Oak Mountain remains perfect in area play with six-goal win over Spain Park

Published 7:45 am Wednesday, March 22, 2023

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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

NORTH SHELBY – Looking to remain in control of their area, the Oak Mountain Eagles played host to area rival Spain Park on Tuesday, March 21, looking to notch a win against each area opponent ahead of spring break.

Thanks to a defense that continues to be one of the best in the state and an offensive effort that matched the team’s best showing of the season, the Eagles were able to do just that.

Oak Mountain gave up just one goal in the 80 minutes of action, pulling away early to complete a 7-1 victory over the Jaguars.

The Eagles scored four goals in the first half to take a 4-1 lead into the halftime break, which built the momentum in their favor going into the second half.

With the Jaguars now needing to quickly flip the momentum, the opposite happened to start the second half, as the Eagles came out and scored the first goal and carried the confidence from there.

Oak Mountain went on to outscore the Jaguars 3-0 in the second half of the game to complete the six-goal victory.

The seven goals matched a season-high total for the Eagles, who scored that same number against Tuscaloosa Academy in a 7-0 shutout on Feb. 27. It also snapped a stretch that saw Oak Mountain score two or less in four consecutive games, including one or less in three of four.

It’s the defense, however, that continues to be the storyline, as it was much of last year when Oak Mountain advanced to the Class 7A State Championship game.

Defensively, the Eagles have now given up one goal or less in 10 straight and 14 of their 16 games this season, while they have yet to give up more than two goals in any game.

Those two games were a 2-1 loss to No. 2 Grissom and 3-2 win against Northridge. Oak Mountain has also totaled six shutouts so far this season.

Undefeated in area play, Oak Mountain will have matchups against Chelsea, Spain Park and Hewitt-Trussville left on the schedule that will determine if the team can win the area championship and earn one of the top two spots out of the area for the playoffs.

The Eagles edged out Hewitt 2-1, while they beat Chelsea by three goals and Spain Park by six in the first matchups with each team.