By Blake Ells
Hamp Sisson was a three-year starter at quarterback for the Mountain Brook Spartans.
The program he leaves behind is much better than the one he took over then, and that was his class’ priority when they began this season.
“Last year’s seniors did an incredible job of being leaders for us, and we wanted to continue that legacy,” said Sisson. “We wanted to leave the program better than we found in it in all aspects – on the field and off the field. That was the number one goal. Our second goal was to make the playoffs and our third was to see if we could win a state championship.
“So we met two of those goals, and we did everything we could to achieve that third one. At the end of the day, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.”
Mountain Brook fell in the second round of the state playoffs to region foe Thompson. Spending the season in the same region with arguably the two best teams in the state made that journey difficult, but schools that play in the region have come to expect nothing else.
“It’s definitely a tough region to play in, but we look at that as an opportunity,” said Sisson. “We had a stretch at the beginning of the season where we played three of the top five teams in the state all in a row – Spain Park, Hoover and Thompson – and that’s a great test. We played those games early in the season and we were able to see our mistakes and improve upon those mistakes and we believe we became a better team by the end of the season.”
Sisson will be playing football next season, and he has several great schools to choose from. He’ll wait to make that decision closer to signing day, but the schools that seek his services at quarterback are also great academic institutions. He’s also narrowing down what he’ll study.
“Something science- or math-related,” Sisson said. “I’m not sure what field yet, but something along those lines.”
He and his fellow seniors leave behind a legacy they hope continues to move toward the Mountain Brook football program that they knew when they were younger.
“We shifted the culture of the program into what Mountain Brook football is supposed to be about,” Sisson said. “Tough, smart players, we shifted that as underclassmen, and as seniors, we hopefully set the bar high for Mountain Brook football. Hopefully, they’ll continue to keep that high standard for Mountain Brook football.”
