After the departure of former Oak Mountain head coach Tony Pugh, now the offensive line coach at Spain Park, the Spain Park-Oak Mountain rivalry has begun a new era under first-year Eagles’ head coach Jerry Hood.

Unfortunately, the Eagles have yet to score a point in the 2004 season as the Jaguars upended the Eagles, 6-0, in the driving rain Friday night.

Both teams found it tough to find the end zone until Jaguars’ running back E.J. Riggins scored on a 13-yard pass from Neil Caudle in the third quarter.

Jaguar punter Austin Graham proved to be the difference in the game as he pinned the Eagles inside the 20-yard line four pivotal times in the game.

In the first half, Graham watched a bad snap get behind him and as he chased it down under pressure, he was able to punt it from the Jaguar 17-yard line all the way to the Eagles 13-yard line.

In the fourth quarter, Graham once again pinned the Eagles inside the 10-yard line on three consecutive punts. Graham’s four punts on the night averaged 55 yards per punt.

After week one, Jaguar head coach Vince DiLorenzo described Graham’s punts as &uot;not the best looking kicks&uot; but added, once he looks at the stats, he sees why his punter could punt &uot;for any team in the SEC.&uot;

Spain Park’s defense held the Eagles’ offense to 150 total yards in the shutout. In week one, the Jaguar defense only allowed 120 yards of total offense.

The Oak Mountain defense allowed only 236 yards of total offense. Spain Park gained almost 400 yards of offense in week one.

Anchoring the Eagles’ defense was Alex Foreman, who had 13 tackles and an interception in the loss.

Even though the Eagles have been shut out in both games this year, they have only allowed 15 points all season.

This week, both the Jaguars and the Eagles continue Region 6 action as Spain Park hosts the visiting Thompson Warriors while Oak Mountain takes on the ranked Vestavia Hills Rebels