Cole Gamble ran for two touchdowns as Class 6A No. 7-ranked Mountain Brook beat 7A James Clemens 18-13 at Madison City Schools Stadium on Thursday night.

The senior running back scored from 5 yards out in the first quarter and 2 in the third for the visiting Spartans (1-1). He has seven offers from Division I schools.

Mountain Brook opened the scoring with a safety when Hudson Young blocked a punt that went through the end zone. Harrison Fell kicked a 20-yard field goal and the Spartans led 12-7 at halftime.

Ty Doughty scored on a 41-yard punt return in the last minute of the half for the host Jets (1-1). Logan Eggart caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Ty Marsh late in the third quarter.

James Clemens took possession on its 13 with 1:05 left after stopping a Mountain Brook drive. But four plays later, Hampton King intercepted a pass. The Spartans took possession and time expired.

“The defense, they grew a lot in a week after last week’s game against Vestavia (a 35-10 loss),” Mountain Brook coach Chris Yeager said. “If our whole team would grow as much as our defense has, we’d be pretty darn special. I can’t believe how far they’ve come since spring. It’s unbelievable. It may be more than any group I’ve ever been around.”

Play of the game: Mountain Brook took the second half kickoff and marched 55 yards in five plays, capped by Gamble’s 2-yard run. This put the Spartans up 18-7 at 10:05 in the third.

Stat sheet: Mountain Brook – Gamble had 27 carries for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Clark Sanderson had six catches for 100 yards. John Cooper completed 9-of-19 passes for 138 yards with one interception. James Clemens – Doughty scored on a punt return and had three catches for 10 yards. Eggart had three catches for 43 yards and a touchdown. Marsh completed 11-of-17 passes for 103 yards with three interceptions.

By the numbers: 244 – Mountain Brook total yards with 106 rushing and 138 passing. 162 – James Clemens total yards with 59 rushing and 103 passing. 2 – wins apiece in their four games all-time.

Game ball: Spartans middle linebacker William Grier McDuffie deserves it, according to Yeager. “Man, he just made plays from sideline to sideline.”

Coachspeak: “They were a good football team and I was really excited to play them. I knew it would be a great test. I think our kids bounced back from last week and played well.” – Yeager.

“I think two really good football teams played tonight. Really good battle. Kind of a barometer to see where we’re at. We’re going to grow from it, and we’re going to get better from it.” – James Clemens coach Chad McGehee.

They said it: “We got some stuff to work on, but it was a really gutsy win. We had some missed assignments up front, but we kind of fixed at the break. At the half we figured it out. Second half, O-line just played really well. Really just a gutsy win. We played really hard.” – Gamble.

“It was a struggle at first. And then at halftime we made some great halftime adjustments. And we just came out with a different fight.” – Cooper.

“Just some big plays made by Cole Gamble. I think we played overall very hard. Just going back to our training and our fundamentals allowed us to keep the game in our hands.” – Sanderson.

Next week: Mountain Brook visits Minor in Class 6A, Region 5. James Clemens visits Bob Jones in 7A, Region 4.