Photos by Ted Melton/ ActionSportsPix
Mountain Brook Football
Mountain Brook's Harold Joiner (5) runs with the ball in a game between Mountain Brook and Spain Park on Friday, September 16, 2016, at Spain Park Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
If the Mountain Brook High School team is going to prove itself as a playoff contender this fall, these are the games it must win.
The Spartans went into last week's open date off of a huge 23-21 win over Spain Park, as kicker Mason Dillard booted the game-winning field goal with six seconds remaining.
“Just clutch,” said Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager following the game. “People see the end product of all his work but don’t see all the hours he spends on the field kicking despite the time of day or weather.”
The win vaulted Mountain Brook into the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 7A rankings, surfacing at No. 10.
The Spartans currently sit at 4-1, 2-1 in Class 7A, Region 3, and have already surpassed last season's win total just halfway through the season.
This Friday, Mountain Brook plays another school that Dillard has beaten in the final seconds in Tuscaloosa County. The Spartans won the matchup of the two schools last year, 17-16.
Mountain Brook needs to solidify its win over one of the top teams in the region and back it up with a victory against a Tuscaloosa County team that is 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the region, as the Spartans begin a stretch of four straight region games to finish the gauntlet of determining playoff berths and seeding.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Spartan Stadium.
