By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HUNTSVILLE–The Oak Mountain Eagles boys soccer team did something that most teams dream of doing on Saturday, May 14, and that’s capturing a 7A state championship for the second consecutive season, defeating McGill-Toolen 2-1 while also going undefeated on the season.

With the win, Oak Mountain set a single-season school record with 28 wins and finished undefeated on the season at 28-0-2.

Oak Mountain’s Charles Jeter scored both of the Eagles goals and earned the championship game MVP in doing so.

Oak Mountain head coach Daniel DeMasters was at a loss for words after the game and pointed at how difficult it was to go undefeated in Class 7A play.

“I’m feeling shock, excitement, happiness, just everything and for a team to go undefeated in 7A is just not something you ever plan for,” said DeMasters. “These guys were very capable of doing so but it’s just unimaginable. I’m unbelievably happy for these guys, they deserve it and work so hard. We kind of take pride in doing things differently at Oak Mountain so to end it with this group of seniors to make them end with a championship is definitely worth it.”

Oak Mountain attempted to spread out McGill-Toolen and use the majority of the field and the strategy paid off as Jeter scored at the nine-minute mark in the first half and again in the 51^st minute off an assist from Caleb Van Geffen.

With the Eagles up 2-0, the Yellow Jackets didn’t go down quietly as McGill-Toolen’s Anthony Spafford put one in the back of the net with 13 minutes left in the match.

Despite the strong effort to tie the game and send it to overtime, it was too little too late for the Yellow Jackets and Oak Mountain captured its sixth state championship in school history, all since 2005.

DeMasters said the strategy to spread the field helped propel Oak Mountain to a second straight state championship.

“I think we used the field better, we wanted to tire them out more and tried to stay wide on them but they were in shape,” said DeMasters. “We tried to spread them out and play more and I think we did do that and I think that’s what ultimately helped us win the game.”

Oak Mountain defeated Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Huntsville and McGill-Toolen in the 7A playoffs to capture back-to-back state championships.