Mountain Brook volleyball wins the 7A state championship

the Sword & Shield

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Vol. XLIX No. 2.5 Mountain Brook High School November 25, 2014

By SCOTT LEPLEYStaff Writer

On November 8, the girls and boys cross country teams competed in the state championship at Oakville Indian Mounds. In all 143 girls and 144 boys competed in the 7A competitions. The girls captured their 12th consecutive state championship while the boys finished 3rd. Three girls placed in the top 10 including junior Frances Patrick, who

led the girls with a 4th place finish, along with seventh grader Lily Hulsey, who placed 7th and eighth grader Anna Balzli who placed 10th. Patrick said, “Our team as a whole did really well. We ran one of our best races of the year at the right time, and a lot of the younger girls did a great job. We were without some of our best runners and knew we had to step up.” Seniors Joy McRae and Natalie Jones also placed well. The girls sent six junior high runners and four high school runners to the state meet. On the boys side, senior Marshall Smith placed at the front for the boys at 17th followed by freshmen Charlie Slaughter and Jack Wedge along with 8th grader Gram Denning. Junior Drew Williams also fin-ished not far behind in 29th. Williams said, “The team ran a good race. It wasn’t as good as I know we could have done, but we stepped it up and ran well.” The boys perfor-mance was good enough to finish in 3rd place out of 13 teams competing. Next year the boys return all but two of their finishers from the state meet, Smith and senior Michael Clark. The girls will also lose only two state meet runners, McRae and Jones. Williams said, “We’re a really young team. About half of our runners in the state meet were from the Junior High, and we had a total of four se-niors. If the boys keep getting better, we’ll be joining the girls in 1st place soon.” The girls championship is Mountain Brook’s 150th in school history and fourth of 2014 following boys basketball, girls tennis, and volleyball.

Girls win 12th straight cross country title

Photo courtesy of MBHS webpage The girls varsity cross country team won their 12th consecutive state champi-onship at Oakville this month.

By WILL DAVISStaff Writer

After spending three years right on the door-step, the Mountain Brook volleyball team finally knocked the door down. On October 30, at the Birmingham Crossplex, in front of hundreds of pink-clad Spartan fans, the Spartan volleyball team clinched the first state championship in program history. “I was proud for those girls,” said Spartans coach Haven O’Quinn, who won the state championship in just her third season at the school. “This is a true team. This is the type of team we always want to have at Mountain Brook.” The magnitude of the moment for a program that has been on the rise in recent years has been hard to comprehend. “It still hasn’t really hit yet,” said Sara Carr, who was the MVP of the tournament. In the quarterfinal, the Spartans defeated Fairhope in three consecutive sets. The Spartans then faced Bob Jones, which was ranked first, despite having lost to Mountain Brook earlier in the month. “I wouldn’t want to be number one all year long,” O’Quinn said. “I liked the way our season went. It was a gradual incline.” “We peaked at the right time,” senior libero Julia Smith said. The Spartans took down Bob Jones in a thrill-ing four set match.

In the final round, Mountain Brook defeat-ed rival Hoover in four sets, completing the first championship run in program history. Smith, Carr and Sara Chandler Mitch-ell were named to the All-tournament team. One thing that stood out to everybody at the Crossplex was the rabid support of the Spartan faithful. Throughout the tournament, students at Mountain Brook High School and Mountain Brook Junior High were given pink shirts and showed great support over the course of the week at the Crossplex. It created an environ-ment that was not lost on the coaches or the players. “The entire administration was so supportive throughout the year, and the girls felt that sup-port,” O’Quinn said. “You don’t get that at most places.” As for next season, despite losing four se-niors, O’Quinn expects the Spartans to be back in contention for 2015. “I think this program is just going to con-

tinue to get better,” O’Quinn said. “I believe so much in the girls we have coming up next year.”Her players echoed that sentiment. “We’re excited about who’s coming back,” Carr said. “We’re going to have a great lineup.” “We’ve already talked about it,” Mitchell said about next season. “Winning another state championship is our goal.”

Photo by Will DavisThe jubilant volleyball team hugs as they win their first ever state championship, beating Hoover in the process.

