Football Preview: Mountain Brook Spartans vs. Parker Thundering Herd
Mountain Brook has been on the road for three straight, but on Friday they'll finally head home. They will welcome the Parker Thundering Herd at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Mountain Brook is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. They blew past Southside 45-7. Given the Spartans' advantage in MaxPreps' Alabama football rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Panthers are ranked 117th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mountain Brook's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Cayden Hofbauer, who threw for 230 yards and four touchdowns while completing 76.5% of his passes. Another pass catcher making a difference was Archie Andrews, who picked up 124 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Parker waltzed into their game on Friday with five straight wins... but they left with six. They breezed by the Bearcats to the tune of 35-0.
Parker's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Terence Gaines Jr led the charge by rushing for 50 yards and two touchdowns.
Mountain Brook is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six contests, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 35.3 points per game. As for Parker, they pushed their record up to 10-1 with the win, which was their third straight at home.
Friday's match might be decided in the on the ground. Mountain Brook has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 251.6 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Parker struggles in that department as they've been averaging 272.4. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Mountain Brook lost to Parker at home by a decisive 30-16 margin in their previous meeting back in August. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Gaines Jr, who rushed for 152 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.5 yards per carry. Now that Mountain Brook knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
