By Rubin E. Grant Mountain Brook senior outside linebacker John McMillan woke up last Saturday morning and watched a replay of the Spartans’ game from the night before with his dad, Murphy McMillan. What they saw was another dominating performance by the Spartans’ defense as fifth-ranked Mountain Brook recorded a 31-0 shutout on the road at Shades Valley in a Class 6A, Region … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant As Hoover won its first state volleyball championship in 2020 with the season of a lifetime and a tall, talented and deep roster, the Bucs also had a secret weapon. Strength and conditioning coach D.J. Taylor was employed to keep the Bucs in top-notch shape, and he did just that. “He was a huge reason for the success of our season,” Hoover volleyball coach … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant In the third quarter of Homewood’s season-opening football game at Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa with the Patriots trailing by two touchdowns, junior quarterback Woods Ray dropped back to pass and was surprised to see who was streaking down the field. It was his brother, Harvey Ray, Homewood’s senior tight end. “I wasn’t expecting him to run that route, a go route,” … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant Although his dad was an All-State linebacker at Homewood, Luke Reebals figured he was better suited for the other side of the ball. The Briarwood Christian Lions have benefited from Reebals’ decision not to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Reebals, a 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior running back, starred in Briarwood’s season-opening victories against Madison … [Read more...]

By Rubin E. Grant After two weeks of the 2021 high school volleyball season, the Hoover Bucs are still trying to find their identity. Coach Chris Camper said it might take the entire regular season for the Bucs to determine what kind of team they have. That was not a problem in 2020, when the Bucs posted a 50-1 record and captured the Class 7A state championship, the first … [Read more...]