Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – In a battle of newly promoted sides, the Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights started out the season with a bang as they secured two hard-fought victories over the Montevallo Bulldogs.

Westminster OM won the girls match 8-0 before the boys came from behind to earn a 6-3 victory on Thursday, Feb. 6 at Theron Fisher Stadium in Montevallo.

In the first match of the night, the Knights got off to a strong start on both ends of the pitch. They secured a trio of goals in the opening 40 minutes and allowed none on the defensive end to take a 3-0 lead into the halftime break.

Westminster only continued rolling from there, dialing up the offense to exceed the first half’s goal total. The Knights piled on five more goals to secure an 8-0 win over a county foe from Class 5A in the Bulldogs.

Sadie Parvin walked away with a clean sheet in her first start in goal for Westminster. She secured five saves throughout the match as Montevallo’s potent offense put multiple threatening shots on net that couldn’t quite make their way through.

The firsts didn’t stop there as the Knights had three first-time goal scorers as part of the eight-goal outburst. Carrington Orr, Rosie Ritch and Emma Hutto secured their first goals in a varsity uniform to help Westminster start out the season 1-0.

As for the boys, the Bulldogs got off to a much better start as Alexis Lopez scored the opening goal to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Westminster would equalize soon after, but Lopez struck again to restore Montevallo’s advantage, this time with a 2-1 lead.

However, the Knights rallied to score the next two goals and respond, taking their first lead of the match at 3-2. Lopez had one last answer though, scoring his third goal of the first half to secure himself a hat trick and leave the sides tied at 3-3 at the interval.

Westminster came out of the half a different side, and after making some adjustments, the Knights scored three unanswered goals in the second half and went on to take a 6-3 victory.

Both David Bean and Owen Kelly earned braces in their first game of the season as Bean had two goals and an assist for a three-point night while Kelly scored two goals himself.

Jacob Dover scored a goal and had an assist, and reigning Shelby County Golden Boot holder Aiden Gamble opened his account for 2025 with a goal. Rocco Zaccagni and Ben Cobb each finished with an assist in the win.

Westminster OM will be back in action in another county battle on Tuesday, Feb. 11 as it takes on the Briarwood Christian Lions in its first matches on its temporary home pitch of Dunnavant Valley Fields. The girls will take the field at 5:30 while the boys are slated to start at 7:15 p.m.

As for Montevallo, the boys will have a week off before playing in the Lakeshore Shootout Copper Division. The Bulldogs will face the Holy Family Catholic Tornadoes on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. at Alabaster’s Veterans Park before taking on the Jasper Vikings the same night at 7 p.m. and Holy Spirit on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. at Calera’s Eagle Sports Complex.

Montevallo’s girls are off until Tuesday, Feb. 18 when they face Minor at 4:30 p.m. at Theron Fisher Stadium.