The Calera Eagles beat Montevallo for the first time in 16 years Friday night, when the two teams renewed a rivalry dating back to 1950.

After waiting more than four years to get another shot at the Bulldogs, 2A Calera needed only minutes to draw first blood against their 4A foes, scoring on a 7-yard run by T.J. Green.

&uot;We knew we could pull it off if everybody played as a team,&uot; Green said. &uot;Usually in a big game like that we would come up short. It seems like this is a different team this year.&uot;

The results were different, too, for a Calera team that has struggled against its down-the road-rivals in the most recent meetings between the two schools. The Eagles came out on top, 34-15.

&uot;It’s a big rivalry,&uot; Green said. &uot;We’ve got friends on that team, we’ve got enemies on that team.&uot;

Green was one of three rushers to eclipse the 100-yard mark on the night for Calera. He carried 14 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.

David Lacey and Paul Delbridge helped the Eagles jump out to a 22-0 lead at halftimewith touchdown runs of 11 and three yards, respectively.

Delbridge led the Eagles with 117 yards on nine carrries while Lacey totaled 107 on eight attempts.

Each played key roles on defense as well, with Delbridge making 11 tackles and Lacey getting credit for 10 stops.

But it was Delbridge’s tackle breaking runs that seemed to stomp out any momentum Montevallo might have gained early in the game.

&uot;They were a bigger school and we got the smaller line so I was kind of nervous about the line and the middle,&uot; Delbridge said. &uot;But we knew they were an agressive team and they hit hard on the line so we took it outside. They couldn’t stop it.&uot;

Calera coach Ken Adams credited his team’s success to a hard week of practice that started with the scout defense &uot;whipping&uot; the offense on Monday.

&uot;Going against guys who could give us those kind of looks really helped us on Friday night,&uot; Adams said.

A.J. Ward scored both touchdowns for Montevallo. His first came on a 16-yard run in the third quarter and his second on an athletic run that left him in the corner of the endzone in the final minute of the contest