Mini Sports Issue

2Sports Tuesday, November 25, 2014 The Sword & Shield

Letter from the editors

The Sword & ShieldCo-Editor-in-Chief: Claire DavisCo-Editor-in-Chief: John SissonManaging Editor: Chandler Gory

Art & Photography Editor: Mathilde SharmanNews Editor: Madeline Mitchell

Sports Editor: Alec LewisFeatures Editor: Margaret HeathOpinions Editor: Coke Matthews

Reviews Editor: Natalie JonesBusiness Manager: Sarah Beth Daniel

Staff Writers

Sponsors: Ms. Catherine Lowe and Mr. Peter Perez

Letters to the Editors PolicyThe Sword & Shield welcomes Letters to the Editors from its readers. We re-serve the right to edit any letters for grammar, length, or libel; however, the meaning will be preserved. Whenever possible, changes made with a letter will be discussed with the author prior to publication. All letters must be signed, but

names may be withheld upon request. Email letters to gosands@gmail.com.

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With Christmas music play-ing on the radio and winter right around the corner, it is once again “the most wonderful time of the year.” With the change in season comes a change in sports; football, volleyball and cross country have finished while basketball and wrestling are just gearing up. For Mountain Brook, it has been a very impressive fall. With the new 7A division, competition has stepped up to a whole new level. However, our teams have met the challenge. Volleyball and girls cross country have both brought back the blue trophy to the Brook. Girls cross country is

turning into a real dynasty, with 12 consecutive state titles. Vol-leyball, on the other hand, cap-tured its first title with the help of the rowdy, pink-clad Spartan faithful. Basketball and wrestling look to continue this success in the winter with state title runs of their own. So, go out and support the teams. Wear your neon, head out to the game and cheer on all the Spartan teams as they look to continue our dominance of the new 7A division. Thanks for reading, Claire and John

Thomas CooneyWill Davis

Carter EnnisCasey Fan

Scott Lepley

Leigh LewisCaroline Lowe

Jonathan McWaneLily Smith

Brooke Tucker

Defense wins championships: tenacious girls basketball team

begins season

Photo courtesy of Image ArtsSophomore Walker Poe brings the ball down the court against Oxford.

Photo courtesy of Image ArtsSenior guard Louise Shearer drives down the lane.

By SCOTT LEPLEYStaff Writer

On November 10, the girls bas-ketball team began their 2014-2015 campaign at home against Midfield in a 77-34 win in which they con-nected on 11 3-pointers. Last year, the girls reached the Sweet 16 of the state tournament before falling to Huntsville. The current team returns all but three players from last year’s squad. The team has only three seniors: forward Abby Garrett and guards Louise Shearer and Neely Francis. Coach Mark Cornelius said, “We lost some key contributors from last year, but as a team I think we’re deeper than last year. This team can definitely go as far, if not far-ther, than last year’s team.” The team returns its leading scorer from last year in junior forward Sara Carr. On the team’s hopes for the year she said, “I defi-nitely think we’ll be competing for a championship. After seeing the boys win two in a row and us getting so close, we think we can win this year.” The team consists of five un-derclassmen, including freshman Lacey Jeffcoat, and five upper-classmen. Cornelius said, “I think we’ve got one of the best overall rosters we’ve ever had. Top to bottom, everybody can play at a high level.” Junior guard Kathryn Wason has returned to the court after

suffering a knee injury in last year’s loss to Huntsville. Cornelius said, “Kathryn’s one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever seen. She worked hard all summer to be back ready for this season, and I think she’ll have a great year.” The girls are looking forward to one of their most successful seasons in school history and are strong contenders for the state championship in February. The Spartans are looking ahead to up-coming big matchups this Decem-ber, such as against reigning state champion Shades Valley and for the Carolina Invitational Tournament in South Carolina.

3SportsTuesday, November 25, 2014The Sword & Shield

By JONATHAN MCWANE Staff Writer

The Spartans’ senior wrestlers are looking to end their high school careers on a high note. The Spartans, who are led by Coach Justin Ransom, opened the season against Homewood November 1. When asked what he believes the key to a successful season is, Ransom

