight-game Hoover winning streak last fall.
The same goes for a team like Briarwood, which has been officially eliminated from the playoffs. Its 0-5 start proved too much to overcome, despite a second half of the season in which the Lions look like one of the better teams in Class 5A.
Briarwood stomped Hayden 50-16 on Friday for its fourth straight win.
“You start 0-5, all the sudden you beat two good teams in a row,” Briarwood head coach Matthew Forester said. “You’re like, ‘Alright, we got this thing rolling.’ Playoffs is not how it worked out. But this is us being our absolute best at the end of the season. And that’s what you’re always building for, you want to be peaking in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we’re peaking, we just don’t get the opportunity to get to the playoffs.”
For everyone else, the region slate concluded, and for some, that was a wrap on the regular season.
In Class 7A, Region 3 action, Hewitt-Trussville blew out Tuscaloosa County 49-0 to finish its regular season 8-2. Oak Mountain fell to Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 50-36, as the Eagles dropped to 3-9.
In 6A, Region 3, Spain Park rolled over Chilton County 37-6 to get to 9-0 for the first time in program history. The Jags finished off a perfect region slate for the second time in program history as well. Chelsea dropped its third straight, falling to Benjamin Russell 34-0.
There were a couple Thursday night shutouts as well. In a game it desperately needed to win, Homewood went out and dominated Minor 41-0 with backup quarterback Kaleb Carson leading the way. The Patriots made a statement with that win.
Mountain Brook capped off a 7-3 regular season with a 37-0 shutout of Shades Valley as well. The Spartans are playing well heading into the postseason.
Also on Thursday, Clay-Chalkville took care of Pinson Valley 63-6.
Be sure to follow Under the Lights on social media and sign up for the Saturday morning newsletter to have all of the weekend’s coverage sent directly to your inbox, all in one place.
Also, subscribe to the Under the Lights podcast presented by SYNLawn Alabama on YouTube, to be the first to know where we’ll be headed for our Game of the Week this Friday.
Here’s an early look at the Week 11 slate:
- Briarwood vs. McAdory
- Chelsea at Oak Mountain
- Clay-Chalkville at Vestavia Hills
- Homewood vs. James Clemens
- John Carroll vs. West Blocton
- Spain Park at Gardendale
This is a weekly column from sports editor Kyle Parmley. Follow him on X at @KyleParmley.
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