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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

FOLEY – After a historic 29-0-1 season in 2024, the Oak Mountain Eagles kept their winning ways going into 2025 as they extended their unbeaten run to 33 matches without a single loss.

In the process, Oak Mountain picked up some hardware as well as the Eagles claimed the Boys Cup championship in the Southern Shootout, which took place from Feb. 6-8 at the Foley Sports Complex.

The annual showcase features some of the premier teams in all of Alabama, and this year, Oak Mountain defeated the Fairhope Pirates, Spanish Fort Toros and St. Luke’s Episcopal Wildcats to finish 3-0.

The Eagles finished level on nine points with Thompson and won the tie breaker thanks to a superior goal differential of +15 versus +12.

Oak Mountain wasted little time testing itself to start out the campaign as it found itself in a top-five matchup against the preseason No. 5-ranked Fairhope Pirates on Thursday, Feb. 6.

The Eagles exploded out of the gate and established their dominance early. Oak Mountain’s attack scored three goals in the opening half of the season and kept Fairhope scoreless to head into the halftime break with a 3-0 lead.

Fairhope managed to break the deadlock in the second half, scoring its opening goal of the season before the full-time whistle, but that was all the Pirates could muster. The Eagles couldn’t score in the second half, but they still walked away with the 3-1 victory in the match.

Gerardo Rodriguez opened his scoring account for the season with a brace as he earned two goals to go with his assist on a three-point night for him. Nate Wright had a goal and an assist while Roy Soldevilla assisted on the other goal.

Owen Wells saved one of the two shots he faced during the 70-minute match.

Oak Mountain took that momentum into a battle with the reigning runner-up team in Class 6A, the Spanish Fort Toros, on Friday, Feb. 7.

The Eagles started strong in the first half as they scored the opening goal of the match while keeping the Toros off the scoreboard in the opening 35 minutes. That secured a 1-0 lead at halftime for Oak Mountain and set up even more good things to come in the second half.

The Eagles went on to double up their advantage in the second half of play to take a 2-0 lead, and they held on to that lead until the very end en route to their first clean sheet of the season and a two-goal victory.

Nate Taylor and Roy Soldevilla were responsible for the two goals on the day as they score unassisted goals to push Oak Mountain to the victory. Taylor, Gabe Capocci and Rodriguez tied for the team-high with two shots apiece.

Alexander Chaidez-Cruz earned a shutout in his first start of the season as the veteran junior keeper didn’t have to save a single shot in the match thanks to a strong effort from his backline.

The Eagles then faced the St. Luke’s Episcopal Wildcats in the final match of the tournament on Saturday, Feb. 8 with a chance to secure the tournament title if they at least matched Thompson’s final result.

Oak Mountain left little to chance in the final standings as it took the fight to St. Luke’s in the first 35 minutes. The Eagles put five goals past the Wildcats defense and held strong on the other end of the pitch to take a 5-0 lead into the halftime break.

From there, Oak Mountain’s scoring pace slowed down in the second half, but that didn’t mean there weren’t positives in the rest of the match. The Eagles scored two more goals in the remaining minutes of the tie and finished off the clean sheet by allowing not goals the rest of the way.

As a result, Oak Mountain took the 7-0 win to secure the tournament championship on the goal differential tiebreaker.

Rodriguez earned his second brace of the tournament after pairing two goals with his assist in the win. Luke Jovanovich, Ben West, Michael Dennis and Soldevilla each opened up their scoring accounts for the season with a goal apiece.

In addition, Sam Collins, Wright and John Will Peterson earned assists on the Eagles’ plethora of goals on the day.

Jovanovich and Hunter each led Oak Mountain with four shots while Capocci had three shots and Rodriguez finished with two.

Chaidez-Cruz and Wells split time in goal, but neither had to make a save during the shutout performance.

The Eagles will have another challenging tournament on their hands in the Lakeshore Shootout Platinum Division.

They will first face the Thompson Warriors on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at Oak Mountain High School before another home game on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m., this time a rematch of last season’s quarterfinals showdown with the Chelsea Hornets.

Oak Mountain will then finish out the tournament with a game against the Grissom Tigers on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. at the Eagle Sports Complex in Calera.