claimed that a “positive mindset and a good attitude” are an important part of the equation for a successful year. He believes that his team “has that in spades.” The season is highlighted by matchups against Calera, Lee-Hunstville and Butler, all leading up to the state tournament in February. Senior Josh Anders is poised to have his best season yet, saying, “I couldn’t be happier to be able to play my last season with such a great team.” “We have the ability to make a deep run into the state tournament, which is set to take place from February 12-14,” said Anders. Drew Reed, a junior who is one of the most talented players on the team, believes that his squad has “a great upside and confidence in [their] ability to win.” Coach Ransom also believes that the team will be left in good hands once the senior graduate, with him referring to junior Thomas Byrne and sophomore Ryan Nipper as promising prospects. Only five of the scheduled 20 events that the Spartans participate in take place at home. Their final five matches are away games at Prattville, the Smith’s Station Invitational, Pelham, the Thompson Warrior Invita-tional and St. Clair. This difficult beginning of the season leaves the team no time to stray from their goal to win the state tournament, but “the team has the highest level of confidence in themselves and no one on the team has any doubts that we can come out victorious in every match we have,” Coach Ransom said. The next home match is January 13 and 14 against Vestiva, Huffman and Brookwood.

Senior Spartan wrestlers look forward to their final season

By ALEC LEWISSports Editor

Over the past few weeks, Pat-rick Keim and Alex Peters, both two-time Alabama high school state champions, have competed in division 1 basketball games. Keim’s leadership has been pivotal for the Auburn Tigers’ young team and Peters’ willingness to contribute in any way possible for the Sam-ford Bulldogs jumps off the stat sheet each and every game. Both are products of Mountain Brook basketball. “Well, when I was first intro-duced to Coach Bucky and Moun-tain Brook basketball, I was in the 9th grade. I had just come off not making the 7th and 8th grade teams, so the 9th grade tryout was another chance to prove myself,” said Peters, who’s on scholarship at Samford. “I remember seeing Bucky and realizing how far I need-ed to go to get to the varsity level. But I got there and won two state championships, and I don’t think I could have been better prepared for the college level.” The 2014-2015 season marks Coach Bucky McMillan’s 7th year as head coach of the Spartans. His record of 156-44 stands as the most successful among Alabama High School coaches in the past 10 years. As the Spartans began their quest for a third straight title in the new

7A region, the team brings that same passion, that same energy and that same grit we’ve seen over the last few years every time down the court. On asked what this new chal-lenge means for the team’s goal, Coach McMillan expressed what his team has been able to do over the last two years winning the only basketball state championships in school history. “When we won the state championship last year and even the year before, I don’t really think anybody gave us a chance. And last year, I thought was the most ‘up’ year in Alabama basket-ball in the past 10 years.” And he’s right. Just to bela-bor the point, the University of Alabama began this season with supreme guard play. Alabama’s starting point guard? Freshman and former Wenonah guard — who Mountain Brook faced more than 5 times over his high school career — Justin Coleman. Coleman averages 25 minutes, six points and averages six assists as well. What happened the last time Coleman played Mountain Brook? Two points and a loss– The power of the Spartans’ press. That press will be the same throughout this season and through these next few weeks as the Spartans will travel to Tuscaloosa, Samford and Nashville for tourna-

ments through the holidays. So far, the Spartans have won the first two games by a combined 32-points, where as last year’s team began with two losses in their first six games. This season, the team believes their play on the court is only a stepping stone for what’s to come. “I’m just hoping we play within our-selves and not try to do anything spe-cial this year,” said senior forward Will Hartley. “Obviously, coming off back-to-back championships, expectations are go-ing to be high, so we just need to worry about ourselves and not get caught up in what people say on the outside about what our team should do.” It’s a long season, one where players will endure injury and losses and one that will stand as arguably the toughest schedule the Spartans have ever faced. But the hard work, the suffering and the time and effort in the offseason will

all prove worthy. “You hear that saying, ‘the harder you work the harder it is to surrender,’” said Coach McMillan. “And I know we’ll have a team that won’t surrender very easily. Once we get to the end of the season, you’ll see our entire family fighting together.”

Photo courtesy of Image ArtsSenior Terrell Guy lays it in during a game against Oxford.

Mountain Brook Boys Basketball’s quest for a three-peat has begun

Photo by Carter EnnisThe wrestling team gears up for their upcoming matches.

