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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Oak Mountain Eagles saw two of their most substantial tests to their perfect season when they took on the Class 6A No. 1 Homewood Patriots and the Class 7A No. 2 Hoover Buccaneers, but they emerged victorious to continue building momentum ahead of the playoffs.

Oak Mountain defeated Homewood 2-1 on Tuesday, April 15 at Waldrop Stadium in Homewood before outlasting Hoover in a 5-4 shootout following a 2-2 draw after overtime on Thursday, April 17 at Oak Mountain High School.

The latter win proved crucial as it secured the area championship for the Eagles and home-field advantage all the way through the Final Four in Huntsville.

In the first game of the week against Homewood, neither the Eagles nor the Patriots could find the back of the net in the opening half as the two strong defenses left the game tied at 0-0 at the break.

From there though, Oak Mountain broke through and scored twice in the final 40 minutes. Homewood secured a goal for itself, but it couldn’t overcome the Eagles’ lead in the final minutes of the match.

That gave Oak Mountain the 2-1 victory in the battle of the 7A and 6A No. 1’s to improve to 24-0 on the season.

Gabe Capocci played a role in both goals as he scored a goal but also assisted on Michael Dennis’ goal in the victory. Capocci and Collins tied for the shots lead with five apiece and two shots on goal each.

Alexander Chaidez-Cruz kept the potent Homewood attack largely at bay, saving three of the four shots that he faced to secure the victory in goal.

Two nights later against Hoover, the Eagles celebrated their 2005 national champion team by continuing to hold on to their own No. 1 spot in the MaxPreps national rankings.

Oak Mountain broke through first with a first-half goal that put the hosts in front 1-0 all the way until the halftime whistle.

However, while the Eagles snowballed goals in the reverse fixture at Hoover to win 4-1 on March 18, the Bucs surged back in the second half this time around.

Hoover scored two goals in the final 40 minutes of the game to put the pressure on Oak Mountain. The Eagles scored a goal of their own in the second half, but they couldn’t find the go-ahead goal as they went into overtime tied at 2-2.

That score line also lasted through both five-minute overtime periods, meaning Oak Mountain would need to step up to the penalty spot to see out the victory.

In the Eagles’ first penalty shootout since April 5, 2021, also against the Bucs, they went down to the wire with both teams matching their spot kicks in the first five rounds to tie it up at 4-4.

In the end, one round proved to be the difference as Oak Mountain capitalized off a Hoover miss to win the shootout 5-4 and go to 6-0 in area play.

The 25-0 Eagles will close out the regular season with two more tests–first on the road at Georgia’s Meadowcreek Mustangs on Friday, April 18 at 5 p.m. before a Tuesday, April 22 home game against the Briarwood Christian Lions at 7 p.m.

Oak Mountain will host either Thompson or Prattville in the first round of the playoffs, with the AHSAA setting the default day for Tuesday, April 29.