Oak Mountain vs. Vestavia

Credits: My Purpose Pictures

The Rebels had an easy test to pass before fall break as they faced the Oak Mountain Eagles at home on Thursday, October 9th, under the now Thursday night lights. The final score was a statement 41-0 victory for Vestavia, pushing the team into the number three spot in the division and the number ten spot in the 7A state division. 

Vestavia headed into the matchup 4-2, with Oak Mountain being an even 3-3. The Rebels had won three times in a row against the Eagles and made the streak four on Thursday.

The first quarter was unusually slow for the Rebels, in which they only scored a single touchdown with the extra point. The Rebels actually seemed to struggle a little against the Oak Mountain side, with several dropped balls that could have led to up to 14 or 21 additional points for Vestavia. However, the Rebels set things right in the second quarter by scoring an additional fourteen points to make the score 21-0.

Despite their football team’s struggle that night, the Oak Mountain band displayed an amazing American-themed show, which was followed up by the 1Rebel Marching Band’s first complete performance this year’s show, One Short Day, based on the music from the Broadway show and movie Wicked.

Following the halftime shows, the football teams retook the field with Vestavia receiving the ball and then scoring two touchdowns within just a few minutes to make it 35-0 at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter wasn’t very different as Vestavia proceeded to score once more to make it 41-0 final.

Although this year is better than most from a football standpoint, Vestavia consistently fails to topple teams like Thompson or Hewitt-Trussville. And while yes, Thompson really doesn't lose to anybody unless they play Clay-Chalkville, our football team’s score against them at the end of the first half was 7-3 Thompson. Vestavia lost that game 35-3. Thompson really just came out with a whole new team in the second half, and Vestavia wasn't able to keep up. This has happened routinely throughout this season. The loss to Hewitt was tied at halftime 7-7 (final was 28-14 Hewitt), and against Hillcrest, Vestavia scored three touchdowns in the first quarter and three in the rest of the game combined (final was 42-24 Vestavia). Thursday’s game felt like a really important milestone for the team because they stayed consistent all night and kept the level of intensity they had in quarter one up until the end of quarter four. I think that if they can keep this kind of play up, Vestavia will definitely pose a more serious threat to teams that they play in the future, such as Hoover, and to teams that they must beat if they make the playoffs.