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Oak Mountain freshman Evan Smith had a coming out party against Chelsea posting four touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a 42-9 win against the Hornets. (For the Reporter/Barry Clemmons)

(For the Reporter/Barry Clemmons)

(For the Reporter/Barry Clemmons)

(For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

(For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

(For the Reporter/Barry Clemmons)

(For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

(For the Reporter/Cari Dean)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – “He’s a freshman,” was the chant coming from the Oak Mountain student section throughout the Eagles’ opening-night game against rival Chelsea thanks to freshman phenom Evan Smith posting four touchdowns in a dominant 42-9 win at Heardmont Park on Friday, Aug. 24.

Smith ended the game 7-of-9 passing for 93 yards and two touchdowns and added an additional 109 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 11 attempts running the football to compile four touchdowns in his first-ever varsity football game as a freshman.

“We had a game plan, worked hard and completed it,” Smith said after the win. “This builds my confidence a lot. I was really nervous coming into this game and now we showed everybody we can do it.”

Those nerves showed off early on, as he made a few wobbly throws, but once he settled in, Smith was unstoppable.

After a slow start offensively in the game, due to some strong defense, we finally saw Smith flash his first sign of brilliance.

Smith started Oak Mountain’s third drive of the game with a 14-yard run. The very next play, Smith took the snap, and found Noah Young open down the sideline for a 42-yard completion to move the Eagles inside the 10-yard line.

From there, it was easy work for returning running back Luke Percer who capped off the scoring drive with a 6-yard touchdown to put the Eagles on top 7-0 with 11:50 left in the second quarter.

With the way the Oak Mountain defense was swarming to the ball, that was almost enough to win the game, but the offense and Smith were just getting their season under way.

One drive later, after a bad punt from the Hornets, Smith took the ball 30 yards to the house on the first play to put Oak Mountain up 14-0.

Thanks to a Will Pfaffman tackle for loss defensively, Oak Mountain forced another three-and-out and quickly added to its lead.

Smith had three straight runs of 10 or more yards on the ensuing drive, giving him close to 40 yards on the drive alone, including another strong touchdown run for the second consecutive drive to put his team up 21-0.

After the defense forced yet another quick three-and-out thanks to a batted down ball from Jacob Fitzgerald, the Eagles went back to work for one more scoring drive to close out the first half.

Jonathan Bennett kick-started the drive with a 40-yard run, which was quickly followed by Smith’s best play of the night. On first down, Smith rolled to his right and on the run, made a pass a veteran quarterback in college would struggle to make when he hit a sliding Trey Allen for a 21-yard touchdown pass on the run to put the Eagles on top 28-0.

Oak Mountain scored all 28 of its points in the second quarter, and it was in large part because of the growing confidence they gathered on each play once the team started seeing success.

“We had a game plan coming into tonight,” Smith said. “We listened to our coaches and everyone did their job and it led to our confidence growing when we had success.”

Not much changed in the second half, except Chelsea did score the first two points of the half, but they came at the hands of Oak Mountain, who snapped a ball over the punter’s head, out of the end zone for a safety to make the score 35-2.

After a couple of quiet drives offensively, however, Smith finally picked up his fourth and final touchdown when he found a streaking Cole Thomas wide open for a 24-yard touchdown pass to put the Eagles on top 42-2.

Chelsea answered back with its only touchdown of the night on the ensuing drive thanks to a beautiful touchdown catch from Andrew Bartleweski to make the score 42-9, which became the final score shortly after.

“We had some mistakes early, but Evan is a special kid, Trey Allen has a ton of talent, and I was really pleased with the way our defense played,” head coach Cris Bell said after. “Our biggest issue is going to be us. We’re going to have to compete against us every week. But this was a good start.”

Smith ended the game with 202 all-purpose yards, leading the team in rushing and passing, while totaling four touchdowns. Bennett finished the game with 60 rushing yards, while Eli Hackbarth had 29 and Percer had 19. Young was the leading receiver with 42 yards.

Defensively, Garrison Frisch led the team with 7.5 tackles, while Fitzgerald and Travis Thomasson each had a sack.

The Eagles now have a bye week before they hit the gauntlet of Hewitt-Trussville, Hoover and Thompson in three straight games.

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