4Sports Tuesday, November 25, 2014 The Sword & Shield

By WILL DAVIS Staff Writer

The Mountain Brook football team finished the 2014 season with a 3-7 record. It was a tough season, but the players are not hanging their heads. “We faced a lot of adversity this year,” Mountain Brook coach Chris Yeager said. “These players tran-scended their circumstances a little bit.” The Spartans began the season with a heartbreaking 22-21 loss at Huntsville, a game which had Mountain Brook out in front for the majority of the contest. But the Panthers scored 5 points in the fi-nal 42 seconds, including the game winning field goal and came away with the win. After opening the season with a loss, the Spartans turned a cor-

ner. The Spartans held their own against Hoover at the Hoover Met then turned around and crushed Thompson 35-16 on homecom-ing and nipped Vestavia on the road 14-11. That stretch could be considered the best of the season for Mountain Brook. Yeager said that the big Spartan crowd at the Vestavia game made a difference. “I love how our entire student body got into the game,” Yeager said. “We had such a huge crowd

there, and it made such a huge impact.” The team followed that three game stretch by splitting home wins against James Clemons and Tuscaloosa County, respectively. After a 1-1 home stretch, Mountain Brook found themselves at 3-1 in the region but could not sustain the momentum. After a gut-wrenching loss at Oak Mountain, the Spartans lost two straight home games to Hewitt-Trussville and Spain Park and were eliminated from postsea-son contention. “We lost a few extremely close games,” Spartans’ senior quarter-back Jacob Carroll said. “We faced a good amount of adversity, but I thought we competed really well.” Before the season, Mountain Brook lost safety Andrew Autrey to injury. The Spartans took anoth-

er huge blow when linebacker Joe Donald was injured early in the season. Both big injuries, took away two impact players on defense. “I missed playing with all the guys,” Donald said. Carroll separated his shoulder in the Spain Park game, and soph-omore Connor Adair started at quarterback for the Spartans in the season finale at Huffman which re-sulted in a 26-24 loss. Adair could be the quarterback of the future for

Mountain Brook, but nothing is set in stone there. “There will be some competi-tion,” Yeager said about selecting a quarterback for next season. The Spartans will have to re-place a significant amount of talent in the offseason. For the first time in three years, Carroll will not be the team’s start-ing quarterback. Receivers Drew Odum and Wilk-erson Anthony will graduate, as

will linebackers Ridley Culp and

Hunter Lucas, defensive lineman Daniel McCool, and offensive line-man Reid Pyburn won’t be return-ing next year. Some key returning players include running backs Sam Ever-

ette and Harrison Pyburn. Also returning is linebacker Joe Donald, offensive linemen Lawton Sparks and defensive back Drew Smith.“People are going to have to fill those roles,” Donald said. “I might have to step up and be the vocal leader on defense.” Over all, Mountain Brook’s sea-son was up and down, but the team said the lessons they took away made it all worth-while. “It’s not what we hoped for,” Odum said. “But, we still had a lot of fun.” “Mountain Brook football really prepared me for the future,” Carroll added. Despite losing key talent across the board, there is reason to believe improvement is on the horizon. “It starts in November,” Yeager said of the team’s preparation for next season. “The bottom line is it starts right now.”

Spartan football concludes 2014 season, looks ahead to future

Photo courtesy of Image ArtsSeniors Wilkerson Anthony, Drew Odum and junior Harrison Pyburn celebrate a touch-down against Vestavia.

Photo courtesy of Image ArtsSenior John Null and junior Charlie Fell take down a Vestavia running back.

“We faced a good amount of adversi-ty, but I thought we competed

really well.” - Quarterback Jacob Carroll

”“

5SportsTuesday, November 25, 2014The Sword & Shield

By ALEC LEWISSports Editor

Looking back on Coach Terry Cooper’s storied career, one coach jumped out as one that I wanted to interview. Joey Jones, South Alabama’s 6th year head coach, was deeply involved in the revival of Mountain Brook football. Before he arrived, the Spartans strug-gled mightily. But with a successful first season, Jones was able to ignite a program that for coaches is “one of the top three high school jobs in the state of Alabama.”

