Evan Smith rushed for 100 yards and two touchdowns as Oak Mountain shut out homestanding Chelsea 17-0 in the teams’ season opener.
Smith scored on a 3-yard run in the first quarter and a 1-yard run in the third. Hogan Morton’s 23-yard field goal for the Eagles in the third quarter capped the scoring.
Smith scored four touchdowns for the Eagles (1-0) in last year’s 41-9 win. The offense wasn’t as dominant this year as the teams struggled on a water-logged field from heavy rain, but the defense forced four Hornet (0-1) turnovers.
Star of the game: Smith only hit 2-of-14 passes for 11 yards and struggled to hold on to the ball, but was still the best player on the field. He had three big runs on all three of the Eagles’ scoring drives - a 12-yarder on fourth down to the 2 in the first quarter and a 35-yard run to set up his 1-yard run near the end of the third quarter to cap the scoring.
Play of the game: Smith struggled in the first half, but dazzled the crowd with a 59-yard run down the left sideline in the third quarter. It only set up a field goal, but gave the Eagles life and the run game stepped up big for the rest of the game.
Key sequence: With the game scoreless late in the first, and the Eagles facing 4th and 7, Smith ran for 12 yards down to the 2. He nearly fumbled the ball out of the end zone, which would have been a touchback and a turnover, but his knee was down and ruled correctly by the official and the Eagles maintained possession. Two plays later, Smith scored.
Stat sheet: Oak Mountain rushed for 282 yards (293 total) and held Chelsea to 164 total (112 pass, 52 rush). Jonathan Bennett rushed for 77 yards and Devin Holden had 72 rush yards. Chelsea quarterback Caleb Moore hit 13-of-24 passes for 112 yards with an interception, recorded by K.J. Jackson.
By the numbers: Chelsea fumbled three times and lost all three. Oak Mountain had nine fumbles, but lost four. Chelsea was penalized 14 times for 118 yards while Oak Mountain committed just five for 50 yards.
Coachspeak: “He’s a special player. It takes one guy mis-fitting and eventually if the defense is on the field as long as they were, it’s bound to happen. He’s a really good player and credit goes to Oak Mountain.” - Chelsea coach Dustin Goodwin on Smith
“We’ve got to be able to run the football and take advantage of what they give us. We started doing that in the second half, but we started turning it over and missing guys on the play action game. Evan made some plays on his own, but we’ve got 10 other guys and somebody has to step up and make a play.” - Oak Mountain coach Cris Bell
Mountain Brook wins big
Mountain Brook opened its 2019 campaign with a 35-6 victory over Northridge at home Friday night.
The Spartan defense held Northridge to just two field goals and no score in the second half. Leading the defensive effort was Clark Griffin with 14 tackles and Nat Hollaway with eight.
Quarterback Strother Gibbs finished 11-of-13 passing for Mountain Brook with two touchdowns, while Logan Brewer scored on a 20-yard touchdown reception and a 67-yard interception return.
Sam Higgins had two touchdowns and 50 yards rushing, and Blake Pugh hauled in a 33-yard touchdown reception.
Mountain Brook’s plays Center Point next week.
Bessemer City beats Huffman
Bessemer City defeated Huffman 26-7 at home Friday night in a game that was closely contested in the first half.
Bessemer City scored on its first drive of the night and tacked on a 2-point conversion, but the Vikings answered back on a touchdown with 1:28 to go in the first quarter.
The second half saw a quick strike from Bessemer City as the home team went up 14-7 at the 7:34 mark of the third quarter and then recovered a fumble on the following drive to keep Huffman from responding.
Two touchdowns in the final quarter, including a quarterback keeper from Rishard Densmore, gave the Tigers the 26-7 lead for good.
Gardendale beats Mae Jemison
L.T. Sanders made the most of his chances to carry the ball for Gardendale, turning his 16 rushes into 130 yards and five touchdowns as the host Rockets toppled Mae Jemison 35-14.
The Jaguars struck first after a scoreless first quarter on Daymond Eason’s 6-yard touchdown. But Mae Jemison (0-1) was its own worst enemy, committing 15 penalties and fumbling three times as Sanders and Gardendale methodically put the game out of reach. A six-point halftime lead grew to as much as 35-8 before Christian Wimberly ran 50 yards in the closing minutes for Mae Jemison’s second touchdown.
Jayson Brooks added 70 yards on three carries for the Rockets (1-0) including a 45-yard burst.
Maplesville beats Fultondale
Ryan Morrow ran for 283 yards and scored four touchdowns as Maplesville dominated Fultondale 40-6 Friday in opening night action.
The action was shortened by lightning and the game was called with eight minutes left.
Three of Morrow’s touchdowns came on the ground with rushes of 1, 62, and 91 yards, while the other was on a reception from Maplesville quarterback Jackson Abbott.
Abbott went 4-for-11 with touchdown passes to Morrow and Kalyn Hardy.
Maplesville’s defense was instrumental in the win, highlighed by Latrell Wilson’s sack and interception.