By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



This Friday night, expect Driver Stadium to be rocking, as the Gardendale Rockets host unbeaten Mountain Brook in a pivotal 6A, Region 6 game.

Gardendale is on the upswing, as they’ve won three straight, after losing two tough region tilts to open the year.

Meanwhile, the Spartans have reeled off five wins and have all but clinched a playoff berth with a 5-0 start in region play.

The Rockets, who hold a 2-2 region mark, could move closer to a postseason berth with a victory.

The two clubs mirror one another, according to Gardendale head coach Chris Fancher.

“They’re a lot like us in their schemes,” Fancher said. “They’re a very disciplined team that’s well-coached. They’re a fine all-round team that’s another tough region opponent. They’ll present quite a challenge for us.”

The Spartans running game will present a big challenge to the Rockets defense.

Running back J.D. Marsh, who ran for 191 yards and two touchdowns on 43 carries against Vestavia Hills last week, enters this week with 745 yards rushing on 143 carries for a 5.2 yard average.

He has scored 10 rushing touchdowns this season.

On defense, the Spartans have posted two shutouts and are allowing only 9.2 points per game.

Fancher said the Rockets need to play well in all phases of the game in order to pull off the upset.

“There’s not just one thing that will key in this game,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to improve in everything we do. We need to play a mistake-free game and tackle better in the open field. They’re awfully good and we’ll need to play awfully well to win.”

Over the past three weeks, the Rockets have found a running game, after running for less than 100 yards in their first two games.

Part of the new-found ground success is execution, but part comes from the opponents style of defense.

“I went into last week’s game thinking we’d throw the ball 40 times,” Fancher said. “But we had some early success on the ground, and they never really adjusted to it, so we stuck with the run. We’re going to scratch what itches. We’ll take what the defense gives us.”

In the last two weeks, Trey Hilliard has rushed for 271 yards and seven scores.