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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Oak Mountain Eagles took time to honor the many seniors who have played a part in one of the most successful runs of any soccer team in Alabama history on Tuesday, April 1.

In the end, Oak Mountain stayed perfect on the season as the Eagles secured a senior night win over their next-door neighbors, the Class 4A No. 1 Westminster School at Oak Mountain Knights, by a score of 3-0 at Oak Mountain High School.

In addition to celebrating two seniors from the girls team in Kathryn Coppinger and Madison Dunnaway, the Eagles honored  a large group of senior boys players who continue a historic run.

Goalkeeper Owen Wells and defenders Alex Taylor, Adrian Gutierrez, James Allen, Michael Dennis and Luke Jovanovich were all honored for their dominance defensively, while midfielders Nate Taylor, Sam Collins, Gabe Capocci, Roy Soldevilla, Nate Wright, Taylor Hunter, Sam Laney, Ben West, Gerardo Rodriguez and John Will Peterson were all honored as midfielders and forwards.

Oak Mountain started out the game in strong fashion as it scored the game’s opening goal to take a 1-0 lead over Westminster in the early minutes.

From there, the Eagles doubled up their lead before the halftime whistle blew, extending their advantage to 2-0 to tighten their grip on the game.

Oak Mountain wasn’t satisfied with its two-goal lead as the offense worked to secure another goal in the remaining minutes of the game.

While the Eagles continued to shut out the Knights offense, Westminster kept the game closer than many of Oak Mountain’s Class 7A opponents and prevented the score line from getting out of hand ahead of the 3-0 result.

All three goal scorers on the night were seniors as Capocci, Collins and Dennis found the back of the net. Capocci paired his goal with an assist, and Rodriguez also earned an assist in the victory.

Capocci led the way with six shots on the night, including three on target. Rodriguez and Collins each earned four shots, and Taylor ended the match with three shots.

Wells secured the clean sheet, stopping the Knights’ one shot on goal to earn a save and end the 80-minute match without allowing a single goal.

Oak Mountain improved to 19-0 with the win and will look to improve on its 4-0 area record when it travels to Vestavia Hills on Thursday, April 3 at 7 p.m.

Westminster dropped to 9-5-1 and will take on the American Christian Patriots in a crucial Class 4A, Area 4 contest on Saturday, April 5 at 3 p.m. at Dunnavant Valley Fields.