The Oak Mountain Eagles will take on the Fort Payne Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Oak Mountain has 21 straight wins, Fort Payne has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the pitch.
Oak Mountain is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Alabama's top teams: Northridge, who was ranked 21st at the time (Oak Mountain was ranked first). The Eagles were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over the Jaguars on Tuesday. Oak Mountain might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 17 matchups by three goals or more this season.
Their offense was hitting Northridge from everywhere, as seven different players booted in a goal. Grant Naumann led that balanced group of strikers and accounted for two goals all by himself.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Fort Payne challenged Southside on Tuesday. The Wildcats lost 4-1 to the Panthers. The game was a 1-1 toss-up at halftime, but Fort Payne couldn't quite close it out.
Oak Mountain's victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 21-0. Those home wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only given up three goals over those eight contests. As for Fort Payne, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-11-2.
Everything went Oak Mountain's way against Fort Payne when the teams last played back in February of 2024, as Oak Mountain made off with a 7-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Eagles since the team won't have the home-pitch advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
