By Rubin E. Grant Coming into the 2021 high school football season, Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager wasn’t sure what kind of team the Spartans would field. Mountain Brook had graduated 40-plus seniors off its 2020 team that reached the Class 6A semifinals. “We’re going to have some guys who have to step up,” Yeager said before the season. Well, those new guys stepped … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant The first time John McMillan played in a varsity football game for Mountain Brook he didn’t exactly know what to do. The Spartans’ starting linebacker had gotten injured and McMillan, an untested sophomore, replaced him against Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook’s biggest rival. “He didn’t know up from down,” Mountain Brook head coach Chris Yeager said. “He … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant When Tyler Crane was named Oak Mountain’s new head football coach in the spring, no one had to tell him what kind of quarterback he was inheriting. Crane was an Eagles assistant coach in 2016 and 2017 and was aware of Evan Smith, a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback. “He was an incoming freshman the year I left, so I knew who he was,” said Crane, who was an … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Gavin King couldn’t have imagined a better start for his young Homewood girls basketball team in his first season as the Patriots’ head coach. Homewood opened the season with five consecutive wins and was 7-1 going into the Thanksgiving break. “We have a lot of new starters and rotational players,” King said. “We have started 15 different girls, and I don’t … [Read more...]

By Solomon Crenshaw Jr. Sims Brown lingered on the field at Spartans Stadium Friday night after his No. 3 Mountain Brook team lost 24-18 to No. 1 Clay-Chalkville in the Class 6A semifinals of the Alabama High School Athletic Association football playoffs. The wide receiver might have hung around after any game, but this one was different because it was his last one as a high … [Read more...]