VESTAVIA HILLS – Vestavia Hills clinched a playoff berth at the expense of the visiting Oak Mountain Eagles on Friday, Oct. 25, by a score of 31-10.

The win gives the Rebels (6-3 overall, 4-3 region) the fourth seed out of Class 7A, Region 3, while Oak Mountain’s season will conclude with the end of the regular season on Nov. 1 with a visit from Pace (Florida).

VHHS struck for 10 first-quarter points on Oct. 25 and never looked back.

Jacob Levant ran it in from three yards out with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter, and then Matthew McMeans made it 10-0 with a 37-yard field goal with 1:39 on the clock in the first.

Evan Smith cut it to 10-7 with a 17-yard touchdown run followed by Hogan Morton’s point-after, but then the Rebels closed the first half strong with a 22-yard pass from James Sawyer to Charles Hughes and a six-yard run by Levant to make it 24-7 at the break.

Morton was good on a 33-yard field goal with 7:22 left to play in the game, but Vestavia’s Robert Hanna concluded the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run with about a minute and a half left to play.

Smith completed 10 passes in 17 attempts for 91 yards.

Devin Holden caught five of those passes for 43 yards, and Noah Young added 32 receiving yards on three catches.

Smith also led OMHS (3-6, 1-6) in rushing with 79 yards on 12 carries, and Judah Tait added 34 yards on six carries.

Will Pfaffman paced the Eagles defense with eight tackles, while Juston Taylor chipped in 6.5 tackles and Chase Schwender had six.