The Sword & Shield: What were some of the first few things you attempted to change at Mountain Brook, and how have you used those in your building of pro-grams over the years?Coach Joey Jones: First of all, it was a dream for me to be the coach at Moun-tain Brook and be a small part of building the program. The first thing we had to do was change the men-tality. When I first got there, the mental-ity was something I wouldn’t call a ‘win-ning mentality,’ and we had to teach those guys what it took to win. So that was the first thing we did because when you’ve been around losing that long, you have to change the mentality quickly.S&S: What are some of your highlights of Mountain Brook? What players do you remem-ber coaching, what games do you remember winning and how was your program able to be so successful?JJ: I think the biggest win I can remember was the win against Central-Tuscaloosa in the quarterfinals, a team that was ranked #5 in the country and was averaging around 48 points per game.S&S: How hard was it to leave Mountain Brook for Birmingham Southern, and what reasons were the ones that pointed you to that decision?JJ: It was extremely hard, and I can never forget being at Birmingham-Southern for about 6 months and was still almost at anguish over that decision. Number one, I knew it was my chance to coach at the college level, and that was the reason I made my decision. I actually called Jimbo Fisher at the time, and he said if there was ever a way to get in the college level,

South Alabama was it because it’s just hard to get college jobs. On the flip side of that, I knew I was leaving a great situation to where I felt like if I kept being successful I could be there for the rest of my life because the people at Mountain Brook were so good to me, and it is just a great city and the highlight of my coach-ing life has to be my tenure at Mountain Brook.S&S: Coach Terry Cooper is retiring this year. What can you say about him hiring you and your experience with him over the years?JJ: Well, Coach Cooper has been the athletic

director there for such a long, long time, and I have nothing but great admiration for him. He was a man that I thought let me do my job, and he was just always there to help. He was nev-er there to tell me what to do or how to do it. He was a guy that let you do your job but was always there to help and that’s when you know someone is a great, great administrator.S&S: Coach Chris Yeager was an offensive coordinator of yours at Mountain Brook. How confident were you that he would do a great job after you left ?JJ: I knew that Chris would do a great job there. Number one, he’s a great football coach, and number two, he’s a great person. I knew from him being there in the program from ’99 through ’06 that he understood Mountain Brook and understood how things worked. There was no doubt he would do it on the field and the fact that he’d been there for 7 years was a great factor for him getting that job, and he’s done a great job since then.S&S: It seems like through your career you’ve had the task of resurrecting programs. Do you

target jobs like that; do you enjoy molding and shaping programs that way?JJ: I’ve kind of fallen into that mold. My first head job was Dora High School, and they hadn’t had a winning season in the previous 5 years before that. And then at Mountain Brook, coming in, I always believed that Mountain Brook could win and looked at the players and never understood why they weren’t, so that appealed to me. And then Birmingham-South-ern was a chance for me to get into college and to work for a guy like Joe Dean who was a great

athletic director over there, and then South Alabama came open. This is my hometown and I guess I do enjoy building things from scratch and I’ve kind of just fallen into that mold. S&S: You mentioned where South Alabama is located is your hometown, and I know you played un-der Bear Bryant and with the Birmingham Stallions. Do you see South Alabama as a destination job for you or are you look-ing up in a sense?JJ: Well, there’s no doubt South Alabama is a program I want to continue to build. We have plans to be able to build a new stadi-

um in the next couple of years, and I’ve been here for 6 and a half years, and to be here for that is certainly something we want to be a part of. I feel like this is a job I could retire at, but this business is crazy, and in the college world, you just have to take it one year at a time.S&S: Some of your parting words on Mountain Brook?JJ: I’d say, in my coaching career Mountain Brook was a job that meant more to me than any other. During that time, I met so many people that were so good to me, and I had so many great friendships there that I still have and to know that I was a small part of getting that program going in the right direction is something I’ll never forget. The parents were great, the administration was great, and I just had a great working environment. There’s no doubt, if it’s not the best coaching job in the state it’s definitely one of the top three.

Just a Chat with South Alabama Coach Joey Jones

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION: The Mountain Brook School system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or age in any of its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries re-garding nondiscrimination policies: Dr. Dale Wisely—Director of Student Services (Title VI), (wiselyd@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Mrs. Sylvia Harper—Personnel Director (Title IX), (harpers@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Dr. Missy Brooks—Director of Instruction (Title II), (wildman-brooksm@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Mrs. Shannon Mundy—Special Education Director (Section 504), (mundyl@mtnbrook.k12.al.us). Contact Information: 32 Vine Street, Mountain Brook, AL 35213, 205-871-4608.

Photo courtesy of collegefootball.ap.org Joey Jones, head coach at South Alabama, talks to The Sword & Shield about his career in college football and Mountain Brook.