Mountain Brook 17, Hoover 9
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Mountain Brook defenders Sam Centeno (19) and Win Cowden swarm Hoover's Josh Jackson in the Spartans' win Friday night at Mountain Brook. (The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell)
Sometimes the reasons good teams beat other good ones is just simply who wants the victory more.
Hoover went to Mountain Brook on Friday night having won the last 16 games in the series. That went all the way back to those Berry High days.
The last happy Friday night for a Spartan after playing Hoover came back in September of 1984.
So that makes it easy to say Mountain Brook accomplished a lot Friday night with its 17-9 victory that secured the school's first region title since 2003.
That streak went the way of those "Members Only" brand jackets that were cool back in those days.
[More photos from Mountain Brook 17, Hoover 9]
The place was electric and it was a good 30 minutes after the game before a good-sized mob of Mountain Brook backers left the field.
It was clear by Thursday night that emotion was going to play a big part in Friday's contest. That's when about 65 or so students went to the stadium and began practicing.
The key word there was students. Mountain Brook's student section started practicing its cheers and pandemonium Thursday night for Friday's clash with unbeaten Hoover.
When they did, their boys were still on the practice field fine tuning every plan and ploy to battle the Bucs. They were supposed to have tunnel vision on Friday night, but they couldn't help but notice. The students used that opportunity to cheer on their Spartans at practice, too.
"They carried us this week," quarterback Edward Aldag said. "How could we not be inspired by that? ... They helped us so much. They didn't let up one second. Those guys did an outstanding job tonight and I am so proud of them. We knew right then when they did that there was somebody right there supporting us at practice. We knew we had to play for them tonight to thank them for that support."
Mountain Brook coach Chris Yeager said the school's "12th man" was a catalyst in the upset against the No. 2 team in Class 6A. The victory marked the first time a team besides Vestavia Hills beat Hoover in a region game since Pelham did in 1999.
It was one of those nights where it would've made sense to see the crowd hoist a Walker Byrd, a Coates Doss or Harry Reich up for some crowd surfing. Those fans were that happy.
The Spartans (9-0, 7-0) get a lot of mileage out of the line from the movie "300" that goes "The strength of the Spartan is the warrior by his side" but maybe it needs a touch-up for the newly minted Class 6A, Region 6 champions.
The strength of the Spartans was that jubilant crowd at the side of the field Friday night. It mattered. It never stopped mattering for 60 minutes.That energy channeled emotion into a team that was on the wrong side of the depth advantage with the Bucs.
When it was over, a few Mountain Brook players sauntered all the way to the far end of the field away from their fieldhouse. Those boys were spent, but they had their cell phones in hand.
The scoreboard was still up even after the crowds were gone at 10:30 at night. They clicked pictures of that score on their phones and walked back the other way. Those victors had smiles the size of shoulder pads.
No Hoover player would've likely snapped an image of a scoreboard if they would've won Friday night. The Bucs are so used to it. It's hard to picture them doing that after any game this year.
Mountain Brook was different. Every Spartan wanted it more Friday and they all got just what they wanted.
Jeff Sentell is the high school sports editor for The News.
Write to him at jsentell@bhamnews.com or follow him on twitter at @JeffSentell_ for updates on high school sports.
