Some wins are straightforward while some require a little trickery. Vestavia Hills (AL) chose the latter in its rivalry win over Hoover (AL), a rainy, 6-3 victory with the sole touchdown coming on a fake field goal attempt.
It was early in the third quarter, and Vestavia Hills lined up for a field goal from 48 yards out. Facing a fourth-and-8, it appeared the team was going to try to simply get some points on the board on this possession to start out the second half and tie the game at three points apiece.
Though that's not what happened.
Vestavia Hills proved its mascot is the Rebels for a reason. They're not going to play by these unwritten rules like "go for a 48-yard field goal on fourth-and-long." The fake went to perfection:
It wasn't completely
out of the blue. As the announcer mentioned, on this rainy night, the wind was blowing in the kicker's face, difficult for a kicker at any level of football. Hoover loaded up the box and covered nicely with man defense as Rebels broke out downfield.
It took a gutsy pass from senior Price Lamaster and a leaping grab from senior Powell Curry.
Curry caught it with a pair of defenders around him but he didn't go down, fighting his way into the end zone to take the 6-3 lead. Ironically enough, the PAT was blocked, a further sign that going for the fake field goal was the right move.
The 30-yard touchdown pass from Lamaster was an offensive highlight in a game dominated by defense. He was playing QB, in for Charlie Taaffe, who played the first half but got injured, according to AL.com. Hoover's starting QB, Kaleb Freeman, was out with injury as well, making this a low-scoring, pound-the-rock affair with weather that impacted the play calling as well.
But in the end, it came down to a throw. The 62nd meeting between Hoover and Vestavia Hills turned in the Rebels' favor, and they'll carry forward with a 6-1 record and a win in arguably Alabama's biggest rivalry matchup.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch as Alabama high school football team stuns rival with fake field goal touchdown
