HOOVER, Alabama --After the game, Hoover Head coach Josh Niblett said, "we had a theme for each day this week." These themes included no turnovers Tuesday and special teams Sunday. Clearly those two days were great days of practice as the Bucs had no turnovers and a punt return for a touchdown.

From the opening drive, this game was all about Hoover. After a few short runs, a late hit call sparked the Bucs on the first drive making what would have been a 4th and 11 an automatic first down. After a 37-yard swing pass from Christopher Vacarella to Jimmie Mack Johnson to get the ball down to the 2 yard line, Vonte Brackett finished the drive with a 2-yard run up the middle with 10:02 remaining in the first quarter. Barret Pickering added the PAT to make it 7-0.

After Hewitt-Trussville turned it over on downs going for it on 4th and 11, the Bucs had really good field position. The Bucs could not get anything going for a couple of drives until the Huskies missed a 31-yard field goal from the right hash due to a Buccaneer hand getting a piece of the ball. At the end of the first quarter, the score was Hoover 7 Hewitt-Trussville 0.

The second quarter started with the offensive firepower that has been lacking most of the season for the Bucs as Vacarella has two nice scrambles of 10 and 14 yards with the a 14-yarder getting just inside the right pylon to make it 14-0 with 10:02 left in the second quarter.

On the next Hewitt-Trussville drive, Huskies quarterback Zac Thomas went down with 6:03 left in the second quarter with a lower leg injury. The Hoover Met was silenced for 5-10 minutes as Thomas was taken off the field on a cart to a local hospital. Niblett said afterwards, "It's always hard to see a great player go down like that. He's clearly a competitor." After play resumed, the Huskies punted and the ball was bouncing to the 40 where PJ Hall picked it up for the Bucs. After a few broken tackles and shimmies, Hall skirted down the near sideline for a Hoover touchdown to make it 21-0.

This clearly was the main turning point in a relatively close game as Hewitt-Trussville just could not muster any offense up without Thomas. After another three and out for the Huskies, the Bucs moved the ball down the field again and C.J. Sturdivant added another score from two yards out for the Bucs with 1:45 left until halftime to make it 28-0.

After Hoover kicked off, the Huskies went three and out with Hoover calling a timeout with 35 seconds remaining in the half. The Huskies had a punt that went for two yards and the Bucs got it on the 28-yard line. Vacarella took three straight shots for the end zone which were all well covered by the Huskies and out came Pickering for a 45-yarder which was good as time ran out in the half making the score 31-0 Hoover at halftime.

It was the Bucs senior night as well so the football players and cheerleaders were honored before the game and the band, colorguard, and dance team seniors were honored at halftime. The second half did not have much action for either side but was highlighted by an Aaron Lawler 55-yard touchdown run after a few broken tackles to make the score 38-0.

The game was then sealed up with an interception by senior Tyler Brown in fitting fashion. The story of this game was red zone conversions and special teams as the Bucs were 3/3 packing it in the end zone when they got to the redzone where the Huskies were 0/2 on red zone trips coming up empty both times. Special teams had Pickering with the 45-yarder and Bailey Aultman with three punts inside the 20 averaging 42.0 yards a punt. Also, P.J. Hall added the spark to the special teams for the night with the punt return for a touchdown.

One concern for the Bucs still continues to be penalties as they racked up 10 penalties for 101 yards. Aaron Lawler led the way for the Bucs rushing with 57 yards for the night and the one touchdown followed by Vonte Brackett with 32 yards. Vacarella was 7-of-23 passing with 109 yards and his leading receiver was Jimmie Johnson with 3 receptions for 55 yards. Hoover had 287 yards of total offense on the night and Hewitt-Trussville only had 1 less bringing in 286 yards. The field position was crucial and Aultman really helped the Bucs win with that battle.

Hoover moves to 7-2 on the season and 5-2 in the region with North Marion from Florida coming up for a Thursday night battle on ESPN. Hewitt-Trussville moves to 6-3 on the season and 5-2 in the region as well. Hewitt plays at Clay-Chalkville next Friday night in a big rivalry game between the two crosstown foes.