Eagles Fall Late to Rebels
Unless you attended Friday night’s game against the Vestavia Hills Rebels, the final score could not tell the story. For over three quarters, the two teams played a very closely contested and intense battle. However, late in the game the Rebels put Oak Mountain’s hopes of a 2-0 start away with three touchdowns in just over three minutes, winning 35-21. While losing a game is never a desired result, Oak Mountain played a very good game and at the end of the day have several positives to reflect upon. The Eagles outgained the Rebels and won nearly every statistical category, and also improved their passing game greatly from a week ago.
Vestavia jumped out to an early lead by taking their first drive 49 yards, all of it on the ground. Their highly touted RB Justin Rogers punched in a 4 yard touchdown run after a penalty took their field goal unit off the field. But the Eagles would not let the Rebels sit on their lead for long as the offense put together their most impressive drive of the young season. Drew McKnight led the Eagles 76 yards in a little over three minutes, completing 5 consecutive passes for 37 yards and finishing the drive on a 6 yard QB draw to tie the game up at six. The scoring subsided for the remainder of the quarter and the defenses began to force three and outs.
The Oak Mountain defense, which played fantastic in the opener against Fairfield, began the second quarter with a huge sack by defensive end Donald Gwarjanski on third down, forcing Vestavia to give the Eagles the ball with decent field position. Again the Eagles put together a nice, balanced drive that chewed up 5 minutes and spanned 65 yards. McKnight again moved the ball with his arm and legs, but it was WR Barrett Paulk on a 19 yard end around that set the Eagles up for their second touchdown run, this time a 5 yarder by Ross Ware. The momentum hung with Oak Mountain for only a few minutes, Vestavia quickly answered right back moving the ball down to the Eagles 26 and from there QB Ryan Howard connected with Sullivan Sanders to once again tie the game as the half ended, 14-14.
Apparently the defenses on each side received their message from the coaching staff at halftime as the second half opened with four consecutive punts with neither team picking up more than one first down on any possession. But with just over two minutes left in the quarter, Drew McKnight found his go-to receiver Michael Connell for a huge 76 yard touchdown reception. Connell streaked into the endzone, sending the Eagles fans into a frenzy and putting the Eagles back on top 21-14 after the Ben Phillips PAT.
The Rebels began the fourth quarter with 62 yards left to tie the game up. After a huge fourth and 13 conversion, Justin Rogers did just that on a 6 yard run with just over 7 minutes left in the game. Oak Mountain was forced to punt after a three and out on the next possession and with great field position Vestavia turned the game around with a quick 5 play 46 yard drive to take the lead with Justin Rogers finding the endzone one more time. The Vestavia lead would hold up as McKnight threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown on the next possession. The Rebels finished with a 35-21 victory.
Oak Mountain was led on offense by Drew McKnight who threw for 174 yards and a touchdown while also carrying for 42 yards and another touchdown. Senior WR Michael Connell had his biggest game as an Oak Mountain Eagle with 142 yards receiving and a touchdown. The Eagles defense was led by linebackers Andrew Vowell and Matt Daniels who each were close to double figures in tackles and Donald Gwarjanski who recorded 2 sacks. With the loss, the Eagles fall to 1-1 and 0-1 in what many consider the toughest region in the state. However, this loss did not dampen the Eagles hopes of making the playoffs. Oak Mountain looks to get back on track next week with another home region game versus Homewood.
Jack L.