HOMEWOOD -- Will Waldrop scored three touchdown to help Mountain Brook cruise to a 49-14 win over Homewood in a Class 6A, Region 5 game at Waldrop Stadium on Thursday night. With the Spartans win, Mountain Brook secures the region title and the #1 seed in Region 5 along with hosting a first round game in the AHSAA 6A State Football Championship playoffs.

Mountain Brook used a strong run game along with picking their spots in the passing game as the Spartans moved the ball successfully for most of the night. "I feel like we are trending up," said Spartans head coach Chris Yeager. "After the Thompson game, we have elevated our game on defense. Both teams on offense and defense controlled the line of scrimmage. We kept their offense off the field by controlling the ball for much of the night. We wanted the backs to run to daylight."

The Mountain Brook defense forced a punt on the Homewood first drive of the game. On fourth down, Jake Thompson setup the offense with a big 20-yard punt return into Homewood territory. Later in the drive, Thompson took a reverse and went for 17-yards to put the Spartans in the red zone. A few plays later with 7:56 left in the first quarter, Will Waldrop scores on a 2-yard touchdown run and the Spartans took a 7-0 lead.

On the Spartans next possession, Mountain Brook used a strong run game to move the ball down the field again. Sophomore Cole Gamble and Waldrop kept getting big gains in the run game to set the Spartans up again. With 3:54 in the first quarter, John Colvin hit Sims Brown on a 15-yard touchdown pass play over the middle of the field. With the score, Mountain Brook led 14-0.

Homewood (5-3, 3-2) started moving the ball on their third drive of the game. Woods Ray hit Aron Marsch on a pass play. Ray went to Charlie Reeves on another good pass play for the Patriots. With 7:34 in the second quarter, Ray found Reeves on a 8-yard touchdown pass play for the Patriots. With the score, the Patriots cut the Spartans lead to 14-7 midway through the second quarter. 

Mountain Brook (7-1, 5-0) didn't panic though as in a four play drive, they scored again. This time running back Cole Gamble scored on a 37-yard touchdown run. With 6:27 left in the half, Mountain Brook took the 21-7 lead. Again, the Spartans defense rose to the occasion again giving the Mountain Brook offense good field position. With 4:09 left in the half, Colvin found a wide open Brown for a 41-yard touchdown pass play for the Spartans. With the score, Mountain Brook 28-7 late in the first half.

Homewood didn't give in though as Ray made an incredible play on a scramble, threw long and completed a pass to Reeves for a 67-yard touchdown pass play to keep the game close before halftime. With the score, Mountain Brook took a 28-14 halftime lead.

In the second half of the game, the Homewood defense needed a stop to give the ball back to their offense but Mountain Brook wouldn't have anything to do with that as they score on their first drive of the second half and really put the game out of reach. With 9:53 left in the third quarter, Waldrop scored a long 62-yard touchdown run for a score and the Spartans led 35-14. 

The Mountain Brook defense didn't give up a score in the second half and really dominated the line of scrimmage for most of the night. "At the end of the day, they just big boyed us on both sides of the football all night," said Patriots head coach Ben Berguson. "We coudn't run the football and that was a big problem for us. If we can't run the football, it is going to be a problem." The Homewood offense was held to less than 150 yards on the night.

With 4:16 left in the third quarter, Waldrop scored on a 2-yard touchdown run for the Spartans. With the score, Mountain Brook took a 42-14 lead. A couple of Thompson catches setup the Mountain Brook touchdown. With 6:05 left in the fourth quarter, running back Jack King took a 2-yard touchdown run and the Spartans took the 49-14 lead. 

For the game, Waldrop rushed for 120 yards on 12 carries and three touchdowns while Gamble had 114 yards on 15 carries and a touchdown. John Colvin had a good game in the passing game completing 9-of-13 passing for 123 yards and two touchdowns. 

Up next, Mountain Brook travels to Chelsea while Homewood will host Briarwood Christian.