(HOOVER, Alabama) - The #1 Hoover Bucs used a swarming defense at the Hoover Met tonight and defeated the #6 Vestavia Hills 17-7 in a cross-town rivalry game. Both defenses played well enough to win but the Bucs kept Vestavia Hills offense in check most of the night. Vestavia Hills only had one first down in the first half and it came with 2:25 left in the half.

The Bucs defense held the Rebels to 108 total yards. Vestavia Hills had 34 yards passing and 74 yards on the ground. "Our defense played well and I thought their defense played well at times tonight," said Bucs Head coach Josh Niblett. "Our defense played real fast and we did a great job of containing their run game. In rivalry games, both teams are going to play hard and sometimes you have to make changes during the game and we did that at times tonight and our kids did a great job of playing hard."

Hoover scored first with 1:46 left in the first quarter when kicker John Schmith kicked a 20-yard field goal. The field goal was set up on a 18-yard punt by Vestavia Hills. Bradrick Shaw had a 11-yard run to setup the field goal. The Rebels had a rough time of punting maybe because of the punt returner that was used by the Bucs. Hoover used Marlon Humphrey as their punt returner and the Rebels really didn't want to put the ball in his hands.

Hoover scored with 6:55 left in the half, when Jack Hutcheson threw a jump ball in the end zone and Justin Johnson came away with the 37-yard touchdown pass play. On the play, Vestavia Hills senior William Hillburn brought the ball down but Johnson had his hands on it and the referees came together and finally gave Hoover a touchdown. With the extra point, Hoover led 10-0 at the half. The Bucs defense held the Rebels with only 30 yards on 27 plays and one first down in the first half. "Our kids played hard and battled hard," said Rebels Head coach Buddy Anderson. "They have a real good football team. We made some mistakes that hurt us and we have to correct those mistakes and get better week by week. Were were our own worst enemy at times and they (Hoover) had something to do with that. I have confidence in our kids that they will bounce back."

Vestavia Hills (4-1) scored  with 9:40 in the third quarter after a fumble by the Bucs on a punt return at the Hoover 28 yard line. Jordan Johnson ran around right end for a 13-yard touchdown run. Johnson had a 15-yard run one the first play after the turnover and scored on the next play. With the extra point, the Bucs lead was cut to 10-7. "This is such a big game for us, we are all friends until we hit the field with blood, sweat and tears," said defensive lineman Dalton Campbell. "We have to keep gang tackling and keep improving on defense. We are just taking it week to week in our region. We look forward on playing our next game and see our improvements." The Rebels have played well on defense and came into the game second in the state only giving up eight points per game.

Hoover (5-0) scored after a three and out and a Humphrey punt return to the Vestavia Hills 42 yard line. A few plays later, Shaw scores on a 14-yard touchdown run. Shaw had a hug 28-yard run to setup the last Bucs touchdown. With the score, the Bucs lead 17-7. Shaw finished the night with 110 yards on 15 carries on the night. The Bucs offense improved in the second half but had a hard time of finishing drives throughout the game. "We had our opportunities but just could not finish and that is a complement to them," added Niblett. "It was a great matchup. We will continue to get better. Our tempo was a little better the second half but we have to finish drives. It is great to know things that you have to work on and still get the win."

Vestavia Hills didn't complete their first pass until 3:17 left in the game. The Bucs did a great job of putting pressure on the Rebels quarterback all night long. " We played great tonight," said Bucs linebacker Darrell Williams. "We are very fundamental and we all have to do our jobs. This is a great win, but we have to move on and to get better as a team."

One area that helped out the Bucs defense was the Bucs punt team that pinned the Rebels deep in their territory a few times in the frist half. "I'm so proud of Tuck," said Niblett. "We needed our punt team to makes some plays while our offense is trying to find our niche and our tempo and flip the field like they did."

The Hoover offense had 340 yards on the night. The Vestavia Hills defense limited Hoover to just 9-of-20 passing for 122 yards.