We Speak Flag / 7v7 Football
Vestavia Hills Takes a 15-4 Record and a First-Round Bye Into the AHSAA 6A Playoffs
The best costume at Vestavia Hills’ Halloween practice might have been the one the Rebels have worn all season: a team nobody in Alabama’s toughest region could shake.
Vestavia Hills closed the regular season 15-4 overall and 5-2 in Class 6A, Region 3, finishing as region runner-up in a league ruled by Spain Park, the nationally ranked power that went unbeaten in region play. The Rebels’ reward for surviving that schedule is a first-round bye in the AHSAA 6A playoffs, which open Nov. 2-5.
Vestavia will host the winner of Sparkman vs. Hoover in the second round. Hoover is no stranger — the Rebels and Bucs have been circling each other in Region 3 all fall — and Sparkman arrives from a rugged Region 4. Either way, the Rebels get them at home, rested, with a defense that carried them through the region slate.
The program’s depth showed all season. While the varsity stacked 15 wins, the Rebels’ junior varsity went 12-1, a pipeline that explains why Vestavia keeps reloading instead of rebuilding. The team photo above, from the Rebels’ costumed Halloween practice, is what a program with that kind of depth looks like up close — a full roster, loose and together, days before the games start counting for real.
The finish line is set: the AHSAA championships on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, with the 6A final kicking off at 7 p.m. To get there, Vestavia will have to go through the same Region 3 giants it has battled since August, very likely including Spain Park.
The Rebels have already proven they can hang with anybody in Alabama for four quarters. Now they get to prove it when it matters most.
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Marana Makes Its Statement: A 17-0 Shutout of No. 2 Salpointe Catholic
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Surprise of the ACC: No. 14 Wake Forest Hosts Virginia With a Title-Game Path in Sight
No. 12 Ole Miss Must Beat Auburn Without Its Star Running Back to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive
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We Speak Flag / 7v7 Football
Revenge on Senior Night: Hewitt-Trussville Rides a Roller-Coaster Season Into the 6A Playoffs
Few teams in Alabama have lived a season like Hewitt-Trussville’s — and few finished the regular season with a better story.
The Huskies closed their home schedule on Senior Night with a 25-15 win over Oxford, avenging a Week 2 loss to the Yellow Jackets and sending off a six-player senior class the right way. It was the last turn of a roller coaster that never really leveled out.
Hewitt-Trussville’s fall, as chronicled game by game on the team’s own feed, went like this: a 15-6 region win over Thompson in which the Huskies held the Warriors scoreless for the entire second half. A 35-0 road rout of 5A McAdory, done in three quarters, for a fourth straight win. A region win at Hoover so chaotic that, in the team’s words, no one could tell the time or the score because the scoreboard did not work. A 38-19 region-finale loss to No. 9 Prattville — followed immediately by a bounce-back win, because that is what this team does.
The Huskies play in Class 6A, Region 3, the deepest neighborhood in Alabama flag football, alongside unbeaten-in-region Spain Park, Vestavia Hills, Prattville, Hoover and Thompson. Surviving it earned Hewitt-Trussville a first-round date with James Clemens when the AHSAA 6A playoffs open Nov. 2-5.
The photo above — the whole program packed into a team dinner at Walk-On’s — is the other half of the scouting report. The Huskies are close, they are loose, and they have already proven they can beat region heavyweights and answer bad weeks with good ones.
James Clemens gets the next test. After the season Hewitt-Trussville just lived, there is not much the playoffs can show the Huskies that they have not already seen.
The Skipps Twins Deliver Alaska’s Title, and Dimond’s Run Ends One Game ShortMarana Makes Its Statement: A 17-0 Shutout of No. 2 Salpointe CatholicFour Straight Finals, One Missing Trophy: Keiser’s Fall Is All About the Chase
Vestavia Hills Takes a 15-4 Record and a First-Round Bye Into the AHSAA 6A PlayoffsDream Season Meets Desperation: No. 20 Northwestern Walks Into Autzen Against Reeling OregonSurprise of the ACC: No. 14 Wake Forest Hosts Virginia With a Title-Game Path in SightNo. 12 Ole Miss Must Beat Auburn Without Its Star Running Back to Keep Playoff Hopes AlivePride Game in Tallahassee: Clemson and Florida State Meet on Halloween With Seasons on the Line-
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