By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

INDIAN SPRINGS – On a wet, dreary Thursday evening, 1A-3A Indian Springs School welcomed in 7A Mountain Brook for a friendly, and Springs did what it has been doing all season, steamrolled the visiting Spartans. The No. 1 1A-3A school in the state beat Mountain Brook 5-1, and held a 4-0 lead at the half, to move to 12-0-1 on the season.

“Mountain Brook is a 7A school, they’re very well coached and they’re good,” Indian Springs head coach Rik Tozzi said after the game. “But we’re scoring lots of goals this year. Lots of goals. I’m very fortunate with the players we’ve got.”

There was steady rainfall from the opening whistle through the final minute of this game, which generally does not make for the best playing conditions. Sloppy field surfaces and a wet ball usually leads to a breakdown in technique and execution, especially at the high school level. However, the conditions did not affect Springs in the slightest. They possessed the ball well, and seemingly every player in a white jersey knew just where to go with the ball off their first touch.

“This is a very skilled team,” Tozzi said. “We’ve been very fortunate, over the last four year, not counting this year, we’re 76-8. So we’ve had some success in the past, but we change the way we play every year. We have a very technically adept team this year, more so than we have in the past.”

At the 12^th minute mark, Ethan Getman found the back of the net on a well-delivered cross to put Springs up 1-0. The lack of celebration after the goal was indicative of how often this Springs team finds the back of the net. Through 13 games, they are averaging just over six goals per game, which is extraordinary.

Parker Bryant added the second goal of the night for Springs just three minutes later, which was followed by a goal from John Touloupis off a corner kick at the 22-minute mark. A late goal from Austin Pack before the half, and Springs led 4-0.

Mountain Brook came out of the half more aggressive, and possessed the ball in Springs’ defensive third for the first five minutes of the half before punching one in to make the score 4-1. Pack retaliated in the 49^th minute for his second goal of the game with a strike to bring the score to 5-1, which is where this one ended.

“When we play, I think we can be very dangerous,” Tozzi said of his team after the game. “(Sometimes) we go to sleep, and Mountain Brook took advantage of it a little in the second half. The mental intensity bothers me a little bit, I think we have to mature as a team that way, but I think we have the firepower to do something this year if we stay healthy and keep working hard.”

Indian Springs has won 12 games in a row after tying Briarwood in the season opener 2-2.